CHAP. II. NAKED SEED. 219 



by pericarps, as has been shown above, the expression in the 

 sense of Linnaeus is obviously incorrect, and is now abandoned. 

 Hence it has been inferred that there is no such thing in 

 existence as a naked seed ; that is to say, a seed which bears 

 on its own integuments the organ of impregnation. To this 

 proposition botanists had assented till the year 1825, when 

 Brown demonstrated the existence of seeds strictly naked ; 

 that is to say, from their youngest state destitute of pericarp, 

 and receiving impregnation through their integuments without 

 the intervention of style or stigma, or any stigmatic apparatus. 

 That most learned botanist has demonstrated that seeds of this 

 description are uniform in Coniferae and Cycadeae, in which 

 no pericarpial covering exists. But we have no knowledge at 

 present of such an economy obtaining in other plants, as a 

 constant character. It does, however, happen, as the same 

 observer has pointed out, that in particular species the ovary 

 is ruptured at an early period by the ovules, which thus, when 

 ripe, become truly naked seeds: remarkable instances of which 

 occur in Ophiopogon spicatus, Leontice thalictroides, and 

 Peliosanthes Teta. 



