34 



THE FLOWER. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE FLOWER. 



§ 2. OF THE STAMENS, AND THE ARTIFICIAL CLASSES. 



64. The stamens and pistils are situated within the floral 

 envelopes, and since one or both are always present, in every 

 species, at least, of the Phsenogamous plants, they were seized 

 upon by Linnasns* as the basis of his beautiful arrangement, 

 called the Artificial System. 



FIG. 7. — Forms of stamens, anthers, pollen, &c. 1. Stamens and pistil of a flower (Rho- 

 dodendron Lapponicura), in their natural position ; a, stigma, b, anthers, c, style, d, filaments, 

 e ovary, /, calyx and receptacle ; 2, stamen of ginger ; 3, sage ; 4, Berberis ; 5, Vaccinium 

 amoenum, with the terminal pores; 6, cucumber, with the sinuous lobes of the anther; 

 7, Polygonum ; 8, Lemna, anther bursting vertically ; 9, lily ; 10 Magnolia ; 17, a four-celled 

 anther; 18, anther of Alchemilla, bursting transversely. Nos. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, various 

 (magnified) forms of pollen-grains. 



* Carl Von Linn6, or Linnaeus, the most eminent of naturalists, was the son of a clergy- 

 man, born in 1707, at Rhoeshult, in the province of Smaland, Sweden. In his 24lh year, 

 v/hile a member of the University of Upsal, he conceived the idea of that system of plants 

 which bears his name. In 1741 he became professor of medicine in the same University, 

 and in 1761, on account of his great literary attainments, was elevated to the rank of nobility. 

 He died in 1778. To him the natural sciences are under incalculable obligations, all of 

 which he classified and arranged anew. But the science of botany, especially, is indebted 

 to him for those discoveries and classifications, which have, more than any others, contri- 

 buted to its general diffusion. In his ' immortal work,' Species Plantarum, he enriched the 

 language of botany by a new nomenclature of species, and many new terms in the tech- 

 nology of plants, for their more accurate description. 



