SECT. t. THE FLOWER. 105 



m Callitriche ; and the corolla sometimes wanting, 

 as in Hippuris ; or the calyx and corolla are both 

 wanting, as in Chara ; but the stamens are never 

 wanting, except from adventitious or accidental 

 causes. 



Some flowers are furnished with only one stamen, Number. 

 as in the genus Hippuris ; others are furnished with 

 two stamens, as in Veronica ; others with three, as 

 in the Grasses ; and so on in arithmetical progres- 

 sion till you reach the number ten or twelve ; after 

 which their number is generally found to be indefi- 

 nite, amounting, however, in some cases to upwards 

 of a thousand. On the number of the stamens 

 Linnaeus has founded the first twelve classes of his ar- 

 tificial method ; so that if any flower is furnished with 

 only one stamen it is to be referred to the first 

 class ; if with two stamens to the second class ; if 

 with three to the third class, and so on in succes- 

 sion. The remaining classes are founded on other 

 peculiarities. 



But, perhaps, there is no peculiarity of the Insertion, 

 stamens of more essential importance to the botanist 

 than that of the mode of their insertion ; affording, 

 as it does, one of the most approved characters in 

 the discriminating and establishing of genera, and 

 particularly in the investigation of natural affinities. 

 The following are the different modes of insertion 

 as specified by botanists. If the stamens are in- 

 serted in the receptacle, as in the genus Ranunculus, 

 their insertion is said to be Hyp ogynous ; if in the 



