Flower And Inflorescence Development In The Garden Pea

Author : John J. Ward
Publisher : Daya Books
ISBN 13 : 9788170351665
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

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Download or read book Life Histories of Familiar Plants written by John J. Ward and published by Daya Books. This book was released on 1996 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supported with numerous illustrations, this work of lasting value provides copious details about the structure and growth of various plants from field as well as garden, and the relationship of these details to animal life. Nature lovers and investigators, as also the students of horticulture and floriculture could discover solutions to many unsolved problems elating to a vast variety of plants including: weeds, grasses, flowers etc-besides the species specific botanical and other information. Drawing widely from the generally recognised principles of evolution, the volume seeks to interpret the meaning of the diverse forms of all familiar plants in a simple language, keeping away as far as possible from the complex and technical terminology. Contents Chapter 1: The Wild Camomile: A Weed of Eminence; The advent of the cammomile, On the rubbish heap, A veritable sea of daisy blooms, Eminence in rank, Its relations, The daisy-like inflorescence under a magnifying lens, Primitive flowers, Insects and pollen, Nectar, Plants the first advertisers, Specialisation for insect visitors, Origin of petals, Saving the times of the busy bee, Fertilisation, Why daisies are so lasting as cut Flowers , The white florets, Mimicry of a flower, Foliage, Difference in the behaviour of the camomile and field daisy at night; Chapter 2: The Sycamore Key ; The boisterous wind and the sycamore trees, Its seeds or Keys , Provision for its offspring, Dispersion of the seeds, The young root and the nurse-leaves, First pair of true leaves, Buds and branches, The pendent stalk of flowers, A veritable flies picnic, Flowers a fly speciality, The scheme for pollination, Unisexual flowers and cross-fertilisation, Hairs from the body of the bee, Keys in the process of manufacture, The seedling plant within the Key , Development of Wings , The whirling flight; Chapter 3: The Common Arum or Cuckoo-Pint; Science reveals economy in the beauties of nature, A function for every detail associated with the organism, The quaint form of the inflorescence, A veritable army of midge-flies within, How the arum starts life, Development, Function of the leaves, Meaning of the quaint floral structure, The midge-fly, Drunken orgies within the bloom, Buried in the yellow pollen dust, Temperature inside the bloom, Effects of the cooler air, The reason of the arum s generosity, Arum not a flower, Structural details, The purple club, How the midges are entrapped, The flowers mature, Cross-fertilisation, Intoxicating nectar, Showers of pollen, How the pollen in conveyed, Taking in the signpost, Brilliant red berries, A self-contradictory theory, Thrushes development of a power to resist poison, A successful plant more to nature than a foolish animal; Chapter 4: Catkins; All forest trees bear flowers, Plants that do not appear to produce flowers, Fruit necessarily a product of the flower, Hazel catkins and hedge-nuts, The catkin a pendent spike of male flowers, Female catkins, Bee and catkins, Insects not desired, Little shelves loaded with pollen, Wind and clouds of pollen, Structure beautifully adapted for action of the wind, Pollen blown to distant towns, Size of pollen grains, Stigmas and pollination, Their crimson colour, Germination of the pollen grain, Cross-pollination, Alder catkins, Flowers of the ash and the elm, The perfect unity that underlies all nature s processes; Chapter 5: Sensitive Plants; The Woolly Bear or larva of the tiger-moth and its sense of touch, The hedgehog, Defensive actions of caterpillar and hedgehog, Sense of touch in plants, The sensitive plant, Grazing animals and sensitive plants, Tempting green leaves instantly become scrubby fare, Protective movements, A caterpillar amongst the leaves, How the delicate sensitiveness was first acquired, The wood-sorrel, Beginning of sensitiveness in leaves, A useful device, Copper-coloured foliage, Oxalis sensitiva, Sensitive characteristic evolved from the sleeping habit, Explanation of the shrinking movement at the approach and touch of animals, Sensitiveness in a root-tip, The aerial roots of an orchid, Sensitive tendrils of climbing plants, Barberry and its sensitive stamens, Beetles within the flowers, How tightly the stamens can grip an insect, The purpose of the device; Chapter 6: The Common Primrose; The primrose bank, Unfolding of the leaves, Underground rootstock, The cowslip, Primrose the most advanced member of its genus, Bird s-eye primrose, Its protection against heavy dews, Flowers of primrose and cowslip in relation to insects, Two types of flowers, Watching the occasional bee, Significance of the Pin-eyed and the Thrum-eyed flowers, The proboscis of the bee, Pollination efficiently performed by insects, Scattering of the seeds, Winter, The seedlings; Chapter 7: Laburnum, Broom and Gorse; Laburnum and red hawthorn, The broom s blaze of golden yellow, Leaves of laburnum, broom and gorse, Leaves characteristic of the pea-flower family and their modifications, Their arrangement in the laburnum, Change in position of flowering stem, The foliage of the broom, Starving off its enemies, Broom flowers, Divergence from the ancestral type, The gorse and its thorny foliage, Young shoots used as fodder, Existing proof that the gorse once had trefoil leaves, The young plant record in miniature the whole evolution of its species, Perfect bayonet protection, Branches carry on leaf-functions, The unceasing warfare between plants and animals; Chapter 8: Some Strange Greenhouse Plants; Variety in plant forms, Species that puzzle our understanding, Cactus family, Vegetable camels , Dangers from animal attacks, Unassailable protection, Offshoots distributed by enemies, The caladium, Leaves several feet in length, Large leaves and open situations, Pitcher-plants, Entrapped insects, An original orchid, A topsy-turvy attitude, Throwing off water, Torrential rains and long periods of drought, Only a moist atmosphere needed; Chapter 9: The Coltsfoot; The farmer is bent of warfare, How the coltsfoot made the first move, A successful and enterprising weed, How it came to possess such power, Its credentials, Overcoming the soil difficulties, A peep at the underground stem, Its methods of meeting the farmer s attacks, Scaly flowering stems, The flower-heads, Ovary losing power of maturing its seed, Cross-fertilisation, Guarding the pollen, fluffy heads of seeds in march and april, A modified calyx, On the newly-made railway cutting, The matter of leaves, The building process, Monopolising sunlight, Function of the woolly hairs, The farmer again, Defiance; Chapter 10: The Catkins of the Willow; The sallow or Palm of the country people, Willow-blooms and easter religious ceremonies, British willows, Golden or yellow Palm , The catkins, A male flower, Silver Palm , A female flower, Male and female catkins growing apart on distinct trees, Insects and the catkins, Wind and insect-fertilisation, A new nectary, The lost perianth, Female flowers producing nectar, Origin of the unisexual flowers, Wind-fertilisation now abandoned; Chapter 11: The Wild Orchid; My orchid garden, The blooms, Nothing more extraordinary in the plant world, Roots and tubers, The plant exploits new ground, Striking and mysterious leaves, Their curious brown markings an insoluble problem, A suggestion, The startled reptile, Arrangement of the leaves, How grazing animals view the plants, Necessity of protection for leaves, Spotless leaves, Plants that resemble animals, Complex specialisation of floral structures, An orchid but a modification of some type of lily, Structural details, The visiting insect and the stamen, Changing of position of the pollen clubs, The stigmas, No honey in the spur, Darwin s suggestion, Adhesive nature of the pollen masses, The twisted ovary; Chapter 12: The Quake-Grass; The quark grass of modified member of the lily family, Grasses the most perfect type of wind-fertilised plants, Utility of the inflorescence, The spikelets, Stigmas and stamens, A perfect arrangement for pollen dispersal, Degenerate lilies, Details of flower, Trinary arrangements almost lost, Progress and degeneracy, Grasses and orchids; Chapter 13: The White or Dutch Clover; Clovers, descendants of the pea-flower family, Inflorescence of the family progenitor, Grouping of the flowers, The course of evolution, A sure sign of advancement, Colour, A large supply of honey with little work, Pollination of the stigmas, Assisting (unconsciously) its insect guests, Seed pods, Creeping stems, Each species possesses characteristic devices, Subterranean clover, A modified calyx and its function, Sowing its seeds, The most specialised member of the pea-flower family; Chapter 14: The Stonecrops; The orpine or livelong, Insect visitors, Wall-pepper, Its popular name, All species are succulent, An experiment with the mock orange and the orpine, The Cactus of british plants, No protective devices, An uneventful career, Simple leaves, Primitive simplicity revealed by flowers, Monocotyledons and dicotyledons, Primitive form retained owing to lack of competition; Chapter 15: The Daffodil; Threefold flowers, Daffodils and lilies, Superior or interior ovary, Advanced groups of lilies, Complex lily types, Bilateral flowers, The crown or entrance tube, Stigma and the bee, Origin of the crown, The pink family, Nature and successful devices; Chapter 16: Buttercup Evolution; Buttercups and english landscape, Pedigree buttercups, Bulbous buttercup, Meadow buttercup, Difference in height, Variety in species, Water buttercup, Adaptation to aquatic surroundings, Aquatic and aerial leaves, A unique water plant, Colour of petals, Hairs, Typical buttercup, Coloured calyx, Nectaries of hellebore and globe-flower, Anemone and clematis, Honeyless flowers rich in pollen, Marsh marigold, Honey amongst the carpels, Lesser meadow rue and wind-fertilisation, Aristocrats of the family, The columbine, The larkspurs, Fertilisation, Monkshood, The specialised nectaries, Insects unconscious agency, complex forms; Chapter 17: Some Floral Advertisements; The foxglove at home, The difficulty overcome, Competition in the plant world, A huge advertisement designed exclusively for humble-bees, Honeysuckle, Hawkmoth visitors, Attracting power of scent, General advertisers, White water lily, Small flowers massed together for show, The wild angelica, Unsymmetrical flowers, Guelder rose, Neuter blossoms, Cornflower; Chapter 18: Ferns; Flowerless plants, Spore-plants and Seed-plants , Fructification of ferns, A common error, The sporecase, Spores and atmosphere, Spores do not produce ferns, Germination of a spore, The prothallus, Antheridia and archegonia, Birth of the fern plant, Flowerless plants in the carboniferous age, Ferns once a great race, Advent of pollen and nectar-seeking insect.