230 BIOLOGY. 



under a single idea, under that of the aether, namely, of 

 the gravity, light and heat, or the fire. 



1168. The flower as the sether-organ of the plant is 

 not so independent as an animal, but subordinated to the 

 planetary systems, being only a separation of the parts of 

 the trunk, not a new formation, as in the animal 

 kingdom. 



1169. The flower as the highest formative consum- 

 mation of the plant, or as the highest vegetable organ, is 

 the extremity of the ramules. (Ed. 1st. 1810. 1176.) 



1170. Although the flower is a repetition of the whole 

 plant, namely, of the root, stalk, and leaf ; it can still only 

 be a direct transmutation of the leaf. For every Supe- 

 rior proceeds from that which is immediately subjacent. 

 The light-organ can only be developed out of the air- 

 organ, not out of the water -organ. The transition from 

 the water-organ into the light-organ is necessarily indi- 

 cated through the aerial form. Preparations are neces- 

 sary, gradual dismemberments must precede, before the 

 isolated consummation can result. The air purifies the 

 organs, in order that they may become participant of 

 light. 



1171. The flower is the totality of the leaves of a 

 ramule placed upon the extremity of the latter. For a 

 flower is the whole plant, and is the Ultimate of the plant. 



1172. The flower is a terminal leaf-bud. A leaf-bud, 

 after whose rupture the ramule cannot grow any more. 



1173. The flower necessarily stands in a whorl-shaped 

 manner, because it is the end of the branch ; it is the 

 terminal whorl of the plant. 



1174. With the flower the ramule or the plant dies 

 off, partly because it is the extremity, partly because 

 wholly separated tissues cannot live. In the flower there- 

 fore the plant reverts to its origin. It is a ramule, whose 

 buds have continued stationary. 



1175. The idea of the vesicle lies at the basis of the 

 flower. It is an entire vegetable vesicle, a leaf-bud that 

 has not been drawn asunder. The flower is the last 

 vesicle into which the stalk swells out. 



