SECT. IV. DECOMPOSITE ORGANS. 26l 



they are complete in all their parts all the nerves, 

 and all the indentations of the margin, being dis- 

 tinctly perceptible, at least by the assistance of a 

 good glass, together with the fibres, or bundles of 

 fibres connecting the branch and foot-stalk, and 

 thus presenting in the aggregate a miniature repre- 

 sentation of the future leaf. Hence it is obvious that 

 the leaf, like the young shoot, effects its final deve- 

 lopement by means of the intro-susception of new 

 particles throughout the whole of its dimensions : 

 and yet this law of developement is not common to 

 all leaves whatever, for the leaves of liliaceous plants 

 extend chiefly at the point of their junction with 

 the bulb. This fact was ascertained by Du Hamel 

 by means of graduating the leaves of the Hyacinth 

 with transverse lines of coloured varnish ; the lines 

 near the point of the leaf maintained their original and 

 relative distances, but the lines below were removed 

 to a considerable distance, and the nearer the bulb the 

 distance was the greater. Perhaps this peculiarity 

 of developement is the effect of their peculiarity of 

 structure, in being formed of parallel tubes which 

 extend throughout their whole length, without those 

 transverse and branching fibres that constitute what 

 are called the nerves of the leaves of woody plants. 



SUBSECTION VI. 



The Flower and Fruit. When the flower bursts Com 

 from the expanding bud, and even long before that 



