ORGANS or EEPRODUCTIOX. 179 



CHAPTEE 4. 



OHGANS OF EEPEODUCTION. 



Under the head of Organs of Keproduction we iiichide the 

 flower and its appendages ; and they are so called, because they 

 have for their office the reproduction of the plant by the forma- 

 tion of seed. Plants with conspicuous organs of reptroduction 

 are called 'Phcsnogainous, Flianerogamous^ or Flowering; while 

 those in which these parts are concealed or obscure are termed 

 Cryptogamous or Flowtrless. The former division includes Dico- 

 tyledonous and Monocotyledonous Plants; the latter Acotyle- 

 donous Plants. 



The parts of a flower (as will be particularly shown hereafter), 

 are only leaves in a modified condition adapted for special pur- 

 poses ; and hence a flower-bud is analogous to a leaf-bud, and 

 the flower itself to- a branch the internodes of which are but 

 slightly developed, so that all its parts are situated in nearly the 

 same plane. As flower-buds are thus analogous to leaf-buds they 

 are subject to similar laws of arrangement and development. 



Section 1. Inflorescence or Anthotaxis. 



The term inflorescence is applied generally to indicate the 

 floral axis and its ramification, or the arrangement of the flowers 

 upon that axis. Under the head of inflorescence we have to 

 examine — 1st, The Leaf from the axil of which the flower-bud 

 arises ; 2nd, The Stalk upon which the flower is situated ; and 

 3rd, The Kinds of Inflorescence. 



1. Bract or Floral Leaf. 



"We have just stated that flower-buds are analogous to leaf- 

 buds ; and this analogy is still farther proved by their occupying 

 similar situations to them ; thus, they are placed either at the 

 apex of the floral axis or branch, or in the axil of leaves. 

 Flower-buds, therefore, like leaf-buds, are terminal or axillary. 

 In the latter case the leaves from which they arise are called 

 bracts ox floral leaves. In strict language the term bract should 

 be only applied to the leaf from the axil of which a solitary- 

 flower or a floral axis arises, while all other leaves which are 

 found upon that axis between the bract and the flower properly 

 so called, shoidd be termed bractlets or hracteolcs. These two 

 kinds of bracts are, however, but rarely distinguished in prac- 

 tice, the term bract being generally alone used for either va- 

 riety, and in this sense we shall hereafter apply it. 



Bracts vary much in appearance, some of them being large, 

 of a green colour, and in other respects resembling the ordi- 

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