260 PROSERPINA. 



suppose, among the myriads of plants of which I 

 know nothing, there may be forms of the enve- 

 lope of fruits or seeds which may, for comfort of 

 speech, require some common generic name. One 

 unreal difficulty, or shadow of difficulty, remains 

 in our having no entirely comprehensive name 

 for seed and seed-vessel together than that the 

 botanists now use, 'fruit.' But practically, even 

 now, people feel that they can't gather figs of 

 thistles, and never speak of the fructification of 

 a thistle, or of the fruit of a dandelion. And, 

 re-assembling now, in one view, the words we 

 have determined on, they will be found enough 

 for all practical service, and in such service 

 always accurate, and, usually, suggestive. I repeat 

 them in brief order, with such farther explana- 

 tion as they need. 



ii. All ripe products of the life of flowers 

 consist essentially of the Seed and Husk, — these 

 being, in certain cases, sustained, surrounded, or 

 provided with means of motion, by other parts of 

 the plant ; or by developments of their own form 

 which require in each case distinct names. Thus 

 the white cushion of the dandelion to which its 

 brown seeds are attached, and the personal para- 

 chutes which belong to each, must be separately 

 described for that species of plants; it is the little 



