n.ixwEEn. 



FLOWER. 



which U found chiefly in bed* in transition mountain*. It occur* 

 in Saxony, the Han, Bohemia, Ac. It occur* al*o in Scotland, in the 

 Portland and Huirfoot Hill*, in the Isle of Sky*, Ac. 



The substance in of various colours, gray, bluish-gray, and red ; its 

 structure U rather slaty ; on the edge* it is translucent ; it U dull, or 

 only glimmering; hard, and broken with difficulty. 



It contains about 75 per cent of silica, the remainder being lime, 

 magnesia, and oxide of iron. 



The Basanite, or Lydian Stone, is considered to be a variety of 

 flinty-date ; it has not however a slaty structure, and is not so hard 

 as flinty-tlate. It occurs in Bohemia and Hungary, but was first 

 brought from Lydia in Asia Minor, whence its name. It is employed 

 when polished for trying gold by a comparison of colours, and has 

 thence obtained the name of Touchstone. 



KLIX\VKK1>. [SlSTMBRIUM.] 



FLOAT-STONE, a variety of Quartz found in the Chalk Forma- 

 tions of Menil Montant, near Paris. It consists of fibres or filaments 

 aggregated m a spongy form, and so light as to float in water. 



FLOOR, or FLUKE. [PLEURONECTID.E.] 



FLOKA. The collective vegetation of a country is called its Flora, 

 in the same manner as the animals are culled its Fauna. Thus we 

 speak of the Flora of Great Pritain, the Flora of Europe, meaning 

 thereby all the plants growing in those parts of the world. The term 

 in also applied to books, or lists, descriptive of the plants of a country. 



FLOS FKKRI. [AKRAGONITK.] 



FLOT N I ii'.H. [PuraoHBotnxB.] 



FLOWER, that part of a plant in which the organs of reproduction 

 are placed. The flower originates from a bud, and is nothing more 

 than a particular modification in the perfecting of the parts contained 

 in the bud ; namely, the several foliar organs and internodcs. Only 

 two essential processes of development can exist, and from those only 

 two essential organs, as fundamental organs, can bo formed in the 

 plant ; namely, the Axis and the Leaf. All the several parts of the 

 flower must therefore bo referrible to these fundamental organs, and 

 be tracud back to them. Since Gothe's time this tracing back has 

 been termed the Metamorphosis of Plants. Originally this mode of 

 considering the flower rested solely on Comparative Morphology, and 

 the observation of cases in which the interruption of the usual pro- 

 ceases of development, in some or all parts of the flower, caused those 

 parts to reassum* forms in which it was not difficult to recognise the 

 nature of tin: fundamental organ from which they had been produced. 

 Tin* latter has been termed Retrogressive Metamorphosis. As examples 

 of it, we may mention the different monstrosities, the doubliug of a 

 flower through the transition of the stamens into petals, the transition 

 of the petals and sepals into the common leaves of the plant, &c. 

 This mode of establishing the foundations of the doctrine of meta- 

 morphosis has however two essential faults : since, in the first place, 

 it seeks to obtain individual facto by means of hypotheses and com- 

 parisons ; while, secondly, its progress depends entirely upon favour- 

 able circumstances. The only correct and sure ground on which to 

 rest this doctrine is the history of development 



In Phanerogamic Flowers the following parts are distinguished, 

 proceeding from without inwards : 1. The Floral Envelopes, as the 

 External Calyx (Epicalyx), of which the parts are Leaves (Phylla); 

 the Calyx, the parts of which are Sepals ; the Corolla, the separate 

 portions of which are Petals ; or, instead of these throe, the Perianth 

 (Perianthium), whose separate parts are Leaves (Phylla) : 2. The 

 Stamens (Stamina), around and within which some stunted accessory 

 foliar organs appear under very various names : and lastly, 3, in the 

 centre of the flower, the Pistil (Pistillum), the separate foliar organs 

 of which are Carpels (Carpella). In the stamens the lower thread- 

 like portion, which is termed the Filament (Filainentum), is distin- 

 guished from the upper thick and hollow port, containing the Dust 

 (Pollen), called the Anther (Anthera). In the pistil, the lower part sur- 

 rounding the Ovules or Seed-Buds (Gemmulo?) is called the Qennen ; 

 the up]ier free part, which is usually covered with papilla, is termed 

 the Stigma, and between these two frequently a stalk-like elongation 

 of the germen occurs, called the Style. 



The flower of Phanerogam ia is the only physiologically determinate 

 organ of the plant, since it contains the apparatus for the regular 

 propagation. But to this only two parts contribute namely, the 

 stamens, as generators and receptacles of the pollen ; and the seed- 

 bud or ovule, as the place in which the pollen ia developed into the 

 embryo. All the remaining parts of the flower namely, the envelopes 

 of the whole perianth, the calyx and corolla, the receptacles con- 

 taining the seed-bud (the germens, styles, and stigma), ore not, in a 

 physiological sense, essential, and they may be abnent, without the 

 flower losing its correspondence to the character by which a flower 

 is defined. 



In the correct (morphological) view of the flower, there is no dis- 

 tinction between essential and inessential forms, and therefore it is 

 necessarily more proper to divide it into axial and foliar organs. 

 The following relations should be borne in mind : The axis and its 

 modifications are the basis of the flower, because to them the foliar 

 organ* are attached. Attached to the outer part of the axis of the 

 flower occur ceveral form* of true foliar organs, the floral envelope*, 

 accessory leaflets, and stamens. The innermost part ia occupied by 

 organ* which are formed from true axial organs, or an intimate blend- 



ing of these with foliar organs, which are termed the female apparatus, 

 or better, the rudiment of the fruit. At the same time the part* of 

 the flower are usually grouped together and treated generally, accord- 

 ing to the relations of number and position, as well as of duration. 

 Thus we obtain this plan for our following investigations : 



A. The Axial Organs of the flower. 



S. The number, relative position, and duration of the parts of the 

 flower. 



G. The true Foliar Organs of the flower. 



a. The Floral Envelopes. 



b. The Stamens. 



c. The Accessory Foliar Organ*. 

 D. The Rudimentary Fruit. 



a. The Pistil 



b. The Spermophore. 



c. The Seed-Buds. 



The Anthers have been called the male organs of a plant (with tho 

 superfluous collective term Androooeum); the Seed-Buds and their 

 receptacle the Pistil, the female parts (together the Gynocoeum). A 

 flower that contains both parts is termed Hermaphrodite (Flos Her- 

 maphroditus). Flowers that contain only one of those kinds of organs 

 are termed Unisexual Flowers (Florcs Uuisexuales, Diclini). When, 

 in the last case, male and female flowers (mas et femina) appear on 

 the same individual plant, such plant ia termed Monoecious (Plant* 

 Monoica) ; when they appear on separate individuals the plant ia termed 

 Dioecious (Planta Dioica). An Inflorescence which contains both male 

 and female flowers, also is termed Inflorescentia Androgyua. 

 again it must be distinguished whether the male and female blossoms 

 are formed upon different plans, as in the Cupulifene (Diclines); or 

 whether, through the suppression of one or other part, a pseudo- 

 diclinous condition appears in a flower formed on the plan of a 

 hermaphrodite. This latter condition, which is never found to run 

 through all the examples of any species of plant, brings monoecious 

 and dioecious species into hermaphrodite genera, and suggested to 

 I, inn. eus the establishment of his '23rd class, fulygamia, where in 

 on and the same species male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers 

 arc present. 



There are very few flowers of so simple a structure that tin y 

 consist only of one simple essential part, so that no formation of int !- 

 nodes is possible within the (lower ; and the extremity of the pedicels 

 immediately supports tho floral parts existing. This is the case in 

 the male flower of tho Euphorbia, where the end of a pedicel bears 

 one single stamen ; also in the male flower of the Abietinea, where 

 one single foliar organ, converted into a stamen, constitutes the entire 

 flower. It is also the case in the female flower of Ta.rut, where the 

 small pedicel, clothed with bracts, terminates immediately in the 

 naked seed-bud. In the generality of flowers however several parts 

 are united which do not stand at equal heights on the axis, and thus 

 more or fewer undeveloped internodes take part in the structure of 

 the flower. The original condition of the internodea, is here also 

 moat frequently permanent ; and the pedicel, after the detachment of 

 all the parts of the flower, frequently ends in a small slightly 

 thickened knot, which represents the collective internodes of the flower 

 in an undeveloped condition, the simple base or receptacle of the 

 flower (Torus). Examples in which individual internodes become 

 elongated are rather rare. In some families they are elongated 

 between the inner floral envelopes and the stamens (Androphorum), 

 and between the stamens and the germen (Gynophorum). Tho latter 

 is generally termed Germen Stipitatum. There are examples of both in 

 the I'aniJtoracKC and the Capparidactcc. 



A considerably longer part, without elongation of the individual 

 internodes, frequently occurs as a gynophorc in flowers which contain 

 many germens (as in the Jlotaceie, the Jtaniinculaccic, Magnoluuxa, 

 &C.) Again, the gynophorc is often presented as a hemispherical or 

 cushion-like part, as in some other Kotatttr and SanunciUacea. A very 

 rare form of it is that of a reversed cone, which bears the germens 

 upon a base turned upward, as in A'etumbiuni. In the rarest instances, 

 with the exception of this case, the axis of the flower is elongated 

 within the floral parts even without ending as a germen ; but this 

 does sometimes occur, as in tho male flowers of some Palms and 

 other plants ; for example Cliamtnlorea, where the points of the petals 

 unite with the apex of the axis of the flower which passes up through 

 them. 



In very crowded inflorescences, the torus of an axillary bud 

 developes obliquely, and rises up on one side, especially beneath the 

 germen, so as to appear a* a part of its side-wall ; this happens with 

 most of the Grasses. A similar circumstance, arising from a similar 

 cause, happens when many single germens are present in one flower, 

 by the division of the torus, which forms the basis of each of those 

 gel-menu, and thus assumes the appearance of forming a part of tho 

 wall of the germen (as in folnmoyetou and Jtryadacta). 



But tho dcvclopement of the internodes into a Disc, or in a hollow 

 cup, is far more frequent in the flower. If the collective internodes 

 of the flower form a hollow body, or even a cylindrical elongated 

 tube, which incloses only seed-buds, and bears all the floral part* 

 u|i"n its upper edge, all this is the so-called Inferior Germeu or Ovary 

 (Germen Inferum). 



Every other similar expansion of the internodea of the flowers 



