44 LETTER II. 



stances ; but it is only in modern times that this 

 mode of proceeding has been reduced within certain 

 rules, and that hybridizing has become a fixed and 

 useful art. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE IL 



L The Umbelliferous Tribe. — 1. A portion of the flowering 

 stem of Fool's Parsley, shewing the umbel ; a a a the one-sided in- 

 volucres by which the plant is especially known. — 2. A flower mag- 

 nified, shewing the petals, stamens, styles, and disk. — 3. A petal 

 separated from the rest, with its curious incurved point. — 4. A stamen, 

 with the filament and anther. — 5. A young ovary seen from the 

 side ; a the ovary itself; h the styles ; c the line where the calyx is 

 to be sought for. — 6. A ripe fruit viewed from its side ; at the base, 

 a forked axis is just perceptible, from the arms of which the grains 

 finally swing. — /. The fruit with its grains separated, and swinging 

 from the arms of the axis. — 8. A back view of one of the grains ; 

 the five prominent ridges are distinctly visible. — 9. The face or com- 

 missure of the same grain; b one of the stripes or vittse. — 10. The 

 same grain cut through; a the ridges; 6 the stripes; c the albumen. — 

 1 1 . Half a seed taken out of the rind of the grain : a the embryo, 

 lying at the upper end of a large quantity of albumen. — 12. The 

 embryo very highly magnified, and seen sideways for the sake of 

 shewing its two seed-leaves, or cotyledons. 



II. The Geranium Tribe. — 1. A couple of flowers oi Meadow 

 Geranium, one of which has di'opped its petals ; a bracts. — 2. The 

 ten stamens and the style. — 3. The lower part of a pistil, covered 

 with glandular hairs. — 4. The top of the style and the five stigmas. — 

 5. The lower part of a pistil spht, to shew a the ovule, and b a 

 tapering axis, to which the styles are glued. It is this part which 

 forms the hard centre of the beak in the ripe fruit, and from which 

 the styles drop, after they have curled up to shed the seeds. — 6. A 

 couple of ripe fruit, one of which is beginning to shed its seed; 

 a an ovary from which the seed has dropped. — 7. A seed ; a the 



