THE RECEPTACLE. 



ways distinguishable by any particular 

 figure, except in compound flowers con- 

 stituting the Linnaean class Sijngenesia, in 

 which it is very remarkable and important. 

 In the Daisy, Engl. Bot. i. 424, it is coni- 

 cal ; in Chrysanthemum, t. 601, convex ; 

 in others flat, or slightly concave. Picris, 

 t. 972, has it naked, that is, destitute of 

 ' any hairs or scales between the florets or 

 seeds ; Cardans, t. 675, hairy ; Anthemis, 

 t. 602, scaly ; and Onopordum, t. 977, 

 cellular like a honey-comb. ,-On this and 

 the seed-down are founded the most solid 

 generic characters of these plants, admi- 

 rably illustrated by the inimitable Gaertner. 

 The term Receptacle is sometimes ex- 

 tended by Linnaeus to express the base of 

 a flower, or even its internal part between 

 the stamens and pistils, provided there be 

 any thing remarkable in such parts, with- 

 out reference to the foundation of the 

 whole fructification. It also expresses the 

 part to which the seeds are attached in a 

 seed-vessel.' 



