By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 



163 



contained in every elementary work on Botany, I shall not repeat 

 them here, but proceed to the description of circumstances of much 

 more importance in regard to the right understanding of the struc- 

 ture of these flowers. 



The disciples of the Linnsean school following their great 

 master, consider the circle of scale-like leaflets which sur- 

 round and enclose the head of florets, to be a common calyx, 

 whilst each floret is said to be furnished with a minute partial calyx 

 sitting upon the top of the seed. These seeds are affixed to the 

 broad dilated extremity of the flower stalk, more or less conical in 

 shape, called the receptacle, and which is occasionally furnished 

 with numerous hairs or chaff- like scales. Such is the manner in 

 which Withering, Smith, and other Linnsean Botanists describe 

 these flowers. Some modern writers however (Lindley, &c), not 

 being content with the mere arbitrary application of terms, unsup- 

 ported by evidences of structural analogy, more properly describe 

 the cornpositae in reference to the general structure and develope- 

 ment of other Dicotyledonous plants. Thus the common calyx 

 they term an involucrum, reserving the term calyx for the rim, 

 or pappus, or down, which is placed on the summit of the seed, 

 which latter body they rightly consider to be not a naked seed 

 merely, but a true fruit, containing within itself the real seed. The 

 chaff or hairs which cover the receptacle are considered by them to 

 be true Bracteae or floral leaves, in a diminutive and altered form. 

 As the fruit is the matured germen or ovary, it is necessary in all 

 cases of doubt to study the development of the former from its 

 earliest preceding condition. We find accordingly that the ovules 

 or immature seeds of all plants, are either exposed naked to the 

 fertilizing influence of the pollen, which is then immediately 

 applied to their integuments, or they are invested with a membranous 

 expansion, in which case the pollen is conveyed to the enclosed 

 ovule through some part of the enveloping membrane. The part 

 which receives the pollen is called the stigma, and the membrane 

 itself which immediately surrounds the ovule, is the germen or 

 carpel, the entire organ being known as the pistil. After the 

 fertilisation of the ovule, the stigma drops off, and the germen with 



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