VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 51 



For the act of fecundation two things are requisite, namely, 

 the genital organs of both sexes ; because, as we have before 

 stated, one of the sexes alone cannot propagate the species. 

 Now the act of fecundation is performed in the flower ; there- 

 fore it follows, that the genital organs of both sexes must be pre- 

 sent in the flower. We are here, however, to observe, that those 

 organs are not always present in one and the same flower. It is 

 sufficient that those of the male be in one flower, and those of 

 the female in another. Since every plant bears seeds by which 

 its offspring can be propagated, and no egg can be hatched before 

 fecundation, it will follow, that fecundation is as necessary as the 

 seeds themselves. Hence it appears, that the organs of both 

 sexes, which serve for fecundation, are altogether necessary, if 

 the flower is perfect, and that they are the essential parts. But 

 we find no parts of a flower that are essential but the anthers and 

 stigmas, therefore these parts are the genital organs of both sexes, 

 serving for fecundation. Now we maintain that the anthers are 

 the testes, and that the pollen performs the office of the semen 

 masculinum. The truth of this we shall deduce by the follow- 

 ing arguments. 



1. Preceding the fruit. The anthers and their dust always 

 come before their fruit. When the fruit sheds its seeds, it comes 

 to maturation. This is the case with the anthers ; for when they 

 shed their dust, they are come to maturation, and have done 

 their office ; yet their dust is always shed when the flower is in 

 full vigor, and then the anthers drop, and are useless. 



2. Situation, The anthers are always so situated in the 

 flower, that their dust which is the male sperm, may reach the 

 pistil or female organ ; for the stamens either surround the pistil, 

 as in most fknvers ; or, if the pistil incline to the upper side of 

 the flower, the stamens do the same ; or, if the pistil nods, the 

 stamens ascend. 



3. Time. The anthers and stigmas are in full vigor at the 

 self-same time, and this not only when both are in. one and 

 the same flower, but also when they are in distinct or separate 

 ones ; so that the long catkins of the hazel, birch and alder, never 

 discharge the dust of their anthers before the stigmas below them 



