O CRUCIFORM FLOWERS. 



I say that the number of the stamina are in this 

 tribe of plants remarkable, for, generally speaking, 

 there exists a symmetrical proportion between the 

 number of the parts of the flower and that of the sta- 

 mens, where the number does not exceed ten, or 

 where they are constant and definite in quantity, and 

 the principal exception to this rule is in the present 

 class of plants, and in those with gaping or irregular 

 flowers, which, though divided into five unequal parts, 

 commonly produce and perfect only four stamens of 

 unequal length, with occasionally, however, the rudi- 

 ment of a fifth. The Orchis tribe, (hereafter de- 

 scribed,) so singular in every thing else, have also, it 

 is true, only two instead of three or six stamens or 

 masses of pollen, and the Grasses three stamens to 

 a corolla with only two parts. 



But to finish the history of the Stock. It is neces- 

 sary to observe the changes produced on the germ, 

 after the departure of the flower ; it now lengthens 

 very considerably, but remains narrow, merely swell- 

 ing a little with the growth of the seeds. When ripe, 

 it becomes a somewhat cylindric, but flattened pod, 

 called a silique. 



This silique is composed of two valves or parts, 

 which, at length, fly open from the bottom upwards, 

 and their interior sides form so many cells or cham- 

 bers for the protection of the seed. These cells are 

 separated from each other by a thin partition, called 

 the dissepiment, and the seeds, which are in this plant 

 flat and round, are arranged along each side of the 

 partition, alternately to the right and left by short 

 pedicles to the sutures or edge of the partition. 



Botanists distinguish the cruciferous flowers into two 

 orders or sections, from the distinctions apparent in the 

 fruit or seed-vessel. Thus, the first order compre- 

 hends those which produce a silique or long pod, as 

 in the Stock, Mustard, and such like. 



