BOOK J. 



STRUCTURE OF PERFECT PLANTS. 



139 



first anomaly, as affects 

 the conservative appen- 

 dages, occurs in dioncea 

 muscipula, or Venus's fly- 

 trap C/f#.43. ft). A second is 

 that which occurs in sarra- 

 cenia purpurea, or purple 

 sidesaddle-flower (/). A | 

 third, which is still more | 

 singular, occurs in ne- 

 penthes distillatoria (c). 

 The last anomaly is that 

 of a small globular and 

 membranaceous bag, at- 

 tached as an appendage 

 to the roots and leaves of 

 some of the aquatics. It 

 is confined only to a few 

 genera, but is to be seen 

 in great abundance on the 

 roots or leaves of the seve- 

 ral -species of utricularia 

 inhabiting the ponds and 

 ditches of this country; 



and on the leaves of aldrovanda vesiculosa, an inhabitant of the marshes of Italy. In utriculorfca vulgaris 

 this appendage is pear-shaped, compressed, with an open border at the small end furnished with several 

 slender fibres originating in the margin, and containing a transparent and watery fluid, and a small bubble 

 of air, by means of which it seems to acquire a buoyancy that suspends it in the water. 



SUBSECT. 3. Rejrroductive Organs. 



594. The reproductive organs are such parts of the plant as are essential to its propaga- 

 tion, corresponding in extent to the fructification of Linnaeus, which he has elegantly 

 defined to be a temporary part of the vegetable, whose object is the reproduction of the 

 species, terminating the old individual, and beginning the new. It includes the flower 

 with its immediate accompaniments or peculiarities, the flower-stalk, receptacle, and 

 inflorescence, together with the ovary or fruit. 



The flower, like the leaf, is a temporary part of the plant, issuing generally from the extremity of the 

 branches, but sometimes also from the root, stem, and even leaf, being the apparatus destined by nature 

 for the production of the fruit, and being also distinguishable, for the most part, by the brilliancy of its 

 coloring or the sweetness of its smell. It has been happily styled by Pliny, the joy of plants, " flos 

 gaudium arborum ;" of which the lily, the tulip, and the rose, are magnificent examples. 



The flower-stalk is a partial trunk or stem, supporting one or more flowers, if the flowers are not sessile, 

 and issuing from the root, stem, branch, or petiole, and sometimes even from the leaf. It is considered by 

 botanists as comprehending two different species, the scape and peduncle. 



The receptacle is the seat of the flower, and point of union between the different parts of the flower, or 

 between the flower and the plant, whether immediate and sessile, or mediate and supported upon a 

 flower-stalk. Some botanists have considered it as a part of the flower itself, thongh this view of the sub- 

 ject is not entirely correct ; but it is at any rate a part of the fructification, and cannot possibly be wanting 

 in the case of any flower whatever. Like the flower-stalk, it has been discriminated by botanists into two 

 different species, which are not indeed designated by proper names, but characterised by the appellations 

 of the proper receptacle, and the common receptacle. 



The inflorescence is the peculiar mode of aggregation in which flowers are arranged or distributed upon 

 the plant, whence it is called sometimes also the mode of flowering. 



The fruit. In the progress of fructification, when the several organs of the flower have discharged their 

 respective functions, the petals, the stamens, the style, and often the calyx, wither and fall. The ovary 

 alone remains attached to the plant, and swells and expands till it reaches maturity. It is now denominated 

 the fruit. But at the period of its complete developement it also detaches itself from the plant and drops 

 into the bosom of the earth, containing and protecting the embryo of the future vegetable. The fruit then 

 is the ripened ovary and the parts which it contains. In popular language the term is confined chiefly to 

 such fruits as are esculent, as the apple, the peach, and the cherry, or perhaps to the esculent part only ; 

 but with the botanist the matured ovary of every flower, with the parts contained, constitutes the fruit. 



SUBSECT. 4. Reproductive Appendages. 



595. Various additional and supernumerary parts, not at all essential to their consti- 

 tution, because not always present, are often found attending the reproductive organs. 

 Many of them are precisely of the same character with that of the conservative appen- 

 dages, except that they are of a finer and more delicate texture. Such are the glands, 

 down, pubescence, hairs, thorns, or prickles, with one or other of which the parts of the 

 fructification are occasionally furnished. But others are altogether peculiar to the repro- 

 ductive organs, and are to be regarded as constituting, in the strict acceptation of the 

 term, true reproductive appendages. Some of them are found to be proper to the flower, 

 and others to the fruit. 



The appendages proper to the flower are the involucre, spathe, and bracte, generally designated by the 

 appellation of floral leaves, as being leaf-like substances situated near the flower, though different in their 

 color, form, or substance, from the reaUeaves of the plant ; together with the nectary, and several other 

 minute organs presumed to be nectaries, though not certainly known to be so. 



Appendages of the fruit. When the flower with its appendages has fallen, the ovary, which is still 

 immature, is left attached to the plant, to complete the object of the fructification in the ripening of the 

 contained seed. If it is left without any extraneous or supernumerary appendage, which is a case that 

 often occurs, as in the cherry, apricot, and currant, the fruit is said to be naked. The naked fruit, how- 

 ever, is not to be confounded.with the naked seed, from which it is altogether distinct. For it is the want 

 of a conspicuous pericarp that constitutes the naked seed ; but it is the want of an additional integument 

 enveloping the pericarp, that constitutes the naked fruit. But all parts of the flower are not always deci- 



