Flowers.—Irregular in form, solitary or clustered, each one subtended by a bract.
Perianth.—Of six divisions in two sets. The three outer divisions are sepals, but they are usually petal-like in appearance. The three inner are petals. By a twist of the ovary what would otherwise be the upper petal is made the lower. This division is termed the lip; it is frequently brightly colored or grotesquely shaped, being at times deeply fringed or furrowed; it has often a spur-like appendage which secretes nectar; it is an important feature of the flower and is apparently designed to attract insects for the purpose of securing their aid in the cross-fertilization which is usually necessary for the perpetuation of the different species of this family, all of which give evidence of great modification by means of insect-selection.
In the heart of the flower is the column; this is usually composed of the stamen (of two in the Cypripediums), which is confluent with the style or thick, fleshy stigma. The two cells of the anther are placed on either side of and somewhat above the stigma; these cells hold the two pollen masses.
Darwin tells us that the flower of an orchid originally consisted of fifteen different parts, three petals, three sepals, six stamens, and three pistils. He shows traces of all these parts in the modern orchid.
FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS
“A fresh footpath, a fresh flower, a fresh delight”
Richard Jefferies
I
WHITE
Blood-root.
Sanguinaria Canadensis. Poppy Family.
Rootstock.—Thick, charged with a crimson juice. Scape.—Naked, one-flowered. Leaves.—Rounded, deeply lobed. Flower.—White, terminal. Calyx.—Of two sepals falling early. Corolla.—Of eight to twelve snow-white petals. Stamens.—About twenty-four. Pistil.—One, short.