80 



HISTORY OF TIIK VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



n position perpendicular to the surtace of the 

 frond. These sacks, wliicli are the outer enve- 

 lopes of the flower, if carefully opened up, will 

 be found to contain an oblong or egg-shaped sub- 

 stance, wliich is the ovary •svrapped up in a 

 Bccond envelope that is perforated by the style. 

 If this second envelope is more carefully stripped 

 off, the ovary and style will appear, accompanied 

 with several succulent substances, resembling 

 the abortive pistils of the mosses ; and if the 

 ovary is itself opened up, it will be found to 

 consist of a greenish and gelatinous mass, inter- 

 spersed with a nmltitude of minute granules. 

 If the flower, instead of being thus dissected, is 

 allowed to ripen in the plant, the envelopes will, 

 in the progress of fructification, burst open at 

 the top, and discover a small protruding globule, 

 of a black or brovpnish colour, and of about the 

 size of a miUet, and which is by and by disen- 

 gaged entirely from them, and elevated on a fine 

 and thread-shaped pedicle, from a line to an 

 inch or more in length. This elevated globule 

 is the ovary, which, when ripe, separates into four 

 longitudinal valves ; from the extremities of 

 which a number of small spiral and elastic 

 threads issue, to which the seeds are attached. 

 The hepaticie, like the mosses, are capable of 

 being propagated by the sowing of their seeds. 

 But it has been observed, by Hedwig and others, 

 that the hepaticce produce also gems as well as 

 seed, by which the species arc often propagated. 

 If a plant is carefully inspected, there will oc- 

 casionally be observed a number of small cup- 

 shaped substances immersed in the frond, and 

 toothed at the border. The cups are filled with 

 a number of small granules which are the gems. 

 Algoe. The fructification of the algae is less 

 perfectly known than that of any of the pre- 

 ceding tribes of simple plants ; but it has re- 

 ceived, hke them also, considerable elucidation 

 from the investigations of Ilcdwig, particularly 

 the lichens. In all species of lichens, a plant 

 found abundantly on rocks and stones, and con- 

 sisting merely of a frondose form, without stem 

 or root, there issues from the edge or surface of 

 the frond, a numljer of small tubercles, or wart- 

 like substances of the colour and texture of the 

 parent lichens. If one of these is taken in an 

 early state of its growth, and divided by means 

 of a vcrticle section, it will be found to consist 

 of a single or double cell, imbedded in the pulp 

 of the frond, and containing a granulated mass. 

 The contained granules are particles of pollen, 

 the maturity of which is indicated by the chang- 

 ing of the colour of the tubercle to a deep 

 brown, and their escape by its changing to black. 

 From a different part of the same plant, or from 

 a difierent plant of the same species, there are 

 also found to issue a number of cup-shaped or 

 target-shaped substances, supported on short 

 pedicles of the same contexture with the frond, 



and of a greenish colour, but gradually becoming 

 dark as they ripen. If one of them be now 

 divided, by means of a verticle section, it wiU 

 be found to contain immediately under the black 

 crust at the top, a number of small and egg- 

 shaped substances, arranged in perpendicular col- 

 umns. These substances are the seeds, which 

 finally escape through the crust. In this species, 

 both the barren and fertile flowers are well 

 shown in lichen physodes. Such is the theory 

 of Iledwig, but Gartner, who is also a great 

 authority on this subject, contends that the 

 powdery substance ejected from the targets or 

 saucers, consists not of seeds, but of a peculiar 

 species of gem, which he denominates the pro- 

 page, and describes as being a simple gem, with- 

 out leaves or regular shape ; sometimes naked, 

 and sometimes covered with an envelope, which 

 separating at length from the parent plant, is 

 dispersed in the way of seeds, but is not itself a 

 seed. In the remaining genera of the algfc, the 

 fructification is, if possible, still more obscure, 

 exhibiting no traces of stamens or pistils, or even 

 of the warts and saucers of the lichens, but merely 

 a number of small granules, irregularly dispersed 

 throughout the substance of the plant, and ex- 

 tricated only by its decay, which Hedwig pre- 

 sumes to be seeds, but which Gcertner regards 

 also as a peculiar species of gem, which he calls 

 gongylus, describing it as being a simple gem 

 without leaves, of a globular form and solid con- 

 texture, embedded in the bark of the plant, and 

 extracted only by its decay ; so that it may very 

 well be doubted whether the genera in question 

 do at all produce perfect seeds, or are propagated 

 by any other means than that of gems. In the 

 fuci, the interspersed granules are said to have a 

 perforation above them, which the other families 

 have not. 



Fungi. Micheli seems to have been the first 

 to detect what may be regarded as the seeds of 

 the fungi ; but Hedwig expected to find, and 

 tried also to discover in them, as indeed in all 

 cryptogamous plants, the same sort of reproduc- 

 tive organs as are found in plants with conspic- 

 uous flowers. And from a persuasion that they 

 existed, and were certainly to be detected, he 

 was in some cases, perhaps, rather too soon satis- 

 fied of having succeeded in their detection. In 

 fungi furnished with gills * and a curtain, if the 

 inner surface of the curtain is carefully examined 

 with a good magnifier before the time of its 

 natural detachment from the stipe or pileus, there 

 will be found adhering to it a number of fine 

 and delicate threads, supporting small globules, 

 and in such as have no curtain, the same sort ot 

 substance may be found adhering to the edge of 

 the pileus. These Hedwig regards as stamens. 



* See fig. 20, page Ifl, where h points out t)ie gills it 

 the mushroom. 



