A netu V'teiv of VegetaUe Life. 281 



auc;m€nt their bouquets, both above and under (if not fixed too 

 close to the gUiss), wherever moisture has prevailed; but I have 

 never seen any part of the wood 0^^/// ; it is merely tiie 

 leaves and flowers, with the double line, which is certainlv a di- 

 minutive thread of the line of life. That this matter on the 

 glass is a cnntiniin/inn of t fie vegetable life, and fie;. 1. a prior 

 formation of the precedin.^ year, I cannot dvnbt. I believe also 

 it is ujerely the corolla, pericarp, and pistil, that carry the 

 appearance of a flower in the stripes. I have generally found 



them round, oval, \^ VM w^ •^*' some form like this : but 



so extremely diminutive that it is impossible the flower should 

 (I think) contain anv thing more than the parts I have named, 

 and perliaps the stamen cases; and if it is a prior formation pro- 

 truded the preceding year, it is reason enough to account for 

 the different ingredients of the flower being all made in a separate 

 place; — for, being composed of such various and dissimilar parts, 

 might not the juices intended to form the pistil be highly de- 

 trimental to the pollen? and thus with the rest. Hence probablv 

 the extreme pains Nature takes to divide the various liquids ne- 

 cessary to vegetable life, and the uncommon arts resorted to to 

 prevent the possibility of their meeting, by confining them 

 within layers of cylinders without any means of comuiunication. 

 This law is so evident and universal, that it is generally the first 

 idea with which a dissector is struck, as it is most plain and po- 

 sitive in every plant. Du Ilamel observed it, and has given a 

 print of it ; as well as Du Petit Thouars. 



If, therefore, we sui)pose this part of the flower presented in 

 fig. 1. to be a prior formation, it is most probai)le that it should 

 be protruded in a separate stale, from the pollen and seeds. I 

 have accordingly laid it down in this manner. 



The corolla, pericarp, and pistil, formed the first year, and 

 followed the next bv the insertion of tlie heart of the seeds and 

 the pollen ; which when so far ready rise up from the root in a 

 different part of the stem, and after various preptnations, regu- 

 larly to lie traced from point to ))oint, enter the pericarp, vvhere 

 the formation of the flower is complete, and where the whole 

 process terminates, by the displaying their scents and beauties 

 ill the open air. 



The floiver-lud and leaf-hud therefore must be only intended 

 for the receptacle of the unfinished flowers and leaves, the place 

 in which those parts are completed, and ac()iiire the lust finish to 

 their respective forms. The Jloiver-bud, when at last fixed in 

 its proper place, is followed by the flowers which were formed 



the 



