65 
plies the juices of the sap to them. These parts 
are, 3d, the stamens and the pistils . 
The essential part of the stamens are the sum- 
mits or anthers , which are usually circular and of 
a highly vascular texture, and covered with a fine 
dust called the pollen . 
The pistil is cylindrical, and surmounted by the 
style ; the top of which is generally round and 
protuberant. * 
In the pistil, when it is examined by the micro- 
scope, congeries of spherical forms may usually 
be perceived, which seem to be the bases of the 
future seeds. 
It is upon the arrangement of the stamens and 
the pistils that the Linnsean classification is founded. 
The numbers of the stamens and pistils in the 
same flower, their arrangements, or their division 
in different flowers, are the circumstances which 
guided the Swedish philosopher, and enabled him 
to form a system admirably adapted to assist the 
memory, and render botany of easy acquisition ; 
and which, though it does not always associate to- 
gether the plants most analogous to each other in 
their general characters, is yet so ingeniously con- 
trived as to denote all the analogies of their most 
essential parts. 
The pistil is the organ which contains the rudi- 
ments of the seed ; but the seed is never formed 
as a reproductive germ, without the influence of 
the pollen, or dust on the anthers. 
This mysterious impression is necessary to the 
* Fig. 12. represents the common lily, a , the corolla, bbbbb } 
the anthers, c, th6 pistil. 
F 
