SIXTH AND SEVENTH OBSERVATIONS. 



In what manner the Parnassia and Saxifrage approach their Anthers to the Stigmas is 

 well known.* 



EIGHTH OBSERVATION., 



The Ruta Graveolens {Common Rue), a very familiar plant, moves one of its Anthers 

 every day over its short Pistillum, until each of them, in order, has deposited its Farhia.f 



NINTH OBSERVATION. 



The Ornithogalum Nutans (Neapolitan Starfloiver) has six broad Stamina conniving in 

 the form of a bell, of which the three exterior are shorter than the others by one half, so that it 

 would appear that the Anthers of these could never pass their Farina over the Stigma, but 

 Nature, with admirable wisdom, has turned the anthers inwards towards the bell, the shorter 

 ones becoming first mature, so that they do actually accomplish their office. % 



II. A day would sooner fail me than examples, $ but I pass these by, and hasten to the con- 

 sideration of the unisexual flowers. 



FIRST EXPERIMENT. 



Several species of Momordica (Cucumbers) which are cultivated with us, like other Indian 

 vegetables, in close stoves, have there very frequently produced female flowers, and these, al- 

 though at first very flourishing, in a short time have begun to wither, nor have they produced 

 seed, until I instructed the gardener, as soon as he should discover a female flower, to pluck a 

 male, and place it over the female flower. By this art, for a certainty, we have produced fruit, 



Anagallis, Pimpernel, at 7—8. Portulaca hortensis, garden Purslain, at Q — 10, and at 11 — 12. Dianthus prolifer, proli- 

 ferous Pink, at 8, and at l. Cichoreum, Succory, at 4 — 5. Hypoch^eris, at 0—7, and at 4 — 5. Crepis, at 4 — 5, and at 10 — ll. 

 Picris, at 4 — 5, and at 12. Field Calendula, at 9, and at 3. African Calendula, at 7, and at 3 — 4. 



So in almost all sorts of flowers we see how they expand or open by the heat of the sun, but in the evening, and in a moist state of the 

 air, they close or contract their flowers, lest the moisture getting to the dust of the anthera should coagulate the same, and render it incapable 

 of being blown on the stigmata : but (which is indeed wonderful!) when once the fecundation is over, the flowers neither contract in the 

 day, in the evening, nor yet against rain. 



* It is a pleasing sight to see the stamina in many flowers advance over the pistillum. In the Parnassia, and Saxifrage, the stamina 

 regularly rise, but after impregnation the stamina fall back in a circle. I have often witnessed this in the several Sempervivums (house- 

 leeks), where the six more mature stamina advance to the central females, then they retreat, and the remaining six next advance, as regular 

 as with a troop of horse, and then the whole twelve fall back in a circle. 



f I examined, says the illustrious Dr. Smith, the RtTTA Chalepensis (African Rue), which differs very little from the common Rue, 

 and found many of the stamina in the position which Linnaeus describes, holding their antherae over the stigma ; while those which had not 

 yet come to the stigma were lying back upon the petals, as well as those which, having already performed their oflice, had returned to their 

 original situation. Trying with a quill to stimulate the stamina, I found them all quite devoid of irritability. They are stout, strong, conical 

 bodies, and cannot, without breaking, be forced out of the position in which they happen to be. The same phenomenon has been observed 

 in several other flowers ; but it is no where more striking, or more easily examined, than in the Rue. Vide Tracts on Natural History, 

 p. 174. 



J Where there are several stamina in a flower, these are often of a disproportionate size, and then the lower tier become first mature, 

 and embrace the young pistillum, which increasing in growth, in a few days after celebrates her amours with the taller beaux. Thus the 

 Lychnis Flos Cuculi (Meadow Lychnis) has ten stamina, of disproportionate sizes, five of which arrive at their maturity before the other 

 five. The same may be seen in our common Blue Bell (Hyacinthus). The position of the anthers on their filaments as respects the pis- 

 tillum, is worthy also of observation. Vide our Picturesque Plate of the Rhododendron Ponticum (Pontic Rhododendron) which illus- 

 trates both these observations. 



§ The reader will find a great many other examples among our Select Plants. 



and 



