304 THE RECEPTACLE. 



Arctium Lappa, Engl. Boi. t. 1228 : 

 sometimes hooks encompass the fruit itself, 

 as in Xant hium, and some species of Ga- 

 lium, particularly G. Aparine, t. 816. 

 Plants thus furnished are observed by 

 Linnaeus to thrive best in a rank manured 

 soil, with which, by being conveyed to 

 the dens of wild animals, they are most 

 likely to meet. The Awns of grasses an- 

 swer the same end. Pulpy fruits serve 

 quadrupeds and birds as food, while their 

 seeds, often small, hard and indigestible, 

 pass uninjured through the intestines, and 

 are deposited far from their original place 

 of growth, in a condition peculiarly fit for 

 vegetation. Even such seeds as are them- 

 selves eaten, like the various sorts of nuts, 

 are hoarded up in the ground and occa- 

 sionally forgotten, or carried to a distance, 

 and in part only devoured. Even the 

 ocean itself serves to waft the larger kinds 

 from their native soil to far-distant shores. 



7. Receptaculum. The Receptacle is the 

 common base or point of connexion of the 

 other parts of fructification. It is not al- 



