The Principles of Biology, Volume 2 (of 2)Spencer, Herbert
Science
The Principles of Biology, Volume 2 (of 2)
Spencer, Herbert
Biology
We pass insensibly from forms like these, to forms having bilateral
symmetry strongly pronounced. Some such forms occur among flowers that
grow at the ends of upright stems; as in _Pinguicula_, and in the
Violet tribe. But this happens only where, in successive generations,
the flower unfolds its parts sideways in constant relative positions.
And in the immense majority of flowers having well-marked two-sided
forms, the habitual exposure of the different parts to different
sets of forces, is effectually secured by the mode of placing. As
illustrations, I may name the genera--_Orchis_, _Utricularia_,
_Salvia_, _Salix_, _Delphinium_, _Mentha_, _Teucrium_, _Ajuga_,
_Ballota_, _Galeopsis_, _Lamium_, _Stachys_, _Nepeta_, _Marrubium_,
_Calamintha_, _Melittis_, _Prunella_, _Scutellaria_, _Bartsia_,
_Euphrasia_, _Rhinanthus_, _Melampyrum_, _Pedicularis_, _Linaria_,
_Digitalis_, _Orobanche_, _Fumaria_, _&c._; to which may be added all
the Grasses and all the _Papilionaceæ_. In most of these cases the
flowers, being sessile on the sides of upright stems, are kept in quite
fixed attitudes; and in the other cases the peduncles are very short,
or else stiff enough to secure general uniformity in the positions. A
few of the more marked types are shown in Figs. 234 to 241.
[Illustration: Figs. 234–241.]
[Illustration: Figs. 242–246.]
[Illustration: Figs. 247, 248.]
Very instructive evidences here meet us. Sometimes within the limits
of one genus we find radial flowers, bilateral flowers, and flowers of
intermediate characters. The genus
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