FLOWER AND FRUIT. 205 LESSON 92. Flower and Fruit. Filiform, thread like, or very slender. Ves'icle, a small cuticle, filled or inflated, or a little bladder. In colour these, and those delight the smell; LINNEUS classed the flower and fruit together, and defined them to be a temporary part of vegetables, destined for the reproduction of the species, terminating the old individual and beginning the new. These constitute the reproductive organs, by which the species have been hitherto preserved from extinction, and by which alone they will be renewed, so long as seed time and harvest continue. There are seven of these organs, some of which are essential to the very nature of flower or fruit, others not so indispensably necessary, and therefore not universal. The student, who wishes to gain an adequate idea of these organs, should dissect different flowers, and bestow upon each part a separate examination. He will find externally the calyx or flowercup, usually of a green colour, and often wanting; the corolla, or as it is sometimes termed the blossom, assuming various shades of colour, exhibiting a more delicate texture than the preceding, and like it sometimes wanting; the stamens, which are filiform organs arranged interior to the corolla, and are never wanting; the pistils, arising from the centre of the flower, containing the rudiments of the fruit, and of course essential; the seed-vessel, of a pulpy, woody, or leathery texture, enclosing the seeds, but wanting in many plants; the seed, the perfecting of which is the sole end of all the other parts; and the receptacle, or base, which is the point of connexion, and must necessarily be present in some form or other. The corolla constitutes the chief beauty of a flower, and includes two parts, the Petal and the Nectary. The former is either simple, as in the primrose and bell shaped flowers, in which case the corolla is said to be monopet'alous; or compound, as in the rose, in which it is polypet'alous. The whole use and physiology of the corolla have not yet been fully explained. The nectary contains or secretes honey; and there can be no doubt that the sole use of the honey with respect to the plant is to tempt insects, who in procuring it fertilize the flower, by disturbing the dust of the stamens, and even carry that substance from the barren to the fertile blossoms. A stamen commonly consists of two parts, the Filament and Anther, the former being merely what supports the latter, which is the only essential part. The anther is generally of a membranous texture, consisting of two cells or cavities. It contains the Pollen, or Dust, which is thrown out chiefly in warm dry weather, when the coat of the anther contracts and bursts. The Pollen, though to the naked eye a fine powder, and light enough to be wafted along by the air, is so curiously formed, and so various in different plants, as to be an interesting and popular object for the microscope. Each grain of it is a round or angular, rough or smooth vesicle, which remains entire till it meets with any moisture, being contrary in this respect to the nature of the anther; then it bursts with great force, discharging a most subtile vapour. The Pistil consists of three parts: the Germen, or rudiment of the young fruit and seed; the style, various ingth and thickness, sometimes altogether wanting, and when present serving merely to elevate the third part, which is called the Stigma. This last is indispensable. It is very generally downy, and always more or less moist. The moisture is designed for the reception of the pollen, which explodes on meeting with it, and hence the seeds are fertilized and rendered capable of ripening, which they would not otherwise be, though in many plants fully formed. The ways in which insects serve the purpose of perfecting the seeds in plants are innumerable. These active little beings are peculiarly busy about flowers in bright sunny weather, when every blossom is expanded, the pollen in perfection, and all the powers of vegetation in their greatest vigour. Then we see the rough sides and legs of the bee, laden with the golden dust which it shakes off, and collects anew, in its visits to the honeyed stores inviting it on every CLASSIFICATION OF VEGETABLES. 207 side. All nature is then alive, and a thousand wise ends are then accomplished by innumerable means that "seeing we perceive not;" for though in the abundance of the creation there seems to be a waste, yet in proportion as we understand the subject, we find the more reason to conclude that nothing is made in vain. QUESTIONS. 1. How did Linnæus define the flower and fruit? 2. What do these constitute? 3. What is said of the number and importance of these organs? 4. Describe the several parts belonging to the flower and fruit. 5. What two parts does the corolla include? 6. When is the corolla termed monopetalous? 7. Polypetalous? 8. What is the use of the honey with regard to the plant? 9. What are the parts of a stamen termed? 10. Describe the anther. 11. The Pollen. 12. What are the parts of the Pistil? 13. Describe the stig ma. 14. What are the seven kinds into which the calyx is divided? (see Appendix) 15. What are the seven kinds of seed vessels? 16. What are some of the parts of which the seed itself is composed? 17. Look at Engr. VII. and describe the parts of the flower and fruit of the Lily. (see the description in Appendix to Lesson 93.) LESSON 93. Classification of Vegetables. Ge'nus, (plural gen'era) a set of plants, animals, or other things, comprehending many species. Nomenclature, a term employed to denote the language peculiar to any particular science or art: a vocabulary. ALL the known vegetable productions, upon the surface of the globe, have been reduced by naturalists to Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, and Varieties. The classes are composed of orders; the orders of genera; the genera of species; and the species of varieties. We may attain a clearer idea of them, by comparing them with the general divisions of the inhabitants of the earth. Vegetables resemble Man; Classes, nations of men; Orders, tribes, or divisions of nations; Genera, the families that compose the tribes; Species, individuals of which families consist; and Varieties, individuals under different appearances. Linnæus, dissatisfied with every system invented before his time, undertook to form a new one. With an eye which could at a single glance discern the peculiar features of an object; with firmness to encounter, and with talents to overcome, the greatest difficulties, he planned and accomplished more than all his predecessors, and his works which remain at this day unrivalled, will probably long continue unequalled. The number, situation, and proportion of the stamens were the foundation of his primary divisions. These organs, so con-stant, so essential to the completion of the flower, so necessary for the preservation of the vegetable kingdom, were happily selected to furnish each of his Classes with an obvious immutable character. The Orders into which his classes are subdivided, are established on a basis equally constant, on the number and situation of the pistils, or on some other circumstance equally obvious and invariable. A Genus is a subdivision of an order, and includes such plants as agree with each other in the form and situation of their flowers and fruits. A Species consists of such as agree in these particulars, but differ in the form of their root, stem,, leaves, and other parts. A remark, which has sometimes been made to the prejudice of the study of Botany, is, that it is a mere nomenclature, tending only to burden the memory with an immense list of names, without imparting to the student any degree of real and useful knowledge. But is it a small gratifica tion, or of small importance, to be enabled to distinguish, at first sight, the productions of the vegetable kingdom, and to refer them to their proper classes, families, and stations? The disadvantages resulting from the neglect of this study, are seldom more seriously felt than in the perusal of those narratives of voyages and travels, which are now so profusely published. In passing through countries which have seldom been visited, it is in the highest degree desirable, that the adventurer should be able to avail himself of the opportunities afforded him, so as to render his labours of substantial service to mankind: but how is this to be effected, unless he be previously furnished with sufficient knowledge to distinguish those natural productions which it may be thought important either to procure or describe? For want of this knowledge, which would enable him to acquaint us in two words with the name of any known plant, and to refer to its proper station every one which is unknown, we have endless descriptions of unknown and surprising vegetables, hich either give us no precise idea, or by a long and ciritous track, enable us at length to recognise an old and familiar acquaintance. A striking instance of this may be found in the celebrated Kotzebue's narrative of his banishment to Siberia, in the course of which he discovered a plant which attracted in a high degree his admiration, and which he has described at great length, as one of the most beautiful flowers he had ever met with. A very moderate acquaintance with botanical science would however have informed him, that this plant was already known to most parts of Europe; and the only doubt which remains is, as to the particular species of the plant, a doubt which his description does not after all enable us to clear up. The natural history of animals, though in many respects more interesting than botany to man as an animated being, and more striking in some of the phenomena which it displays, yet, in other points, is less pleasing to a tender and delicate mind. In botany all is elegance and delight. No painful experiments are to be made. Its pleasures spring up under our feet, and, as we pursue them, reward us with health and serene satisfaction. None but the most foolish or depraved could derive any thing from it but what is beau tiful, or pollute its lovely scenery with unamiable or unhallowed images. Those who do so, either from corrupt taste or malicious design, can be compared only to the fiend entering into the garden of Eden. QUESTIONS.-1. How have naturalists arranged vegetables? 2. Give the illustration. 3. What are the foundations of the Linnæan Classes?-Orders? 4. What does a genus include? 5. A Species? 6. What remark has been made to the prejudice of the study of botany? 7. What is said to obviate this objection? 8 What is related of Kotzebue ? 9. What is said of botany as compared with the natural history of animals? 10. What are the names of the twenty-four classes? 11. Of the orders of the first thirteen classes? 12. Give an example of the divisions of classes, orders, &c. 13. How is the species of a plant distinguished? (For answers to the four last questions, see Appendix) 14. Look at Engr. VII. and describe the parts of the flower and fruit of the geranium. 18 * |