BOTANY. 



wound the skin. Hence arose the fol- 

 lowing 1 lines: 



" Tender handed touch a nettle, 



And it sting's you for your pains ; 

 Grasp it like a man of mettle, 

 And it soft as silk remains." 



CF TUB DIFFERENT KISDS OF INFLORES- 

 CENCE, OR MODES OF FLOWERING. 



The various modes in which flowers are 

 situated upon or connected with a plant, 

 are of great botanical importance, not 

 only forspecific distinctions,but as leading 

 the way to the knowledge of natural fami- 

 lies or orders. Yet. Linnaeus does not al- 

 low them to enter into the generic charac- 

 ters of plants, which he founds solely on 

 the seven parts of fructification to be 

 hereafter described This is one of those 

 classical maxims of the Linnsean school, 

 which rival botanists are continually at- 

 tempting to undermine and depreciate, 

 conscious of their own deficiency in that 

 technical skill for which Linnaeus was 

 pre-eminent. We shall take occasion to 

 mention an instance in which he himself 

 went counter to this law. 



The following- are the several kinds of 

 inflorescence. 



1. Verticillus, a whorl, in which the 

 flowers surround the stem in a garland or 

 ring, though perhaps merely inserted on 

 its two opposite sides, as in the natural 

 order to which the mints, the dead nettle, 

 Lamium, and many others, belong. 

 Fig. 25. 



2 Racemus, a cluster or raceme, bears 

 several flowers,each in its own stalk,loose- 

 ly ranged along one common stalk, like a 

 bunch of currants, and this common stalk 

 may be either simple or branched. A ra- 

 cemus is generally drooping or pendulous, 

 and the flowers are all nearly in perfec- 

 tion at once. Fig. 26. 



3. Spica, a spike, is composed of nu- 

 merous crowded flowers, ranged along 

 an upright common stalk, expanding pro- 

 gressively and properly, destitute of any 

 partial stalks ; but this last circumstance 

 cannot be rigidly observed. Wheat and 

 barley are good examples of a genuine 

 spike. Some lavenders have a compound 

 spike. Spicuta, a spikelet, is a term used 

 only for grasses, and expresses that as- 

 semblage of florets in a common calyx 

 which constitutes their flowers. Fig. 27. 



4. Corymbus, a corymb, fig. 28, may be 

 called aflat-topped spike, the long stalks 

 of whose lowermost flowers raise them 

 to a level with the uppermost, or nearly 

 so; this is exemplified in the cabbage 



and wall-flower. The yarrow and moun- 

 tain-ash bear a kind of compound and ir- 

 regular corymbus, to which is nearly 

 allied, 



5. Fasciculus, a fascicle, expressive of a 

 close bundle of flowers, on little stalks, 

 variously connected and level at the top, 

 as in the sweet-william. Fig. 29. 



6. Capitulum, a head or tuft, is compos- 

 ed of numerous sessile flowers, collected 

 into a globular form, as the globe ama- 

 ranthus and thrift. Fig. 30. 



7. Umbella, an umbel or rundle, consists 

 of several stalks, called rays, spreading 

 from one common centre, like an umbrel- 

 la. Each stalk is either simple and single- 

 flowered, or, as most commonly occurs, 

 subdivided into an umbellula, or partial 

 umbel. This inflorescence belongs to a 

 natural order, thence called Umbellate, to 

 which the parsley, carrot, hemlock, and 

 many others belong. Fig. 31. 



8. Cyma, a cyme, consists of stalks 

 springing from one common centre, but 

 which are afterwards irregularly subdi- 

 vided, as in the laurustinus and alder, 

 fig. 32. Linnjeus was led by some con- 

 siderations to reckon these two last 

 forms of inflorescence as aggregate flow- 

 ers, but it isfound more correct to esteem 

 them modes of inflorescence, though by 

 so doing we lose the advantage of taking 

 parts properly belonging to the umbel 

 into the generic character. By a contrary 

 mode of proceeding we presume to think 

 Linnaeus swerved from his own rule of 

 founding his genera on the actual parts of 

 fructification. 



9. Pamcula, a panicle, Plate III. fig. 33. 

 is a loose subdivided bunch of flowers, 

 arranged without order, as in the oat. 

 It is either close or spreading. When its 

 branches lean all towards one side, it is 

 called Pamcula secunda. 



10. Thyrsus, a bunch, is a very dense 

 panicle, inclining to an ovate figure, of 

 which Linnzeus cites the lilac and the 

 butter-bur as instances. Dr. Smith adds 

 to these a bunch of grapes, which appears 

 to him to have been inaccurately reckon- 

 ed a racemus. Fig. 34. 



OF THE FRUCTIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



Under the term fructification are com- 

 prehended, not only all the parts of the 

 fruit, but also those of the flower, which 

 last are indispensable for the perfecting of 

 the former. All these organs are, there- 

 fore, essential to a vegetable, which may 

 be deficient in any of those that we have 

 previously described, but can never be 



