INFLORESCENCE. 



81 



veitically, in order to show its internal structure at this period The 

 Figure at C, shows the same flower after its fertilization. Before the 

 maturity of the blossom, the pistil was above the stamens, as seen at 

 B. At th-e expansion of the perianth it was below the stamens, as at 

 jl^ Ij J — resuming its erect position, we see the pistil at C, its germ 

 having become a fruit filled with swelling seeds. 



In the Laurel (Kalmia) the ten sta- 

 mens are confined by their antliers' in 

 ten cavities of the five-parted, nionopet- 

 alous corolla. When the flower is in a 

 state of maturity, the anthers suddenly 

 spring from their confinement, and scat- 

 ter their pollen upon the stigma. Fig. 

 86, at A, represents the flower as it ap- 

 pears before its perfect expansion ; at 

 B, it is seen as it appears after that period. 



Interesting as is the subject of the various means, contrived by 

 Providence, for the continuation of the vegetable tribes, the limits of 

 our work will not permit us to extend our inquiries in this depart- 

 ment of our science. But if there are any who hold Botany to be a 

 trifling science, let them examine into the grand principles which it 

 develops, unfolding to the view of man the workings of Creative 

 wisdom in one vast domain of nature. Not that we presume to say 

 this wisdom is yet fiflly understood ; the greatest Botanist, in the 

 midst of his discoveries, must experience a feeling of humiliation at 

 his own ignorance of nature. Facts that when discovered seem so 

 simple, that we wonder a child should not have discovered them, 

 have eluded the research of great men ; — and at this moment philo- 

 sophers are groping for truths, which in due time v/ill be elicited and 

 incorporated into the elements of science to be learned and under- 

 stood by children. 



Lecture xiv, 



INFLORESCENCE— RECEPTACLE. 



Having given our particular attention to the important uses of the 

 stamens and pistils, we shall now proceed to consider the various 

 ways in which flowers grow upon their stalks; this is called their 

 inJIorescei&:e, or mode of flowering. 



Inflorescence. 



We are now to consider the corolla or flower under three aspects : 



With respect to the organs which it contains. 



The branches which support it. 



The flowers which are near it, or which grow on the same pe- 

 duncle. 



1st. TTie corolla with respect to the organs vjhich it contacts. 



The corolla, when it is monbpetaloUs, supports the stamens ; the 

 number of which in this case always corresponds to the number of 

 divisions of the limb of the corolla. When the corolla is polypeta- 

 lous, the stamens are inserted updn the calyx or upon the receptacle j 



Explain F*ig. ?6— Inflorescence— F'lower considered under three aspects — What i? 

 eaid of the corolla with respect to the organs which it contains? 



