FLORA'S LEXICON. 



235 



is often wanting. Some flowers have only one Pistil : others 

 have two, three, four, &c., or more than can easily be counted. 

 The Seed- Vessel, in the newly-opening flower, is called the Ger- j 

 men ; but when it enlarges it is termed the Seed- Vessel. Some ! 

 plants have no appendage of the kind, and then the seeds are l 

 uncovered, as in the dead nettle ; the cup, however, generally 

 incloses and retains the seeds till they ripen : and in the tribe of 

 grasses, this friendly office is generally performed by what was 

 previously called the blossom. Seeds are sufficiently well known 

 to render a description unnecessary : the part to which they are 

 affixed within the Seed-Vessel, is termed the Receptacle of the 

 seeds. 



Nectaries are those parts in a flower which are designed to 

 prepare a sweet nectareous liquor. The tube of the blossom, as 

 in the honey-suckle, frequently answers the purpose; but in 

 many other flowers, there is a peculiar organization for the pur- 

 pose. At the base of the petal, in the crown imperial, the Nec- 

 tary is a very peculiar one, containing the liquor, from which, as 

 there are few flowers in a greater or less degree unprovided 

 with it, the little industrious bee derives its honey. 



The Receptacle is the seat or base to which the various divi- 

 sions of a flower are affixed. Thus, if you pull off the Calyx, 

 the Blossoms, the Stamens, the Pistils, and the Seeds or Seed- 

 Vessel, the substance remaining on the top of the stalk is the 

 Receptacle. In many plants it is not particularly striking, but 

 in others it is remarkably so; thus, in the artichoke, after remo- 

 ving the Calyx, the Blossoms, and the bristly substances, the 

 remaining part, so highly esteemed for the table, is the Recep- 

 tacle. 



The Classes are next to be considered, which were, according 

 to the system of Linnaeus, divided into twenty-four. 



The characters are taken either from the number, length, con- 

 nexion, or situation of the Stamens. 



The first class comprehends all that have a single stamen in 

 each blossom, and this he calls monandria (one male) ; the second 

 class such as have two stamina, called diandria (two males) ; 



