PLANTS. 229 



nut — pro'luce the embryos of the leaves and flowers in one 

 year, and bring them to perfection the following'. There is 

 a winter, therefore, to be gotten over. Now, what we are 

 to remark is, how nature has prepared for the trials and 

 severities of that season. These tender embryos are in the 

 first place wrapped up with a compactness which no art can 

 imitate ; in which state they compose what we call the bud. 

 This is not all. The bud itself is inclosed in scales, which 

 scales are formed from the remains of past leaves and the 

 rudiments of future ones. Neither is this the whole. In 

 the coldest climates, a third preservative is added, by the 

 bud having a coat of gum or resin, which being congealed, 

 resists the strongest frosts. On the approach of warm 

 weather, this gum is softened, and ceases to be a hinderance 

 to the expansion of the leaves and flow^ers. All this care is 

 part of that system of provisions which has for its object and 

 consummation the production and perfecting of the seeds. 



The SEEDS themselves are packed up in a caj)sule, a 

 \essel composed of coats which, compared with the rest of 

 the flower, are strong and tough. From this vessel projects 

 a tube, through which tube the farina, or some subtile fecun- 

 dating effluvium that issues from it, is admitted to the seed 

 And here also occurs a mechanical variety, accommodated tt 

 the difTerent circumstances under wliich the same purpose 

 is to be accomplished. In flowers which are erect, the pistil 

 is shorter than the stamina ; and the pollen, shed from the 

 antherte into the cup of the flower, is caught in its descent 

 by the head of the pistil, called the stigma. But how is 

 this managed when the flowers hang down, as does the 

 crown-imperial, for instance, and in which position the 

 farina, in its fall, would be carried from the stigma, and not 

 towards it? The relative length of the parts is now invert- 

 ed. The pistil in these flowers is usually longer, instead of 

 shorter, than the stamina, that its protruding summit may 

 receive the pollen as it irops to the ground. In some cases, 

 as in the nigella, where the shafts of the pistils or styles ara 



