CALYX. 59 



poses as the fur, hair, and bristles of animals, viz., 

 to defend the plants from cold, and injuries from 

 other causes. 



h. Bracts are rudimentary dwarfed leaves, some- 

 times mere scales, at others differing little from 

 the ordinary leaf except in the smaller size. It is 

 sometimes difficult to decide whether bracts shoidd 

 be ranked with the foliage, or as parts of the flower. 

 Bracts may be situated along the peduncle or at 

 its base. 



At Fig, 68, the real leaves are shown at h h, and the bract at a ; 

 the former being cordate and crenatc, the latter lanceolate and en- 

 tire. 



In some plants, as in several species of sage, the transition from 

 leaves to bracts is so gradual, as to render it difficult to distinguish between them, 

 and a considerable part of the foliage is composed of the bracts. In the crown- 

 imperial, the stem is terminated by a number of hirge and conspicuous bracts. 

 These appendages are sometimes mistaken for the calyx. Bracts are green or color- 

 ed, deciduous or persistent. The orchis tribe have green leaf-bracts. I^o plants of 

 the class Tetr adynamia have bracts. 



LECTUKE XI. 



CALYX. 



65. We have considered the organs of nutrition and vegeta- 

 tion; these have been called the fundamental organs of plants, 

 because they are mere modifications or transformations of them. 

 "We are now to examine more fully than we have done the i^e- 

 productivG organs^ called organs of fructification. 



a. Their names were considered when commencing the analysis of flowers ; but 

 we are now to examine tliem with more minute attention, and to remark upon 

 their different uses in tlie vegetable economy. We have arrived at that part of 

 tlie plant, whicli is the ornament of the vegetable kingdom. Flowers are dehght- 

 ful to every lover of nature ; a bouquet, or even the simplest blossom, presented 

 by a friend, interests the heart. How many pleasant thoughts are awakened by 

 the fresh and perfumed uicense which ascends from flowers ! Wliat woman does 

 not love flowers ! yet many regard them merely as beautiful objects, without being 

 aware that they miglit be rendered far more interesting by a scientific knowledge 

 of the relations and uses of their various parts. Many spend years in cultivating 

 plants ignorant of- their botanical characters, wlien even a few'^hours' study might 

 unfold the beautiful arrangement of botanical science, and open to the" mental 

 vision a world of wonders. 



Although every part of a plant Offers an interesting subject for study, the beauty 

 of the blossom seems by association to highten the pleasure of scientific research. 

 Flowers are indeed lovely, but like youth and beauty they are fading and tran- 

 sient ; they are, however, destined for a higher object than a short-livetl admii'a- 

 tion ; for to them is assigned the important office of producing and nourishing the 



}i. Bracts— rifierence between tho real leaf and the bract.— 65. Second division of vegetable orffana— 

 . I{cHeclion« 



