irregular flower

1. A flower in which one or more members of a whorl, or of several floral whorls, differ in form from other members. Irregular flowers, such as those of the violet or the pea, are often bilaterally symmetric. The pea has one large upper petal above, two free petals on the each side, and two petals fused together in a keel shape below.

2. Compare regular flower

Example Sentences

Papilionaceous, butterfly-like; applied to the peculiar irregular flower common in Leguminos�.

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Peloria, an abnormal return to regularity and symmetry in an irregular flower; commonest in Snapdragon.

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An irregular flower is generally distinguished by petals of unequal size or shape.

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When an habitually irregular flower becomes regular, it does so in one of two ways; either by the non-development of the irregular portions, or by the formation of irregular parts in increased number, so that the symmetry of the flower is rendered perfect, as in the original peloria of Linnæus, and which may be called irregular peloria, while the former case may be called regular peloria.

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It is probable that peloria may occur in any habitually irregular flower, and that, if more attention were directed to the subject, illustrations might be obtained from a larger number of natural families than can be done at present.

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