180 REPRODUCTIVE APPENDAGES. CHAP. IV. 



questionably is, it is but of little consequence 



whether it is called an involucre or a bracte. For 



the sake of consistency, however, it might be called 



an involucre when the fructification is umbellate, 



and a bracte when it is not umbellate. 



Con- But the floral leaf of the genus Anemone has been 



with the styled also, by Linnaeus, an involucre, and with still 



j esg propriety^ as exhibiting in no species an umbel- 

 late fructification, and having also the floral leaf, at 

 least in one species, Anemone nemorosa, so precisely 

 similar to the other leaves of the plant as to be dis- 

 tinguishable only by situation. This therefore, 

 according to Dr. Smith's suggestion, I would trans- 

 fer to the head of the bracte without the slightest 

 scruple. 



SUBSECTION IV. 



Defini- The Nectary. The nectary (PI. IV. Fig. 1 1.) is 

 tlon> an appendage of the flower attached for the most 

 part to the corolla, and secreting or containing a 

 honied juice. It may be exemplified in the horn- 

 like process issuing from the base of the corolla of 

 the Violet or Orchis. It assumes however a great 

 variety of shapes and situations in different genera of 

 plants. Sometimes it resembles a tube or cylinder, 

 or slipper, or cowl, or petal, or pore, or gland ; 

 sessile, as in Sinapis ; or supported upon a pedicle, 

 as in Parnassia ; and sometimes it is a tuft of hairs, 

 or an assemblage of long and slender threads, or a 

 small and minute scale. 



