PHANEROGAMIA I FLOWERS. 317 



not yet any distinction or division of the axis as pedicel from the axis as 

 seed-bud. The axis terminates immediately in the 

 flower, with a scarcely evident rounding of the I80u 



extremity, and all that gives it peculiar import to 

 the seed-bud, namely, the formation of the embryo- 

 sac, as well as the subsequent development of the 

 embryo, is carried on in that part of the axis beneath 

 the flower, therefore in the pedicel. The term 

 gemmula infer a would in fact be applicable here. 

 Amongst the Coniferce, the female flower of Taxus 

 (fig. 180a.) is an example of the simplest structure; 

 here, again, we see nothing of floral envelopes or 

 seed-vessels, but the seed-bud no longer exists in the simplest form, as a 

 naked nucleus (nucleus nudus) ; it has a coat (in(egumentum), but no ger- 

 men, and therefore it is still always a naked seed-bud (gemmula nuda)* 



The distribution into essential and unessential parts of the flower is, 

 according to my manner of treating the matter, entirely useless. For 

 the morphological consideration of the plant each organ is equally essen- 

 tial, as a definite expression of the form-creating power of the plant, and 

 it is in this point of view unimportant, whether or not the part fulfil 

 some determinate function, or what this be. In the morphological treat- 

 ment of the flower the only correct division is into axial and foliar or- 

 gans ; but I must not carry out this reform with unvarying strictness, 

 lest I depart too far from the old beaten track, and thus, perhaps, become, 

 if not incomprehensible, yet apparently too difficult, although in fact the 

 development of the flower would thus become far more simple, and be 

 freed from innumerable, otherwise inevitable, repetitions. In the almost 

 total neglect, too, of investigation of development, any other than the 

 usual mode of treatment has been hitherto impossible. 



There are a few more points to notice. Since the time of Linnaeus it 

 has been usual to class the nectaries with the parts of the flower charac- 

 terised by the secretion of a fluid containing much sugar. This charac- 

 teristic was subsequently laid aside and more regard paid to its external 

 form, so that at last all possible things have been gathered together under 

 this name. If we would really comprehend the structure of the flower, 



* Link (Linnasa, vol. xv. 1841 (!), p. 482.), with the appearance of great acute- 

 ness, remarks, against Robert Brown's view of the structure of the Coniferous flower, 

 " Si ad micropylen apertam respicis semen nudum dicere poteris, si vero ad integu- 

 menta (ex quo stigmata duo excedunt) tectum erit." Had Link more than hastily 

 skimmed the writings of Robert Brown, Brogniart, and Mirbel, he would have known 

 that they very strictly distinguish a gemmula nuda from a nucleus nudus. According to 

 the common use of language, an organ is nudus which wants the immediately succeeding 

 covering ; the nucleus, therefore, is nudus without the integumentum ; the gemmula, without 

 the germen. Semen means nucleus and coats together, and can only be called naked 

 when no pericarpium exists ; but it is the gemmula which is under consideration here : 

 the micropyle is a part of the coat of the seed-bud; the stigma, a part of the pistil. 

 Either the integument of the nucleus in the Conifers is a coat of the seed-bud then 

 it is absurd to talk of a stigma, or it is a germen, and then no micropyle exists. But 

 I must return to this hereafter. 



the somewhat hemispherical projecting extremity of the stem ; c, pith, within the 

 middle expanded portion of which some cells are transformed into embryo-sacs; d, circle 

 of vascular bundles ; e, bark ; f, epidermis. 



I80a Taxus baccata. Vertical section of the seed-bud, a, Base and point of attach- 

 ment of the seed-bud ; 6, nucleus ; c, embryo-sac ; d, simple integument ; e, large cells of 

 the endosperm (corpuscula, Robt. Brown); g, micropyle; A, rudiment of the coat of 

 the seed. 



