T66r DeCmidolle's Vegetable OrganograpJiy.' . 



or the bracts, hardly ever have leaf-buds developed in their axils ; this is still 

 more seldom the case in the appendicular organs which compose the flowers. 



" 32d. The buds, or germs, which are developed into branches, are often 

 protected in their young state by scales, which are nothing but the outermost 

 appendicular organs of the young branch, modified by their position. 



" 33d. The flower, in which is the apparatus destined for the fecundation, 

 is a kind of terminal bud, formed of verticillate appendicular organs, the 

 outermost of which act the part of protecting organs, the innermost of sexual 

 ones ; but thej^ are capable of changing their office, by being transformed 

 either into leaves, or from one into another. 



" 34th. In the modifications or transformations of the appendicular organs, 

 each is only usually converted into the nature of the verticil which follows or 

 precedes it in the order of developement or position. The first phenomenon, 

 which is the most frequent, has received the name of Ascending, or Direct, 

 Metamorphosis, and the second, that of Descending, or Retrograde, Metamor- 

 phosis. 



" 35th, The flower, being formed of verticillate organs, is necessarily ter- 

 minal with regard to the pedicel, at least when the pedicel is not prolonged 

 beyond it, as happens accidentally in certain proliferous flowers. 



" 36th. Pedicels near one another, and composing the same inflorescence, 

 are disposed after three systems : — 1st, the outer or lateral ones are deve- 

 loped first, and the flowering proceeds indefinitely in a centripetal order; 2d, 

 the central one, which is necessarily terminal, flowers first, and the flowering 

 proceeds in a centrifugal order ; 3d, these two laws are combined, the one 

 affecting the general axis, the other the lateral branches. 



" 37th. The number of verticils in phanerogamous flowers is usually four ; 

 but it may vary, being either less when one is absent or united to the neigh- 

 bouring one, or more when one. is composed of several verticils or similar 

 rows. 



" 3Sth. The almost universal disposition of the pieces of each verticil or 

 row, is that of being alternate with those of the preceding verticil or row. 



" 39th. The number of pieces of each floral verticil is generally three in 

 Monocotyledons, and five in Dicotyledons. 



" 40th. All the caulinary, and especially the appendicular, parts of plants 

 are capable of being united together, especially during their infancy; the union 

 is a distinct phenomenon from the graft ; it is the more easy in proportion as 

 the nature of the organs is more analogous ; it takes the name of Cohesion 

 when it comes between similar organs, and Adhesion when they are different. 

 The different degrees of adhesion of similar organs, or of the parts of the 

 same organ, determine either its integrity, or the divisions or indentations of 

 most organs, 



" 41st. All the caulinary or appendicular parts are capable, when they are 

 filiform, of expanding into limbs ; and, when naturally in the form of a limb, 

 of presenting a cylindrical appearance. They may also, within certain limits, 

 put on forms, sizes, texture, colours, and even functions and positions, varying 

 in different points of the same individual or analogous ones ; this constitutes 

 the Degenerations or metamorphoses of organs. 



" 42d. All the appendicular organs, verticillate or spiral, are capable of 

 presenting multiplications of number, both in the increase in the number of 

 the verticils or spires, or in the increase in that number of the pieces in each 

 of the systems. 



" 43d. All the organs of plants are susceptible of being abortive, either 

 wholly or in part, and, consequently, of presenting simple rudiments, or leaving 

 empty spaces, 



" 44th. All the irregularities observed in the symmetry of verticillate organs, 

 and especially in that of flowers and fruits, appear to result from one of the 

 causes mentioned in the four preceding paragraphs, or from the combination 

 of several of them, 



" 45th. In particular, the unity or solitariness of the verticillate organs can 



