18 MONANDRIA. 



The parts of fructification of this plant having no 

 Corolla, in common language, may be said to be with- 

 out a blossom ; but in the Linnaean language of Botany 

 the Stamina and Pistilla constitute the flower of the 

 plant j a and if a plant has the union of one Stamen and 

 one Pistillum, that flower is said to be complete, in the 

 botanical sense of the word, though it has neither Co- 

 rolla nor Calyx 3 and on the other hand, if a flower has 

 the most beautiful corolla that can exist and contains 

 only Pistilla, or only Stamina, that flower is said to be 

 incomplete. Thus the Hautboy strawberry has its 

 corolla of white petals like other strawberries, but the 

 Pistilla and the Stamina are not united in the flowers of 

 the same plant, consequently these flowers are said to 

 be incomplete. 13 Nevertheless, from the generally re- 

 ceived opinion of the Corolla being the flower, the de- 

 scription of Flowers in modern Botanical works often 



a Ray and Tournefort meant by the flower the coloured 

 leaves of the plant ; but since the introduction of the Linnaean 

 system the petals have lost their importance, and are now only 

 considered as a finer sort of cover, which is generally present, 

 but not essentially necessary to the existence of the flower. 



The leaves of plants being usually green, Botanists 

 have given an unphilosophic distinction to the word colour by 

 applying it only to yellow, red, and blue, or to their combi- 

 nations. In an early state of vegetation almost all the leaves 

 of plants are green, of different shades, but the common red beet, 

 Beta vulgaris, the Braaena fenea, and some others, have their 

 leaves of a dark purple. 



k This fact is of importance in the cultivation of Straw- 

 berries, concerning which gardeners are sometimes ignorant, 



