Q2- REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. CHAP. III. 



Salix herbacea (PL IV. Fig. 5.) ; or ovate, as in 

 SalLv acuminata ; or lanceolate, as in SalLr spha- 

 celata ; or linear, as in SalLv Russeliana. It is 

 also either entire, as in the Fir ; or fringed, as in 

 SalLv herbacea ; or emarginate, as in Salix pctio- 

 laris; or cleft, as in Eetula nana. (PL IV. Fig. 6.) 

 Its surface is smooth, as in SalLv amygdallna ; or 

 pubescent, as in the Hazel ; or silky, as in Salix 

 argent ea; or hairy, as in Salix purpurea. It is 

 deciduous if it falls with the flower, as in Betula 

 alba ; and permanent if it adheres to the fruit, as 

 in the Fig. 



Respect- ARTICLE 4. General Remarks. As the conser- 

 rhfcffarac- va ^ ve or g ans nave De <3n found to furnish marks 

 ters. proper for the discrimination of species ; so the 

 reproductive organs, or their parts, have been found 

 to furnish marks proper for the discrimination of 

 genera. This peculiar aptitude of the reproductive 

 organs had been discerned, obscurely at least, even 

 by the earlier systematic Botanists ; but was first 

 distinctly perceived and pointed out by the illus- 

 trious Tournefort, who formed many of his genera 

 on the parts of the fructification, availing himself 

 of the aid of the conservative organs, only in what 

 he conceived to be cases of necessity. But Lin- 

 naeus, from whose profound investigations, and ex- 

 tensive as well as accurate views, botany was de^ 

 stined to derive still farther improvement, regarded 

 the reproductive organs as constituting exclusively 

 the only sure and legitimate ground of generic dis* 



