2S2 Introductot-y Vietso of the 



called. Misled by this confusion of terms, Addison, who was 

 probably unacquainted with the flower described by Virgil, 

 represents the Italian aster (^'ster ^melius) as a purple busli, 

 with yellow flowers, instead of telling us that the flower had 

 a yellow disk and purple rays. 



" Aureus ipse ; sed in foliis, quae plurima circum 

 Funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae." 



Virgil, Georgic 4. 



" The flower itself is of a golden hue, 

 The leaves inclining to a darker bluej 

 The leaves shoot thick about the root, and grow 

 Into a bush, and shade the turf below.'* 



Addison. 



Dryden falls into the same error : — 



** A flower there is that grows in meadow ground, 

 Amellus called, and easy to be found ; 

 For from one root the rising stem bestows 

 A wood of leaves and violet-purple boughs. 

 The flower itself is glorious to behold, 

 And shines on altars like refulgent gold." 



We doubt whether the plant would very easily be found by 

 this description, or any plant that should correspond with it. 

 Still further to avoid any confusion of this sort, by using 

 terms as distinct as possible, some modern botanists have 

 substituted the word sepal for the leaves of the calyx, from 

 sepire, to surround or hedge in. 



The pistil {Jig. 93.) usually occupies the centre of the 

 flower. It is composed of three parts : 1 . the ger- 

 men (a), which is the rudiment of the fruit; 2. the 

 style (^), a tubular column proceeding from the ger- 

 men; and 3. the stigma (c), or summit, which crowns 

 the style. 



The stigma is, more or less, covered with a glutinous 

 moisture : it varies considerably in form ; and that which is 

 called the simple stigma, having no form to distinguish it from 

 the top of the style, might conveniently be called the summit ; 

 but the two words are generally used indiscriminately. 

 5^» The stamen^ also, i^Jig* 94.) is composed of. three 



"^ parts: 1. the filament, or thread (a), which is affixed 

 to some part of the flower, mostly to the corolla, 

 calyx, or receptacle; 2. the anther {f>\ which is sup- 

 ported by the filament, and is a little bag, or case, 

 containing the third part, which is called the pollen (c). 

 This last is apparently a fine meal ; but, when seen through 

 a microscope, every particle appears a little bag, containing 



