NATURAL CLASSIFICATION. 



FLOEA OF TEXAS. 



CHAPTER I. 



In" the first part of this vohime you have been told 

 something of Vegetable Physiology, and are now in a 

 degree prepared lor the next step in the study of the 

 science of Botany, viz., Classification. You will have to 

 receive a little more instruction concerning some of the 

 organs, and learn a few more technical terms. 



Section^ I. — Pistil. 



We will first consider the essential organSy the stamens 

 and pistils. The former in their collective character are 

 termed the (1) andrcecium (as you call the petals col- 

 lectively the corolla). Opposed to these is the pistil or 

 (2) GYN-^ciUM. This organ (the pistil) presents the 

 most extraordinary application of the theory of vegetable 

 metamorphosis, of which you were told in the first part of 

 this volume. You will easily understand the structure 

 and origin of the gynaecium by considering it as the de- 

 velopment of a leaf, or the combination of several leaves. 

 The elementary organs, the junction of which form the 

 pistils, were called by De Candolle (3) carpels. 



A single pistil is a single leaf— a double pistil, two or 

 more leaves. The botanist considers the pistil as consist- 

 ing of the blade of the leaf curved inward until its mar- 



