OF THE GERMEN. 2^^ 



enough to fall to the ground. The moisture is de- 

 sis:ned for the reception of the pollen, which explodes 

 on meeting; with it, and hence the seeds are rendered 

 capable of ripening, which, though in many plants ful^ 

 ly formed, thev would not otherwise be. 

 * The Germen appears under a variety of shapes and 

 sizes. It is of great moment for botanical distmc- 

 tions'to observe whether it be superior, that is, above 

 the bases of the calyx and corolla, as in the Strawber- 

 ry and Raspberry, or inferior, below them, as m the 

 Apple and Pear. Very rarely indeed the Germen is 

 supposed to be betwixt the calyx and corolla, ol 

 which Sangmsorba, Engl. BoU t. 1312, is reckoned 

 bv Linn^us an example ; but the corolla there has 

 really a tube, closely embracing the Germen. In 

 Acloxa, t. 453, the calyx is half-inferior, the corolla 

 superior. When in botanical language we say ger- 

 men superior, it is equivalent Xojiower inferior ; but 

 it is sometimes more convenient and proper, for the 

 sake of analogy or uniformity, to use one mode of ex» 

 pression than the other. 



Pistils are sometimes obliterated, though oftener 

 chaneed to petals, in double flowers, as well as the 

 stamens ; but I have met with a much more remark- 

 able change in the Double Cherry, of the pistil into a 

 real leaf, exactlv conformable to the proper leaves of 

 the tree,' only smaller. By this we may trace a sort of 

 round in the vegetable constitution. Beginnmg at 

 the herbage or leaves, we proceed insensibly to brac- 

 teas in many species of Salvia, or to both calyx and 

 <^orolla in the Garden Tulip, which frequently has a 



