Flower
Flower names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Flower the part of a plant which produces seed
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the part of a plant which produces seed. Ordinarily a small branch, called a flower stalk, supports the flower. Reduced leaves or bracts are usually present, but they are not properly parts of the flower. In the case of a sunflower they form a leafy sort of mat. Bracts from the cup of the acorn, the husk of an ear of corn, the chaff of wheat, the bur of the chestnut, and the cone of the fir tree. They form the leafy involucre of many plants. Jack-in-the-pulpit stands in a large green leafy bract, and the calla lily stands in a white one. The parts of a complete flower are: Protective-- 1. A calyx of two to many sepals. 2. A corolla of one to many petals. Essential-- 3. Stamens, one to many--filament, anther, pollen. 4. Pistils, one to many--ovary, style, stigma. Sometimes the corolla is absent or wanting. Sometimes both corolla and calyx, as in the elm, are wanting. Sometimes the stamens are in one flower and the pistils in another on the same plant as in the case of corn, and sometimes the pistillate flowers are on one plant and the staminate on another, as in the case of the cottonwood. A complete flower has a calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistils. All these parts grow from the end of the flower stalk which is appropriately called the receptacle. The business of the stamen is to produce a dust, called pollen; the business of the pistil is to produce seed. It is the business of the corolla and calyx to shelter the stamens and pistils and show helpful, needful insects where the essential parts of the flower are. See Fertilization ; Floriculture ; Botany
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in botany terminal bud inclosing the organs of re- , a developed production by seed. The earlier botanists limited it to the corolla of a plant, but Linnæus extended it to include calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. The two last are the only essential parts. This is the modern sense of the term. The manner in which its parts are arranged is called their estivation, and the calyx, corolla, and other parts are generally believed to be transformed leaves arranged on a branchlet; but many writers consider the petals to be transformed stamens. The arrangement of flowers on a branch or stem is called INFLORES- CENCE (q. v.). The term Flower of Constantinople, or Flower Constantinople, is a translation of the old name Flos constantinopolitanus, given to the plant now called Lychnis chalcedonica. It is named also flower of Bristowe. The flower of the Axe is Lobelia urens, found in England only near Axminster in Devon; the flower of Crete is Mesembryanthemum tripolium; and flower of Jove Lychnis flos jovis; flower of four hours , Mirabilis dichotoma; flowers of heaven, a fungal, Nostoc cæruleum; and flowers of tan, Æthalium, a gasteromycetous fungal. It is so called from its growing on tan. In chemistry, flowers used to be the name given to bodies of a powdery or mealy consistence or form, e. g., flowers of sulphur, a name sometimes given to sublimed sulphur. In printing, ornamental types or blocks for borders of pages, cards, and the like.
Flower Artificial, an imitation of a natural flower
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Artificial, an imitation of a natural flower. Artificial flowers are made in great numbers, both in Europe and America. They are used as ornaments for women's hats and bonnets, and, to a less extent, for decorating the hair and for trimming gowns. The work is done almost entirely by hand, and gives employment to many women and girls. Muslin, silk, satin, and velvet are the fabrics usually employed. Petals for flowers and leaves are cut with a die or stamp machine. From twelve to forty-eight thicknesses can be cut through at one time. The petals are next dyed, or, if they are large, and shading is desired, they are painted with a brush. The leaves are veined by indenting with hot metal patterns and are crimped by pressing in a machine. A wire wound with tissue paper or silk thread is pasted along the center, and the leaves are tied in bunches ready for shipment. The making of a flower is, of course, a more difficult performance. In making the larger flowers, as roses, a girl takes up each petal with a pair of pincers, deftly shapes it, and passes it to the next worker, who completes the shaping process. A third girl attaches a slender wire. These petals are then arranged about a small piece of cotton and the wires drawn together and twisted or wound to form the stem. In the more expensive roses the petals are each pasted into place. Stamens and pistils are formed of wire covered with silk, and dipped in gum water to form the anthers. Buds are shaped from cotton and covered with silk, or are sometimes of glass similarly covered. The assembling of the petals into a flower is a work of skill, and the maker of the higher grades must have the eye and touch of an artist. The industry of flower-making has advanced with rapidity during the last twenty-five years, the flowers now on the market being in many instances very perfect reproductions of natural blossoms.
Flower ROSWELL PETTIBONE, an American financier
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ROSWELL PETTIBONE, an American financier; born in Jefferag. 7, 1835; began his son co., N. Y., Aug. business and political career in Watertown, N. Y., where he organized the Jefferson County Democratic Club. His success in politics attracted the attention of Samuel J. Tilden, through whose influence he was appointed chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1847. Four years later he was elected to Congress, and in 1886 was appointed president of the Subway Commission. He was re-elected to Congress in 1888 and 1890, and in 1891 was elected governor of New York. From the close of his term till his death he applied himself to the interests of his large banking house and to a systematic course of philanthropy. He died in Eastport, Long Island, N. N. Y., May 12, 1899.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The floral anatomy Aiton's laid out in 1910 calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil on a receptacle is still exactly what a botany student learns today, and Collier's 1921 guess that the parts are "transformed leaves arranged on a branchlet" has been vindicated in molecular detail: the ABC model of floral development, published in 1991 by Coen and Meyerowitz, showed that a handful of homeotic genes decide whether a given whorl becomes a sepal, petal, stamen or carpel, and mutating them turns petals back into leaf-like organs. What has moved is the family tree around the flower: DNA sequencing since the 1990s (the APG classifications, beginning in 1998) rearranged the flowering plants wholesale, identifying the obscure New Caledonian shrub Amborella as sister to all other flowering plants, and fossils such as the Early Cretaceous Archaefructus have pushed the record of flowers back over 120 million years. Collier's list of curiosities flower of Jove, flowers of tan, flowers of sulphur is now purely antiquarian; the artificial-flower trade Aiton's described as hand work for "many women and girls" survives mainly as low-wage factory production in Asia, largely in plastic rather than silk and velvet.
Written for this edition, 2026.