INFLORESCENCE. 
81 
vertically, in order to show its internal structure at this period. The 
Figure at C, shows the same flower after its fertihzation. Before the 
maturity of the blossom, the pistil was above the stamens, as seen at 
B. At the expansion of the perianth it was below the stamens, as at 
.4, h ;— resuming its erect position, we see the pistil at C, its germ 
having become a fruit filled with sweUing seeds. 
In the Laurel (Kalmia) the ten sta- 
mens are confined by their anthers in 
ten cavities of the five-parted, monopet- 
alous corolla. When the flower is in a 
state of maturity, the anthers suddenly 
spring from their confinement, and scat- 
ter their pollen upon the stigma. Fig. 
86, at A, represents the flower as it ap- 
pears before its perfect expansion; at 
B, it is seen as it appears after that period. 
Interesting as is the subject of the various means, contrived by 
Providence, for the continuation of the vegetable tribes, the limits of 
our work will not permit us to extend our inquiries in this depart- 
ment of our science. But if there are any who hold Botany to be a 
trifling science, let them examine into the grand principles which it 
develops, unfolding to the view of man the workings of Cl:'eative 
wisdom in one vast domain of nature. Not that we presume to say 
this wisdom is yet fully understood ; the greatest Botanist, in the 
midst of his discoveries, must experience a feeling of humiliation at 
his own ignorance of nature. Facts that when discovered seem so 
simple, that we wonder a child should not have discovered them, 
have eluded the research of great men and at this moment philo- 
sophers are groping for truths, which in due time will be ehcited and 
incorporated into the elements of science to be learned and under- 
stood by children. 
LECTURE XIV. 
INFLORESCENCE — RECEPTACLE. 
Having given our particular attention to the important uses of the 
stamens and pistils, we shall now proceed to consider the various 
ways in which flowers grow upon their stalks ; this is called their 
injiorescence, or mode of flowering. 
Inflorescence. 
We are now to consider the corolla or flower under three aspects : 
With respect to the organs which it contains. 
The branches which support it. 
The flowers which are near it, or which grow on the same pe- 
duncle. 
1 St. T7ie corolla with respect to the organs which it contains. 
The corolla, when it is monopetalous, supports the stamens ; the 
number of which in this case always corresponds to the number of 
divisions of the limb of the corolla. When the corofla is polypeta- 
lous, the stamens are inserted upon the calyx or upon the receptacle ; 
Explain Fig. 86— Inflorescence — Flower considered under three aspects — What is 
said of the corolla with respect to the organs which it contains 7 
