POLYPETALOUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Polypetalous

... epipetalous bicarpellate forms with dorsiventral often large and loosely arranged flowers such as occur in Scrophulariaceae, and the other in the epigynous bicarpellate small-flowered families of which the Compositae represent the most elaborate type. In the polypetalous forms progression from hypogyny to epigyny is generally recognized, and where dorsiventrality with insect-pollination has been established, a dominant group has been developed as in the Leguminosae. The starting-point of the class, however, ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 • Various

... them before. How wonderful that no one before Macleay and Swainson thought that living beings were created on one plan. I have imbibed all the important parts with the hope of bringing them to bear on Botany, which is in a shameful state. One talks of the typical nature of polypetalous or monopetalous plants; another ridicules the idea, because as he wisely says, some polypetalous plants are monopetalous, and vice versa!! he objects, in fact to what constitutes the great value of a character, its mode of variation. All Swainson's propositions ...

— Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and The - Neighbouring Countries • William Griffith