' 
144 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
wings are not at all less useful in strengthening the sides of the 
flower, than the canopy is in covering it. When the wings are 
taken away, you see the last piece of the corolla, the piece which 
covers and defends the centre of the flower, and envelopes it, 
especially over it, as carefully as the three other petals envelope 
it above and at the sides. This last piece, which, 6n account of 
its shape, is called the heel, is like a strong box in which nature 
places its treasure beyond the reach of injuries arising from the 
air and water.” 
Rousseau describes here the flower of the Pea, as an application 
of the principles which he had first laid down. 
THe STAMENs. 
Immediately within the petals is a fleshy disk, which has grown 
round the ovary, and from which spring the petals and stamens— 
the latter, the organs of reproduction and essential parts of the 
plant. They are placed within the corolla, and immediately sur- 
round the central point or pistil. They vary greatly in number, 
from one to fifty, and even more. They occupy the third verticil 
of the floral organs. 
The stamen generally consists of two parts, an upper and thick 
portion, and a lower portion generally elongated and slender.’ 
e 
The former is called the anther; the latter the filament. 
filament is much less important than the anther, and is often 
wanting. The rudiment of the anther is at first a cellular mass, but 
when it has attained a given size, larger cells appear in its interior, 
usually at four distant points. By their augmentation four 
separate clusters are produced, around which smaller cells = 
arranged in a given order, forming a special cellular cover: 
In due time these absorb the surrounding cellular matter. Some- 
times they unite into two masses (two becoming one) by the 
absorption of the cellular matter between them. In these cells 
pollen is now formed by the division of each cell, first into gh 
and then into four smaller cells, which gradually change into 
pollen, the mother cells being either absorbed or remaining in the 
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