CLASSIFICATION OF COMPOUND ORGANS. 125 



the three which have been just mentioned. It is ex- 

 pedient then to study directly the structure and history 

 of these three organs; which we shall call the Funda- 

 mental ones, to indicate both that they serve eminently 

 for the nutrition of plants, and that all the others (as 

 will appear in their description), are simple modifications. 



Those other organs, less essential to life, but whicli 

 concur, however, in a powerful manner to its support, 

 may be classed in two divisions ; the one kind, (and 

 these are by far the more complicated and various,) are 

 connected with the means of reproduction of plants: 

 these are the Reproductive Organs (organes repro- 

 ducteurs), such as flowers, fruits, &c. 



The others are modifications of the fundamental 

 orsfans, and are connected with other functions than re- 

 production, such as the support, defence, and protection 

 of the organs in general, or of one of them in particular. 

 I have called them collectively by the name of Accessory 

 Organs (organes accessories). 



These divisions are applicable when they relate to 

 Vascular plants, but we must not strictly follow them in 

 the description of the Cellular, where all the parts are 

 more or less confounded in a homogeneous tissue. We 

 shall take care, in the following books, attentively to 

 separate these two great divisions of the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



