THE HOESE-CHESTNUT 13 



vertical position, in -vvhich they offer but little surface 

 to the chilling effects of radiation, by the more rapid 

 growth of their under-surfaces : their enlargement is 

 an exemplification of the marvellous elasticity of the 

 substance of their cells ; and their large spreading sur- 

 faces, when mature, taking in abundant carbon-dioxide 

 from the air, and, by the transpiration from their 

 " stomates," or leaf-pores, drawing abundant supplies 

 of water from the roots, seem obviously related to the 

 rapid growth of the soft and spongy wood. In the 

 flowers we see the dependence of sex on nutrition, 

 and in the fruit the economy of nature leading to' a 

 reduction in the number of seeds, since a large peren- 

 nial plant has many more chances of perpetuating its 

 species than an annual. - 



Keturning to a closer examination of the flower, 

 within its five green sepals we find five beautifully 

 crimped or crisp petals, resembling those of the rose in 

 texture, bent over so as to give the whole flower a some- 

 what one-sided appearance, making, in fact, its corolla 

 vertical, while it is itself nearly horizontal. On each 

 snowy petal are the splashes of pink and lines of 

 yellow, that guide the joyous bees to the copious 

 honey secreted in the bottom of the purely tinted cup. 

 To the .Linn£Ean botanist the tree is exceptional in 

 having seven stamens, four, five, or ten being far more 

 common numbers; and in thp- centre, of the flower, 

 beneath the single style, is the ihree-chambered ovary, 

 each chamber containing the rudiments of two seeds. 



In October the leaves, which have become dull — 

 clogged with leaf-green, and with various saline and 

 other excrementitious matters, substances not wanted 



