174 



ON THE DISSECTION OF FLOWERS. 



to show in a still plainer manner how each cylinder runs up 

 to form its appropriate part; in the flower O is the bark 

 separated to form the calyx ; P the inner bark to form the 

 carolla ; Q the wood to convey the nourishment to the sta- 

 men ; and the whole interior between'tne points, belonging to 

 the pistil and seeds at R ; the line of life bounding the part 

 as well as leading up the middle. The stamens are perhaps 

 better marked where there are fewer, I have given two very 

 good dissections of this sort of cutting of the bottom of a 

 flower in my third letter (see Journal, vol. XXIII PI. IX, 

 p. 350.) I have said, that it signifies little whether the sta- 

 men, when once past the cylinder, proceeds up the calyx, 

 corolla, or pistil., since it has equally its peculiar vessels. 

 Sometimes the stamens are on one side of a flower only ; and 

 then the cylinder, instead of passing rh equal thickness all 

 round ; is found large only on one side ; this is the case in the 

 cutting of the violet, but it is then even more distinguishable. 

 Often in dissecting, you find the stem suddenly enlarged ; on 

 cutting it through the middle, the pith is found still of the 

 same size, the line of life at the same distance, and the wood 

 not altered ; but the part between the rind and bark extremely 

 increases. When this is the case, you may be sure that it 

 is the mechanism belonging to the leaves, or that it is a 

 stem that turns on a ball, as in the arenarias, stellarias, and 

 galiums,; but it generally denotes the mechanism of the 

 leaves, which is seen if the rind is drawn down. If the size 

 appears enlarged in the wood, it is always the bnds which 

 cause it, and they will be found in numbers starting from 

 the line of life : (as seen at T fig. 6, or at T fig. 8.) 

 Labumun. dis- I shall only add to this letter a branch of laburnum, Plate 

 sected. y } fi^ j . ^^ a sec ti n greatly magnified, at fig. 2 ; in which 



are shown the flowers just shooting at V; and the line of life 

 passing up as usual to form the pistil. As all the other parts 

 are extremely small in proportion, they are not much marked 

 in this sketch, which, however, very evidently shows the new 

 wood, which is always generated for the use of the flower 

 buds within the boundaries of the line of life at SS, and the 

 little line of old wood which runs next the line W. It is im- 

 possible, not to see how exactly each bud shoots from the 

 line of life, and how wholly separate the bark y is from the 



rest, 



