SECT. VI. THE FLOWER. 28Q 



Mrs. Keith in the church-yard of Stow Maries, near 

 Maldon, Essex, on the 10th of May, 1812. 



The full flower is generally described to be that The full 

 in which the divisions of the corolla are so multi- 

 plied as to exclude the stamens and pistils wholly, 

 by means of their conversion into petals ; which 

 conversion is most readily effected in polypetalous 

 flowers, such as the Tulip, Poppy, Pink, and Ra- 

 nunculus ; monopetalous flowers seldom being 

 found full. This complete metamorphose is, I 

 believe, always the effect of cultivation, and is in- 

 deed, one of the principal objects of the art of the 

 florist ; the beauty of the flower, according to 

 general estimation, being thus much augmented. In 

 the full flower the stamens are always converted into 

 petals, whence we should perhaps infer their iden- 

 tity of origin. But the pistil is often converted into a 

 leaf, as may be seen by inspecting the flower of 

 the double blossomed Cherry, which generally pro- 

 trudes from the centre, a leaf in miniature. But a 

 flower may become full also by the multiplication of 

 the parts of the nectary, as is sometimes the case 

 in the genus Aquilegia, which produces full flowers 

 in three different ways,* by the multiplication of the 

 petals to the exclusion of the nectaries, by the mul- 

 tiplication of the nectaries to the exclusion of the 

 petals, and by the multiplication of the nectaries 

 while the proper petals remain. There are also 

 some peculiarities in the manner in which com- 



* Phil. Bot. 80. 

 VOL. II. U 



