454 



REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 



consequence of the suggestions they make. The time now thrown 

 away on isolated species, the station of which, still does not become 

 fixed, when devoted to the philosophical examination of ferns, will 

 rescue botany from one of its numerous reproaches. It is strange that 

 such should exist to the greatest degree in all those families stamped 

 by nature as most distinct. Those chaoses Polypodium, Aspidium, 

 Davallia, would then undergo distinct creation, and the primary divi- 

 sions of the family would become fixed ; and we should then be spared 

 the reproach of drawing characters from organs, of the nature and 

 functions of which we are quite ignorant of, and of the importance of 

 which in a science of demonstration like that of botany, it is impossible 

 to judge, without a true knowledge of structure. 



Vide Lindley's Introd. ed. 2, 407, for the protest of Greville and 

 Arnott. 



What is the most comprehensive definition of a pistil. A case 

 in which the future organs of reproduction are developed ; and here 

 is a most curious circumstance, namely, that though the calyp- 

 tra, which is a genuine pistillum containing an ovulum, becomes 

 torn up from its base, yet it remains in contact with that part of 

 the seta in which the sporules are developed until these make their 

 appearance, or even later ! ! so that one might as well deny a pistil- 

 lum to a Reseda, or Leontice, as deny it to these plants on the 

 strength of its being torn from its attachments. Sprengel's objec- 

 tions are worthy only of being noticed from their having been quoted 

 by Lindley. The vagueness of his statement destroys all weight. 



His objections in all cases amount to the fact, that the stellulce 

 or buds containing the anthers are capable of growth. So is the 

 prolongation of an axis of Ananassa. 



A Gemma has a general character in its formation as well as an 

 anther, or as pollen ; one is a congeries of cellular tissue, with or 

 without vessels, the other a sac consisting of a single cell containing 

 active molecular matter. As an anther producing a single grain of 

 pollen is not inconsistent with our notions of structure, so neither 

 is an anther consisting of a single grain of pollen. 



Will any one show me an instance of a proved gemma taking 

 upon itself the form of one of these anthers ? Will any show an 

 instance of a sac containing fluid matter capable of growth after 

 dehiscence. The real gemmae of the Hepaticae puts the question of 

 gemmae out of doubt. Is there any plant existing with two sorts 

 of gemmae, so differently constituted ? Many phaenogams have gemma 



