8ECT. I. APPENDAGES OF THE FLOWER. 179 



Eartsia coccinea it is of a bright scarlet, giving it 

 at a distance the appearance of a corolla. In some 

 cases, as in Mdampyrum arvense, the lower bractes 

 of the spike are green, and the upper ones coloured, 

 passing, as it were, by a regular gradation from the 

 real leaves of the plant to real bractes. 



The bractes are said to be solitary if there is only Solitary or 

 one to each flower, as in Erica Daboecia ; or du- in pai 

 plicate if there are two to a flower, as in Rosa canina; 

 or triplicate if three to a flower, as in Erica caly- 

 cina ; or multiplicate if many to a flower, as in 

 J3artsia,\i\ which they are so numerous and so closely 

 crowded together as to form a large tuft or bunch 

 at the end of the stem. In their dimensions they 

 are generally compared with the flower as a stand- 

 ard, and described as being longer, shorter, or of 

 the same length. 



The floral leaves of the genus Euphorbia, which 

 have generally been regarded as constituting an in- 

 volucre, because so regarded by Linnaeus, Dr. 

 Smith seems inclined to transfer to the head of the 

 bracte, because all species of Euphorbia are not um- 

 bellate, and because there is no necessity for con- 

 verting the floral leaves of this genus into a calyx, as 

 there appeared to be in some others, each individual 

 flower being uniformly furnished with a distinct, 

 conspicuous, and proper calyx. This remark is 

 sufficiently to the purpose if the involucre is still to 

 be regarded as a species of calyx. But if it is to be 

 regarded as being merely a floral leaf, which it un- 



