LANDMARKS OF BOTANICAL HISTORY —GREENE 203 



that it is not made the mark of any particular taxonomic group, and 

 is defined in quite strictly morphologic terms. As far as possible 

 from the panicle of modern vocabularies, it consists of almost any 

 very compact cluster that is somewhat elongated and, at the ends, 

 well rounded. The first example given is that of the cones of 

 spruces, which are not conical, and therefore would not have been 

 called cones by botanists of antiquity, nor by their disciples 

 of the sixteenth century. But it is said by our author that the 

 Latins applied panicle mostly to such as, being of the requisite form 

 and density, were also appendaged by some sort of coma; and so, 

 among the Fuchsian panicles, one finds the bristly hairy spikes 

 of millet, and the elongated furry heads of the mouse-ear clover, 

 otherwise called lagopus, i.e., Trifolium arvense. Also individual 

 spikes of scirpus, eleocharis, and others of their tribe — the indi- 

 vidual spikes, I say, and not the whole inflorescences — are panicles. 



The umbel, though defined morphologically as a flower and fruit- 

 cluster constructed upon the plan of an umbrella, would never 

 be applied to an umbel of berries. The umbels with Fuchsius are 

 the inflorescences of the family of umbellifers,' or at least of dry- 

 fruited plants, exclusively. The flat-topped clusters of certain 

 anthemideous composites like millefolium he speaks of as umbels; 

 though they are not really umbels, but corymbs; a distinction that 

 had not then been made. 



Anthology. In the vocabulary of Fuchsius there is vouchsafed 

 a perfectly intelligible definition of what he calls the calyx. It is 

 a kind of "^bag within which at first the flower, and after that the 

 seeds are enclosed-"-^ Note first of all, that such a calyx as this 

 caiTbe no part of a flower. It can not be determined to be a calyx 

 until it has shown itself permanent ; until the seeds have ripened. 

 A deciduous calyx would be a contradiction in terms. A circle 

 of green sepals behind a flower, even though at first enclosing the 

 "flower" does not constitute a calyx; at least if it fail to persist 

 and to enfold the seeds after the other parts have fallen. Under this 

 definition all mintworts and sages, the borrageworts and other syn. 

 sepalous things have a calyx, while the poppies and the buttercups 

 and their allies have none. The pomegranate and all pomaceous 

 fruits are' furnished with that organ; the olive and all drupe 

 bearing trees are destitute of it. This appears to be the earlier 

 idea of a calyx; the first movement toward the bringing in of that 

 green-leafy circle close behind what was called the "flower," to 

 where it should be recognized as a part of the flower. But his 

 having technically defined the calyx does not preclude his occasional 



