SECT. III. THE RECEPTACLE. 12Q 



exhibiting any thing like a distinct or definite figure, 

 except in cases in which the flower is furnished with 

 a great many stamens or pistils, requiring a con- 

 siderable extent of base. This may be exemplified 

 in the Poppy, Ranunculus, or Water Lily. 



But there are many cases in which the receptacle Blended 

 cannot be exhibited as constituting altogether a dis- ca iy x . 

 tinct and separate organ, being often so intimately 

 blended with the calyx as to render it difficult to 

 ascertain the limits by which the one is to be dis- 

 tinguished from the other. This is particularly the 

 case in flowers of which the calyx is persistent, as 

 in Convolvulus and Rubus; in which the external 

 surface of the calyx is obviously a continuation of 

 the outer rind of the flower-stalk, and the inner sur- 

 face apparently a continuation of the receptacle, 

 which is contained in the hollow of the calyx and 

 identified with its substance. 



This difficulty of discrimination has given rise to And hence 



,..,,.. . , . consitu- 



some diversity ot opinion among botanists upon the ting the 



subject of the calyx and receptacle, one regarding 

 as part of the former what another regards as part * erti ? n of 

 of the latter. The stamens of the class Icosandria 

 and of many other plants were regarded by Lin- 

 naeus as inserted in the calyx^ and so they have 

 been regarded by most of his foHowers, as well as 

 by the celebrated Jussieu in the distribution of his 

 natural orders, who founds one of his primary and 

 principal divisions on what he denominates the 

 perigynous insertion of the stamens or corolla. 

 VOL. i. K 



