April. 
OF «GARDENING. 
there rife numerous Leaves fpread out in the 
Manner of Fingers, thefe are not confidered 
as fo many diftinét Leaves, 
one; and the Whole is called digitated, or fir- 
ger’d. ‘Thefe Parts are two, three, five, or any 
greater Number. 
When the common Foot-ftalk is fplit at the 
End, and the Leaves are fixed only to its inner 
Side, the Leaf is pedated. 
This is a coarfer Divifion, tho’ of the finger’d 
Kind, and will be explained for ever to the Stu- 
dent, by our Figure. 
The Foot-ftalk of this divided Leaf 4 is thick, 
fhort, and juicy, it ufually rifes flanting, and is 
of a frefh-green ; when the Plant is in Perfection, 
it is ftained with red, in various and irregular lit- 
tle Spots. 
The Leaves placed on its divided Top, and 
forming what is called the entire pedated Leaf ; 
are ufually nine, they. are oblong, broad, of a | 
{trong green, and of avery firm Subftance, indent- 
ed round the Edges on their extreme Part, but 
perfectly entire below; and often cut out inte a 
{mall Point at the End. 
_ The Divifions of the Foot-ftalk at the End are 
_ always coloured, redifh or brownifh ; and in the 
beft Condition of the Plant, thefe and the main 
Rib on the Back of the Leaf are purple. 
_ The Flowers appear among the Leaves, each 
on its feparate Stalk, and thefe fcarce longer than 
thofe of the Leaves: but the Size of she F lower 
renders it very confpicuous.. 
"The Stalk is. flefhy,. round, of a pile green, 
_ and.elegantly fpotted with Comey gy) It is rarely 
quite upright. 
°Tis not the Weight of ther-F cu bends it, 
but Winds, and fevere Seafons. There grows’ no 
proper Leaf upon this Stalk, but clofe under 
the Flower, there is a filmy Subftance, and fome- 
times -below this, another. They ferve i in fome 
Degree, the Office of Defence to the young Flow- 
er. 
Nature has denied it a Cup, but thefe Films 
feem to have been given in its Place. 
The Flower itfelf, is of the Bignefs of a fin- 
gle Rofe, expanded, white, or vanioully ftain’d |. 
with Crimfon. : 
Sometimes the white is perfect ; fometimes the 
red is fhewn throughout ; but in the moft elegant 
State, the two Colours are mixed, and as in the~ 
Apple Bloom, the red i is | eee on the isa . 
fide of the Flower. © 
Round: about the Filaments, are numerous 
open Cups, as it were, of a delicate regu ereen, 
tip’d with Gold) 
_ This is the general Afedt of the F Leven 
and thus the curious, tho’ uninform’d Eye, views | 
it with Wonder. The Buttons ‘clutter round 
the horned Rudiments on the Flowers firft open- 
ing, and fpread out far and wide, as it grows 
more accuftomed to the Air; the Horns’them- |» 
felves, and moft of all the hollow Bodies which 
furround the Filaments, ‘call for Admiration. 
I 
- Office of one ; 
thofe Films we named before, as its iocort 
They will bé named ftrange and fingular Parts, 
in thofe untaught the Lieffons: of this agreea- 
but as Parts of | blé Science: but Philofophy admits ho fuch vague 
Terms, as ftrange and fingular Parts in ‘this 
Matter. Every Thing is explained, every Part has 
its Name, and there is no Flower; where they are 
better difplayed by Nature, or more open to the 
Eye of the Student. | 
To fearch the Clafs of the siti the youl 
Botanift knows he is to examine thefe golden But- 
tons, to count them with their Filaments ; and 
afterwards, to trace them to their Otigin. 
- He begins their Account; and he foon finds 
them many more than the higheft Number, from 
which a Clafs is characterifed; this is twelve. 
When he has counted fo many, and fees a 
_Number more, he knows the Plant is one either 
of the Icofandria, or of the Polyandria. 
In each of thofe Claffes the : Filaments are nu- 
merous, but in the Jcofandria, they rifé from the 
Petals of the Flower, or from the Infide of the 
| Cup; whereas, inthe Polyandria, their Origin: is 
from. neither Flower nor = but from the Re- 
ceptacle. 
_ This known, the Student is to traée thee Fila- 
ments, whofe Number declare the Plant to belong 
to one or other of thofe Claftes, 
There is no Cup, therefore they cannot be in- 
ferted there: to know whether the Petals cive 
them Origin, let one be taken carefully off it 
will come entire from the Top of the Stalk, 
where it is inferted under a fmall rounded Head ; 
and one after another, they muft ‘be all'taken thus 
away, with no Filament adhering to them. ~~ 
Let thefe be counted; they will be found ive 5 
they compofe the Body of the Flower, they -are 
broad, hollow, ftriated; and each has a Spot of 
green at the Place of its Infertion. 
. Fhefe remaima long Time, and ferve the Of. 
fice of a as defending the Bias Seed-Vef- 
felsii +. 
_. From the Duration, and the Want of anvieBed 
367 
April. 
Cup, they haye by fome been fuppofed only the — 
colour’d Leaves of one, and the Plant has been 
declared to have no Petals:- this is as contradic- 
tory to the Senfes, as to Reafon : the Eye declares 
this a Flower, not a Cup; tho’ it performs the 
and Nature fhews it who has given 
Thefe Films rife from the outer Rind, or green 
Skin:of the Stalk, as the Cups of F lowers natu- 
In the Centre are numerous Blade: fapperis _rally:do; but the coloured Petals rife’ from the 
ing yellow Buttons, and from the Bafe rife up | innermoft Bark, which is filmy, white, and like 
a@ Kind of Horns, which fhew their curl’d Tops | 
| above the Clufter, and are of a pale green. 
— in its Nature. 
|<'Thus the Form, Colour, and Production of thefe 
Parts, fhews them to be Petals, and to compofe 
the Body of the Flower. 
Thefe feparated and difpatched, our Student 
returns to the Filaments, his principal Object. 
Thefe he can now fee diftinétly rife from a flat, 
rounded Body, confpicuous enough, tho’ fmall, 
from:whofe under Part, rofe alfo the Petals. This 
is the Receptacle. 
He fees therefore, that the Receptacle is that 
Patt, which ferves as a Bafis to the feveral Organs 
of Fructification it is here fingle and proper, it 
con- 
