114? The Rev. P. Keith on the Internal Structure of Plants, 



monocotyledonous, in the latter case it is said to be dicoty- 

 ledonous, and in the case of its having no cotyledon at all it 

 is said to be acotyledonous. Of plants now known to bo- 

 tanists 6000 species are found to be acotyledonous, 6000 

 monocotyledonous ; and 32,000 dicotyledonous, making a 

 total of 44,000 species* described and arranged according to 

 the prevailing systems; an ample and magnificent Flora of the 

 globe that we inhabit, but not yet complete, for still there 

 are regions of the earth's surface unexplored, and flowers 

 without a name : 



et sunt sine nomine floresf. 



The plantlet is the interior and most essential portion of 

 the embryo, the seat of vegetable life, and the germ that 

 expands into a perfect plant ; in short, it is the future plant 

 in miniature. In some seeds it is so minute as to be scarcely 

 perceptible, while in others it is so large as to be divisible 

 into distinct parts. Take and dissect a garden bean, and you 

 will have no difficulty in detecting it. It is situated near the 

 external scar, and is partly lodged within the lobes, and 

 partly in a small and conical process projecting beyond the 

 general line of their circumference and uniting them together. 

 The portion that is lodged within the lobes corresponds to the 

 caudex ascendens of Linnaeus, being the rudiment of the fu- 

 ture leaf and stem, and generally denominated the plumelet ; 

 and the portion that is lodged within the conical process cor- 

 responds to the caudex descendens of Linnaeus, being the rudi- 

 ment of the future root, and generally denominated the ra- 

 dicle. 



The Bulb. — If the solid bulb, or what has been called the 

 solid bulb, is taken and divided into halves by a vertical or 

 longitudinal section, it will be found to consist externally of 

 a sort of fibrous or membranaceous envelope, separable into 

 two or more layers; and internally of a fine epidermis, in- 

 closing a firm but succulent pulp, in the centre of which are 

 lodged the rudiments of the future plant. The bulb of Gla- 

 diolus communis or of Colchicum autumnale affords a good ex- 

 ample, in which the several parts of the flower may be di- 

 stinctly perceived long before the period of their natural evo- 

 lution ; yet modern botanists do not admit the existence of a 

 solid bulb; it is now a coronus, or souche souterraine\. 



If the coated and scaly bulbs are taken and dissected, they 

 will be found to exhibit similar appearances. Particularly if 



* Cows de Vhyt. par M. Du Petit Thouars. 



t Ovid, Fast., lib. iv. p. 441. 



X Lindle)'s Introduction to Botany, p. 52. 



