BOTANY. 
25 J 
The pericarpium is situated at the receptacle 
of the llewer, either above or below, or both, 
as iu saxifraga and lobelia: and is distin- 
guished by the following appellations, accord- 
ing to its different structure. 
1 . Capsula is frequently succulent whilst 
green ; but when ripe, it is a dry husky seed- 
vessel, that parts to discharge its contents; 
and by some elastic motion, the seeds are 
often darted forth with considerable velocity, 
as in dictamnus, &c. It opens either at the 
top, as in most plants ; at the bottom ; at the 
side, horizontally across the middle ; or lon- 
gitudinally ; and if it is articulated or jointed, 
it opens at each of the joints, which contains 
a single seed. It is distinguished externally, 
by its number of valves ; and internally, by 
tire number of its cells, wherein the seed is 
inclosed ; as well as by its shape and sub- 
stance. 
2. Siliqua, a pod, is a pericarpium of two 
valves; but as some are long, others round 
or broad, Linmeus distinguishes them by 
their form into siliqua and silicula, which give 
name to the two orders in the class tetrady- 
namia. The siliqua is a long pod, being 
much longer than broad, as in brassica, sin- 
apis, &x\; the silicula, a little pod, is a round- 
ish pod, either flat or spherical, and the 
length and breadth nearly equal, as in lu- 
naria, draba, & c. In both, the apex, which 
had been the style, is often so long beyond 
the valves, as to be of equal length with the 
pod ; and the seeds in both are fastened al- 
ternately by a slender thread, to both the 
sutures or joinings of the valves. 
3. Legumen, pulse, is also a pod, and is 
likewise a pericarpium of two valves, where- 
in the seeds are fastened to short receptacles 
along the upper suture only, on each side, 
alternate : this chiefly belongs to the papilio- 
naceous ilowers, or the class diadelphia. 
4. Folliculus, or cohceptaculum, is a peri- 
carpium of one valve only, opening- length- 
ways on one side, and the seeds not fastened 
to the suture, but to a receptacle within the 
fruit, as in asclepias, Sec. 
5. Drupa is a pericarpium that is pulpy, 
having no valve. It' contains within its sub- 
stance a nut, or seed inclosed with a hard 
ligneous crust, as olea, cornus, &c. and when 
the drupa is seated below the calyx, it is fur- 
nished with an umbilicus like the poinum. 
6. Pomum, an apple, is also a pulpy peri- 
carpium without a valve; but containing in the 
middle a membranous capsule, with several 
cells containing the seeds; and at the end 
opposite to the footstalk there is generally a 
small cavity, called umbilicus from its re- 
semblance to the navel in animals ; and 
which was formerly the calyx, seated above 
the fruit, and persistent, as in pyrus, cucumis, 
&c. 
7. Bacca, a berry, is also a pulpy peri- 
carpium without valve, inclosing one or more 
seeds, which have no membranous capsule 
or covering, but are disposed promiscuously 
through the pulp, as in solatium, &c. and are 
generally placed on footstalks attached to re- 
ceptacles within the pulp, as in ribes, See. 
The berry also admits of the following dis- 
tinction : it is said to be proper, when it is a 
true pericarpium formed of a genneiv; and 
improper, when it is formed from other parts 
of the fructification, as in rosa, juniperus. Sec. 
A large succulent calyx becomes a berry; 
and in juniperus, the tlnee petals become the 
umbilicus ; in poterium the berry is formed 
of the tube of the corolla; in fragraria, Sec. 
it is formed of the top of the receptacle ; in 
rubus, Sec. it is formed from a seed, which 
is the receptacle of the berry ; in ruse us, 
&c. it is inclosed within and is a part of the 
nectary. The berry is commonly either 
round or oval, and is frequently furnished 
with an umbilicus, as in ribes, Sec. it does 
not naturally open to disperse the seeds like 
the capsule, that office being performed by 
birds and other animals. 
8. Strobiles is a pericarpium formed of an 
amentum, being a seed-vessel composed of 
woody scales placed against each other in the 
form of a cone, opening only at the top of the 
scales, being firmly fixed below to a sort of 
axis or receptacle, occupying the middle of 
the cone; as in pinus, Sec. For parts of 
flowers and fruits, see Plates III and V. Bo- 
tany. 
VI. Semina, the seeds, are the essence of 
the fruit of every vegetable, and defined by 
Linmeus to be “ a deciduous part of the 
plant, containing the rudiments of a new ve- 
getable, fertilized by the sprinkling of the 
pollen.” They are distinguished according 
to number, shape, texture, appendage, Sec. 
A seed, properly so called, consists of the 
live following parts; to which are added the 
nux and propago. 
1. The corculum, (from cor, a heart) is 
the essence of the seed, and principle of the 
future plant ; and consists of two parts, viz. 
plumula and rostellum. The plumula is the 
part which shoots up into the stem, and the 
rostellum is what forms the root. See Phy- 
siology of Plants. 
2. The cotyledons, (from cotyledon, the 
hollow of the luickle-bone), are the thick 
porous side-lobes of the seed, such as the two 
sides into which a bean divides when soaked 
in water, and which afterwards come up as 
the seed-leaves of the plant. If a plant is cut 
below the cotyledons, it will scarcely ever 
put out fresh leaves, but withers and decays ; 
if it is cut above the cotyledons, it generally 
shoots out afresh, and continues to grow: 
therefore, if plants whose cotyledons rise 
above ground, as turnips. Sec. are cut or eaten 
into the ground by cattle, they decay ; but 
where the cotyledons remain below ground, 
as in grasses, and are cut or eaten to the 
ground, they will shoot out afresh. Some- 
plants have only one, as in grasses and in cus- 
cuta, &c. ; others two, as in vicia, &c. ; li- 
num lias four; cupressus, five ; and pinus,- ten. 
3. The hilum, the black spot on a bean, 
called the eye, is the external mark on the 
seed, where it was fastened within the peri- 
carpium. 
4. 'Phe arillus, the proper exterior coat 
of the seed, that falls off spontaneously, is 
either cartilaginous or succulent : yet seeds 
are said to be naked, when not inclosed in 
any sort of pericarpium, as in the class and 
order didynamia gymnospermia. 
5. The coronula is either a small sort of 
calyx adhering to the top of the seed, like a 
little crown, and assisting to disperse it by 
flying, as in scabiosa, knautia, &c. where the 
little calyx of the floret becomes the crown 
of the seed or a down, which is either fea- 
thery, as in valeriana, &c. or hairy, as in- 
tussilago, &c. This down has generally 
been thought intended to disperse- the seed. 
The coronula is either also sitting, that is, 
attached close to the seed, ns in hi erne ium. 
Sec. ; or footstalked by a thread elevating 
and connecting the tuft with the seed, as in 
crepis, Sec. borne seeds are furnLhed with 
a wing, a tail, a hook, an awn, &c. all comb- 
ing under the term coronula,, and tending, 
either to disperse or fix the seeds, borne 
have an elastic force, to disperse them ;. 
which is either in the calyx, as in oats and 
some others ; in the pappus, as in centurea 
crupina; or in the capsule, as in geranium. 
Sec. Other seeds, especially those whose 
pericarpium is a berry, as also the nutmeg 
and other nuts, are dispersed by birds and 
other animals. 
Nux, a nut, a seed inclosed in a hard 
woody substance, called the shell, which is 
one-celled, two-celled, &c. and the inclosed 
seed is called the kernel. 
Propago, a slip or shoot, the seed of a moss,, 
which has neither coat nor cotyledon, but 
consists only of a naked plumula, where the 
rostellum is inserted into the calyx of the 
plant. 
Nil. The reccptaculum is the base- 
which receives, supports, and connects, the 
other parts of the fructification. It is only 
mentioned by Linnaeus, when it can be intro- 
duced as a character varying in shape and 
surface, as principally in the class syngenesia.. 
It is called proper when it supports the parts 
of a single fructification only ; when it is a 
base to which only the parts of the flower 
are joined, and not the germen, it is called 
a receptacle of the flower; in which case the 
germen, being placed below' the receptacle of 
the flower, has a proper base of its own, 
which is called the receptacle of the fruit : 
and it is called a receptacle of the seeds, when 
it is a base to which the seeds are fastened 
within the pericarpium. In some simple 
flowers, where the germen is placed above 
the receptacle of the flower, the fruit has a 
separate receptacle, as in magnolia, uvaria. 
Sec. in which genera the numerous germina 
are seated upon a receptacle rising like a pil- 
lar above the receptacle of the fructification. 
It is styled common, when it supports and 
connects a head of flowers in common ; as 
in the amentum, and other aggregate flowers. 
The umbella and cyma are also called recep- 
tacles. Rachis, a filiform receptacle,, collec t- 
ing the florets longitudinally into a spike, in-, 
many of the glumose flowers, as wheat, bar- 
ley, rye, &c. Spadix anciently only signi- 
fied the receptacle of a palm issuing out of a 
spatha, and branched ; but now every flower- 
stalk. that is protruded from a calyx called 
spatha, is denominated a spadix, as in nar- 
cissus, Sec. 
Sect. V. — The species of plants. 
The genera include a great number of 
species, distinguished by the specific differ- 
ence of the root, the trunk, the branches, the- 
leaves, Sec., yet all agreeing in the essential 
generic character. They are called by tri- 
vial names, expressive of the difference of 
some other circumstance, added to the ge- 
neric name. To investigate the species, 
therefore, it .is. necessary to understand those 
differences, and to be acquainted with the- 
names by which they are expressed. Several 
of these have been already incidentally ex- 
plained; but tor a complete enumeration, the 
reader must have recourse to the glossary. 
In general it may be observed, that sue- 
