86 REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. CHAP. III. 



But flowers, when inspected minutely and indi- 

 vidually, are obviously divisible into several different 

 and distinct parts. Perfect flowers consist generally 

 of the four following : the calyx, the corolla, the 

 stamens, and the pistil, which shall form the sub- 

 ject of the four following subsections. 



SUBSECTION I. 



Defini- The Calyx. The calyx is the exterior envelope 

 of the flower, encompassing and protecting the in- 

 terior parts. It may be perceived very distinctly in a 

 rose not yet fully blown. It does not however, uni- 

 versally and of necessity, form a constituent part of 

 the flower; for in some flowers, as in the Tulip, it is 

 altogether wanting. But in the flowers of perfect 

 plants it is very generally present, in its application 

 to which Linnaeus regarded it as consisting of thfe 

 five following species : the perianth, the amentum, 

 the spathe, the involucrum, the glume. But this 

 division does not upon minute inspection turn out 

 to be very correct. For of all the species here 

 enumerated the perianth and glume seem alone en- 

 titled to the appellation of calyx. The involucre 

 and spathe are more nearly allied to leaves than to 

 the calyx ; and the ament, though it contains a 

 calyx which is generally distinguished by the ap- 

 pellation of the scale, is not yet itself a calyx. 

 The division of Linnaeus therefore will not be 

 Adopted, but the parts designated by the different 





