Rev. P. Keith on the Structure of Living Fabrics. 125 



a seasoning to food, such as the Common Onion ; others are 

 useful in medicine, such as the Squill or Sea Onion ; and all of 

 them are peculiarly tenacious of potential life if excluded from 

 the action of the atmosphere. An Egyptian mummy that was 

 lately unswathed in this country, was found to grasp in its 

 hand a bulbous root. When exposed to the atmosphere, it 

 germinated ; and when placed in the soil, it grew with great 

 rapidity*. It could not have been less than two thousand 

 years old. 



The Bud. — The bud is a small and ovate or conical-shaped 

 substance, issuing from the axis of the leaves, or extremity of 

 the branches, and containing the rudiments of future branches, 

 leaves, or fruit ; but not detaching itself spontaneously from 

 the plant and forming a new individual. It is composed ex- 

 ternally of a number of concave and overlapping scales, that 

 protect the inclosed germ from the injuries of the atmosphere, 

 and is connected with the stem or branch by means of a short 

 and fleshy pedicle, in which the scales originate. The bud of 

 the American Walnut is said to be the most magnificent of all 

 known examples, though the bud of the Horse Chestnut(^2fo;7*- 

 lus Hippocastanum) is, as I believe, but little inferior to it. 



Buds produce leaves only, or flowers only, or leaves and 

 flowers together. The two former varieties may be seen in 

 the buds of the Peach-tree ; the latter, in those of the Horse 

 Chestnut. Yet all plants are not furnished with buds. An- 

 nuals and many shrubs have none ; and even trees and shrubs 

 to which they are proper, do not produce buds in hot climates. 

 But in this country and in all cold countries, trees and shrubs 

 are universally furnished with buds ; and without the interven- 

 tion of a bud, no new part is added to the plant. Buds have 

 not been found to be of much use to botanists in the discrimi- 

 nation of species, though they may serve occasionally to distin- 

 guish plants in the winter ; and gardeners do, in fact, distin- 

 guish almost all their plants by the bud. 



The Flower. — The flower, which, like the leaf, belongs to 

 the division of the temporary parts of the plant, is an organ 

 that issues generally from the extremity of the branches, but 

 sometimes also from the root, stem, and even leaf; being the 

 apparatus destined by nature for the production of the fruit, 

 and being distinguishable, for the most part, by the brilliancy 

 of its colouring, or the sweetness of its smell. It has been 

 happily styled by Pliny, The joy of plants, — Flos gaudium arbo- 

 rwn f-; of which the Lily, the Tulip, and the lovely Rose, so 

 sweetly sung by Anacreon of old, are magnificent examples: 



* Jcurn. of Royal Instit., Oct. 1830. 

 f Hist. Nat., lib. xvi. cap. xxv. 



