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i.i; \.\li.\ \< 



1 • 



turuous margin at x. If the triangli I D D Ix 



be :it the three 



11 







es, the | > < . -» : t i < > 1 1 of the parte will 

 two scales that are usually developed 

 do occupy the places 1» D ; « hil< the 

 third, whi oever i( radded, i- sta- 



ll al C Tin- triangle I. I. I iudi- 

 cati - by its angles the normal position of 

 the first if Btamens, which arc 



actually bo situated, the stamen F which 

 is opposite the sepal A alternating with 

 tin- rudimentary petals D 1». The objec- 

 tion t-i this i-, that the parte of the 

 supposed calyx or paleaa are not in- 

 s rted upon the Bams plane, or truly 

 rerti and consequently do not 



answer ■ sactly to what is required in a 

 flora] envelope ; and it is on this account 

 that Turpin rejects Brown's opinion, 

 giving the paleaa the name of Bpathelle, A. 



and considering them bracts ol a second i i.wvi 



order. Kunth entertains a Bomewhat different view of the nature of the floral • i 

 considering the hypogynous Bcales to be analogous to the ligula, and the normal 

 Grasses to he hexandrdus. See Erw/i, . . ol. i. p. 3, i. 



RaspaU, in a memoir upon tin- structure of Grasses, hazards a theory, that the 

 midrib of tho bracts of Grasses is an axis of development in cohesion with th< 

 and that when it separates, as in Phleum, Bromus, or I orynej horus, it i- attemptii . 

 revert to the functions of ulterior development, for which it is moi 

 Among ether things, he states {An \. 276. E) that he should not be surj i 



one day to find Borne lira-- in which the midrib of the lowi r palea actually 1 

 new axis bearing other florets. I mention this for the Bake of remarking 

 case is known, without however admitting that it i- anj confirmation 

 vi< ws, which are at variance with the laws of vegetable development, for n i Inch 



ar bo obvious, as to render it altogether unnecessary to give them here. 1 have a mon- 

 strous Barley, th< Hordeum .E-iceras of Royle, cultivated as \\ heat in the Himal 

 moimtains, specimens of which I communicated in 1830 to M. Kunth and others, in which 

 the midrib of the lower palea actually becomes saccate towards the apex, 

 imperfect floret, with stamens, ovary, and hypogynous scales in it- cavity. Th< well- 

 known tendency to a special development of buds in the marj certain l>a\.-. in 

 Perns, and according to the observations of Turpin, in the whole sul 

 monocotyledonous leaves, leaves nothing in this fact to excite but] 

 new the. lie- ; hut it i- worth mentioning as the only instance upon record 

 bud with Bexual apparatus being dev< loped under Buch circumstani 



The embryo is here described in conformity with the views that are n 

 a ol its nature ; thai is to Bay, it i- considered to consist ol a dila( 

 cotyledon applied to the albumen on one Bide, and bearing a naked plumul< 

 other Bide, next the t<sta. It is proper, however, t.. remark, that tl 

 the late i,. C. Richard, that the part commonly called cotyledon is 

 and that the plumule is a body contained within tin' apparent plumule, has I 

 by Nees \r, Esenbeck, in his Agrostologia Brasiliensis, but with boi ■■ 



ard i onsidered the cotyledon to be a part of the radicle, to which ! 

 macropodal, in eonsequence of its great supposed enlargement in G 

 other families; Nees v. Esenb tk, on the contrary, seems to entertain the o] 

 this cotyledon i- a special organ, for which he retains Richard's nan 

 although he does not ad. .pi the view that botanist took of it- natui 

 consider the improbability of any special organ being provided 

 found elsewhere, and if we consider how nearly alike are the cml i 

 certain Arum worts, in which the plumule lie- within a cleft ol I 

 ble to doubt the identity of the hypoblastus ol Richard a 

 cotyledon of other Monocotyledons. Inde.-d. the latter him 

 to hesitate about the accuracy of distinguishing them, when h< 

 hypoblastus pars qnsedam habenda est cotyledoni ana 

 quain ad extemam corculi evolutionem spectans." 



In some Grasses a portion of the inflorescence ass 

 change takes place in Coix, in the involucre : in Chionachi 

 valve of the glume of the female locusts : and in Tripsacum, in tic • 

 \ett in Horsjield's Plant* Javanicce, p. 19 ; when the - 



