bO ON LEAVES. 



of the red topped Clary, which exhibit various tints of 

 red, purple, and green, are also of this description. There 

 are many bracteae which do not differ either in color or 

 form from the other leaves of the plant, and are distin- 

 guished only by their situation with regard to the flower. 

 Such is the tuft of leaves on the summit of the flower 

 called the crown imperial, and that which grows from the 

 top of the pine-apple : the scaly covering of this fruit con- 

 sists also of the remnants of degenerated bracteae. 



Caroline. And pray, Mrs. B., is not the scaly cone of 

 the fir-tree of the same nature ? I have often observed 

 it when the seeds hare fallen out, and it wears the ap- 

 pearance of an aggregation of short, thick, stiff leaves, 

 forming a cone of cells some-what resembling a bee-hive. 



Mrs. B. You are quite right ; except in calling the 

 fruit which is lodged in these cells seeds : their botanical 

 name is achenium. 



Both the fir-cone and the pine-apple are aggregated 

 fruits, separated by bracteae ; but in the succulent pine- 

 apple, almost all vestiges of the intervening bracteae are 

 obliterated. 



Emily. When the crown of the pine-apple is pulled 

 off, the summit of the fruit, I think, exhibits some marks 

 of cells formed by bracteae. 



Mrs. B. That is true ; and they are, you may have 

 observed, empty: the pressure of the base of the crown 

 having prevented the fruit from growing, the bracteae are 

 not wholly obliterated. 



Leaves are arranged on the stem in a great variety of 

 ways : sometimes in opposite pairs, and the successive 

 pairs crossing each other at right angles ; at others, sev- 

 eral leaves shoot from the same spot, and spread out in 

 a circle. They sometimes alternate on the stem, and 

 appear irregularly scattered ; but Nature allows nothing 

 to be scattered by chance: upon a careful investigation, 

 order and method will be discerned in the minutest of 



317. What bracteae are mentioned which do not differ in color or 

 form from the leaves! 318. What does Caroline say of the fir-tree 1 ? 

 319. With what exception does Mrs. B. consider what she says to be 

 correct! 320. What does Emily say of the pine apple when the 

 crown is pulled off! 321. What is the reply of Mrs. B1 322. 

 What does she ay of the arrangement of the leaves upon the stem! 

 323. But what does she say will appear upon careful investigation! 



