316 FUNCTIONS OF 



now remains to prove that the essential or- 

 gans of tlie flower are indispensably requisite 

 for the perfecting of the seed. 



Every one must have observed that the 

 flower of a plant always precedes its fruit. 

 To this the Meadow Saftron, Engl. Bot. 1. 133, 

 seems an objection, the fruit and leaves be- 

 ing perfected in the spring, the blossoms not 

 appearing till autumn ; but a due examina- 

 tion will readily ascertain that the seed-bud 

 formed in autumn is the very same which 

 comes to maturity in the following spring. 

 A Pine-apple was once very unexpectedly 

 cited to me as an instance of fruit being 

 formed before the flower, because the green 

 fruit in that instance, as in many others, is 

 almost fully grown before the flowers expand. 

 The seeds however, the essence of the fruit, 

 are only in embryo at this period, just as in 

 the germen of an Apple blossom. 



It w^as very soon ascertained that flowers 

 are invariably furnished with Stamens and 

 Pistils, either in the same individual, or tM^o 

 of the same species, however defective they 

 may be in other parts ; of which Hippiiris, 

 Engl, Bot. t, 763, the most simple of bios- 



