3i6 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



the cells blunt or with tubular tips, awns, or appen- 

 dages, opening by pores at the top. The pollen-grains 

 are in tetrads. The disk is annular and lobed, or 

 made up of glands or scales. 



The ovary is four- to five-celled, many-seeded, 

 superior or inferior. The style is terminal, the stigma 

 small and simple. The fruit is a capsule, drupe or 

 berry. The seeds are small. The flowers are adapted 

 to bees, being pendulous. They exhibit a " loose 

 pollen " mechanism, showers of pollen being set free 

 when the anthers are touched. 



Cowberry {Vaccinium Vitis-Idcca). 



The first scientific name was applied by Pliny the 

 Elder (a.d. 23 to 78). He perished in the eruption of 

 Vesuvius which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii. 

 On the day of the catastrophe he was at Misenum, 

 in command of the fleet, and seeing the outburst he 

 sailed for the site of the eruption. He was curious to 

 ascertain the character of the volcanic phenomena 

 and made observations. He was suffocated by the 

 fumes next day whilst attempting to escape. His 

 classic history of the world was first translated in 

 1468 and into English in Elizabeth's reign. He gave 

 many of the generic names, as in this instance, which 

 later writers adopted, and Linnaeus used them in 

 his Species and Geneva Plantaruin, modern scientific 

 nomenclature dating from the publication of these 

 works, the former in 1753. 



Probably PHny intended Vaccinmm for baccinhim to 



