In composite flowers, such as the thistle and the 

 dandelion, each floret l arises from a peculiar sort of 

 envelope termed the down-cup 2 , which may be hairy, 

 feathered, bristly, chaffy, or rimmed. It is in some 

 cases indistinct or wanting, and in others it is double, 

 when the outer leaves may be considered flower-scales 

 or husks. The envelope of the seeds in cotton is not 

 a down-cup. 



The flower- cup may be placed so as to crown the 

 fruit, when it is termed superior, as in the rose and 

 apple ; or so as to surround the base of the fruit, when 

 it is termed inferior, as in the poppy and the water 

 lily. By the theory, however, or rather the fancy of 

 Goethe and De Candolle, the flower-cup ought never 

 to be superior. 



The Receptacle. 



When the summit of the stem on which the flower rests 

 is flattened instead of being lengthened out into a stalk, 

 it is termed the receptacle 3 orbed, and is either proper 

 or common. It is proper when one receptacle corre- 

 sponds with a single flower, as in the white lily and 

 the tulip. This receptacle is usually fleshy, as in the 

 fig. It would appear that what we called the berry of 

 the strawberry, is nothing more than the receptacle 

 bearing the naked seeds on its surface, and the pear- 



1) In Latin, Corollula. (2) In Latin, Pappus. 



(3) In Latin, Receptaculum or Torus. 



