HARMONIES OF VEGETATION. 263 



stamens of the berberis and cactus tuna, and in the styles of styli- 

 dium glandulosnm. 



29. The power of sensation in plants is advocated by 

 some phytologists, but the phenomena on which such an 

 opinion has been founded, are yet too imperfectly under- 

 stood to place the theory beyond doubt. 



30. There is also a variety of phenomena exhibited 

 throughout the extent of the vegetable kingdom, some 

 of which are common to plants in general, and some 

 peculiar to certain species, that have been thought to 

 exhibit indications, not merely of sensation, but of 

 instinct. 



The tendency of plants to incline their stem and to turn the 

 upper surface of the leaves to the light, the direction which the 

 extreme fibres of the root will often take to reach the best nourish- 

 ment, the folding up of the flower on the approach of rain, the rising 

 and falling of the water-lily, and the peculiar and invariable direc- 

 tion assumed by the twining stem in ascending its prop, the ascend- 

 ing of the plumelet and descending of the radicle, are among the 

 phenomena that have been attributed to instinct. 



31. Having seen that plants are organized bodies, 

 endued with organs and their vitality sustained by 

 peculiar properties, we have now to learn, that the 

 usual manner in which plants are perpetuated, is by 

 seed, and accordingly, nature has endued that organ 

 with qualities and appendages suited to its intention. 



When the seed has reached maturity in the due and regular course 

 of the developement of its several parts, it detaches itself sooner or 

 Uter from the parent plant either singly or along with its pericarp, 



