STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS. 47 



Bracts approach more or less the sepals, or pieces of 

 the calyx, either when they are coloured or when they 

 are verticillate ; and the transition of the organs of ve°-e- 

 tation to those of the flower is found to be so gradual, 

 that the more it is studied the more we see this unity 

 of composition, which forms the base of philosophical 

 Organography. This observation will become more 

 clear from the examination of the structure of the 

 flower itself, which will be the object of the following 

 chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE FLOWERS OF PHANERO- 

 GAMOUS PLANTS. 



Section I. 

 General Observations. 



The flower, considered physiologically, is the appa- 

 ratus of organs which perform the sexual fecundation, 

 and of those which serve as their immediate envelopes. 

 Considered with regard to Organography, we shall see 

 that it is an assemblage of several (usually four) verticils 

 of leaves, variously transformed, and situated, in the 

 form of a bud, at the extremity of a branch called the 

 pedicel. 



The organs which perform the fecundation, are, — the 

 female organs, or Pistils, which enclose the ovules ; the 

 male organs, or Stamens, which fecundate the others. 



