374 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
which these variations are developed. For we may say with equa] 
truth that a stamen is a diminished petal, or that a petal is an ex- 
panded stamen ; that a sepalis a diminished stem-leaf in a more, re- 
fined. condition, or that à stenizleaf. is a sepal in a state of expansion 
occasioned by. crude juices. 
mot? l Thus also it is immaterial whether we speak of the stem; as the 
flower.and fruit in a state of extension, or whether, as above, we. re- 
bard the flower and fruit as.ashortened stem. 
122, At the end of this treatise I have taken into consideration the 
Scit of duds, and. have endeavoured to explain by their means 
the nature both of composite flowers, and of those seeds which are. un- 
protected by. a seed-vessel (unbedeckte Fruchtstinde).* 
154128... It. has been my object in what I have here brought forward, to 
State, as clearly and fully as possible, a view, which I think carries much 
conviction withit. But should the evidence appear to be insufficient, or 
should my theory meet with much opposition, and appear incapable of 
universal application, it will become so much the more incumbent 
on me to note all suggestions, and at some future time to discuss these 
subjeets more minutely and circumstantially, that by giving greater 
perspieacity to my view, I may earn for it a more universal approbation — 
than I can expect from this first essay. + 
EXPLANATION oF PLATE XI. 
Fig. 1. Passage of leaves to bracts i i Toup. yllis vulneraria. 2. ero of sepals 
(a) to petals (5), stamens (c c), and stigma (7), in Nymphea blan . ‘Tran 
o tubular petal i 7 
m i “of 
ictrum.- T. Stigmas of Brachypteris. 8. Exceptional flo flower of Epilobium t 
sutum, in which all the floral whorls are replaced by leaves ; due pac us el fro 
the same. 9. UN — -— wer of Dianthus, sp. The and some of the 
als is fa talked flower- buds occupying pong position of “the sta- 
und “diver ke from the same; the stalk has a petaloid st strap-like 
cale spei g from it; the sepals and og re increased in number, the pi us 
INC and the carpe els open and disjoined, and in this case destitute of ovules. 
e, $883, 101. 
k Por a bot sketch of the origin and progress of the theory of vegetable morpho- 
» prior to the publications of Wolff, Linné, and. Goethe, as well as for an attempt 
is referred to rticle in the Brit. 
i r anuary, 
= “aie Y ff "Versu Mipan ” its, history and present pron by 
NETT 
y» 
