Page:History of botany (Sachs; Garnsey).djvu/68

 therefore, the pith of the seed (that is, the substance of the cotyledons and of the endosperm) springs from the moister and purer part of the food, while the husk which surrounds the seed for protection springs from the coarser part. It was unnecessary to separate a special fertilising substance from the rest of the matter in plants, as it is separated in animals which are thus distinguished as male and female.'

This last remark and some lengthy deductions which follow are intended to prove, after the example of Aristotle, the absence and indeed the impossibility of sexuality in plants, and accordingly Cesalpino goes on to compare the parts of the flower, which he knew better than his contemporaries, with the envelopes of the ova in the foetus of animals, which he regards as organs of protection. Calyx, corolla, stamens, and carpels are in his view only protecting envelopes of the young seed, as the leaves are only a means of protecting the young shoots. Moreover by the word flower ('flos') Cesalpino understands only those parts of the flower which do not directly belong to the rudiment of the fruit, namely, the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens. This must be borne in mind if we would understand his theory of fructification, and especially his doctrine of metamorphosis. We must also note, that by the expression pericarp he understands exclusively juicy edible fruit-envelopes, though at the same time pulpy seed-envelopes inside the fruit pass with him for pericarps. The parts of his flower are the 'folium,' which evidently means the corolla, but in certain cases includes also the calyx; the 'stamen,' which is our style; and the 'flocci,' our stamens. We see that Cesalpino uses the same word 'folium' without distinction for calyx, corolla, and ordinary leaves; just as he, and Malpighi a hundred years later, unhesitatingly regarded the cotyledons as metamorphosed leaves. In fact the envelopes of the flower and the cotyledons approach so nearly to the character of leaves, that every unprejudiced eye must instinctively perceive the resemblance; and if doubts arose on this point in post-Linnaean times, it was only a