202 DISTINCTIONSBETWEEX COROLLA AXDCALYX. 



which is a Daphne with petals. In Trolilus, /. 28, 

 and HelleboruSy t. 200 and 6 13, Linn^us considers as 

 Petals vvlmtJussieu, following Vaillant, thinks a Calyx. 

 Of these plants we shall soon have occasion to speak 

 again. 



I cannot but consider as a sort of Corolla the Calypfra 

 or Veil of Mosses, which Linnasus reckoned a Calyx, 

 Schreber, very deep and critical in his inquiries con- 

 cerning these plants, and Hedv/ig, so famous for his 

 discoveries among thein^ were both of this opinion, 

 though the latter seems to have relinquished it. The 

 organ in question is a membranous hood, covering the 

 unripe fruit of these diminutive vegetables, like an 

 extinguisher, y*. 151 ; but soon torn from its base, and 

 elevated along with the ripening capsule. See E)igL 

 Bot, t. 558, &c. The great peculiarity of this part, 

 whatever it be called, consists in its summit perform- 

 ing the office of a stigma, as Hedwig first remarked. 

 In Jungermajinia, f, \59,y t. 771, &c., the very same 

 part, differing only in usually bursting at the top to let 

 the fruit pass^ is named by Linnaeus a perich<stiujn, 

 but very incorrectly, as we have already hinted. 



Whatever ofuce the petals may perform with respect 

 to air and light, it is probable that the oblong summit 

 of the Spadix in Jrum^ t, 1298, answers the same 

 purpose. When this part has been for a short time 

 exposed to the light, it assumes a purplish brown hue, 

 whicii M. Sennebier seems to attribute to the same 

 cause which he thinks produces the great heat ob- 



