10 MINUTES OF 



On the Structure of Vegetables. 



the flower some resemblance to a regal crown. The female of the epilobium an- 

 gustifoliiim, willow herb, bends down amongst the males for several days, and 

 becomes upright again when impregnated. In the spartium scoparium, common 

 broom, the males or stamens are in two sets, one set rising a quarter of an inch 

 above the other. The itpper set does not arrive at their maturity so soon as the 

 lower; and the stigma, or head of the female, is produced amongst the upper or 

 iinmature set. But as soon as the pistil grows tall enough to burst open the keel- 

 leaf, or liead of the flower, it bends itself round in an instant like a French horn, 

 and inserts its head, or stigma, amongst the lower or mature set of males. The 

 pistil or female then continues to grow in length ; and in a few days the stigma 

 arrives again amongst the upper set, by the time they become mature. This won- 

 derful contrivance is readily seen by opening the keel-leaf of the flowers of broom, 

 before they burst spontaneously. And lastly, in the collinsonia the two males 

 widely diverging from each other, the female bends herself into contact first with 

 one of them ; and after a day or two leaves this, and applies herself to the other; 

 the anther of which was not mature so soon as the former. 



By what means are the anthers in many flowers, and stigmas in other flowers, 

 directed to find their paramours? Is this curious kind of storge produced by me- 

 chanic attraction, or by the sensation of love? 



V. The Pericarpium, or seed-vessel, is the germen just described when 

 grown to maturity, and which, when ripe, discharges the seeds it contained. The 

 pericarpium of several vegetables has a considerable quantity of a proper juice, 

 contained in a parenchymatous substance or in vesicles, every where supplied 

 with very minute air and sap vessels. These are called Fruits. 



VI. The Semina, or seeds, are a deciduous part of the vegetable, each seed 

 including the rudiment of a new one; endowed with a vital principle by the 

 sprinkling of the pollen, which they are capable of retaining for an immense 

 time. The following parts are observed in a seed, 



1. The Corculum, or embryon of the new plant, within the seed. It is di- 



