132 



Plant Description 



[CH. 



Any great advance on Bauhin's descriptions could hardly 

 be expected during the period which we are discussing, 

 since it closed before the nature of the essential parts of the 

 flower was really understood. It was not until 1682 that 

 the fact that the stamens are male organs was pointed out 

 in print by Nehemiah Grew, though he himself attributed 



Beta Crctica fctnine aculeate. 



Text -fig. 62. "Beta Cretica semine aculeato" [Bauhin, 

 Prodromos, 1620]. 



this discovery to Sir Thomas Millington, a botanist other- 

 wise unknown. Gerard's account of the stamens and stigma 

 of the Potato as a " pointell, yellow as golde, with a small 



