APPENDAGES TO PLANTS. 
APPENDAGES TO PLANTS. 
Plants have a set of organs, the uses of which are less appar- 
ent than those we have been considering ; but we should not 
infer, because the design for which they have been formed, is in 
some measure concealed from us, that they were made for no 
purpose, or exist by mere accident ; let us rather with humility, 
acknowledge that this blindness must be owing to the limited 
nature of our own faculties. It would be impious for us to im- 
agine, that all the works of God which we cannot comprehend, 
are useless. 
The organs to which we now refer are called by the general 
name of appendages ; they consist of seven different kinds, Sti- 
pules, Prickles , Thorns, Glands, Slings, Scales, Tendrils, Pu- 
bescence, and Bracts. 
1st. Stipules, are membranous or leafy scales, usually in pairs, 
at or near the base of the leaf or petiole. The stipules 
furnish characters used in botanical distinctions. They are 
various in their forms and situations, found in most plants, 
but sometimes wanting. In the garden violet, viola tri- 
color the stipules are of that form called lyrate pinnatifid, 
while the true leaf is oblong and crenate. The most natu- 
ral situation of the stipules is in pairs, one on each side 
of the base of the footstalk, as in the sweet pea ; some sti- 
pules fall off almost as soon as the leaves are expanded, but 
in general, they remain as long as the leaves. 
2d. Prickles, arise from the bark or cuticle, they are sometimes 
straight, sometimes hooked, and sometimes forked. They 
are usually found upon the stems, as in the rose ; but in 
some cases, they cover the petiole, as in the raspberry ; in 
others, they are found upon the leaf or the calyx, and in 
some instances, upon the beiry ; as in the gooseberry. 
3d. Thorns, seem to be a kind of short pointed stem, easily dis- 
tinguished from prickles, as they grow from the woody part 
of the plant, while the prickle proceeds only from the bark. 
On stripping the bark from a rose bush, the prickles will 
come away with it, but let the same experiment be made 
with a thorn bush, and ulthough the bark may be separa- 
ted, the thorn will still remain projecting from the wood. 
Organs whose uses are less apparent — Observation — Different kinds of 
appendages — Stipules — Prickles — Thorns — Difference between the thorn 
and the prickle. 
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