76 NOMENCLATURE OF THE FLOWER. 



13. Form : In form, they are either cylindrical, glo- 

 bular, ovate, filiform, attenuated, or thick. 



a. Cylindrical as in the common beet. 



b. Globular as in the common birch-tree. 



c. Ovate as in the Scotch fir. 



d. Filiform as in the dwarf chesnut-tiee. 



e. Attenuated as in the common chesnut. 



f. 'i hick as in the common walnut. 



14. Nature : In nature, the catkin is either scaly, 

 chaffy, or naked. 



a. Scaly when it consists of simple scales, as in the common 

 juniper. 



b. Chaffy when it has the character of the amentum of the 

 Scotch fir. 



c. Naked when the scales are so small or wanting, that the 

 parts of fructification appear naked, as in the escoccaria. 



SHEATH OR Sl'ATHE. 



15. Sheaths or spathes, are distinguished from two 

 circumstances; the number of pieces of which they con- 

 sist, and the number of flowers prodnced in each. In 

 the first respect, they are said to be one-valved, two- 

 valved, imbricated, or dimidiate; and in the second, 

 one-flowered, two-flowered, and three-flowered, accord- 

 ing to the number. 



a. One- val ved when it consists of one piece, as in the snowdrop. 



b. Two-valved when it consists of two pieces, as in the water- 

 soldier. 



c. Imbricated when it consists of a number of scales, which are 

 bid over each other like tiles, as in the plantain-tree. 



d. Dimidiate when there is only one valve, and that covering 

 the dower but partially, as in the ixia africena. 



