664 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. XL 



" the case with the Grasses *." The diversity of 

 size of stipules in different plants is very consider- 

 able; but this circumstance is seldom noticed by 

 Botanical writers. In respect of number, they are 

 most commonly twin (gemince), one being si- 

 tuated at each side of the insertion of the leaf; 

 but in some instances, as the Sun-Rose, Hell- 

 anthemum, they are in fours; and in the Bar- 

 berry, Berber is ; in some species of the Honey- 

 flower, Melianthus, and in many other plants, they 

 are single (solitarice). The form of the stipule is 

 nearly as diversified as that of the leaf, and it re- 

 ceives the same appellations; thence we find the 

 terms stipulce subrotundce, ovales, lunatce, sagit- 

 tatce, semisagittatas, &c. &c. in systematic works, 

 and, consequently, the terms which have been ex- 

 plained, descriptive of the margin, apex, base, sur- 

 face, as well as those designating the distinct, con- 

 joined, sessile, and petiolated characters of leaves, 

 are applicable to this organ. In point of substance, 

 the stipule is termed foliaceous (foliacea), when it 

 resembles the leaf in colour and consistence, which 

 is most usual : membranous (membranacea), when 

 it is thin, nearly semitransparent, and in some de- 

 gree coloured, as in Amphibious Persicaria, Poly- 

 gonum amphibium; the Magnolia, and Fig tribe, 

 &c.; and chaff-like (scariosa), when it is dry and 



* Smith's Introduction, p. 220. 



