NOMENCLATURE OF THE FLOWER. 91 



fructification, that not one of them can be taken out, 

 without destroying the form of the whole. 



The connecting part, in aggregate flowers, is either the receptacle 

 or the calyx ; and the partial flowers of which they are composed, 

 are called florets. 



65. Aggregate flowers are of two kinds ; viz. the 

 aggregate, properly so called, and the compound, 



CO. Aggregate proper : Aggregate flowers, properly 

 so called, have a common undivided receptacle, the an- 

 thers all separate, and the florets usually on foot-stalks. 



The sweet-william, cowslip, gelder rose, hazel, willow, arum, 

 hyacinth, narcissus, hemlock, and grasses, have all flowers of the 

 aggregate order. 



The other five species of aggregate flowers called by Linnseus, the 

 umbellate, from their constituting an umbel ; the cymose, from their 

 blooming in a cyme ; amentaceous, from their calyx being an amen- 

 tum or catkin ; glumose, from their calyx being a glume or husk ; 

 and spadiceous, from their having a receptacle issuing from a spathe 

 or sheath, are nothing more than varieties of the kind of flower, 

 now called aggregate proper. 



07. Compound : Compound flowers consist of nu- 

 merous flpiets, all sessile or seated on a common un- 

 divided receptacle, and inclosed in one continuous calyx. 

 It is also essential to this kind of flower that the anthers 

 be united into the form of a cylinder. 



In compound flowers the florets are always one-petalled and 

 superior, euch standing on a solitary naked seed, or at least the rudi- 

 ments of one, though not always perfected. The sun-flower, is, 1 

 believe, as good an illustration of the compound flower as can be 

 brought forward. The daisy, thistle, and dandelion might also be 

 mentioned. 



