PART IV. 



THE ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION IN PHANEROGAMOUS 

 PLANTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE FLOWER. 



ALL, intelligent naturalists are agreed that a similar prin- 

 ciple and plan of structure pervades the whole chain of animal 

 organization, and that the same organs are developed under 

 different forms to meet the peculiar wants and self-preservative 

 instincts of the animal. Thus, the arm of man, the foreleg of 

 quadrupeds, the true wing of birds, and even the pectoral fin 

 of fishes, all represent one and the same organ developed under 

 widely different forms, in accordance with those purposes to 

 which they are subservient in the animal economy. 



Now precisely the same is the principle and plan of struc- 

 ture in the vegetable world. The essential organs of plants 

 consist of the root, stem and leaves ; no new organ is intro- 

 duced, but these common elements of vegetable structure are 

 developed in peculiar and appropriate forms to suit the several 

 wants of the plant. 



When we look at a plant in full bloom, we are apt to regard 

 it as an organized being of a very complex character, and to 

 look on the green leaves of its stem, and the several members 



