OR APPENDAGES OF PLANTS. 229 



upon it. " The Pubescence/' says he, " is 

 a ridiculous distinction, being for the most 

 part effaced by culture/' After quoting 

 examples, he concludes : " We are there- 

 fore not to have recourse to the hairiness 

 or spines of plants but in case of absolute 

 necessity/' Such necessity every botanist 

 will allow to have existed in the Mentha 

 and in Myosotis scorpioides ; and though 

 ^he degree of pubescence varies from culture, 

 and even its structure be changeable, as 

 in Hedypnois hispida, Engl. Bot. t. 554, 

 and hirta, t. 555, its direction is I believe 

 as little liable to exception as any character 

 that vegetables present. 



