166 Mr. Woops on the British Species of Rosa. 
by its functions, from the five small leaves, to be a germen, till 
the circumstance which alone distinguishes it—the small orifice 
through which the styles pass—is pointed out to him. Under 
these circumstances I have ventured to call the part in question 
a receptacle, understanding by this term the thickened substance 
occurring between the summit of the peduncle and the leaves of 
the calyx in the natural order of Rosacea, supporting not only the 
latter, but also the stamina and petals, and confining it. to the 
period of inflorescence :—the outer covering of the flower I have - 
therefore exclusively called calyx, and its divisions Jeafits instead 
of laciniz. | | 5d 
The only objection to this arrangement arises from that part of 
a strawberry and of one or two other genera, which has usuall y 
been called receptacle. Considering this term as only applied to 
the edible part of the strawberry, Gærtner says that the Rose has 
no receptacle: the difference, however, seems to me only this, 
that the inner series of vessels in the receptacle is dilated into a 
spongy body; in Fragaria soft and juicy ; in Comarum harsh and 
dry; while in Rosa and Potentilla no such expansion takes place. 
If this be a correct view of the subject, the fruit of the straw- 
berry ought not to be considered as the true receptacle, but as a 
spongy body attached to the receptacle and immediately sup- 
porting the seeds. sé TE 
dn calling the calyx simple, sub-simple, or compound, I have 
perhaps taken a less excusable liberty with the common language 
of botany ;—by simple, I mean to express that the leafits are 
undivided or without any offsets. These offsets of a leafit when 
they occur have the appearance of a proliferous growth, which 
renders the term offset particularly applicable; and the term 
would perhaps be better than that of pinne, which I have adopted, 
if 
E 
