SECT. I. APPENDAGES OF THE FLOWER. 181 



When it is not attached to the corolla it is some- 

 times placed on the receptacle, as in Lathr&a ; or 

 on the calyx, as in Monotropa, if the envelope of 

 that flower is a calyx ; or on the stamens, as in 

 the Laurel ; or on the anthers, as in Adenanthera ; 

 or on the pistil, as in Cheiranthus. 



This appendage of the flower does not seem to 

 have attracted the notice of the botanists of an- 

 tiquity, at least as being a secretory organ, or the 

 reservoir of a secreted fluid. The earliest notice I Observed 

 have met with on the subject is that of Malpighi, 



who in speaking of the leaves of the flowers, that 

 is the petals, admires the singular and curious con- Vaillant. 

 trivance of nature in furnishing them with an ap- 

 paratus which he compares to the cavity of a shell, 

 and in which there is deposited a honey.* 



But as botanists began to be more minute in their 

 investigations, the nectary began also to be more a 

 subject of remark. It was next noticed and de- 

 scribed both by Tournefort and Vaillant, at least as 

 it occurs in some peculiar species ; but was not yet 

 designated by any proper name which it was per- 

 haps not thought of sufficient importance to merit. 

 But Linnaeus, who knew well how to appreciate its Named by 

 real value, as furnishing the botanist with one of 

 the best possible characters of generic discrimina- 

 tion, applied to it the very appropriate name of 



* Mirabile est quod natura quasi conchas in florum foliis exci- 

 tavit quibus mel custodiret. Anat. Planr. 47. 



