STAMENS AND PISTILS. 241 



plant always precedes its fruit. To this the Meadow 

 Saffron, Engl. Bot. t. 133, seems an objection, the 

 fruit and leaves being perfected in the spring, the 

 blossoms not appearing till autumn; but a due exami- 

 nation will readily ascertain that the seed-bud formed 

 in autumn is the very same which comes to maturity 

 in the following spring. A Pine-apple was once very 

 unexpectedly cited to me as an instance of fruit being 

 formed before the flower, because the green fruit in 

 that instance, as in many others, is almost fully grown 

 before the flowers expand. The seeds however, the 

 essence of the fruit, are only in embryo at this period, 

 just as in the germen of an Apple blossom. 



It was very soon ascertained that flowers are invari- 

 ably furnished with Stamens and Pistils, either in the 

 same individual, or two of the same species, however 

 defective they may be in other parts; of which Hippuris, 

 Engl. Bot. t. 763, the most simple of blossoms, is a 

 remarkable example. < Few botanists indeed had de- 

 tected them in the Lemha or Duck-weed, so abundant 

 on the surface of still waters, and Valisneri alone for a 

 long time engrossed the honour of having seen them. 

 In our days however they rewarded the researches of 

 the indefatigable Ehrhart in Germany, and, on being 

 sought with equal acuteness, were found in England. 

 Three species have been delineated in Engl. Bot. 

 t. 926, 1095 and 1233, from the discoveries of Mr. 

 Turner and Mr. W. Borrer. The flowers of Mosses, 

 long neglected and afterwards mistaken, were faithfully 



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