ENDOGENS. 135 



ual sessile flowers on a spike, as in the Willow or Hazel) 

 the bracts are called scales. A whorl of bracts is an in- 

 volucre. These are sometimes adherent, as in the cup 

 of the Acorn. A sheathing bract inclosing one or more 

 flowers is a spathe. This is common among Endogens, 

 as in Calla, Arum, and the Palms. In Grasses the outer 

 scales are considered as sterile bracts, and have received 

 the name of glumes. 



The various modes of inflorescence is a subject of 

 profound study with botanists, but its details are too 

 extensive for the design of the present work. As stated 

 in Chap. IV, Sec. n, the parts of the flower, as regards 

 their development, structure, and arrangement, may all 

 be referred to the leaf as a type. They begin like leaves 

 in cellular projections, in which fibre-vascular tissue is 

 ultimately formed ; they are arranged in a more or less 

 spiral manner, and they are often partially or entirely 

 changed into leaves. These facts confirm Goethe's doc- 

 trine that all the parts of the flower are altered leaves. 



12. In the type of Endogens we meet with a great 

 variety of flowers, some perfectly organized, as the Lily, 

 and others, as the Duckweed and Bulrushes, quite in- 

 complete. Yet even in the more lowly forms we meet 

 with abundant examples of the care of a beneficent 

 Providence accomplishing intelligent designs by various 

 ways, but all indicative of Divine wisdom. In the 

 Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium ramosum) the branches 

 bear yellow balls of staminate, or barren flowers, and 

 green pistillate, or fertile florets. " What happens in 

 this case," says Dr. Lindley, " occurs also in all instances 

 in which the stamens are separated from the pistils in 



