36 
PLANTS. 
parts of fructification, and forms a receptacle for 
the 
Corolla , or blossom, which is that beautiful co- 
loured part of the flower, so generally attractive. 
This is composed of one or more leaves called pe- 
tals. These form a kind of palisade, with which 
Nature has encompassed the heart of the flower 
to cover it when necessary. The corolla, in most 
plants, opens at the rising of the sun, to receive the 
genial warmth ; and closes more or less at the ap- 
proach of rain or night, to keep off the moisture 
and cold. For the most part it forms a little vault, 
which encloses the seeds, and seems, with a kind 
of consciousness, to preserve the tender charge con- 
signed to its care. At the bottom of the corolla 
there is, in many plants, a little appendage, which 
Linnaeus calls the nectarium. This contains the 
sweet liquor which the industrious bees so well 
know how to procure: it is for this they search the 
bottom of each flower, and for this they chiefly visit 
every cup. There are few who, in their younger 
days, have not sucked this honeyed liquor from the 
flower of the woodbine. 
The stamina , or chives, are those little fibrous 
pillars which are, in most plants, placed upon the 
receptacle within the corolla, and round the seed- 
vessel. They consist of two parts, the filament and 
the anther ; the former serves as a foot-stalk to 
support the latter, which is a hollow shell, filled 
with a very fine powder. This powder, or dust, 
