OF THE PISTILS. 273 



ment, or when the plant increases much 

 by root, as in the Fiery Lily, or true 

 Lil'ium bulb'iferum. 



4. PisTiLLA. The Pistils, no less essential 

 than the Stamens, stand within them in 

 the centre of the flower, and are generally 

 fewer. When in a different flower, on the 

 same or a different plant, they are not al- 

 ways central. Linnaeus conceived them to 

 originate from the pith, and the stamens 

 from the wood, and hence constructed an 

 ingenious hypothesis, relative to the pro- 

 pagation of vegetables, which is not desti* 

 tute of observations and analogies to sup- 

 port it, but not countenanced by the ana- 

 tomy and physiology of the parts alluded 

 to. 



Each Pistil,y.l77j consists of three parts. 



1, the Gerfnen, a, or rudiment of the young 

 fruit and seed, which af couse is essential ; 



2, the Sti/lu.s^ b, style, various in length and 

 thickness, sometimes altogether wanting, 

 and when present serving merely to elevate 

 the third part. Stigma, c. This last is in- 

 dispensable. Its shape is various, either 



T 



