Linnean System of Plants. 53 



its place ; the glume is the calyx of the grasses. The other 

 three have been disputed by many botanists, as not properly 

 calyces. It was a rule with Linnaeus, to characterise the genera 

 of plants by the parts of fructification, and it has been said of 

 him that he sometimes misapplied terms, and made nature 

 bend under the yoke of system. In most cases, his love of 

 nature, stronger than his self-love, preserved him from this 

 error, as many passages in his works amply testify ; but there 

 appears to be some foundation for the assertion that he some- 

 times improperly bestowed the name of calyx on parts which 

 he found necessary to the distinction of genera. I spoke of 

 the involucrum^ in my last letter, as a name given by some bo- 

 tanists (I should have said by Linnaeus) to the leaves (now 

 called bracteas) at the base of the umbels, in umbelliferous 

 plants. It is not wholly confined to those plants commonly so 

 designated, but extends to several others which have a similar 

 mode of inflorescence, as the Primula, &c. {Jig* 10.) In 

 addition to other objections to the term calyx 

 as applied to these leaves, it has been observed 

 that where they are present there is commonly 

 a calyx also, as in the example here given, where 

 every flower has its own calyx («), as well as the 

 2/zwZwcrwm, which is styled the common calyx {li). 

 To give the name of calyx to the amentum is 

 like calling a whole village a cottage. The 

 amentum is the mode of inflorescence; it is composed of 

 a number of flowers affixed to a thread-shaped receptacle 

 termed the racliis (back-bone, GV\), and the true calyx 

 is a hollow scale, which protects the stamens and pistils. 

 Why the spatha should be considered as inappropriately 

 named a calyx, I cannot understand; it is the office of the 

 calyx to protect the flower until it has strength sufficient to 

 protect itself; some flowers never lose the protection of the 

 caljrx, others require it only while in bud. The spatha does 

 enclose the bud ; by the swelling of which it is opened on 

 11 one side, and gives egress to the flower. In some 

 plants, the flower is still contained within it, like a statue 

 in its niche ; as in the arum, commonly called by village 

 children, "lords and ladies'* (Jig. II.), or that elegant 

 plant the Calla sethiopica, commonly called the arum. 

 A young student will, probably, be surprised to learn 

 that the beautiful white, frosted, leathery vase, which 

 he took for the corolla of that flower, is the calyx ; 

 but he must not suffer himself to be misled by colour. 

 The colour of flowers is often materially influenced by 

 soil and situation; some flowers. have been known to 

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