Calyx

The calyx is the outermost floral whorl, whose job is to protect the rest of the flower while it is still in bud; its individual members are sepals, which are normally green. Sepals may fuse or stay separate: an aposepalous (polysepalous/chorisepalous) flower has distinct, unfused sepals (Brassica, Annona), while a synsepalous flower has its sepals united/fused (Hibiscus, Brugmansia). The calyx also varies in how long it lasts relative to the fruit: a caducous (fugacious) calyx withers and falls off very early, during the flower's own development (Papaver); a deciduous calyx instead falls only after the flower opens, i.e. after anthesis (Nelumbo); a persistent calyx stays attached and continues alongside the fruit, forming a cup at its base (brinjal); and an accrescent calyx is persistent and additionally keeps growing along with the fruit, partly or wholly enclosing it (Physalis, Palmyra). Calyx shape is also named descriptively: campanulate is bell-shaped (as in the shoe flower/Hibiscus calyx), urceolate is urn-shaped (the fruiting calyx of Withania), tubular is tube-like (Datura), bilabiate is two-lipped (Ocimum), petaloid describes a calyx that is coloured like a petal (Saraca, Sterculia), a large, le …