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IV. On the Proteacea of Jussieu. By Mr. Robert Brown, Lib.L.S. 



Read Jan. 17, 1809. 



The Linnean system of botany, though confessedly artificial, 

 has not only contributed more than all others to facilitate the 

 knowledge of species, but, by constantly directing the attention 

 to those essential parts of the flower on which it is founded, has 

 made us acquainted with more of their important modifications 

 than Ave probably should have known, had it not been generally 

 adopted, and has thus laid a more solid foundation for the esta- 

 blishment of a natural arrangement, the superior importance of 

 which no one has been more fully impressed with than Linnaeus 

 himself. 



There are still, however, certain circumstances respecting the 

 stamina and pistilla, Avhich appear to me to have been much less 

 attended to than they deserve, both by Linnaeus and succeeding 

 botanists. What I chiefly allude to is the state of these organs 

 before the expansion of the flower. The utility of ascertaining 

 the internal condition of the ovarium before foecundation will 

 hardly be called in question, now that the immortal works of 

 Gaertner and Jussieu have demonstrated the necessity of minutely 

 studying the fruits of plants in attempting to arrange them ac- 

 cording to the sum of their aflinities, as in many cases the true 

 nature of the ripe fruit, especially with respect to the placenta- 

 tion of the seeds, can only be determined by this means. Its 

 importance is indeed expressly inculcated by many botanists, 



who, 



