Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 8 (1807).djvu/24

4 and very clearly proves the inconsistency of the notion, that in the whole tribe of Monocotyledones, what we vulgarly call the Flower is a true Calyx: indeed I nearly agree with Mirbel respecting these two parts, though my conclusions are drawn from very different premises.

As the insertion of the Stamina appears to me of so much consequence in putting an end to all our doubts, previously to mentioning the most striking instances I have met with, I must trespass upon your time and attention, while I briefly state the opinions that have hitherto prevailed respecting Calyx and Corolla. With the immortal Linnés doctrine, that the Calyx is a continuation of the outer, and the Corolla of the inner bark, we are here all perfectly acquainted; and that in some plants which have only one of the above-mentioned integuments, he thought it of so little moment, by which of those titles the part was described, that he says "Corolla (vel si mavis) Calyx." In his golden legacy, the Philosophia Botanica, he observes, "Limites inter calycem et corollam absolutos, naturam non posuisse, patet ex Daphnide, ubi connata ambo et margine unita veluti folium Buxi." This however is not the case in all the species of that genus: stronger instances of one running gradually into the other, may be seen in Delphinium, Ranunculus, Nymphæa, Castalia, and Magnolia; notwithstanding which I have not the smallest doubt of their being perfectly distinct organs, and performing totally different functions. For, similar arguments might be produced to confound all the other parts of the flower: in some species of Erica, the upper leaves change insensibly into Bracteæ: in the common Holly, the Pedunculus itself becomes soft and of a fine scarlet colour like the fruit: in Cratægus the Calyx is frequently persistent and pulpy like the Pericarpium: in Illicium Floridanum, the Petals insensibly grow narrower and so like the filaments, that they