stamens is a _Pistillate_ or _Female_ flower.

[Illustration: Fig. 233. Flower of Anemone Pennsylvanica; apetalous,
hermaphrodite.]

[Illustration: Fig. 234. Flower of Saururus or Lizard's-tail; naked, but
hermaphrodite.]

251. =Incomplete Flowers= are so named in contradistinction to complete:
they want either one or both of the floral envelopes. Those of Fig. 230
are incomplete, having calyx but no corolla. So is the flower of Anemone
(Fig. 233), although its calyx is colored like a corolla. The flowers of
Saururus or Lizard's-tail, although perfect, have neither calyx nor
corolla (Fig. 234). Incomplete flowers, accordingly, are

_Naked_ or _Achlamydeous_, destitute of both floral envelopes, as in
Fig. 234, or

_Apetalous_, when wanting only the corolla. The case of corolla present
and calyx wholly wanting is extremely rare, although there are seeming
instances. In fact, a single or simple perianth is taken to be a calyx,
unless the absence or abortion of a calyx can be made evident.

[Illustration: Fig. 235. Flower of Mustard. 236. Its stamens and pistil
separate and enlarged.]

[Illustration: Fig. 237. Flower of a Violet. 238. Its calyx and corolla
displayed: the five smaller parts are the sepals; the five intervening
larger ones are the petals.]

252. In contradistinction to regular and symmetrical, very many flowers
are

_Irregular_, that is, with the members of some or all of the floral
circles unequal or dissimilar, and

_Unsymmetrical_, that is, when the circles of the flower or some of them
differ in the number of their members. (Symmetrical and unsymmetrical
are used in a different sense in some recent books, but the older use
should be adhered to). Want of numerical symmetry and irregularity
commonly go together; and both are common. Indeed, few flowers are
entirely symmetrical beyond calyx, corolla, and perhaps stamens; and
probably no irregular blossoms are quite symmetrical.

253. =Irregular and Unsymmetrical Flowers= may therefore be illustrated
together, beginning with cases which are comparatively free from other
complications. The blossom of Mustard, and of all the very natural
family which it represents (Fig. 235, 236), is regular but unsymmetrical
in the stamens. There are four equal sepals, four equal petals; but six
stamens, and only two members in the pistil, which for the present may
be left out of view. The want of symmetry is in the stamens. These are
in two circles, an outer an