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GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.— No. IX. 
The inflorescence^ or the development of the organs of fructification, now claims 
our consideration. It is the end, the consummation of all the vital functions, the 
result of that great natural law which ordains the reproduction of vital germs, so 
organised as to become the representatives of their parent. In this comprehensive 
view of fructification, we include all the theoretic principles which can be adopted 
with safety ; for it is plain that, if there be any truth in analogy, all beings 
endowed with life have periods of infancy, youth, and maturity ; and that the 
reproductive powers are to be referred to the last of these periods. "We therefore 
disclaim, in toto, the modern theory of Morpheology, (that is. Science of Form), 
inasmuch as it in no way elucidates the phenomena of fructification. 
A flower is a part, perfect in itself, the offspring of an adult or mature plant, 
and composed of members, exactly adapted to the processes which they are 
ordained to perform. Without interfering with the province of the structural 
botanist, it will not be irrelevant to notice all the parts which are essential to 
inflorescence, and to allude, in passing, to the notions which have been entertained 
of their origin and offices, A complete flower consists of an empalement, or 
external covering of some sort, usually called calyx. This is composed of several 
portions more or less divided, termed sejjals, which in most subjects are green, and 
somewhat similar to leaves ; but, in others, variously coloured. Within, or above 
the calyx, is the corolla, or proper flower-bloom. Many flowers have not both 
calyx and corolla, and in that case modern physiologists consider the single 
investing member a calyx, and call it so. The term corolla is only admitted, 
therefore, when the coloured member is more or less enclosed by a true, exterior 
calyx. The corolla is composed of petals or flower-leaves, various in figure, 
regular or irregular, distinct, or more or less cohering. The corolla is sometimes 
furnished, as in the Crown Imperial, (Fritillaria Imperialis), with certain w^ell- 
defined secreting organs. Yet this is not indispensably required ; for, although 
plants secrete a sweet (not always salubrious) fluid which bears the name of 
nectar, yet the secretion may be effected by unseen, glandular processes. Nectar 
is an exudation of a peculiar combination of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, 
which might chemically be styled hasal Jioney, since it requires only to be re- 
laborated within the animal organism of the bee to become true honey. 
Within the calyx and corolla are seated upon the floral receptacle—now called 
the torus, — those essential organs of fructification, the stamens and pistillum ; the 
latter, under whatever term it is found in botanical treatises, is the origin of the 
fruit or seed-vessel. It comprises an ovary, a style, and a stigma. It is thus 
fancifully described by a writer who advocates the singular modern hypothesisj 
that every organ of a plant is derived from the budding of leaves. 
VOL. XI. — NO, CXXIX. D D 
