j86 
VEGETABLE STRUCTURE. 
the reft were formed ; therefore no purpofe would be anfwered without 
them. In feveral Flowers the Cup is wanting, and in many rhe Petals ; 
in fome the Receptacle is not diftinguiihable ; and the Nediaria are ob- 
vious but in a very tew : the AnthertE or Buttons, naturally crowning thefe 
I'llaments, are found in all j and the Ruvlimcnts of Seeds ufually in the 
fame Flower, tho’ fometimes removed to another part of the fame Plant ; 
and in fome fpecies to another individual. 
The Oiigination of thefe feveral parts has been diftindtly ftievvn In the 
Plants already defcribed, and it is the fame in all. The Cup is the termi- 
nation of the outer Bark ; and confequently thofe Plants which have no 
outer Bark to the Stalk, can have no Cup to the Flower : The Petals are 
ufually difpofed in two feries, and are diftind: in their nature; tho’ this 
has not been enough obferved. It has been ft:iewn here in the Hellebore ; 
and it is univerfal in the Vegetable Nature, tho’ not in all Plants fo obvi- 
ous. Of thefe two feries of Petals, the outer are formed by the termina- 
tion of the inner Rind of the Plant ; the inner of the extremity of the 
Blea. Where thefe parts are wanting in a Flower, it is not that the inner 
Rind and Blea are wanting in the Stalk, for there is no Flowering Stalk 
without them. But they decay in thofe Plants, where their growth ceafes, 
and do not expand into thefe parts of the Flower. 
The Ring which furrounds the Receptacle, and which In the Hellebore 
and Aconite rifes into peculiar Nedaria, is the termination of the Valcular 
Series of the Stalk ; and the Receptacle itfclf is formed of the extremities 
of the white Vdfels of the Conic Clufters : between thefe rife the origi- 
nations of the Filaments ; thefe being the extreme terminations of the Flelh 
of the Plant: and the 1 ith forms the Rudiments of Seeds. 
These are the Parts of Flowers, and thefe their feveral Originations. 
Their office we have ffiewn diftindly, in treating of the firft growth of 
Herbs: and thus a detail of the external parrs, their origin, and office, has 
given a Recapitulation of the Syftem of Vegetable Nature. This diftind 
account of them will alfo have a farther ufe: it leads us to the firft great 
arrangement of Plants into feven Families; an:l as the diftindions of thefe, 
one from another, are founded on the difpofition, peculiarities, or defici- 
encies of thofe Parts, we fhall hence underftand their feparate Charaders. 
CHAP. 
