186 OF THE FULCRA- 



the species of Mijosotis, which all botanists before him 

 had either confounded under M. scorpioides, Engl. 

 Bot. t. 480, or else separated upon vague principles. 

 Some species of Galium are admirably characterized 

 by the bristles of their leaves, or of parts of their 

 leaves, being hooked backward or forward. We 

 therefore accept the 272d maxim of Linnaeus's Philo- 

 Sophia Botanica with that limitation which he himself 

 has allowed in his commentary upon it. " The Pu- 

 bescence," says he, " is a ridiculous distinction, be- 

 ing for the most part effaced by culture." After quo- 

 ting examples, he concludes : " We are therefore 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 Men- 

 thcc and in Myosotis scorpioides ; and though the de- 

 gree 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. 



