6d calyx. 



li;(?htful to every lover of nature ; a bouquet, or even the simplest 

 blossom, presented by a friend, interests the heart. How many 

 pleasant thoughts are awakened by the fresh and perfumed incense 

 whicli ascends from flowers ! — their odour has been poetically term- 

 ed, the language by which they hold communion with our minds. 

 Females are usually fond of flowers ; but until recently, the greater 

 number have only viewed them as beautiful objects, delighting the 

 senses by their odour and fragrance, without being aware that they, 

 lovely as they seemed, might be rendered doubly interesting, by a 

 scientific knowledge of the relations and uses of their various parts. 

 Even at the present period, there are those who spend years in cul- 

 tivating plants, ignorant of their botanical characters, when a few 

 hours study might unfold to them the beautiful arrangement of Lin- 

 naeus, and open to their mental vision a world of wonders. 



Although every part of a plant offers an interesting subject for 

 study, the beauty of the blossom seems, by association, to heighten 

 the pleasure of scientific research. Flowers are indeed lovely, but 

 like youth and beauty they are fading and transient; they are, how- 

 ever, destined for a higher object than a short-lived admiration ; for, 

 to them is assigned the important office of producing and nourishing 

 the fruit ; like them should the young improve the bloom of life, so 

 that when youth and beauty shall fade away, their minds may exhibit 

 that fruit, which it is the business of youth to nurture and mature. 



Calyx. 



The calyx is frequently wanting ; as in the lily and tuhp. The 

 corolla is also wanting in many plants; as, in most of the forest 

 trees, which, to a careful observer, may seem to produce no flower ; 

 but the presence of a stamen and pistil, is in botany considered as 

 constituting a perfect fio\cer. These two organs are essential to the 

 perfection of the fruit; and when a flower is destitute either of sta 

 mens or pistils, it is termed imperfect. A flower is said to be incom- 

 plete when any of the seven organs of fructification are wanting. 



The word calyx is derived from the Greek, and literally signifies 

 a cup ; it is the outer cover of the corolla, and usually green ; when 

 not green, it is said to be coloured. This organ is an expansion of 

 the bark of the flower-stalk, as appears from its colour and texture. 

 The calyx usually envelops the corolla, previous to its expansion, 

 and afterward remains below or around its base. Sometimes the 

 calj^x consists of one leaf or sepal only, it is then called monosepal- 

 ous ; when it consists of several distinct leaves, it is called polysc- 

 palous ; when one calyx is surrounded by another, it is double; 

 when one calyx belongs to many flowers, it is common. 



In the calyx are three parts, very distinct in calyxes which are 

 long and cyhndric ; these are, 1st, the i;?<6e which rises from the base; 

 2d, the throat, above the tube; and 3d, the mouth, or the upper and 

 expanded part; the tube of the calyx is cylindric in the pink, and 

 prismatic in the stramonium. 



The position of the calyx with respect to the germ offers an im- 

 portant mark of distinction between different genera, and also be- 

 tween different natural families of plants. The calyx is said to be 

 superior when it is situated on the summit of the germ, as in the 

 apple ; it is inferior, when situated below the germ, as in the pink, 

 [n many plants the calyx is neither superior nor inferior, but is situ- 

 ated around the germ. 



Flowers delightful— Many who cultivate ihein i^gnorant of their botanical charac- 

 ters— Flowers analogous to youth— Calyx, sjmctmies wanting— Description of the 

 calyx— Parts of the calyx— #'osition with respect to the germ. 



