220 Dr. Cork E A on two Genera of Plants 



fpring of the flower rather than a part of it ; and their ftru-fture at 

 the period when they are the obje6ls of obfervation and delcription, 

 has often received material alterations from their Aate when in the 

 flower, Linne confidered them in this hght, when he defcribed the 

 germen, that is to fay, the fruit as it exifiis in the flower, as a parttjf 

 the piftill ; and again defcribed it in the articles of pericarp and feed, 

 to fhow its ftrufture as it exifls, long after the decay of the flower, 

 when ripe and perfe6t. 



Former botanifts having given great attention to the calyx and 

 coroll, and the fcxnal fyftem being founded on a minute confider- 

 ation of the ftamina and piftill, thefe four parts are accurately and 

 carefully exhibited in the Linnaan defcriptions of genera, but this is 

 not the cafe with refpeft to the fruits or the feeds. We are at prefent 

 enabled, by the obfervations of JuflJieu, Gasrtner, and a few other 

 botanirts, to defcribe thefe important objeiSls with an accuracy un- 

 known to former ages, and to colle£t from the detail of their parts a 

 number of characters, (many of them of great weight,) which, mul- 

 tiplying the points of comparifon, eftabliih more firmly the degrees of 

 afliinity or difference betwixt plants, and thereby lead us to a more 

 intimate knowledge of their nature. Even in the defcription of the 

 flower, the progrefs made by botany fince the death of Linne requires 

 perhaps fome change : ift, Becaufe the infertion of the ftamina, a 

 charader of a fuperior order, was by him carefully marked only in 

 the Icofandria, Polyandria, and Gynandria, in which claffes it is (if 

 I may be allowed the term) the clafllfic charaiSler. 2dly, Becaufe 

 in proportion as that multitude of diff'erent organs which go by the 

 general and in many inftances unmeaning name of 7ie£iarium, are 

 phyfiologically difcriminated, and accurately defined, the ncceffity 

 of marking them for what they are in nature, is more and more fen- 

 fibly felt. And 3dly, becaufe thz germen itfelf, as a part of the flower, 



varies 



