DUPLICATA DE LA BIBLIOTHEQUE DU CONSEEVATOIRE BOTANIQUE DE GENEVE
VEJNDU EN 1922
HANDBOOK
OF THE
NEW ZEALAND FLORA.
Part 1. , pp. 1-392, published 1804.
Part II., pp. 398 to end, published 1867.
HANDBOOK
OF THE
NEW ZEALAND FLORA:
A SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION
OF THE
gatibc plants
OF
NEW ZEALAND
AND THE
CHATHAM, KERMADEC’S, LORD AUCKLAND’S, CAMPBELL’S,
AND MACQUARRIE’S ISLANDS.
BY
J. D. HOOKER, M.D., F.R.S. L.S. & G.S.,
AND HONORARY MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY, NEW ZEALAND.
PUBLISHED
UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND.
A 9 *
LONDON:
REEVE & CO., 5, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1867.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from IMLS LG-70-15-0138-15
https://archive.org/details/handbookofnewzeaOOhook_O
TO HIS EXCELLENCY
SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B., D.C.L. Oxon.,
ETC. ETC. ETC.,
GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE COLONY OF NEW ZEALAND,
WHO, THROUGHOUT A LONG AND DISTINGUISHED CAREER,
IN THE COLONIES OF
SOUTH AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, AND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,
HAS BEEN THE LIBERAL ENCOURAGER OF EVERY SCIENTIFIC UNDERTAKING,
THIS WORK
IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED,
BY HIS EXCELLENCY’S VERY FAITHFUL SERVANT,
J. D. HOOKER.
ROYAL GARDENS, KEW,
July, 1864.
• ■
.
- 1923.
PREFACE.
pfj'vv' YO«K
*0T a M
The desirability of publishing a compendious account of tbe plants of New Zealand having been represented to tbe Colonial Government by Dr. Knight, F.L.S., Auditor- General, and other gentlemen interested in the Natural History of the Islands, and in the development of their resources, that Government was pleased to entrust me with the pre- paration of such a work, and to place at my disposal the necessary funds for its publication, including a liberal remuneration for my services. I was at the same time instructed to make Mr. Bentham’s ‘Hongkong Flora ’ my guide as to the form of the work and method of describing the plants, and to adhere in these and in all other matters to the plan* recommended by Sir W. J. Hooker for publishing in a uniform series Floras of all the British Colonies. The title ‘ Handbook of the New Zealand Flora’ is adopted in accordance with the wishes of its pro- moters.
Though as complete as the materials at my disposal enable me to make this book, it is still imperfect as to the descriptions of several Orders of Flowering plants ; whilst with regard to the Flowerless, it is tolerably complete in the Orders Ferns and Ly copods only; of the others, the islands no doubt possess twice as many Mosses and Junger- mannias as have hitherto been discovered ; and I have been able to offer but a meagre sketch of the Fungi, of the lower tribes of Algse, and of the more minute and especially crustaceous Lichens that grow on rocks and on the bark of trees. It must, however, be many years before the multitudinous New Zealand genera and species of these very obscure and imperfectly-known tribes of plants are fully known, and I have thought it best to give good descriptions of all the commoner and most conspicuous only, which can be easily found and studied, and to treat more generally the rarer and more obscure, of which I have but imper- * Sec ‘Natural History Review,’ 1861, p. 255.
8*
PREFACE.
feet specimens, and which, were they perfect, could only be satisfactorily examined in a living state. I have, however, omitted no species known to me as a native of New Zealand, whether from books or collections. By adopting this plan I have, I hope, made this portion of the ‘ Hand- book’ a fair introduction to the study of the Orders of New Zealand Flowerless plants, and a safe guide to the principal species ; and I also hope that this will prove to be a more useful way of treating so very abstruse a subject, than would systematic descriptions, of equal length and pretensions to accuracy, of all the obscure and supposed species, whether common or scarce, perfect or imperfect.
In the course of preparing this work, I have re-examined most of the materials described in my ‘ Flora Novae-Zelandise ;’# these consisted of the collections of Banks and Solander, and of Forster, contained in the British Museum, and of those of the Cunninghams, Colenso, Sinclair, Bidwill, DiefFenbach, Baoul, Lyall, and my own, all preserved in the ‘ Hookerian Herbarium.’ Since the publication of that work, little of novelty has been added to the Flora of the Northern Island, but very many interesting discoveries have been made in the Middle Island, add- ing fully one-third to the previously known number of New Zealand Flowering Plants.
Much remains to be done towards the Botany of the Northern Is- land especially; of the whole province Taranaki, nothing is known; and except the Buahine range, by Colenso, no mountain region has been approximately well explored. Then too of the outlying islands, as the Kermadec and Chatham Islands, very little is known, and of Bounty or Antipodes Island nothing, whilst much remains to be collected on Lord Auckland’s group, Campbell’s Island and Macquarrie Island. The materials are still wanting for a comparison of the volcanic mountains of the Northern Island with the primitive or other mountains of the Mid- dle Island, a comparison essential to make before the geological or cli- matic relations of the flora of either island can be ascertained. These subjects and those of the geographical distribution of New Zealand plants, and of the apparently recent development of many of its spe- cies by variation from others still existing in the islands, are, however, foreign to a purely systematic Handbook, and I shall hope to take them up when this is finished.
In the ‘Flora Novte-Zelandiae,’ I have detailed at length the labours
* This, which forms the second'part of the ‘ Botany of the Antarctic Expedition of Sir J. Ross,’ was published in 1854-5, in two volumes, 4to, with 130 plates, coloured (including 1060 species), of New Zealand plants.
PREFACE.
9*
of all my predecessors, whether as collectors or authors, up to the year 1S50, and shall therefore only briefly recapitulate them here.
In August 1769, Sir Joseph Banks and his companion Dr. Solan- der visited the islands in Captain Cook’s first voyage, and collected in Poverty Bay, Tegadoo, Tolaga, Opuragi, the Thames river, Bay of Islands, Queen Charlotte’s Sound and Admiralty Bay. They obtained about 360 Flowering plants and ferns, had folio drawings made of most of them, and excellent manuscript descriptions. These MSS., together with about 200 engraved plates, were, I believe, all prepared for the press, and are preserved in the British Museum, but have never been published.
In 1772 Captain Cook again visited New Zealand, accompanied by the two Forsters, Beinwold and George (father and son), and by Dr. Sparrman; they collected at Dusky Bay and Queen Charlotte’s Sound. Their herbarium amounted to only about 160 species of Flowering plants and ferns. Of these, 150 are published in Forster’s ‘ Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus;’ and a few others in his ‘ Characteres Generum,’ and £ De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica.’ The specimens were distributed to various museums, and being often carelessly named, much confusion has crept into descriptive works.
In 1777, Captain Cook, during his third voyage, visited New Zealand. On this occasion Mr. Anderson, his surgeon, was the botanical col- lector, who obtained very little indeed, and nothing of any importance.
In 1791, Captain Vancouver arrived in Dusky Bay, on his way to sur- vey the coasts of North-West America, having with him as surgeon Mr. Archibald Menzies, a very assiduous collector of Flowerless plants, who procured many species of Filices, Musci, and Hepaticce , most of which are described at length, and beautifully illustrated in Hooker’s ‘Musci Exotici,’ and in Hooker and Greville’s ‘ leones Filicum.’
In 1822, Captain Duperrev visited the islands in the French dis- covery corvette ‘ Coquille,’ when one of his officers, the late Admiral D’Urville, made excellent collections.
In 1827, Captain (afterwards Admiral) Dumont D’Urville again visited New Zealand in the same ship, renamed the ‘ Astrolabe,’ accom- panied by an able naturalist, M. Lesson, when additional botanical collections were made in Cook’s Straits, the Thames river, and the Bay of Islands. The materials of this voyage (containing upwards of 200 Flowering plants and ferns) were published by M. A. Bichard, in his ‘Essai d’une F’lore de la Nouvelle-Zelande,’ with folio plates (Paris,
10*
PREFACE.
1832). Some of Forster’s plants, together with extracts from his MSS., preserved in the Paris Museum, were also published in this work.
In 1825, Mr. Charles Fraser, then superintendent of the Sydney- Botanical Gardens, landed for one day in the Bay of Islands, made a small collection of dried plants. He, however, procured more living ones, some of which were amongst the first plants of the islands which were introduced into European gardens.
In 1826, and again in 1838, Allan Cunningham, the eminent Australian botanist and explorer, made extensive botanical explorations in the northern parts of the Northern Island, chiefly at the Bay of Islands ; and in 1S33, his brother, Richard Cunningham (Fraser’s immediate successor in the Sydney gardens), was sent in H.M.S. Buffalo, to pro- cure timber for the Government of Australia. The results of the la- bours of the brothers, and especially of Allan, whose arduous exertions in the islands led to his untimely death at Sydney in 1S39, added consi- derably to the known Flora, and were collected by Allan into his ‘ Florae Novae-Zelandiae Precursor,- which was published by Sir W. J. Hooker, partly in his ‘Companion to the Botanical Magazine,’ vol. ii. , and partly in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ vols. i. ii. iii.
The herbarium of the Cunninghams, which has lately been pre- sented by its possessor, R. Heward, Esq., F.L.S., to the Royal Gardens, Kew, had been lent to me by its liberal possessor during the prepara- tion of the ‘Flora Novs-Zelandiae,’ and I have again consulted it during the preparation of this work.
In 1810 and 1841, the French frigate ‘ L’Aube,’ and in 1842-3 another, the ‘ Allier,’ made a lengthened sojourn at the islands; during those occasions M. Raoul, a very intelligent medical officer, diligently explored Banks’s Peninsula and the Bay of Islands, making excellent collections at the former locality especially ; most of the new species discovered were published first in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles 1 (ser. iii. vol. ii. p. 113) by MM. Raoul and Decaisne, and more recently were described and figured in a beautiful work, entitled, ‘ Choix de Plantes de la Nouvelle-Zelande,’ which further contains thirty plates, and an enumeration of all then known New Zealand plants. The collec- tions are preserved in the Paris Museum, and a set has been communi- cated to Sir W. Hooker’s herbarium.
In 1841, the Antarctic Expedition visited the Bay of Islands, when, accompanied by my friend the Rev. W. Colenso, and by Dr. A. Sinclair during a part of the time, I was enabled to explore the neighbourhood very fully, and to add largely to the Cryptogamie Flora.
PREFACE.
11*
In 1847-9, Captain Stokes, R.N., in H.M.S. Acheron, surveyed the coast of New Zealand ; lie was accompanied by Dr. Lyall, who made very large and excellent collections, especially of Flowerless plants, on various parts of the coast, hut chiefly of the Middle Island.
The other collectors to whom I am principally indebted for the mate- rials published in the ‘ Flora Novae-Zelandise,’ are, firstly, the Ret. W. Colenso, who, during many successive years, has collected throughout the whole length of the Northern Island, with great care and skill, dis- covering more new and interesting plants (especially on the Ruahine Range, Tongariro, Hikurangi, etc.) than any botanist since Banks and Solander. In every respect Mr. Colenso is the foremost New Zea- land botanical explorer, and the one to whom I am most indebted for specimens and information. The late De. Andrew Sinclair, R.N., F.L.S., formerly Colonial Secretary, a man of great attainments in many ways, certainly ranks second to Mr. Colenso. He collected very copi- ously in the Bay of Islands, the Auckland districts, and in the Nelson mountains, and was engaged in a botanical exploration of the Southern Alps in company with Mr. Haast, when he was drowned in the Rangi- tata river. His loss has been a very great one, whether as a botanist or as an enthusiastic and liberal patron of science.
The first alpine collections were made by my late friend J. T. Bin will, Esq., of Sydney, who was the earliest explorer of the interior of the Northern Island, and in 1839 ascended the lofty active volcano Tongariro, incurring considerable danger ; at a later period he was the first explorer of the Southern Alps, making extensive and very im- portant collections on the Nelson mountains, which were transmitted with copious notes to Sir W. Hooker.
The same mountains have been still better explored by Dr. Munro, who has added many beautiful alpine species to the ‘ New Zealand Flora,’ and sent an excellent herbarium of Nelson plants to Sir W. Hooker.
In 1840, Dr. Diefeenbach visited many parts of the Northern Is- land and northern part of the Middle Island, and is the first person who ascended Mount Egmont. His collections, which are however most scanty, compared with the great extent of interesting ground he passed over, were also communicated to Sir W. Hooker’s herbarium. Mb. Logan, Mr. Edgebley, the Ret. W. Taylor, the late General Bolton, Capt. Haultaine, Capt. Drury, R.N., Mr. Jolliffe, Capt. D. Rough, and Mr. Stephenson, have all contributed inter- esting and important collections which are embodied in the ‘ Flora Novse-Zelandise.’
12*
PREFACE.
Since 1851, as I have before observed, no addition of importance has been made to our knowledge of the Flowering plants of the Northern Island ; which I greatly regret, as much remains to be done in all the mountain districts in collecting the Graminece , Cyperacece, and Crypto- gamia everywhere, and in observing the habits and characters of the species of Veronica, Coprosma, Astelia, and many other genera. As regards Flowerless plants, two valuable papers by Mr. Knight and Mr. Mitten, on some of the Lichens of Auckland,* and by Mr. KALPHst on the Tree-ferns, are almost the only published contribu- tions made since that date to our knowledge of its Flora.
The Middle Island, on the other hand, has furnished several diligent explorers and many capital discoveries. Dr. Munro has made further excellent collections on the Nelson mountains, as have Dr. Sinclair and Capt. Kough. To W. T. Luke Travers, Esq., F.L.S., of Can- terbury, I am indebted for many fine plants discovered in the alpine ranges of Canterbury, Nelson, and Marlborough, during various ex- cursions. Many of these being ticketed as to elevation, are the more valuable. His observations on the spread of introduced plants are extremely interesting, and will, I hope, be fully followed up4
The great opportunities enjoyed by the distinguished geologist and ex- plorer, Julius Haast, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., Government Geologist of Canterbury, have been used to the best advantage in the furtherance of botanical science, he having contributed more new species to the Flora of the islands than any collector since Mr. Colenso. I am indebted to him also for a series of maps, notes, and observations, especially re- specting the ranges of the mountain plants, including the most alpine species hitherto discovered, which have been of great service. It is difficult to imagine how, with so many and such arduous duties as surveyor and geologist, Mr. Haast can have personally effected so much for botany as he has done, and I anticipate that his method of making complete collections ou each mountain and on each line of march, will eventually do much to develop the extremely curious subject of the variations of New Zealand plants. Mr. Haast has further called my attention to the labours of his assistant Mr. William Young, who has made several interesting discoveries, more particularly amongst the Grasses and Sedges of the alpine regions.
From the Otago province I have an excellent herbarium of Dunedin
* Transactions of the Linaean Society of London, xxiii. 99 and 101 .
+ Journal of Linnean Society of London, Bot. iii. 1G3.
J See ‘ Natural History Review,’ January, 1861.
PREFACE.
13*
plants, made by Dr. Lauder Lindsay, F.L.S. ; and more recently very extensive and valuable collections, containing much novelty, from the Alps of the interior and west coasts, by another eminent geologist, Dr. Hector, F.G.S., Government Geologist, and Mr. Buchanan, his assistant. The most important of these last collections arrived whilst the sheets of this work were passing through the press, and have ma- terially delayed its publication ; for the discoveries which they contained seemed to me to be of sufficient importance to render it desirable that they should be embodied in the portions that had already been printed, which had to be recalled for the purpose. Again, since the completion of the Flowering plants, I have received two more contributions from these surveyors, including various new discoveries and new habitats, which must be reserved for the Supplement.
To render this Handbook more complete, I have included in it the plants of the outlying islands properly belonging to the New Zealand group. They are the following : —
Chatham Islands, whence I have a very few plants collected by Dr. Diefeeneach. The splendid Myosotidium nobile inhabits this group, which is well worthy of a careful exploration. This, through the liberality of Mr. Trayers, has been done by his son, who, he tells me, has returned from the group with considerable collections.
Kermadec Islands. One of these, Sunday or Raoul Island, was visited by Captain Denham, in H.M.S. Herald, and botanized on by Mr. MacGillivray, naturalist, and his assistant, Mr. Milne ; its Flora, though characteristic of New Zealand, is more tropical than the latter, containing the widely-diffused Metrosideros polymorpha , and several tropical Ferns of the Pacific islands. I published a list of its plants in the Linnean Society’s Journal, Botany, vol. i. p. 125.
Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island were explored by Dr. Lyall and myself, during the stay there of the Antarctic Expedi- tion, in the year 1840. Our collections amounted to 870 species, and are published in the first volume of the ‘ Antarctic Flora,’ with 80 plates of 150 species. Lord Auckland’s group had been visited in the pre- vious year by Admiral D’TJrville’s Antarctic Expedition, but the col- lections made by his naturalists, MM. Hohbron and Jacquinot, were extremely small. The Cryptogamia alone are described, by M. Mon- tagne, in a work entitled ‘ Voyage au Pol^Sud,’ Bot. Crypt., 8vo, Paris, 1845, with a folio atlas of 20 plates : figures of some of the Flowering plants and Ferns have likewise been published in the same form,
PREFACE.
11*
but without descriptions. Lord Auckland’s group was also visited, in the same year, by Commodore Wilkes’s Expedition, when very few, if any, plants appear to have been collected ; and more recently by Gen. Bolton, who added several species to the Flora of the group.
Considering how many beautiful plants different from those of New Zealand these islands contain, it is obvious that they deserve a very close and careful botanical scrutiny.*
Macquarrie’s Island, A few plants from this desolate spot were sent to Sir W. Hooker by Mr. Fraser, when Superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Garden.
Of Bounty or Antipodes Islands nothing whatever seems to be bo- tanically or geographically known.
The Flora of Lord Howe’s Islands is intermediate in character (as the islands are in position) between that of New Zealand and Australia, but much more nearly allied to the latter; whilst Norfolk Island, which should perhaps have been included in the New Zealand group, is much more tropical and may have equal claims to rank botanically with the New Caledonian or Fiji Islands.
Of the 303 New Zealand genera of Flowering plants described in this part, about 252 (containing 222 species and 51 representatives) are common to Australia ; 171 (containing 11 species and 32 representatives) to South America ; 31 are peculiar to the group (comprising 59 species), and 6 (with 20 species) are found in the Pacific islands and elsewhere, but not in Australia or South America.
Again, of the 935 species of Flowering plants, 677 are peculiar to the islands ; 222 are Australian ; and 111 American. There are further 51 Australian representative and 32 American representative species.
Comparing New Zealand with Europe, these countries have 115 genera and 58 species in common, the latter including many water-plants, and several land-plants which are doubtful natives. Of these European genera, the shrubby Veronicas and Ligusticum are the only ones that appear to be vastly more numerous in New Zealand than in Europe.
It remains for me to apologize for many imperfections that will be
* Of about one hundred Flowering plants, natives of these small groups, no less than twenty-seven are hitherto unknown in New Zealand proper, including three genera and twelve most conspicuous and singular species, viz., Ligtisticum latifolium and antipodum , Pleurophyllum two species, Celmisia vernicosa, Gentiana two species, Vtantago Antarctica , Chiloglottis cornuta, Anthericum Rossii, Rostkovia two species.
PREFACE.
15*
found in this work, and to express a hope that these will be pointed out to me when discovered, so that they may be corrected in a future edition. Of the two principal sources of error in any work of the nature of a Systematic Flora, one is unavoidable, and that is the im- possibility of deciding, in many cases, as to what should be regarded a species and what a variety ; in my case this difficulty is greatly en- hanced by my having only dried specimens to examine. But this is not all ; for it is now admitted that one and the same species may be represented by two or more permanently distinct forms in one district, in other districts by but one of these forms, and in still other districts by forms which unite the characters of the most distinct forms of the first district ; and moreover, that these forms are usually permanent under cultivation. It hence follows that the several characters will have dif- ferent values in the estimation of the observers in each district, and that there must always be differences of opinion regarding the claims of such forms to take specific rank. The other great source of error is of more real importance, as it relates to facts and not at all to opinions ; it is, that in examining dried specimens, important and constant charac- ters are often overlooked, unimportant and transient ones exaggerated, and that errors accumulate in the successive process of examining so many organs, in applying technical terms to them, and in describing, transcribing, printing, and even in correcting the press. The num- ber of these errors is always great in works which, like the Phsenogamic Part of this Handbook, consist of descriptions of plants, two-thirds of which have been examined and described by one author alone, and it is to succeeding observers that I must look for their detection and correction.
1 loyal Gardens , Keiv :
June 30, 1864.
.
OUTLINES OF BOTANY,
TO ACCOMPANY THE COLONIAL FLORAS.
FROM BENTHAM’S ‘FLORA AU8TRALIENSIS.’
Chap. I. Definitions and Descriptive Botany.
1. The principal object of a Flora of a country, is to afford the means of determin- ing (i. e. ascertaining the name of) any plant growing in it, whether for the purpose of ulterior study or of intellectual exercise.
2. With this view, a Flora consists of descriptions of all the wild or native plants contained in the country in question, so drawn up and arranged that the student may identify with the corresponding description any individual specimen which he may gather.
3. These descriptions should be dear, concise, accurate, and characteristic, so as that each one should be readily adapted to the plant it relates to, and to no other one ; they should be as nearly as possible arranged under natural (184) divisions, so as to facilitate the comparison of each plant with those nearest allied to it ; and they should be accompanied by an artificial key or index, by means of which the student may be guided step by step in the observation of such peculiarities or characters in his plant, as may lead him, with the least delay, to the individual description belonging to it.
4. For descriptions to be clear and readily intelligible, they should be expressed as much as possible in ordinary well-established language. But, for the purpose of ac- curacy, it is necessary not only to give a more precise technical meaning to many terms used more or less vaguely in common conversation, but also to introduce purely technical names for such parts of plants or forms as are of little importance except to the botanist. In the present chapter it is proposed to define such technical or technically limited terms as are made use of in these Floras.
5. At the same time mathematical accuracy must not be expected. The forms and appearances assumed by plants and their parts are infinite. Names cannot be invented for all ; those even that have been proposed are too numerous for ordinary memories. Many are derived from supposed resemblances to well-known forms or objects. These resemblances are differently appreciated by different persons, and the same term is not only differently applied by two different botanists, but it frequently happens that the same writer is led on different occasions to give somewhat different meanings to the same word. The botanist’s endeavours should always be, on the one hand, to make as near an approach to precision as circumstances will allow, and on the other hand to avoid that prolixity of detail and overloading with technical terms which tends rather to confusion than clearness. In this he will be more or less successful. The aptness of a botanical description, like the beauty of a work of imagination, will always vary with the style and genius of the author.
C
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
§ 1. The Plant hi General.
6. The Plant, in its botanical sense, includes every being which has vegetable life , from the loftiest tree which adorns our landscapes, to the humblest moss which grows on its stem, to the mould or fungus which attacks our provisions, or the green scum that floats on our ponds.
7. Every portion of a plant which has a distinct part or function to perform in the operations or phenomena of vegetable life is called an Organ.
8. What constitutes vegetable life , and what are the functions of each organ, be- long to Vegetable Physiology ; the microscopical structure of the tissues composing the organs, to Vegetable Anatomy ; the composition of the substances of which they are formed, to Vegetable Chemistry ; under Descriptive and Systematic Botany we have chiefly to consider the forms of organs, that is, their Morphology , in the proper sense of the term, and their general structure so far as it affects classification and specific resemblances and differences. The terms we shall now define belong chiefly to the latter branch of Botany, as being that which is essential for the investigation of the Flora of a country. We shall add, however, a short chapter on "Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology, as a general knowledge of both imparts an additional in- terest to and facilitates the comparison of the characters and affinities of the plants examined.
i). In the more perfect plants, their organs are comprised in the general terms Root, Stem, Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit. Of these the three first, whose func- tion is to assist in the growth of t he plant, are Organs of Vegetation ; the flower and fruit, whose office is the formation of the seed, are the Organs of Reproduction.
10. All these organs exist, in one shape or another, at some period of the life of most, if not all, flowering plants , technically called phcenogamous or phanerogamous plants; which all bear some kind of flower and fruit in the botanical sense of the term. In the lower classes, the ferns, mosses, fungi, moulds or mildews, seaweeds, etc., called by botanists cryptogamous plants , the flowers, the fruit, and not unfre- quently one or more of the organs of vegetation, are either wanting, or replaced by organs so different as to be hardly capable of bearing the same name.
11. The observations comprised in the following pages refer exclusively to the flowering or phsenogamous plants. The study of the cryptogamous classes has now become so complicated as to form almost a separate science. They are therefore not included in these introductory observations, nor, with the exception of ferns, in the present Flora.
12. Plants are
Monocarpic, if they die after one flowering-season. These include Annuals, which flower in the same year in which they are raised from seed ; and Biennials, which only flower in the year following that in which they are sown.
Caulocarpic , if, after flowering, the whole or part of the plant lives through the winter and produces fresh flowers another season. These include Herbaceous peren- nials, in which the greater part of the plant dies after flowering, leaving only a small perennial portion called the Stock or Caudex, close to or within the earth ; Under- shrubs, suffruticose or stiff rutescent plants, in which the flowering branches, forming a. considerable portion of the plant, die down after flowering, but leave a more or less prominent perennial and woody base; Shrubs ( frutescent or fruticose plants), in which the perennial woody part forms the greater part of the plant, but branches near the base, and does not much exceed a man’s height ; and Trees ( arboreous or arborescent plants ) when the height is greater and forms a woody trunk, scarcely branching from, the base. Bushes are low, much branched shrubs.
13. The terms Monocarpic and Caulocarpic are but little used, but the other dis- tinctions enumerated above are universally attended to, although more useful to the gardener than to the botanist, who cannot always assign to them any precise character. Monocarpic plants, which require more thau two or three years to produce their flowers, will often, under certain circumstances, become herbaceous perennials, and are generally confounded with them. Truly perennial herbs will often commence flower- ing the first year, and have then all the appearance of annuals. Many tall shrubs
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
Ill
and trees lose annually their flowering branches like undershrubs. And the same botanical species may be an annual or a perennial, a herbaceous perennial or an under- shrub, an underslirub or a shrub, a shrub or a tree, according to climate, treatment, or variety.
14. Plants are usually terrestrial , that is, growing on earth, or aquatic, i. e. growing in water ; but sometimes they may be found attached by their roots to other plants, in which case they are epiphytes when simply growing upon other plants without penetrating into their tissue, parasites -when their roots penetrate into and derive more or less nutriment from the plant to which they are attached.
15. The simplest form of the perfect plant, the annual, consists of —
(L) The Root, or descending axis, which grows downwards from the stem, divides and spreads in the earth or water, and absorbs food for the plant through the extre- mities of its branches.
(2) The Stem, or ascending axis, which grows upwards from the root, branches and bears first one or more leaves in succession, then one or more flowers, and finally one or more fruits. It contains the tissues or other channels (217) by which the nutri- ment absorbed by the roots is conveyed in the form of sap (192) to the leaves or other points of the surface of the plant, to be elaborated or digested (218), and afterwards redistributed over different parts of the plant for its support and growth.
(3) The Leaves, usually flat, green, and horizontal, are variously arranged on the stem and its branches. They elaborate or digest (218) the nutriment brought to them through the -stem, absorb carbonic acid gas from the air, exhaling the superfluous oxygen, and returning the assimilated sap to the stem.
(4) The Flowers, usually placed at or towards the extremities of the branches. They are destined to form the future seed. When perfect and complete, they consist : 1st, of a pistil in the centre, consisting of one or more carpels , each containing the germ of one or more seeds ; 2nd, of one or more stamens outside the pistil, whose action is necessary to fertilize the pistil or enable it to ripen its seed ; 3rd, of a perianth or floral envelope , which usually encloses the stamens and pistil when young, and expands and exposes them to view when fully formed. This complete perianth is double ; the outer one, called Calyx, is usually more green and leaf-like ; the inner one, called the Corolla, more conspicuous, and variously coloured. It is the perianth, and especially the corolla, as the most showy part, that is generally called the flow er in popular language.
(5) The Fruit, consisting of the pistil or its lower portion, which persists or remains attached to the plant after the remainder of the flower has withered and fallen off. It enlarges and alters more or less in shape or consistence, becomes a seed-vessel , en- closing the seed until it is ripe, when it either opens to discharge the seed or falls to the ground with the seed. In popular language the term fruit is often limited to such seed-vessels as are or look juicy and eatable. Botanists give that name to all seed- vessels.
16. The herbaceous perennial resembles the annual during the first year of its growth ; but it also forms (usually towards the close of the season), on its stock (the portion of the stem and root which does not die), one or more buds, either exposed, and then popularly called eyes, or concealed among leaves. These buds, called leaf- buds, to distinguish them from flotver-buds or unopened flowers, are future branches as yet undeveloped ; they remain dormant through the winter, and the following spring grow out into new stems bearing leaves and flowers like those of the preceding year, whilst the lower part of the stock emits fresh roots to replace those which had perished at the same time as the stems.
17. Shrubs and trees form similar leaf-buds either at the extremity of their branches, or along the branches of the year. In the latter case these buds are usually axillary, that is, they appear in the axil of each leaf, i. e. in the angle formed by the leaf and the branch. When they appear at any other part of the plant they are called adventi- tious. If these buds by producing roots (19) become distinct plants before separating from the parent, or if adventitious leaf-buds are produced in the place of flowers or seeds, the plant is said to be viviparous or proliferous.
IV
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
§ 2. The Root.
18. Roots ordinarily produce neither buds, leaves, nor flowers. Their branches, calledyiAres when slender and long, proceed irregularly from any part of their surface.
19. Although roots proceed usually from the base of the stem or stock, they may also be produced from the base of any bud, especially if the bud lie along the ground, or is otherwise placed by nature or art in circumstances favourable for their deve- lopment, or indeed occasionally from almost any part of the plant. They are then often distinguished as adventitious , but this term is by some applied to all roots which are not in prolongation of the original radicle.
20. Roots are
fibrous, when they consist chiefly of slender fibres.
tuberous, when either the main root or its branches are thiokened into one or more short fleshy or woody masses called tubers (25).
taproots, when the main root descends perpendicularly into the earth, emitting only very small fibrous branches.
21. The stock of a herbaceous perennial, or the lower part of the stem of an annual or perennial, or the lowest branches of a plant, are sometimes underground and assume the appearance of a root. They then take the name of rhizome. The rhizome may always be distinguished from the true root by the presence or production of one or more buds, or leaves, or scales.
§ 3. The Stock.
22. The Stock of a herbaceous perennial, in its most complete state, includes a small portion of the summits of the previous year’s roots, as well as of the base of the previous year’s stems. Such stocks will increase yearly, so as at length to form dense tufts. They will often preserve through the winter a few leaves, amongst which are placed the buds which grow out into stems the following year, whilst the under side of the stock emits new’ roots from or amongst the remains of the old ones. These peren- nial stocks only differ from the permanent base of an undershrub in the shortness of the perennial part of the stems and in their texture usually less woody.
23. In some perennials, however, the stock consists merely of a branch, which pro- ceeds in autumu from the base of the stem either aboveground or underground, and produces one or more buds. This branch, or a portion of it, alone survives the winter. In the following year its buds produce the new stem and roots, whilst the rest of the plant, even the branch on which these buds were formed, has died away. These annual stocks, called sometimes hybernacula, offsets, or stolons , keep up the communication between the annual stem and root of one year and those of the following year, thus forming altogether a perennial plant.
24. The stock, whether annual or perennial, is often entirely underground or root- like. This is the rootstock, to which some botanists limit the meaning of the term rhizome. When the stock is ent irely root-like, it is popularly called the cro wn of the root.
25. The term tuber is applied to a short, thick, more or less succulent rootstock or rhizome, as well as to a root of that shape (20), although some botanists propose to re- strict its meaning to the one or to the other. An Orchis tuber, called by some a knob, is an annual tuberous rootstock with one bud at the top. A potato is an annual tu- berous rootstock with several buds.
26. A bulb is a stock of a shape approaching to globular, usually rather conical above and flattened underneath, in which the bud or buds are concealed, or nearly so, under scales. These scales are the more or less thickened bases of the decayed leaves of the preceding year, or of the undeveloped leaves of the future year, or of both. Bulbs are annual or perennial, usually underground or close to the ground, but occa- sionally buds in the axils of the upper leaves become transformed into bulbs. Bulbs are said to be scaly when their scales are thick and loosely imbricated, tunicated when the scales are thinner, broader, and closely rolled round each other in concentric layers.
27. A corrn is a tuberous rootstock, usually annual, shaped like a bulb, but in which the bud or buds are not covered by scales, or of which the scales are very thin and membranous.
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
V
§ 4. The Stem.
28. Stems are
erect, when they ascend perpendicularly from the root or stock ; twiggy or virgate, when at the same time they are slender, stiff, and scarcely branched.
sarmentose, when the branches of a woody stem are long and weak, although scarcely climbing.
decumbent or ascending , when they spread horizontally, or nearly so, at the base, and then turn upwards and become erect.
procumbent, when they spread along the ground the whole or the greater portion of their length; diffuse, when at the same time very much and rather loosely branched. prostrate, when they lie still closer to the ground.
creeping, when they emit roots at their node9. This term is also frequently ap- plied to any rhizomes or roots which spread horizontally.
tufted or ccespitose, when very short, close; and many together from the same stock.
29. Weak climbing stems are said to twine, when they support themselves by wind- ing spirally round any object ; such stems are also called voluble. When they simply climb without twining, they support themselves by their leaves, or by special clasping organs called tendrils (169), or sometimes, like the Ivy, by small rootdike excrescences.
30. Suckers are young plants formed at the end of creeping, underground rootstocks. Scions, runners, and stolons, or stoles, are names given to young plants formed at the end or at the nodes (31) of branches or stocks creeping wholly or partially above- ground, or sometimes to the creeping stocks themselves.
31. A node is a point of the stem or its branches at which one or more leaves, branches, or leaf-buds (16) are given off. An internode is the portion of the stem comprised between two nodes.
32. Branches or leaves are
opposite , when two proceed from the same node on opposite sides of the stem. whorled or verticillate (in a ivhorl or verticil), when several proceed from the same node, arranged regularly round the stem ; geminate, ternate, fascicled, or fascicu- late, when two, three, or more proceed from the same node on the same side of the stem. A tuft of fasciculate leaves is usually in fact an axillary leafy branch, so short that the leaves appear to proceed all from the same point.
alternate, when one only proceeds from each node, one on one side and the next above or below on the opposite side of the stem.
decussate, when opposite, but each pair placed at right angles to the next pair above or below it ; distichous, when regularly arranged one above another in two opposite rows, one on each side of the stem ; tristichous, when in three rows, etc. (92).
scattered, when irregularly arranged round the stem ; frequently, however, bota- nists apply the term alternate to all branches or leaves that are neither opposite nor whorled.
secund, when all start from or are turned to one side of the stem.
33. Branches are dichotomous, when several times forked, tne two branches ol each fork being nearly equal ; trichotomous , when there are three nearly equal branches at each division instead of two; but when the middle branch is evidently the princi- pal one, the stem is usually said to have two opposite branches ; umbellate, when di- vided in the same manner into several nearly equal branches proceeding from the same point. If, however, the central branch is larger than the two or more lateral ones, the stem is said to have opposite or whorled branches, as the case may be.
34. A culm is a name sometimes given to the stem of Grasses, Sedges, and some other Monocotyledonous plants.
§ 5. The Leaves.
35. The ordinary or perfect Leaf consists of a flat blade or lamina, usually green, and more or less horizontal, attached to the stem by a stalk called o, footstalk or petiole. When the form or dimensions of a leaf are spoken of, it is generally the blade that is meant, without the petiole or stalk.
36. The end by which a leaf, a part of the flower, a seed, or any other organ, is
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
attached to the stem or other organ, is called its base, the opposite end is its apex or summit, excepting sometimes in the case of anther-cells (115).
37. Leaves are
sessile, when the blade rests on the stem without the intervention of a petiole. amplexicaul or stem- elating, when the sessile base of the blade clasps the stem horizontally.
perfoliate, when the base of the blade not only clasps the stem, but closes round it on the opposite side, so that the Stem appears to pierce through the blade.
decurrent, when the edges of the leaf are continued down the stem so as to form raised lines or narrow appendages, called wings.
sheathing, when the base of the blade, or of the more or less expanded petiole, forms a vertical sheath round the stem for some distance above the node.
38. Leaves and flowers are called radical, when inserted on a rhizome or stock, or so close to the base of the stem as to appear to proceed from the root, rhizome, or stock ; catiline, when inserted on a distinct stem. Radical leaves are rosulate when they spread in a circle on the ground.
39. Leaves are
simple and entire, when the blade consists of a single piece, with the margin no- where indented, simple being used in opposition to compound, entire in opposition to dentate, lobed, or divided.
ciliate, when bordered with thick hairs or fine hair-like teeth. dentate or toothed, when the margin is only cut a little way in, into what have been compared to teeth. Such leaves are serrate, when the teeth are regular and pointed like the teeth of a saw ; crenate, when regular and blunt or rounded (com- pared to the battlements of a tower) ; serrulate and crenulate, when the serratures or crenatures are small ; sinuate, when the teeth are broad, not deep, and irregular (com- pared to bays of the coast) ; wavy or undulate, when the edges are not flat, but bent up and down (compared to the waves of the sea).
lobed or cleft, when more deeply indented or divided, but so that the incisions do not reach the midrib or petiole. The portions thus divided take the name of lobes. When the lobes arc narrow and very irregular, the leaves are said to be laciniate. The spaces between the teeth or lobes are called sinuses.
divided or dissected, when the incisions reach the midrib or petiole, but the parts so divided off, called segments, do not separate from the petiole, even when the leaf falls, without tearing.
compound, when divided to the midrib or petiole, and the parts so divided off, called leaflets, separate, at least at the tail of the leaf, from the petiole, as the whole leaf does from the stem, without tearing. The common stalk Upon which the leaflets are inserted is called the common petiole or the rhackis ; the separate stalk of each leaflet is a petiolule.
40. Leaves are more or less marked by veins, which, starting from the stalk, diverge or branch as the blade widens, and spread all over it more or less visibly. The prin- cipal ones, when prominent, are often called ribs or nerves, the smaller branches only then retaining the name of veins, or the latter are termed veinlets. The smaller veins are often connected together like the meshes of a net, they are then said to anastomose, and the leaf is said to be reticulate or net-veined. When one principal vein runs direct from the stalk towards the summit of the leaf, it is called the midrib. When several start from the stalk, diverge slightly without branching, and converge again towards the summit, they are said to be parallel, although not mathematically so. When 3 or 5 or more ribs or nerves diverge from the base, the leaf is said to be H-nerved, h-nerved, etc., but if the lateral ones diverge from the midrib a little above the base, the leaf is triplinerved, quintuplinerved, etc. The arrangement of the veins of a leaf is called their venation.
41. The Leaflets, Segments, Lobes, or Veins of leaves are
pinnate (feathered), when there are several succeeding each other on each side of the midrib or petiole, compared to the branches of a feather. A pinnately lobed or divided leaf is called lyrate when the terminal lobe or segment is much larger and broader than the lateral ones, compared, by a stretch of imagination, to a lyre ; run-
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
Vll
cinate, when the lateral lobes are curved backwards towards the base of the leaf ; pectinate , when the lateral lobes are numerous, narrow, and regular, like the teeth of a comb.
palmate or digitate, when several diverge from the same point, compared to the fingers of the hand.
ternate , when three only start from the same point, in which case the distinction between the palmate and pinnate arrangement often ceases, or can only be determined by analogy with allied plants. A leaf with ternate lobes is called trifid. A leaf with three leaflets is sometimes improperly called a ternate leaf : it is the leaflets that are ternate ; the whole leaf is trifoliolate. Ternate leaves are leaves growing three together.
pedate, when the division is at first ternate, but the two outer branches are forked, the outer ones of each fork again forked, and so on, and all the branches are near together at the base, compared vaguely to the foot of a bird.
42. Leaves with pinnate, palmate, pedate, etc., leaflets, are usually for shortness called pinnate, palmate, pedate, etc., leaves. If they are so cut into segments only, they are usually said to be pinnatisect, palmatisect,pedatisect, etc., although the distinction be- tween segments and leaflets is often unheeded in descriptions, and cannot indeed always be ascertained. If the leaves are so cut only into lobes, they are said to be pinnatijid, palmatijid, pedatifid, etc.
43. The teeth, lobes, segments, or leaflets, may be again toothed, lobed, divided, or compounded. Some leaves are even three or more times divided or compounded. In the latter case they are termed decompound. When twice or thrice pinnate ( bipinnate or tripinnate) , each primary or secondary division, with the leaflets it comprises, is called a pinna. When the pinna of a leaf or the leaflets of a pinna are in pairs, wilh- out an odd terminal pinna or leaflet, the leaf or pinna so divided is said to be abruptly pinnate ; if there is an odd terminal pinna or leaflet, the leaf or pinna is unequally pinnate (imparipinnatum).
44. The number of leaves or their parts is expressed adjectively by the following numerals, derived from the Latin : —
uni-, bi-, tri-, quadri-, quinque-, sex-, septera-, octo-, novem-, deeem-, multi- I-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, many-
prefixed to a termination, indicating the particular kind of part referred to. Thus — unidentate, bidentate, multidentate, mean one-toothed, two-toothed, many-toothed, etc.
bifid, trifid, multifid, mean two dobed, tliree-lobed, many-lcbed, etc. unifoliolate, bfoliolate, multifoliolate, mean having one leaflet, two leaflets, many leaflets, etc.
unifioliate , bifoliate, multifoliate, mean having one leaf, two leaves, many leaves, etc.
biternate and triternate, mean twice or thrice ternately divided. unijugate, bijugate, multijugate, etc., pinnse or leaflets, mean that they are in one, two, many, etc., pairs ( iuga ).
45. Leaves or their parts, when flat, or any other flat organs in plants, are linear, when long and narrow, at least four or five times as long as broad, falsely
compared to a mathematical line, for a linear leaf has always a perceptible breadth.
lanceolate , when about three or more times as long as broad, broadest below the middle, and tapering towards the summit, compared to the head of a lance.
cuneate, when broadest above the middle, and tapering towards the base, compared to a wedge with the point downwards ; when very broadly cuneate and rounded at the top, it is often called flabelliform or fan-shaped.
spathulate, when the broad part near the top is short, and the narrow tapering part long, compared to a spatula or flat ladle.
ovate , when scarcely twice as long as broad, and rather broader below the middle, compared to the longitudinal section of an egg ; obovate is the same form, with the broadest part above the middle.
orbicular, oval, oblong, elliptical, rhomboidal, etc., when compared to the corre- sponding mathematical figures.
transversely oblong, or oblate, when conspicuously broader than long.
V1U
OUTLINES OE BOTANY.
falcate, when curved like the blade of a scythe.
46. Intermediate forms between any two of the above are expressed by combining two terms. Thus, a linear-lanceolate leaf is long and narrow, yet broader below the middle, and tapering to a point ; a linear-oblong one is scarcely narrow enough to be called linear, yet too narrow to be strictly oblong, and does not conspicuously taper either towards the summit or towards the base.
47. The apex or summit of a leaf is
acute or pointed, when it forms an acute angle or tapers to a point. obtuse or blunt , when it forms a very obtuse angle, or more generally when it is more or less rounded at the top.
acuminate or cuspidate, when suddenly narrowed at the top, and then more or less prolonged into an acumen or point , which may be acute or obtuse, linear or tapering. Some botanists make a slight difference between the acuminate and cuspidate apex, the acumen being more distinct from the rest of the leaf in the latter case than in the former ; but in general the two terms are used in the same sense, some preferring the one and some the other.
truncate, when the end is cut off square.
retuse, when very obtuse or truncate, and slightly indented.
emarginate or notched, when more decidedly indented at the end of the midrib ; obcordate, if at the same time approaching the shape of a heart with its point down- wards.
mucronate, when the midrib is produced beyond the apex in the form of a small point.
aristate, when the point is fine like a hair.
48. The base of the leaf is liable to the same variations of form as the apex, but the terms more commonly used are tapering or narrowed for acute and acuminate, rounded for obtuse, and cordate for emarginate. In all cases the petiole or point of attachment prevent any such absolute termination at the base as at the apex.
49. A leaf may be cordate at the base whatever be its length or breadth, or what- ever the shape of the two lateral lobes, called auricles (or little ears), formed by the indenture or notch, but the term cordiform or heart-shaped leaf is restricted to an ovate and acute leaf, cordate at the base, with rounded auricles. The word auricles is more particularly used as applied to sessile and stem-clasping leaves.
50. If the auricles are pointed, the leaf is more particularly called auriculate ; it is moreover said to be sagittate, when the points are directed downwards, compared to an arrow-head ; hastate, when the points diverge horizontally, compared to a halbert.
51. A renform leaf is broader than long, slightly but broadly cordate at the base, with rounded auricles, compared to a kidney.
52. In a peltate leaf, the stalk, instead of proceeding from the lower edge of the blade, is attached to the under surface, usually near the lower edge, but sometimes in the very centre of the blade. The peltate leaf has usually several principal nerves radiating from the point of attachment, being, in fact, a cordate leaf, with the auricles united.
53. All these modifications of division and form in the leaf pass so gradually one into the other that it is often difficult to say which term is the most applicable — whether the leaf be toothed or lobed, divided or compound, oblong or lanceolate, obtuse or acute, etc. The choice of the most apt expression will depend on the skill of the describer.
54. Leaves, when solid, Stems, Fruits, Tubers, and other parts of plants,
when not flattened like ordinary leaves, are
setaceous or capillarg, when very slender like bristles or hairs. acicular, when very slender, but stiff and pointed like needles. subulate, when rather thicker and firmer like awls.
linear, when at least four times as long as thick ; oblong, when from about two to about four times as long as thick, the terms having the same sense as when applied to flat surfaces.
ovoid, when egg-shaped, with the broad end downwards, obovoid if the broad end is upwards ; these terms corresponding to ovate and oborate shapes in flat surfaces.
OUTLINES OE EOT AN Y.
IX
globular or spherical, when corresponding to orbicular in a flat surface. Hound applies to both.
turbinate, when shaped like a top.
conical, when tapering upwards ; obconical, when tapering downwards, if in both cases a transverse section shows a circle.
pyramidal, when tapering upwards ; obpyramidal, when tapering downwards, if in both cases a transverse section shows a triangle or polygon.
fusiform, or spindle-shaped, when tapering at both ends ; cylindrical, when not tapering at either end, if in both cases the transverse section shows a circle, or some- times irrespective of the transverse shape.
terete , when the transverse section is not angular ; trigonous, triquetrous, if the transverse section shows a triangle, irrespective in botli cases of longitudinal form.
compressed, when more or less flattened laterally ; depressed, when more or less flattened vertically, or at any rate at the top ; obcompressed (in the achenes of Compo- sites), when flattened from front to back.
articulate or jointed, if at any period of their growth (usually when fully formed and approaching their decay, or in the case of fruits when quite ripe) they separate, without tearing, into two or more pieces placed end to end. The joints where they separate are called articulations, each separate piece an article. The name of joint is, in common language, given both to the articulation and the article, but more espe- cially to the former. Some modern botanists, however, propose to restrict it to the article, giving the name of joining to the articulation.
didymous, when slightly two-lobed, with rounded obtuse lobes. moniliform, or beaded, when much contracted at regular intervals, but not sepa- rating spontaneously into articles.
55. In their consistence Leaves or other organs are
fleshy, when thick and soft ; succulent is generally used in the same sense, but implies the presence of more juice.
coriaceous, when firm and stiff, or very tough, of the consistence of leather. crustaceous, when firm and brittle. membranous, when thin and not stiff.
scarious or scariose, when very thin, more or less transparent and not green, yet rather stiff.
56. The terms applied botanically to the consistence of solids are those in general use in common language.
57. The mode in which unexpanded leaves are disposed in the leaf-bud is called their vernation or prafoliation ; it varies considerably, and technical terms have been proposed to express some of its varieties, but it has been hitherto rarely noticed in descriptive botany.
§ 6. Scales, Bracts, and Stipules.
58. Scales ( Squamce ) are leaves very much reduced in size, usually sessile, seldom green or capable of performing the respiratory functions of leaves. In other words, they are organs resembling leaves in their position on the plant, but differing in size, colour, texture, and functions. They are most frequent on the stock of perennial plants, or at the base of annual branches, especially on the buds of future shoots, when they serve apparently to protect the dormant living germ from the rigour of winter. In the latter case they are usually short, broad, close together, and more or less imbri- cated, that is, overlapping each other like the tiles of a roof. It is this arrangement as well as their usual shape that has suggested the name of scales, borrowed from the scales of a fish. Imbricated scales, bracts, or leaves, are said to be squarrose, when their tips are pointed and very spreading or recurved.
59. Sometimes, however, most or all the leaves of the plant are reduced to small scales, in which case they do not appear to perform any particular function. The name of scales is also given to any small broad scale-like appendages or reduced organs, whether in the flower or any other part of the plant.
60. Bracts ( Bractece ) are the upper leaves of a plant in flower (either all those of the flowering branches, or only one or two immediately under the flower), when differ-
X
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
ent from the stem-leaves in size, shape, colour, or arrangement. They are generally much smaller and more sessile. They often partake of the colour of the flower, although they very frequently also retain the green colour of the leaves. When small they are often called scales.
61. Floral leaves or leafy bracts are generally the lower bracts on the upper leaves at the base of the flowering branches, intermediate in size, shape, or arrangement, between the stem-leaves and the upper bracts.
62. Bracteoles are the one or two last bracts under each flower, when they differ materially in size, shape, or arrangement from the other bracts.
63. Stipules are leaf-like or scale-like appendages at the base of the leaf-stalk, or on the node of the stem. When present there are generally two, one on each side of the leaf, aud they sometimes appear to protect the young leaf before it is developed. They are however exceedingly variable in size and appearance, sometimes exactly like the true leaves except that they have no buds in their axils, or looking like the leaflets of a compound leaf, sometimes apparently the only leaves of the plant ; generally small and narrow, sometimes reduced to minute scales, spots or scare, sometimes united into one opposite the leaf, or more or less united with, or adnate to the petiole, or quite detached from the leaf, and forming a ring or sheath round the stem in the axil of the leaf. In a great number of plants they are entirely wanting.
64. Stipellce, or secondary stipules, are similar organs, sometimes found on com- pound leaves at the points where the leaflets are inserted.
65. When scales, bracts, or stipules, or almost any part of the plant besides leaves and flowers are stalked, they are said to be stipitate , from stipes, a stalk.
§ 7. Inflorescence and its Bracts.
66. The Inflorescence of a plant is the arrangement of the flowering branches, and of the flowers upon them. An Inflorescence is a flowering branch, or the flowering summit of a plant above the last stem-leaves, with its branches, bracts, and flowers.
67. A single flower, or an inflorescence, is terminal when at the summit of a stem or leafy branch, axillary when in the axil of a stem-leaf, leaf-opposed when opposite to a stem-leaf. The inflorescence of a plant is said to be terminal or determinate when the main stem and principal branches end in a flower or inflorescence (not in a leaf- bud), axillary or indeterminate when all the flowers or inflorescences are axillary, the stem or branches ending in leaf-buds.
68. A Peduncle is the stalk of a solitary flower, or of an inflorescence ; that is to say, the portion of the flowering branch from the last stem-leaf to the flower, or to the first ramification of the inflorescence, or even up to its last ramifications ; but the portion extending from the first to the last ramifications or the axis of inflorescence is often distinguished under the name of rhachis.
69. A Scape or radical Peduncle is a leafless peduncle proceeding from the stock, or from near the base of the stem, or apparently from the root itself.
70. A Pedicel is the last branch of an inflorescence, supporting a single flower.
71. The branches of inflorescences may be, like those of stems, opposite, alternate, etc. (32, 33), but very often their arrangement is different from that of the leafy branches of the same plant.
72. Inflorescence is
centrifugal, when the terminal flower opens first, and those on the lateral branches are successively developed.
centripetal, when the lowest flowers open first, and the main stem continues to elongate, developing fresh flowers.
73. Determinate inflorescence is usually centrifugal. Indeterminate inflorescence is always centripetal. Both inflorescences may be combined on one plant, for it often happens that the main branches of an inflorescence are centripetal, whilst the flowers on the lateral branches are centrifugal ; or vice versa.
74. An Inflorescence is
a Spike, or spicate, when the flowers are sessile along a simple undivided axis or rhachis.
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
XI
a "Raceme, or racemose , when the flowers are borne on pedicels along a single un- divided axis or rhachis.
a Panicle , or paniculate , when the axis is divided into branches bearing two or more flowers.
a Head , or capitate , when several sessile or nearly sessile flowers are collected into a compact head-like cluster. The short, flat, convex or conical axis on which the flowers are seated, is called the receptacle, a term also used for the torus of a single flower (135). The very compact flower-heads of Composites are often termed compound, flowers.
an Umbel, or umbellate, when several branches or pedicels appear to start from the same point and are nearly of the same length. It differs from the head, like the raceme from the spike, in that the flowers are not sessile. An umbel is said to be simple, when each of its branches or rays bears a single flower ; compound, when each ray bears a partial umbel or umbellule.
a Corymb, or corymbose, when the branches and pedicels, although starting from different points, all attain the same level, the lower ones being much longer than the upper. It is a flat-topped or fastigiate panicle.
a Cyme, or cymose, when branched and centrifugal. It is a centrifugal panicle, and is often corymbose. The central flower opens first. The lateral branches succes- sively developed are usually forked or opposite (dichotomous or trichotomous), but sometimes after the first forking the branches are no longer divided, but produce a succession of pedicels on their upper side forming apparently unilateral centripetal racemes ; whereas if attentively examined, it will be found that each pedicel is at first terminal, but becomes lateral by the development of one outer branch only, immedi- ately under the pedicel. Such branches, when in bud, are generally rolled back at the top, like the tail of a scorpion, and are thence called scorpioid.
a Thyrsus, or thyrsoid , when cymes, usually opposite, are arranged in a narrow pyramidal panicle.
75. There are numerous cases where inflorescences are intermediate between some two of the above, and are called by different botanists by one or the other name, according as they are guided by apparent or by theoretical similarity. A spike-like panicle, where the axis is divided into very short branches forming a cylindrical compact inflorescence, is called sometimes a spike, sometimes a panicle. If the flowers are in distinct clusters along a simple axis, the inflorescence is described as an interrupted spike or raceme, according as the flowers are nearly sessile or distinctly pedicellate ; although when closely examined the flowers will be found to be inserted not on the main axis, but on a very short branch, thus, strictly speaking, constituting a panicle.
76. The catlcins ( amenta ) of Amentacece, the spadices of several Monocotyledons, the ears and spi/celets of Grasses are forms of the spike.
77. Bracts are generally placed singly under each branch of the inflorescence, and under each pedicel ; bracteoles are usually two, one on each side, on the pedicel or close under the flower, or even upon the calyx itself ; but bracts are also frequently scattered along the branches without axillary pedicels ; and When the differences between the bracts and bracteoles are trifling or immaterial, they are usually all called bracts.
78. When three bracts appear to proceed from the same point, they will, on exami- nation, be found to be really either one bract and two stipules, or one bract with two bracteoles in its axil. When two bracts appear to proceed from the same point, they will usually be found to be the stipules of an undeveloped bract, unless the branches of the inflorescence are opposite, when the bracts will of course be opposite also.
79. When several bracts are collected in a whorl, or are so close together as to appear whorled, or 'are closely imbricated round the'hase of a head or umbel, they are collec- tively called an Livoldcre. The bracts composing an involucre are described under the names of leaves, leaflets, bracts, or Scales, according to their appearance. Phyllaries is a useless term, lately introduced for the bracts or scales of the involucre of Com- positce. An Involitcel is the involucre of a partial umbel.
80. When several very small bracts are placed round the base of a calyx or of an
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■ involucre, they have been termed a calycule , and the calyx or involucre said to be caly- culate , but these terms are now falling into disuse, as conveying a false impression.
81. A Spatha is a bract or floral leaf enclosing the inflorescence of some Monocoty- ledons.
82. Palea, Pales , or Chaff, are the inner bracts or scales in Composite, Gramineoe , and some other plants, when of a thin yet stiff consistence, usually narrow and of a pale colour.
83. Glumes are the bracts enclosing the flowers of Cyperaceae and Graminece.
§ 8. The Flower in General.
84. A complete Flower (15) is one in which the calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistils are all present ; a perfect flower, one in which all these organs, or such of them as are present, are capable of performing their several functions. Therefore, properly speak- ing, an incomplete flower is one in which any one or more of these organs is wanting ; and an imperfect flower, one in which any one or more of these organs is so altered as to be incapable of properly performing its functions. These imperfect organs are said to be abortive if much reduced in size or efficiency, rudimentary if so much so as to be scarcely perceptible. But, in many works, the term incomplete is specially applied to those flowers in which the perianth is simple or wanting, and imperfect to those in which either the stamens or pistil are imperfect or wanting.
85. A Flower is
dichlamydeous, when the perianth is double, both calyx and corolla being present and distinct.
monochlamydeous, when the perianth is single, whether by the union of the calyx and corolla, or the deficiency of either. asepalous, when there is no calyx. apetalous, when there is no corolla. naked , when there is no perianth at all.
hermaphrodite or bisexual, when both stamens and pistil are present and perfect. male or staminate, when there are one or more stamens, but either no pistil at all or an imperfect one.
female or pistillate, when there iB a pistil, but either no stamens at all, or only imperfect ones.
neuter , when both stamens and pistil are imperfect or wanting. barren or sterile, when from any cause it produces no seed.
fertile, when it does produce seed. In some works the terms barren, fertile, and perfect are also used respectively as synonyms of male, female, and hermaphrodite.
86. The flowers of a plant or species are said collectively to be unisexual or diclinous when the flowers are all either male or female.
monoecious, when the male and female flowers are distinct, but on the same plant. dioecious, when the male and female flowers are on distinct plants. polygamous, when there are male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers on the same or on distinct plants.
87. A head of flowers is heterogamous when male, female, hermaphrodite, and neuter flowers, or any two or three, of them, are included in one head ; homogamous, when all the flowers included in one Tread are alike in this respect. A spike or head of flowers is androgynous when male and female flowers are mixed in it. These terms are only used in the case of very few Natural Orders.
88. As the scales of buds are leaves undeveloped or reduced in size and altered in shape and consistence, and bracts are leaves likewise reduced in size, and occasionally altered in colour ; so the parts of the flower are considered as leaves still further altered in shape, colour, and arrangement round the axis, and often more or less combined with each other. The details of this theory constitute the comparatively modern branch of botany called Vegetable Metamorphosis, or Homology, sometimes improperly termed Morphology (8).
89. To understand the arrangement of the floral parts, let us take a complete flower, in which moreover all the parts are free from each other, definite in number, i. e. always
- the same in the same species, and symmetrical or isomerous, i. e. when each whorl con- sists of the same number of parts.
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90. Such a complete symmetrical flower consists usually of either four or five whorls of altered leaves (88), placed immediately one within the other.
The Calyx forms the outer whorl. Its parts are called sepals.
The Corolla forms the next whorl. Its parts, called -petals , usually alternate with the sepals ; that is to say, the centre of each petal is immediately over or within the interval between two sepals.
The Stamens form one or two whorls within the petals. If two, those of the outer whorl (the outer stamens ) alternate with the petals, and are consequently opposite to, or over the centre of the sepals ; those of the inner whorl (the inner stamens) alternate with the outer ones, and are therefore opposite to the petals. If there is only one whorl of stamens, they most frequently alternate with the petals ; but sometimes they are opposite the petals and alternate with the sepals.
The Pistil forms the inner whorl ; its carpels usually alternate with the inner row of stamens.
91. In an axillary or lateral flower the upper parts of each whorl (sepals, petals, stamens, or carpels) are those which are next to the main axis of the stems or branch, the lower part3 those which are furthest from it ; the intermediate ones are said to be lateral. The words anterior (front) and posterior (back) are often used for lower and upper respectively, but their meaning is sometimes reversed if the writer supposes himself in the centre of the flower instead of outside of it.
92. The number of parts in each whorl of a flower is expressed adjectively by the following numerals derived from the Greek
mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta, octo-, ennea-, deca-, etc., poly-
I-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, many -
prefixed to a termination indicating the whorl referred to.
93. Thus, a Flower is
disepalous, trisepalous, tetrasepalous, polysepalous, etc., according as there are 2, 3, 4, or many (or an indefinite number of) sepals.
dipetalous, tripetalous, polypetalous, etc., according as there are 2, 3, or many petals.
diandrous, tnandrous, polyandrous, etc., according as there are 2, 8, or many stamens.
digynous, trigynous, polygynous, etc., according as there are 2, 3, or many carpels.
And generally (if symmetrical), dimerous , trimerous, polymerous, etc., according as there are 2, 3, or many (or an indefinite number of) parts to each whorl.
94. Flowers are unsymmetrical or anisomerous, strictly speaking, when any one of the whorls has a different number of parts from any other ; but when the pistils alone are reduced in number, the flower is still frequently called symmetrical or isomerous, if the calyx, corolla, and staminal whorls have all the same number of parts.
95. Flowers are irregular when the parts of any one of the whorls are unequal in size, dissimilar in shape, or do not spread regularly round the axis at equal distances. It is however more especially irregularity of the corolla that is referred to in descrip- tions. A slight inequality in size or direction in the other whorls does not prevent the flower being classed as regular , if the corolla or perianth is conspicuous and regular.
§ 9. The Calyx and Corolla , or Perianth.
96. The Calyx (90) is usually green, and smaller than the corolla ; sometimes very, minute, rudimentary, or wanting, sometimes very indistinctly wliorled, or not whorled at all, or in two whorls, or composed of a large number of sepals, of which the outer ones pass gradually into bracts, and the inner ones into petals.
97. The. Corolla (90) is usually coloured, and of a more delicate texture than the calyx, and, in popular language, is often more specially meant by the flower. Its petals are more rarely in two whorls, or indefinite in number, and the whorl more rarely broken than in the case of the calyx, at least when the plant is in a natural state. Double flowers are in most cases an accidental deformity or monster in which the ordi- nary number of petals is multiplied by the conversion of stamens, sepals, or even carpels into petals, by the division of ordinary petals, or simply by the addition of supernume- rary ones. Petals are also sometimes very small, rudimentary, or entirely deficient.
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
98. In very many cases, a so-called simple perianth (15) (of which the parts are usually called leaves or segments) is one in which the sepals and petals are similar in form and texture, and present apparently a single whorl. But if examined in the young bud, one half of the parts will generally be found to be placed outside the other half, and there will frequently be some slight difference in texture, size, and colour, indicating to the close observer the presence of both calyx and corolla. Hence much discrepancy in descriptive works. Where one botanist describes a simple perianth of six segments, another will speak of a double perianth of three sepals and three petals.
99. The following terms and prefixes, expressive of the modifications of form and arrangement of the corolla and its petals, are equally applicable to the calyx and its sepals, and to the simple perianth and its segments.
100. The Corolla is said to be monopetalous when the petals are united, either en- tirely or at the base only, into a cup, tube, or ring ; polypetalous when they are all free from the base. These expressions, established by a long usage, are not strictly correct, for monopetalous (consisting of a single petal) should apply rather to a corolla really reduced to a single petal, which would then be on one side of the axis ; and polypetalous is sometimes used more appropriately for a corolla with an indefinite number of petals. Some modern botanists have therefore proposed the term gamo- petalous for the corolla with united petals, and dialypetalous for that with free petals ; but the old-established expressions are still the most generally used.
101. When the petals are partially united, the lower entire portion of the corolla is called the tube , whatever be its shape, and the free portions of the petals are called the teeth , lobes, or segments (39), according as they are short or long in proportion to the whole length of the corolla. When the tube is excessively short, the petals appear at first sight free, but their slight union at (he base must be carefully attended to, being of importance in classification.
102. The Estivation of a corolla, is the arrangement of the petals, or of such portion of them as is free, in the unexpanded bud. It is
valvate, when they are strictly wliorled in their whole length, their edges being placed against each other without overlapping. If the edges are much inflexed, the aestivation is at the same time induplicate ; involute, if the margins arc rolled inward ; reduplicate, if the margins project outwards into salient angles ; revolute, if the margins are rolled outwards ; plicate, if (he petals are folded in longitudinal plaits.
imbricate, when the whorl is more or less broken by some of the petals being out- side the others, or by their overlapping each other at least at the top. Five-petaled imbricate corollas are quincuncially imbricate when one petal is outside, and an adjoin- ing one wholly inside, the three others intermediate and overlapping on one side ; bilabiate, when two adjoining ones are inside or outside the three others. Imbricate petals are described as crumpled (corrugate) when puckered irregularly in the bud.
twisted, contorted, or convolute, when each petal overlaps an adjoining one on one side, and is overlapped by the other adjoining one on the other side. Some botanists include the twisted aestivation in the general term imbricate ; others carefully distin- guish the one from the other.
103. In a few cases the overlapping is so slight that the three aestivations cannot easily be distinguished one from the other ; in a few others the aestivation is variable, even in the same species, but, in general, it supplies a constant character in species, in genera, or even in Natural Orders.
104. In general shape the Corolla is
tubular, when the whole or the greater part of it is in the form of a tube or cylinder.
campanulate, when approaching in some measure the shape of a cup or bell. urceolate, when the tube is swollen or nearly globular, contracted at the top, and slightly expanded again in a narrow rim.
rotate or stellate, when the petals or lobes are spread out horizontally from the base, or nearly so, like a wheel or star.
hypocrateriform or salver-shaped, when the lower part is cylindrical and the upper portion expanded horizontally. In this case the name of tube is restricted to the cylindrical part, and the horizontal portion is called the limb, whether it be divided to the base or not. The orifice of the tube is called its mouth or throat.
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infuiidibuliform or funnel-shaped, when the tube is cylindrical at the base, but en- larged at the top into a more or less campanulate limb, of which the lobes often spread horizontally. In this case the campanulate part, up to the commencement of the lobes, is sometimes considered as a portion of the tube, sometimes as a portion of the limb, and by some botanists again described as independent of either, under the name of throat (fauces). Generally speaking, however, in campanulate, infundibuliform, or other corollas, where the lower entire part passes gradually into the upper divided and more spreading part, the distinction between the tube and the limb is drawn either at the point where the lobes separate, or at the part where the corolla first expands, ac- cording to which is the most marked.
105. Irregular corollas have received various names according to the more familiar forms they have been compared to. Some of the most important are the
bilabiate or two-lipped corolla, when, in a four- or five-lobed corolla, the two or three upper lobes stand obviously apart, like an upper lip , from the two or three lower ones or underlip. In Orchidece and some other families the name of lip, or labellum, is given to one of the divisions or lobes of the perianth.
personate, when two-lipped, and the orifice of the tube closed by a projection from the base of the upper or lower lip, called a palate.
ringent, when very strongly two-lipped, and the orifice of the tube very open. spurred, when the tube or the lower part of the petal has a conical hollow projec- tion, compared to the spur of a cock ; saccate , when the spur is short and round like a little bag ; gibbous, when projecting at any part into a slight swelling ; foveolate, when marked in any part with a slight glandular or thickened cavity.
resupinate or reversed, when a lip, spur, etc., which in allied species is usually lowest, lies uppermost, and vice versd.
106. The above terms are mostly applied to the forms of monopetalous corollas, but several are also applicable to those of polypetalous ones. Terms descriptive of the special forms of corolla in certain Natural Orders, will be explained under those Orders respectively.
107. Most of the terms used for describing the forms of leaves (39, 45) are also ap- plicable to those of individual petals ; but the flat expanded portion of a petal, cor- responding to the blade of the leaf, is called its lamina, and the stalk, corresponding to the petiole, its claw (unguis). The stalked petal is said to be unguiculate.
§ 10. The Stamens.
108. Although in a few cases the outer stamens may gradually pass into petals, yet, in general, Stamens are very different in shape and aspect from leaves, sepals, or petals. It is only in a theoretical point of view (not the less important in the study of the physiological economy of the plant) that they can be called altered leaves.
109. This usual form is a stalk, called the filament, bearing at the top an anther divided into two pouches or cells. These anther-cells are filled with pollen, consisting of minute grains, usually forming a yellow dust, which, when the flower expands, is scattered from an opening in each cell. When the two cells are not closely contiguous, the portion of the anther that unites them is called the connectivum.
110. The filament is often wanting, and the anther sessile, yet still the stamen is perfect ; but if the anther, which is the essential part of the stamen, is wanting, or does not contain pollen, the stamen is imperfect, and is then said to be barren or sterile (without pollen), abortive, or rudimentary (84), according to the degree to which the imperfection is carried. Imperfect stamens are often called staminodia.
111. In unsymmetrical flowers, the stamens of each whorl are sometimes reduced in number below that of the petals, even to a single one, and in several Natural Orders they are multiplied indefinitely.
112. The terms monandrous and polyandrous are restricted to flowers which have really but one stamen, or an indefinite number respectively. Where several stamens are united into one, the flower is said to be synandrous.
113. Stamens are
monadelphous , when united by their filaments into one cluster. This cluster either
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
forms a tube round the pistil, or, if the pistil is wanting, occupies the centre of the flower.
diadelphous, when so united into two clusters. The term is more especially ap- plied to certain Leguminosce, in which nine stamens are united in a tube slit open on the upper side, and a tenth, placed in the slit, is free. In some other plants the sta- mens are equally distributed in the two clusters.
triadelphous , pentadelphous, polyadelphous, when so united into three, five, or many clusters.
syngenesious, when united by their anthers in a ring round the pistil, the filaments usually remaining free.
didynamous , when (usually in a bilabiate flower) there are four stamens in two pairs, those of one pair longer than those of the other.
tetradynamous, when (in Cruciferai) there are six, four of them longer than the two others.
exserted, when longer than the corolla, or even when longer than its tube, if the limb be very spreading.
114. An Anther (109) is
adnate, when continuous with the filament, the anther-cells appearing to lie their whole length along the upper part of the filament.
innate, when firmly attached by their base to the filament. This is like an adnate anther, but rather more distinct from the filament.
versatile, when attached by their back to the very point of the filament, so as to swing loosely.
115. Anther-cells may be parallel or diverging at a less or greater angle ; or diva- ricate, when placed end to end so as to form one straight line. The end of each an- ther-cell placed nearest to the other cell is generally called its apex or summit, and the other end its base (36) ; but some botanists reverse the sense of these terms.
116. Anthers have often, on their connectivum or cells, appendages termed bristles (set®), spurs, crests, points, glands, etc., according to their appearance.
117. Authers have occasionally only one cell : this may take place either by the dis- appearance of the partition between two closely contiguous cells, when these cells are said to be confluent ; or by the abortion or total deficiency of one of the cells, when the anther is said to be dimidiate.
118. Anthers will open or dehisce to let out the pollen, like capsules, in valves, pores, or slits. Their dehiscence is introrse , when the opening faces the pistil ; extrorse, when towards the circumference of the flower.
119. Pollen (109) is not always in the form of dust. It is sometimes collected in each cell into one or two little wax-like masses. Special terms used in describing these masses or other modifications of the pollen will be explained under the Orders where they occur.
§ 11. The Pistil.
120. The carpels (91) of the Pistil, although they may occasionally assume, rather more than stamens, the appearance and colour of leaves, are still more different in shape and structure. They are usually sessile ; if stalked, their stalk is called a podo- carp. This stalk, upon which eaoh separate carpel is supported above the receptacle, must not be confounded with the gynobasis (143), upon which the whole pistil is some- times raised.
121. Each carpel consists of three parts :
1. The Ovary, or enlarged base, which includes one or more cavities or cells, con- taining one or more small bodies called ovules. These are the earliest condition of the future seeds.
2. the Style, proceeding from the summit of the ovary, and supporting —
3. the Stigma, which is sometimes a point (or punctiform stigma) or small head (a capitate stigma) at the top of the style or ovary, sometimes a portion of its surface more or less lateral and variously shaped, distinguished by a looser texture, and covered with minute protuberances called papillce.
122. The style is often wanting, and the stigma is then sessile on the ovary, but in
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the perfect pistil there is always at least one ovule in the ovary, and some portion of stigmatic surface. Without these the pistil is imperfect, and said to be barren (not setting seed), abortive , or rudimentary (84), according to the degree of imperfection.
123. The ovary being the essential part of the pistil, most of the terms relating to the number, arrangement, etc., of the carpels, apply specially to their ovaries. In some works each separate carpel is called a pistil, all those of a flower constituting together the gynoecium ; but this term is in little use, and the word pistil is more generally applied in a collective sense. When the ovaries are at all united, they are commonly termed collectively a compound ovary.
124. The number of carpels or ovaries in a flower is frequently reduced below that of the parts of the other floral whorls, even in flowers otherwise symmetrical. In a very few genera, however, the ovaries are more numerous than the petals, or indefinite. They are in that case either arranged in a single whorl, or form a head or spike in the centre of the flower.
125. The terms monogynous, digynous, polygynous, etc. (with a pistil of one, two, or more parts), are vaguely used, applying sometimes to the whole pistil, sometimes to the ovaries alone, or to the styles or stigmas only. Where a more precise nomenclature is adopted, the flower is
monocarpellary , when the pistil consists of a single simple carpel.
bi-, tri-, etc., to poly-carpellary, when the pistil consists of two, three, or an inde- finite number of carpels, whether separate or united.
syncarpous, when the carpels or their ovaries are more or less united into one compound ovary.
apocarpous, when the carpels or ovaries are all free and distinct.
126. A compound ovary is
unilocular or one-celled, when there are no partitions between the ovules, or when these partitions do not meet in the centre so as to divide the cavity into several cells.
plurilocular or several-celled, when completely divided into two or more cells by partitions called dissepiments {septa), usually vertical and radiating from the centre or axis of the ovary to its circumference.
bi-, tri-, etc., to multi-locular, according to the number of these cells, two, three, etc., or many.
127. In general the number of cells or of dissepiments, complete or partial, or of rows of ovules, corresponds with that of the carpels, of which the pistil is composed. But sometimes each carpel is divided completely or partially into two cells, or has two rows of ovules, so that the number of carpels appears double what it really is. Some- times again the carpels are so completely combined and reduced as to form a single cell, with a single ovule, although it really consist of several carpels. But in these cases the ovaryis usually described as it appears, as well as such as it is theoretically supposed to be.
128. In apocarpous pistils the styles are usually free, each bearing its own stigma. Very rarely the greater part of the styles, or the stigmas alone, are united, whilst the ovaries remain distinct.
129. Syncarpous flowers are said to have
several styles, when the styles are free from the base.
one style, ivith several branches , when the styles are connected at the base, but separate below the point where the stigmas or stigmatic surfaces commence.
one simple style, with several stigmas, when united up to the point where the stigmas or stigmatic surfaces commence, and then separating.
one simple style, with a branched, lobed, toothed, notched, or entire stigma (as the ease may be), when the stigmas also are more or less united. In many works, how- ever, this precise nomenclature is not strictly adhered to, and considerable confusion is often the result.
130. In general the number of styles, or brandies of the style or stigma, is the same as that of the carpels, but sometimes that number is doubled, especially in the stigmas, and sometimes the stigmas are dichotomously or pinnately branched, or penicillate, that is, divided into a tuft of hair-like branches. All these variations sometimes make it a difficult task to determine the number of carpels forming a compound ovary, but the point is of considerable importance in fixing the affinities of plants, and, by careful
d
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
consideration, the real as well as the apparent number has now in most cases been agreed upon.
131. The Placenta is the part of the inside of the ovary to which the ovules are attached, sometimes a mere point or line on the inner surface, often more or less thick- ened or raised. Placentation is therefore the indication of the part of the ovary to which the ovules are attached.
132. Placentas are
axile, when the ovules are attached to the axis or centre, that is, in plurilocular ovaries, when they are attached to the inner angle of each cell ; in unilocular simple ovaries, which have almost always an excentrical style or stigma, when the ovules are attached to the side of the ovary nearest to the style ; in unilocular compound ovaries, when the ovules are attached to a central protuberance, column, or axis rising up from the base of the cavity. If this column does not reach the top of the cavity, the pla- centa is said to be free and central.
parietal, when the ovules are attached to the inner surface of the cavity of a one- celled compound ovary. Parietal placentas are usually slightly thickened or raised lines, sometimes broad surfaces nearly covering the inner surface of the cavity, some- times projecting far into the cavity, and constituting partial dissepiments, or even meeting in the centre, but without cohering there. In the latter case the distinction between the one-celled and the several- celled ovary sometimes almost disappears.
133. Each Ovule (121), when fully formed, usually consists of a central mass or nucleus enclosed in two bag-like" coats, the outer one called primine, the inner one secundine. The chalaza is the point of the ovule at which the base of the nucleus is confluent with the coats. The foramen is a minute aperture in the coats over the apex of the nucleus.
134. Ovules are
orthotropous or straight, when the chalaza coincides with the base (36) of the ovule, and the foramen is at the opposite extremity, the axis of the ovule being straight.
campylotropous or incurved, when the chalaza still coinciding with the base of the ovule, the axis of the ovule is curved, bringing the foramen down more or less to- wards that base.
anatropous or inverted, when the chalaza is at the apex of the ovule, and the foramen next to its base, the axis remaining straight. In this, one of t he most frequent forms of the ovule, the chalaza is connected with the base by a cord, called the raphe, adhering to one side of the ovule, and becoming more or less incorporated with its coats, as the ovule enlarges into a seed.
amphitropous or half -inverted, when the ovule being as it were attached laterally, the chalaza and foramen at opposite ends of its straight or curved axis are about equally distant from the base or point of attachment.
§ 12. The Receptacle and Relative Attachment of the Floral Whorls.
135. The Receptacle or torus is the extremity of the peduncle (above the calyx), upon which the corolla, stamens, and ovary are inserted. It is sometimes little more than a mere point or minute hemisphere, but it is often also more or less elongated, thickened, or otherwise enlarged. It must not be confounded with the receptacle of inflorescence (74).
136. A Pish, or disc, is a circular enlargement of the receptacle, usually in the form of a cup (cupular), of a flat disk or quoit, or of a cushion ( pulvinate ). It is either immediately at the base of the ovary within the stamens, or between the petals and stamens, or bears the petals or stamens or both on its margin, or is quite at the ex- tremity of the receptacle, with the ovaries arranged in a ring round it or under it.
137. The disk may be entire, or toothed, or lobed, or divided into a number of parts, usually equal to or twice that of the stamens or carpels. When the parts of the disk are quite separate and short, they are often called glands.
138. Nectaries, are either the disk, or small deformed petals, or abortive stamens, or appendages at the base of petals or stamens, or any small bodies within the flower which do not look like petals, stamens, or ovaries. They were formerly supposed to
OUTLINES OF BOTaNT.
XIX
supply bees with their honey, and the term is frequently to be met with in the older Floras, but is now deservedly going out of use.
139. When the disk bears the petals and stamens, it is frequently adherent to, and apparently forms part of, the tube of the calyx, or it is adherent to, and apparently forms part of, the ovary, or of both calyx-tube and ovary. Hence the three following important distinctions in the relative insertion of the floral whorls.
140. Petals, or as it is frequently expressed, flowers, are
hypogynous (i. e. under the ovary), when they or the disk that bears them are en- tirely free both from the calyx and ovary. The ovary is then described as free or su- perior, the calyx as free or inferior, the petals as being inserted on the receptacle.
perigynous (i. e. round the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is quite free from the ovary, but is more or less combined with the base of the calyx-tube. The ovary is then still described as free or superior, even though the combined disk and calyx-tube may form a deep cup with the ovary lying in the bottom ; the calyx is said to be free or inferior , and the petals are described as inserted on the calyx.
epigynous ( i . e. upon the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is combined both with the base of the calyx-tube and the base outside of the ovary ; either closing over the ovary 30 as only to leave a passage for the style, or leaving more or less of the top of the ovary free, but always adhering to it above the level of the insertion of the lowest ovule (except in a very few cases where the ovules are absolutely suspended from the top of the eell). In epigynou3 flowers the ovary is described as adherent or inferior , the calyx as adherent or superior, the petals as inserted on or above the ovary. In some works, however, most epigynous flowers are included in the perigynous ones, and a very different meaning is given to the term epigynous (144), and there are a few cases where no positive distinction can be drawn between the epigynous and perigynous flowers, or again between the perigynous and hypogynous flowers.
141. When there are no petals, it is the insertion of the stamens that determines the difference between the hypogynous, perigynous, and epigynous flowers.
142. When there are both petals and stamens,
in hypogynous flowers, the petals and stamens are usually free from each other, but sometimes they are combined at the base. In that ease, if the petals are distinct from each other, and the stamens are monadelphous, the petals are often said to be inserted on or combined with the staminal tube ; if the corolla is gamopetalous and the stamens distinct from each other, the latter are said to be inserted in the tube of the corolla.
in perigynous flowers, the stamens are usually inserted immediately within the petals, or alternating with them on the edge of the disk, but occasionally much lower down within the disk, or even on the unenlarged part of the receptacle.
in epigynous flowers, when the petals are distinct, the stamens are usually inserted as in perigynous flowers ; when the corolla is gamopetalous, the stamens are either free and hypogynous, or combined at the base with (inserted in) the tube of the corolla.
143. When the receptacle is distinctly elongated below the ovary, it is often called a gynobasis, gynophore, or stalk of the ovary. If the elongation takes place below the stamens or below the petals, these stamens or petals are then said to be inserted on the stalk of the ovary, and are occasionally, but falsely, described as epigynous. Really epigynous stamens (i. e. when the filaments are combined with the ovary) are very rare, unless the rest of the flower is epigynous.
144. An epigynous disk is a name given either to the thickened summit of the ovary in epigynous flowers, or very rarely to a real disk or enlargement of the receptacle closing over the ovary.
145. In the relative position of any two or more parts of the flower, whether in the same or in different whorls, they are
conmvent , when nearer together at the summit than at the base. divergent, when further apart at the summit than at the base. coherent, when united together, but so slightly that they can be separated with little or no laceration ; and one of the two cohering parts (usually the smallest or least important) is said to be adherent to the other. Grammatically speaking, these two terms convey nearly the same meaning, but require a different form of phrase ; prac-
d 2
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
tically however it has been found more convenient to restrict cohesion to the union of parts of the same whorl, and adhesion to the union of parts of different whorls.
connate , when so closely united that they cannot be separated without laceration. Each of the two connate parts, and especially that one which is considered the smaller or of the least importance, is said to be adnate to the other. free , when neither coherent nor connate.
distinct is also used in the same sense, but is also applied to parts distinctly visible or distinctly limited.
§ 13. The Fruit.
146. The Fruit (15) consists of the ovary and whatever other parts of the flower are ‘persistent ( i . e. persist at the time the seed is ripe), usually enlarged, and more or less altered in shape and consistence. It encloses or covers the seed or seeds till the period of maturity, when it either opens for the seed to escape, or falls to the ground with the seed. When stalked, its stalk has been termed a carpophore.
147. Fruits are, in elementary works, said to be simple when the result of a single flower, compound when they proceed from several flowers closely packed or combined in a head. But as a fruit resulting from a single flower, with several distinct carpels, is compound in the sense in which that term is applied to the ovary, the terms single and aggregate , proposed for the fruit resulting from one or several flowers, may be more appropriately adopted. In descriptive botany a fruit is always supposed to result from a single flower unless the contrary be stated. It may, like the pistil, be syncarpous or apocarpous (125) ; and as in many cases carpels united in the flower may become separate as they ripen, an apocarpous fruit may result from a syncarpous pistil.
148. The involucre or bracts often persist and form part of aggregate fruits, but very seldom so in single ones.
149. The receptacle becomes occasionally enlarged and succulent ; if when ripe it falls off with the fruit, it is considered as forming part of it.
150. The adherent part of the calyx of epigynous flowers always persists and forms part of the fruit ; the free part of the calyx of epigynous flowers or the calyx of perigy- nous flowers, either persists entirely at the top of or round the fruit, or the lobes alone fall off, or the lobes fall off with whatever part of the calyx is above the insertion of the petals, or the whole of what is free from the ovary falls off, including the disk bear- ing the petals. The calyx of hypogynous flowers usually falls off entirely or persists entirely. In general a calyx is called deciduous if any part falls off. When it persists it is either enlarged round or under the fruit, or it withers and dries up.
151. The corolla usually falls off entirely ; when it persists it is usually withered and dry (marcescent), or very seldom enlarges round the fruit.
152. The stamens either fall off, or more or less of then- filaments persists, usually withered and dry.
153. The style sometimes falls off or dries up and disappears ; sometimes persists, forming a point to the fruit, or becomes enlarged into a wing or other appendage to the fruit.
154. The Pericarp is the portion of the fruit formed of the ovary, and whatever ad- heres to it exclusive of and outside of the seed or seeds, exclusive also of the persistent receptacle, or of whatever portion of the calyx persists round the ovary without adhe- ring to it.
155. Fruits have often external appendages called icings (alee), leaks, crests , awns, etc., according to their appearance. They are either formed by persistent parts of the flower more or less altered, or grow out of the ovary or the persistent part of the calyx. If the appendage be a ring of hairs or scales round the top of the fruit, it is called a pappus
156. Fruits are generally divided into succulent (including fleshy , pulpy, and juicy fruits) and dry. They are dehiscent when they open at maturity to let out the seeds, indehiscent when they do not open spontaneously but fall off with the seeds. Succu- lent fruits are usually indehiscent.
157. The principal kinds of succulent fruits are
the Berry, in which the whole substance of the pericarp is fleshy or pulpy, with
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
XXI
the exception of the outer skin or rind, called the Epicarp. The seeds themselves are usually immersed in the pulp ; but in some berries, the seeds are separated from the pulp by the walls of the cavity or cells of the ovary, which forms as it were a thin inner skin or rind, called the Endocarp.
tli e Drupe, in which the pericarp, when ripe, consists of two distinct portions, an outer succulent one called the Sarcocarp (covered like the berry by a skin or epicarp), and an inner dry endocarp called the Putamen, which is either cartilaginous (of the consistence of parchment) or hard and woody. In the latter case it is commonly called a stone, and the drupe a stone-fruit. When the putamen consists of several distinct stones or nuts, each enclosing a seed, they are called pyrenes, or sometimes kernels.
158. The principal kinds of dry fruits are
the Capsule or Pod,* which is dehiscent. When ripe the pericarp usually splits longitudinally into as many or twice as many pieces, called valves, as it contains cells or placentas. If these valves separate at the line of junction of the carpels, that is, along the line of the placentas or dissepiments, either splitting them or leaving them attached to the axis, the dehiscence is termed septicidal ; if the valves separate between the placentas or dissepiment, the dehiscence is loculicidal, and the valves either bear the placentas or dissepiments along their middle line, or leave them attached to the axis. Sometimes also the capsule discharges its seeds by slits, chinks, or pores, more or less regularly arranged, or bursts irregularly, or separates into two parts by a horizontal line ; in the latter case it is said to be circumsciss.
the Nut or Achene, which is indehiscent and contains but a single seed. When the pericarp is thin in proportion • to the seed it encloses, the whole fruit (or each of its lobes) has the appearance of a single seed, and is so called in popular language. If the pericarp is thin and rather loose, it is often called an Utricle. A Samara is a nut with a wing at its upper end.
159. Where the carpels of the pistil are distinct (125) they may severally become as many distinct berries, drupes, capsules, or achenes. Separate carpels are usually more or less compressed laterally, with more or less prominent inner and outer edges, called sutures, and, if dehiscent, the carpel usually opens at these sutures. A Follicle is a carpel opening at the inner suture only. In some cases where the carpels are united in the pistil they will separate when ripe ; they are then called Cocci if one- seeded.
160. The peculiar fruits of some of the large Orders have received special names, which will be explained under each Order. Such are the siliqua and silicule of Cruci- ferse, the legume of Leguminosoe, the pome of Pyrus and its allies, the pepo of Cucur- bitaceas, the cone of Conifer*, th e grain or caryopsis of Gramme®, etc.
§ 14. The Seed.
161. The Seed is enclosed in the pericarp in the great majority of flowering plants, called therefore Angiosperms, or angiospermous plants. In Conferee and a very few allied genera, called Gymnosperms, or gymnospermous plants, the seed is naked, without any real pericarp. These truly gymnospermous plants must not be confounded with Labiatce, Boragineae, etc., which have also been falsely called gymnospermous, their small nuts having the appearance of seeds (158).
162. The seed when ripe contains an embryo or young plant, either filling or nearly filling the cavity, but not attached to the outer skin or the seed, or more or less im- mersed in a mealy, oily, fleshy, or horn-like substance, called the albumen, or peri- sperm. The presence or absence of this albumen, that is, the distinction between albu- minous and exalbuminous seeds, is one of great importance. The embryo or albumen can often only be found or distinguished when the seed is quite ripe, or sometimes only when it begins to germinate.
163. The shell of the seed consists usually of two separable coats. The outer coat, called the testa , is usually the principal one, and in most cases the only one attended to in descriptions. It may be hard and crustaceous, woody or bony, or thin and mem-
* In English descriptions, pod is more frequently used when it is long and narrow ; capsule, or sometimes pouch, when it is short and thick or broad.
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
branous (skin-like), dry, or rarely succulent. It is sometimes expanded into wings, or bears a tuft of hair, cotton, or wool, called a coma. The inner coat is called the
tegmen.
164. The funicle is the stalk by which the seed is attached to the placenta. It is occasionally enlarged into a membranous, pulpy, or fleshy appendage, sometimes spread- ing over a considerable part of tbe seed, or nearly enclosing it, called an aril. A stro- phiole or caruncle is a similar appendage proceeding from the testa by the side of or near the funicle.
165. The hilum is the scar left on the seed where it separates from the funicle. The micropyle is a mark indicating the position of the foramen of the ovule (133).
166. The Embryo (162) consists of the Radicle or base of the future root, one or two Cotyledons or future seed-leaves, and the Plumule or future bud within the base of the cotyledons. In some seeds, especially where there is no albumen, these several parts are very conspicuous, in others they are very difficult to distinguish until the seed begins to germinate. Their observation, however, is of the greatest importance, for it is chiefly upon the distinction between the embryo with one or with two coty- ledons that are founded the two great classes of pheenogamous plants, Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons.
167. Although the embryo lies loose (unattached) within the seed, it is generally n some determinate position with respect to the seed or to the whole fruit. This position is described by stating the direction of the radicle next to or more or less remote from the hilum , or it is said to be superior if pointing towards the summit of the fruit, inferior if pointing towards the base of the fruit.
§ 15. Accessory Organs.
168. Under this name are included, in many elementary works, various external parts of plants which do not appear to act any essential part either in the vegetation or reproduction of the plant. They may be classed under four heads : Tendrils and Hooks , Thorns and Prickles, Hairs, and Glands.
169. Tendrils (cirrhi) are usually abortive petioles, or abortive peduncles, or some- times abortive ends of branches. They are simple or more or less branched, flexible, and coil more or less firmly round any objects within their reach, in order to support the plant to which they belong. Hooks are similar holdfasts, but of a firmer consis- tence, not branched, and less coiled.
170. Thorns and Prickles have been fancifully called the weapons of plants. A Thorn or Spine is tho strongly pointed extremity of a branch, or abortive petiole, or abortive peduncle. A Prickle is a sharply pointed excrescence from the epidermis, and is usually produced on a branch, on the petiole or veins of a leaf, or on a peduncle, or even on the calyx or corolla. When the teeth of a leaf or the stipules are pungent, they are also called prickles , not thorns. A plant is spinous if it has thorns, aculeate if it has prickles.
171. Hairs, in the general sense, or the indumentum (or clothing) of a plant, in- clude all those productions of the epidermis which have, by a more or less appropriate comparison, been termed bristles, hairs, down, cotton, or wool.
172. Hairs are often branched. They are said to be attached by the centre, if parted from the base, and the forks spread along the surface in opposite directions ; plumose, if the branches are arranged along a common axis, as in a feather ; stellate, if several branches radiate horizontally. These stellate hairs have sometimes their rays connected together at the base, forming little flat circular disks attached by the centre, and are then called scales, and the surface is said to be scaly or lepidote.
173. The Hpidermis, or outer skin, of an organ, as to its surface and indumentum, is
smooth, when without any protuberance whatever.
glabrous, when without hairs of any kind.
striate, when marked with parallel longitudinal lines, either slightly raised or merely discoloured.
furroived ( sulcate ) or ribbed ( costate ) when the parallel lines are more distinctly raised.
OUTLINES OF BOTANY. xxiii
rugose , when wrinkled or marked with irregular raised or depressed lines.
umbilicate, when marked with a small round depression.
umbonate, when bearing a small boss like that of a shield.
viscous , viscid , or glutinous, when covered with a sticky or clammy exudation.
scabrous, when rough to the touch.
tuberculate or warted, when covered with small, obtuse, wart-like protuberances. muricate, when the protuberances are more raised and pointed but yet short and hard.
echinate, when the protuberances are longer and sharper, almost prickly. setose or bristly, when bearing very stiff erect straight hairs.
glandular-setose, when the setae or bristles terminate in a minute resinous head or drop. In some works, especially in the case of Roses and Rubus, the meaning of setae has been restricted to such as are glandular.
glochidiate, when the setae are hooked at the top.
pilose, when the surface is thinly sprinkled with rather long simple hairs. hispid, when more thickly covered with rather stiff hairs. hirsute, when the hairs are dense and not so stiff.
downy or pubescent, when the hairs are short and soft ; puberulent, when slightly pubescent.
strigose, when the hairs are rather short and stiff, and lie close along the surface all in the same direction ; strigillose, when- slightly strigose.
tomentose or cottony, when the hairs are very short and soft, rather dense and more or less intricate, and usually white or whitish.
woolly ( lanate ), when the hairs are long and loosely intricate, like wool. The wool or tomentum is said to be floccose when closely intricate and readily detached, like fleece.
mealy (farinose), when the hairs are excessively short, intricate and white, and come off readily, having the appearance of meal or dust.
canescent or hoary, when the hairs are so short as not readily to be distinguished by the naked eye, and yet give a general whitish hue to the epidermis.
glaucous, when of a pale bluish-green, often covered with a fine bloom.
174. The meanings here attached to the above terms are such as appear to have been most generally adopted, but there is much vagueness in the use practically made of many of them by different botanists. This is especially the case with the terms pilose, hispid, hirsute, pubescent, and tomentose.
175. The name of Glands is given to several different productions, and principally to the four following : —
1. Small wart-like or shield-like bodies, either sessile or sometimes stalked, of a fungous or somewhat, fleshy consistence, occasionally secreting a small quantity of oily or resinous matter, but more frequently dry. They are generally few in number, often definite in their position and form, and occur chiefly on the petiole or principal veins of leaves, on the branches of inflorescences, or on the stalks or principal veins of bracts, sepals, or petals.
2. Minute raised dots, usually black, red, or dark-coloured, of a resinous or oily nature, always superficial, and apparently exudations from the epidermis. They are often numerous on leaves, bracts, sepals, and green branches, aud occur even on petals and stamens, more rarely on pistils. When raised upon slender stalks they are called pedicellate (or stipitate) glands, or glandular hairs, according to the thickness of the stalk.
3. Small, globular, oblong or even linear vesicles, filled with oil, imbedded in the substance itself of leaves, bracts, floral organs, or fruits. They are often very numer- ous, like transparent dots, sometimes few and determinate in form and position. In the pericarp of Umbelliferce they are remarkably regular and conspicuous, and take the name of vittae.
4. Lobes of the disk (137), or other small fleshy excrescences within the flower, whether from the receptacle, calyx, corolla, stamens, or pistil.
XXIV
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
Chap. II. Classification, or Systematic Botany.
176. It has already been observed (3) that descriptions of plants should, as nearly as possible, be arranged under natural divisions, so as to facilitate the comparison of each plant with those most nearly allied to it. The description of plants here alluded to are descriptions of species; thenaturaldivisions of theFlora refer to natural groups of species.
177. A Species comprises all the individual plants which resemble each other suffi- ciently to make us conclude that they are all, or may have been all, descended from a common parent. These individuals may often differ from each other in many striking particulars, such as the colour of the flower, size of the leaf, etc., but these particulars are such as experience teaches us are liable to vary in the seedlings raised from one individual.
178. When a large number of the individuals of a species differ from the others in any striking particular they constitute a Variety. If the variety generally comes true from seed, it is often called a Race.
179. A Variety can only be propagated with certainty by grafts, cuttings, bulbs, tubers, or any other method which produces a new plant by the development of one or more buds taken from the old one. A Race may with care be propagated by seed, although seedlings will always be liable, under certain circumstances, to lose those particulars which distinguish it from the rest of the species. A real Species will always come true from seed.
180. The known species of plants (now near 100,000) are far too numerous for the human mind to study without classification, or even to give distinct single names to. To facilitate these objects, an admirable system, invented by Linnaeus, has been uni- versally adopted, viz. one common substantive name is given to a number of species which resemble each other more than they do any other species ; the species so col- lected under one name are collectively called a Genus, the common name being the generic name. Each species is then distinguished from the others of the same genus by the addition of an adjective epithet or specific name. Every species has thus a bo- tanical name of two words. In Latin, the language usually used for the purpose, the first word is a substantive and designates the genus ; the second, an adjective, indi- cates the species.
181. The genera thus formed being still too numerous (above 6,000) for study with- out further arrangement, they have been classed upon the same principles ; viz. genera which resemble each other more than they do any other genera, have been collected together into groups of a higher degree called Families or Natural Orders, to each of which a common name has been given. This name is in Latin an adjective plural, usually taken from the name of some one typical genus, generally the best known, the first discovered, or the most marked (e.g. Ranunculacece from Ranunculus). This is however for the purpose of study and comparison. To speak of a species, to refer to it and identify it, all that is necessary is to give the generic and specific names.
182. Natural Orders themselves (of which we reckon near 200) are often in the same manner collected into Classes ; and where Orders contain a large number of genera, or genera a large number of species, they require further classification. The genera of an Order are then collected into minor groups called Tribes, the species of a genus into Sections, and in a few cases this intermediate classification is carried still further. The names of these several groups the most generally adopted are as follows, beginning with the most comprehensive or highest : —
Classes. Genera.
Subclasses or Alliances. Subgenera.
Natural Orders or Families. Sections.
Suborders. Subsections.
Tribes. Species.
Subtribes. Varieties.
Divisions.
Subdivisions.
183. The characters (3) by which a species is distinguished from all other species of
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
XXV
the same genus are collectively called the specific character of the plant ; those by which its genus is distinguished from other genera of the Order, or its Order from other Orders, are respectively called the generic or ordinal character, as the case may be. The habit of a plant, of a species, a genus, etc., consists of such general characters as strike the eye at first sight, such as size, colour, ramification, arrangement of the leaves, inflorescence, etc., and are chiefly derived from the organs of vegetation.
184. Classes, Orders, Genera, and their several subdivisions, are called natural when, in forming them, all resemblances and differences are taken into account, valuing them according to their evident or presumed importance ; artificial , when resemblances and differences in some one or very few particulars only are taken into account indepen- dently of all others.
185. The number of species included in a genus, or the number of genera in an Order, is very variable. Sometimes two or three or even a single species may be so different from all others as to constitute the entire genus ; in others, several hundred species may resemble each other so much as to be all included in one genus ; and there is the same discrepancy in the number of genera to a Family. There is moreover, un- fortunately, in a number of instances, great difference of opinion as to whether certain plants differing from each other in certain particulars are varieties of one species or be- long to distinct species ; and again, whether two or more groups of species should con- stitute as many sections of one genus, or distinct genera, or tribes of one Order, or even distinct Natural Orders. In the former case, a3 a species is supposed to have a real existence in nature, the question is susceptible of argument, and sometimes of ab- solute proof. But the place a group should occupy in the scale of degree is very arbi- trary, being often a mere question of convenience. The more subdivisions upon cor- rect principles are multiplied, the more they facilitate the study of plants, provided always the main resting-points for constant use, the Order and the Genus, are compre- hensive and distinct. But if every group into which a genus can be divided be erected into a distinct genus, with a substantive name to be remembered whenever a species is spoken of, all the advantages derived from the beautiful simplicity of the Lmnsean nomenclature are gone.
Chap. III. Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology.
§ 1, Structure and Oroivth of the Elementary Tissues.
186. If a very thin slice of any part of a plant be placed under a microscope of high magnifying power, it will be found to be made up of variously shaped and arranged ultimate parts, forming a sort of honeycombed structure. These ultimate parts are called cells, and form by their combination the elementary tissues of which the entire plant is composed.
187. A cell in its simplest state is a closed membranous sac, formed of a substance permeable by fluids, though usually destitute of visible pores. Each cell is a distinct individual, separately formed and separately acting, though cohering with the cells with which it is in contact, and partaking of the common life and action of the tissue of which it forms a part. The membranes separating or enclosing the cells are also called their walls.
188. Botanists usually distinguish the following tissues : —
(1) Cellular tissue, or parenchyma, consists usually of thin-walled cells, more or less round in form, or with their length not much exceeding their breadth, and not taperinu at the ends. All the soft parts of the leaves, the pith of stems, the pulp of fruits, and all young growing parts, are formed of it. It is the first tissue produced, and continues to be formed while growth continues, and when it ceases to be active the plant dies.
(2) Woody tissue, or prosenchyma, differs in having its cells considerably longer than broad, usually tapering at each end into points and overlapping each other. The cells are commonly thick-walled ; the tissue is firm, tenacious, and elastic, and constitutes
XXVI
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
the principal part of wood, of the inner bark, and of the nerves and veins of leaves, forming, in short, the framework of the plant.
(3) Vascular tissue, or the vessels or ducts of plants, so called from the mistaken no- tion that their functions are analogous to those of the vessels (veins and arteries) of animals. A vessel in plants consists of a vertical row of cells, which have their trans- verse partition-walls obliterated, so as to form a continuous tube. All phsenogamous plants, as well as ferns and a few other cryptogamous plants, have vessels, and are therefore called vascular plants ; so the majority of cryptogams having only cellular tissue are termed cellular plants. Vessels have their sides very variously marked; some, called spiral vessels, have a spiral fibre coiled up their inside, which unrolls when the vessel is broken ; others are marked with longitudinal slits, cross bars, minute dots or pits, or with transverse rings. The size of vessels is also very variable in different plants ; in some they are of considerable size and visible to the naked eye in cross sections of the stem, in others they are almost absent or can only be traced under a strong magnifier.
189. Various modifications of the above tissues are distinguished by vegetable ana- tomists under names which need not be enumerated here as not being in general prac- tical use. Air-vessels, cysts, turpentine-vessels, oil-reservoirs, etc., are either cavities left between the cells, or large cells filled with peculiar secretions.
190. When tissues are once formed, they increase, not by the general enlargement of the whole of the cells already formed, but by cell-division, that is, by the division of young and vitally active cells, and the enlargement of their portions. In the formation of the embryo, the first cell of the new plant is formed, not by division, but around a segregate portion of the contents of a previously existing cell, the embryo-sac. Tliis is termedyVee cell-formation, in contradistinction to cell-division.
191. A young and vitally active cell consists of the outer wall, formed of a more or less transparent substance called cellulose, permeable by fluids, and of ternary chemical composition (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) ; and of the cell-contents, usually viscid or mucilaginous, consisting of protoplasm, a substance of quaternary chemical compo- sition (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen), which fills an important part in cell- division and growth. Within the cell (either in the centre or excentrical) is usually a minute, soft, subgelatinous body called the nucleus, whose functions appear to be inti- mately connected with the first formation of the new cell. A3 this cell increases in size, and its walls in thickness, the protoplasm and watery cell-sap become absorbed or dried tip, the firm cellulose wall alone remaining as a permanent fabric, either empty or filled with various organized substances produced or secreted within it.
192. The principal organized contents of cells are
sap, the first product of the digestion of the food of plants ; it contains the ele- ments of vegetable growth in a dissolved condition.
sugar, of which there are two kinds, called cane-sugar and grape-sugar. It usually exists dissolved in the sap. It is found abundantly in growing parts, in fruits, and in germinating seeds.
dextrine, or vegetable mucilage, a gummy substance, between mucilage and starch. starch or fecula, one of the most universal and conspicuous of cell-contents, and often so abundant in farinaceous roots and seeds as to fill the cell-cavity. It consists of minute grains called starch-granules, which vary in size and are marked with more or less conspicuous concentric lines of growth. The chemical constitution of starch is the same as that of cellulose ; it is unaffected by cold water, but forms a jelly with boiling water, and turns blue when tested by iodine. When fully dissolved it is no longer starch, but dextrine.
chlorophyll, very minute granules, containing nitrogen, and coloured green under the action of sunlight. These granules are most abundant in the layers of cells imme- diately below the surface or epidermis of leaves and young bark. The green colouring matter is soluble in alcohol, and may thus be removed from the granules. chromule, a name given to a similar colouring matter when not green. wax, oils, camphor, and resinous matter, are common in cells or in cavities in the tissues between the cells, also various mineral substances, either in an amorphous state or as microscopic crystals, when they are called Raphides.
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§ 2. Arrangement of the Elementary Tissues, or Structure of the Organs of Plants.
193. Leaves, young stems, and branches, and most parts of phsenogamous plants, during the first year of their existence consist anatomically of
1, a cellular system, or continuous mass of cellular tissue, which is developed both vertically as the stem or other parts increase in length, and horizontally or laterally as they increase in thickness or breadth. It surrounds or is intermixed with the fibro- vascular system, or it may exist alone in some parts of phsenogamous plants, as well as in cryptogamous ones.
2, a fibro-vascular system, or continuous mass of woody and vascular tissue, which is gradually introduced vertically into, and serves to bind together, the cellular system. It is continued from the stem into the petioles and veins of the leaves, and into the pe- dicels and parts of the flowers, and is never wholly wanting in any phsenogamous plant.
3, an epidermis, or outer skin, formed of one or more layers of flattened (horizon- tal), firmly coherent, and usually empty cells, with either thin and transparent or thick and opaque walls. It covers almost all parts of plants exposed to the outward air, protecting their tissues from its immediate action, but is wanting in those parts of aquatic plants which are constantly submerged.
194. The epidermis is frequently pierced by minute spaces between the cells, called Stomates. They are oval or mouth-sliaped, bordered by lips, formed of two or more elastic cells so disposed as to cause the stomate to open in a moist, and to close up in a dry state of the atmosphere. They communicate with intercellular cavities, and are obviously designed to regulate evaporation and respiration. They are chiefly found upon leaves, especially on the under surface.
195. When a phsenogamous plant has outlived the first season of its growth, the anatomical structure of its stem or other perennial parts becomes more complicated and very different in the two great classes of phsenogamous plants called Exogens and Endogens, which correspond with very few exceptions to the two classes Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons (167), founded on the structure of the embryo. In Exogens (Dicotyledons) the woody system is placed in concentric layers between a central pith (198, 1), and an external separable bark (1985). In Endogens (Monocotyle- dons) the woody system is in separate small bundles or fibres running through the cellular system without apparent order, and there is usually no distinct central pith, nor outer separable bark.
196. The anatomical structure is also somewhat different in the different organs of plants. In the Root, although it is constructed generally on the same plan as the stem, yet the regular organization, and the difference between Exogens and Endogens, is often disguised or obliterated by irregularities of growth, or by the production of large quantities of cellular tissue filled with starch or other substances (192). There is sel- dom, if ever, any distinct pith, the concentric circles of fibro-vascular tissue in Exogens are often very indistinct or have no relation to seasons of growth, and the epidermis has no stomates.
197. In the Stem or branches, during the first year or season of then- growth, the difference between Exogens and Endogens is not always very conspicuous. In both there is a tendency to a circular arrangement of the fibro-vascular system, leaving the centre either vacant or filled with cellular tissue (pith) only, and a more or less distinct outer rind is observable even in several Endogens. More frequently, how- ever, the distinction is already very apparent the first season, especially towards its close. The fibro-vascular bundles in Endogens usually anastomose but little, passing continuously into the branches and leaves. In Exogens the circle of fibro-vascular bundles forms a more continuous cylinder of network emitting lateral offsets into the branches and leaves.
198. The Exogenous stem, after the first year of its growth, consists of
1, the pith, a cylinder of cellular tissue, occupying the centre or longitudinal axis of the stem. It is active only in young stems or branches, becomes dried up and com- pressed as the wood hardens, and often finally disappears, or is scarcely distinguishable in old trees.
2, the medullary sheath, which surrounds and encases the pith. It abounds in spiral vessels (188, 3), and is in direct connection, when young, with the leaf-buds arid
XXV 111
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branches, with the petioles and veins of leaves, and other ramifications of the system. Like the pith, it gradually disappears in old wood.
3, the wood, which lies immediately outside the medullary sheath. It is formed of woody tissue (188, 2), through which, in most cases, vessels (188, 3) variously dis- posed are interspersed. It is arranged in annual concentric circles (211), which usually remain active during several years, but in older stems the central and older layers be- come hard, dense, comparatively inactive, and usually deeper coloured, forming what is called heart-wood or duramen, the outer, younger, and usually paler-coloured living layers constituting the sapwood or alburnum.
4, the medullary rays, which form vertical plates, originating in the pith, and, radiating from thence, traverse the wood and terminate in the bark. They are formed of cellular tissue, keeping up a communication between the living portion of the centre of the stem and its outer surface. As the heart-wood is formed, the inner portion of the medullary rays ceases to be active, but they usually may still be seen in old wood, forming what carpenters call the silver grain.
5, the lark, which lies outside the wood, within the epidermis. It is, like the wood, arranged in annual concentric circles (211), of which the outer older ones become dry and hard, forming the corky layer or outer bark, which, as it is distended by the thickening of the stem, either cracks or is cast off with the epidermis, which is no longer distinguishable. Within the corky layer is the cellular, or green, or middle hark, formed of loose tliin-walled pulpy cells containing chlorophyll (192) ; and which is usually the layer of the preceding season. The innermost and youngest circle, next the young wood, is the liber or inner bark, formed of long tough woody tissue called bast-cells.
199. The Endogenous stem, as it grows old, is not marked by the concentric circles of Exogens. The wood consists of a matrix of cellular tissue irregularly traversed by vertical cords or bundles of woody and vascular tissue, which are in connection with the leaves. These vascular bundles change in structure and direction as they pass down the stem, losing their vessels, they retain only their bast- or long wood-cells, usually curving outwards towards the rind. The old wood becomes more compact and harder towards the circumference than in the centre. The epidermis or rind either hardens so as to prevent any increase of diameter in the stem, or it distends, without increasing in thickness or splitting or casting oil' any outer layers.
200. In the Leaf, the structure of the petioles and principal ribs or veins is the same as that of the young branches of which they are ramifications. In the expanded portion of the leaf the fibro-vascular system becomes usually very much ramified, form- ing the smaller veins. These are surrounded and the interstices filled up by a copious and very active cellular tissue. The majority of leaves are horizontal, having a differ- ently constructed upper and under surface. The cellular stratum forming the upper surface consists of closely set cells, placed vertically, with their smallest ends next the surface, and with few or no stomates in the epidermis. In the stratum forming the under surface, the cells are more or less horizontal, more loosely placed, and have ge- nerally empty spaces between them, with stomates in the epidermis communicating with these intercellular spaces. In vertical leaves (as in a large number of Australian plants) the two surfaces are nearly similar in structure.
201. When leaves are reduced to scales, acting only as protectors of young buds, or without taking any apparent part in the economy of vegetable life, their structure, though still on the same plan, is more simple ; their fibro-vascular system is less rami- fied, their cellular system more uniform, and there are few or no stomates.
202. Bracts and floral envelopes, when green and much developed, resemble leaves in their anatomical structure, but in proportion as they are reduced to scales or trans- formed into petals, they lose their stomates, and their systems, both fibro-vascular and cellular, become more simple and uniform, or more slender and delicate.
203. In the stamens and pistils the structure is still nearly the same. The fibro- vascular system, surrounded by and intermixed with the cellular tissue, is usually sim- ple in the filaments and style, more or le3s ramified in the flattened or expanded parts, such as the anther-cases, the walls of the ovary, or carpellary leaves, etc. The pollen consists of granular cells variously shaped, marked, or combined, peculiar forms being constant in the same species, or often in large genera, or even Orders. The stigmatic portion of the pistil is a mass of loosely cellular substance, destitute of epidermis, and
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usually is in communication with the ovary by a channel running down the centre of the style.
204. Tubers, fleshy thickenings of the stem or other parts of the plant, succulent leaves or branches, the fleshy, woody, or bony parts of fruits, the albumen, and the thick fleshy parts of embryos, consist chiefly of largely developed cellular tissue, re- plete with starch or other substances (192), deposited apparently in most cases for the eventual future use of the plant or its parts when recalled into activity at the approach of a new season.
205. Hairs (171) are usually expansions or processes of the epidermis, and consist of one or more cells placed end to end. When thick or hardened into prickles, they still consist usually of cellular tissue only. Thorns (170) contain more or less of a fibro-vascular system, according to their degree of development.
206. Glands, in the primary sense of the word (175, 1), consist usually of a rather loose cellular tissue without epidermis, and often replete with resinous or other sub- stances.
§ 3. Growth of the Organs.
207. Roots grow in length constantly and regularly at the extremities only of their fibres, in proportion as they find the requisite nutriment. They form no buds contain- ing the germ of future branches, but their fibres proceed irregularly from any part of their surface without previous indication, and when their growth has been stopped for a time, either wholly by the close of the season, or partially by a deficiency of nutri- ment at any particular spot, it will, on the return of favourable circumstances, be re- sumed at the same point, if the growing extremities be uninjured. If during the dead season, or at any other time, the growing extremity is cut off, dried up, or other- wise injured, or stopped by a rock or other obstacle opposing its progress, lateral fibres will be formed on the still living portion ; thus enabling the root as a whole to diverge in any direction, and travel far and wide when lured on by appropriate nutriment.
208. This growth is not however by the successive formation of terminal cells attain- ing at once their full size. The cells first formed on a fibre commencing or renewing its growth, will often dry up and form a kind of terminal cap, which is pushed on as cells are formed immediately under it ; and the new cells, constituting a greater or lesser portion of the ends of the fibres, remain some time in a growing state before they have attained their full size.
209. The roots of Exogens, when perennial, increase in thickness like stems by the addition of concentric layers, but these are usually much less distinctly marked ; and in a large number of perennial Exogens and most Endogens the roots are annual, perishing at the close of the season, fresh adventitious roots springing from the stock when vegetation commences the following season.
210. The Stem, including its branches and appendages (leaves, floral organs, etc.), grows in length by additions to its extremity, but a much greater proportion of the extremity and branches remains in a growing and expanding state tor a much longer time than in the case of the root. At the close of one season, leaf-buds or seeds are formed, each containing the germ of a branch or young plant to be produced the following season. At a very early stage of the development of these buds or seeds, a commencement may be found of many of the leaves it is to bear ; and before a leaf unfolds, every leaflet of which it is to consist, every lobe or tooth which is to mark its margin, may often be traced in miniature, and thenceforth till it attains its full size, the branch grows and expands in every part. In some cases however the lower part of a branch and more rarely (e.g. in some Meliacece) the lower part of a compound leaf attains its full size before the young leaves or leaflets of the extremity are yet formed.
211. The perennial stem, if exogenous (198), grows in thickness by the addition every season of a new layer or ring of wood between the outermost preceding layer and the inner surface of the bark, and by the formation of a new layer or ring of bark within the innermost preceding layer and outside the new ring of wood-, thus forming a succes- sion of concentric circles. The sap elaborated by the leaves finds its way, in a manner not as yet absolutely ascertained, into the cambium-region, a zone of tender thin-walled cells connecting the wood with the bark, by the division and enlargement of which new
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
cells (190) are formed. These cells separate in layers, the inner ones constituting the new ring of wood, and the outer ones the new bark or liber. In most exogenous trees, in temperate climates, the seasons of growth correspond with the years, and the rings of wood remain sufficiently distinct to indicate the age of the tree ; but in many tropical and some evergreen trees, two or more rings of wood are formed in one year.
212. In endogenous perennial stems (199), the new wood or woody fibre is formed towards the centre of the stem, or irregularly mingled with the old. The stem conse- quently either only becomes more dense without increasing in thickness, or only in- creases by gradual distention, which is never very considerable. It affords therefore no certain criterion for judging of the age of the tree.
213. Flowers have generally all their parts formed, or indicated by protuberances or growing cells at a very early stage of the bud. These parts are then usually more re- gularly placed than in the fully developed flower. Parts which afterwards unite are then distinct, many are present in this rudimentary state which are never further de- veloped, and parts which are afterwards very unequal or dissimilar are perfectly alike at this early period. On this account flowers in this very early stage are supposed by some modern botanists to be more normal , that is, more in conformity to a supposed type; and the study of the early formation and growth of the floral organs, called Organogenesis , has been considered essential for the correct appreciation of the affinities of plants. In some cases, however, it would appear that modifications of development, not to be detected in the very young bud, are yet of great importance in the distinction of large groups of plants, and that Organogenesis, although it may often assist in clear- ing up a doubtful point of affinity, cannot nevertheless be exclusively relied on in esti- mating the real value of peculiarities of structure.
214. The flower is considered as a bud ( flower-bud , alabastrum ) until the perianth expands, th c period of flowering ( anthesis ) is that which elapses from the first expand- ing of the perianth, till the pistil is set or begins to enlarge, or, when it does not set, until the stamens and pistil wither or fall. After that, the enlarged ovary takes the name of young fruit.
215. At the close of the season of growth, at the same time as the leaf-buds or seeds are formed containing the germ of future branches or plants, many plants form also, at or near the bud or seed, large deposits, chiefly of starch. In many cases, — such as the tubers of a potato or other root-stock, the scales or thickened base of a bulb, the albu- men or the thick cotyledons of a seed, — this deposit appears to be a store of nutriment, which is partially absorbed by the young branch or plant during its first stage of growth, before the roots are sufficiently developed to supply it from without. In some cases, however, such as the fleshy thickening of some stems or peduncles, the pericarps of fruits which perish long before germination (the first growth of the seed), neither the use nor the cause of these deposits has as yet been clearly explained.
§ 4. Functions of the Organs.
216. The functions of the Root are, — 1. To fix the plant in or to the soil or other substance on whicli it grows. 2. To absorb nourishment from the soil, water, or air, into which the fibres have penetrated (or from other plants in the case of parasites), and to transmit it rapidly to the stem. The absorption takes place through the young growing extremities of the fibres, and through a peculiar kind of hairs or absorbing organs which are formed at or near those growing extremities. The transmission to the stem is through the tissues of the root itself. The nutriment absorbed consists chiefly of carbonic acid and nitrogen or nitrogenous compounds dissolved in water. 3. In some cases roots secrete or exude small quantities of matter in a manner and with a purpose not satisfactorily ascertained.
217. The stem and its branches support the leaves, flowers, and fruit, transmit the crude sap, or nutriment absorbed by the roots and mixed with previously organized matter, to the leaves, and re-transmit the assimilated or elaborated sap from the leaves to the growing parts of the plant, to be there used up, or to form deposits for future use (204). The transmission of the ascending crude sap appears to take place chiefly through the elongated cells associated with the vascular tissues, passing from one cell to another by a process but little understood, but known by the name of endosmose.
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218. Leaves are functionally the most active of the organs of vegetation. In them is chiefly conducted digestion or Assimilation , a name given to the process which ac- complishes the following results : — 1. The chemical decomposition of the oxygenated matter of the sap, the absorption of carbonic acid, and the liberation of pure oxygen at the oi’dinary temperature of the air. 2. A counter-operation by which oxygen is absorbed from the atmosphere and carbonic acid is exhaled. 3. The transformation of the residue of the crude sap into the organized substances which enter into the com- position of the plant. The exhalation of oxygen appears to take place under the influ- ence of solar heat and light, chiefly from the under surface of the leaf, and to be in some measure regulated by the stomates ; the absorption of oxygen goes on always in the dark, and in the daytime also in certain cases. The transformation of the sap is effected within the tissues of the leaf, and continues probably more or less throughout the active parts of the whole plant.
219. The Floral Organs seldom contribute to the growth of the plant on which they are produced ; their functions are wholly concentrated on the formation of the seed with the germ of a future plant.
220. The Perianth (calyx and corolla) acts in the first instance in protecting the stamens and pistils during the early stages of their development. When expanded, the use of the brilliant colours which they often display, of the sweet or strong odours they emit, has not been adequately explained. Perlxaps they may have great influence in attracting those insects whose concurrence has been shown in many cases to be ne- cessai'y for the due transmission of the pollen from the anther to the stigma.
221. The pistil, when stimulated by the action of the pollen, forms and nourishes the young seed. The varied and complicated contrivances by which the pollen is con- veyed to the stigma, whether by elastic action of the organs themselves, or with the assistance of wind, of insects, or other extraneous agents, have been the subject of numerous observations and experiments of the most distinguished natui’alists, and are yet far from being fully investigated. Their details, however, as far as known, would be far too long for the present outline.
222. The fruit nourishes and protects the seed until its maturity, and then often promotes its dispersion by a great variety of contrivances or apparently collatei’al cir- cumstances, e.ff. by an elastic dehiscence which casts the seed off to a distance; by the development of a pappus, wings, hooked or other appendages, which allows them to be carried off by winds, or by animals, etc., to which they may adhere ; by their small specific gravity, which enables them to float down streams ; by their attractions to birds, etc., who taking them for food drop them often at gi’eat distances, etc. Ap- pendages to the seeds themselves also often promote dispersion.
223. Hairs have vai'ious functions. The ordinaxy indumentum (171) of stems and leaves indeed seems to take little part in the economy of the plant besides perhaps some occasional protection against injxxrious atmospheric influences, buit the root-hairs (216) are active absorbents, the hairs on styles and other parts of flowers appear often materially to assist the transmission of pollen, and the exudations of glandular hail’s (175, 2) are often too copious not to exercise some influence on the phenomena of vegetation. The whole qxxestion, however, of vegetable exudations and their influence on the economy of vegetable life, is as yet but imperfectly undei'stood.
Chap. IY. Collection, Pbesebvation, and Deteemination oe Plants.
224. Plants can undoubtedly be most easily and satisfactorily examined when freshly gathered. But time will rarely admit of this being done, and it is moreover desirable to compare them with other plants previously observed or collected. Specimens must, therefore, be selected for leisui-ely observation at home, and preserved for futxu-e refer- ence. A collection of such specimens constitutes a Herbarium.
225. A botanical Specimen, to be perfect, should have root , stem, leaves, flowers (both open and in the bud), and fruit (both young and mature). It is not, however, always possible to gather such complete specimens, but the collector shoxxld aim at
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OUTLINES OE BOTANY.
completeness. Fragments, such as leaves without flowers, or flowers without leaves, are of little or no use.
226. If the plant is small (not exceeding 15 in.) or can be reduced to that length by folding, the specimen should consist of the whole plant, including the principal part of the root. If it be too large to preserve the whole, a good flowering-branch should be selected, with the foliage as low down as can be gathered with it ; and one or two of the lower stem-leaves or radical leaves, if any, should be added, so as to preserve as much as possible of the peculiar aspect of the plant.
227. The specimens should be taken from healthy uninjured plants of a medium siz°. Or if a specimen be gathered because it looks a little different from the majority of those around it, apparently belonging to the same species, a specimen of the more prevalent form should be taken from the same locality for comparison.
228. For bringing the specimens home, a light portfolio of pasteboard, covered with calico or leather, furnished with straps and buckles for closing, and another for slinging on the shoulder, and containing a few sheets of stout coarse paper, is better than the old-fashioned tin box (except, perhaps, for stiff prickly plants and a few others). The specimens as gathered are placed between the leaves of paper, and may be crowded to- gether if not left long without sorting.
229. If the specimen brought home be not immediately determined when fresh, but dried for future examination, a note should be taken of the time, place, and situation in which it was gathered ; of the stature, habit, and other particulars re- lating to any tree, shrub, or herb of which the specimen is only a portion ; of the kind of root it has ; of the colour of the flower ; or of any other particulars which the specimen itself cannot supply, or which may be lost in the process of drying. These memoranda, whether taken down in the field, or from the living specimen when brought home, should be written on a label attached to the specimen or pre- served with it.
230. To dry specimens, they are laid flat between several sheets of bibulous paper, and subjected to pressure. The paper is subsequently changed at intervals, until they are dry.
231. In laying out the specimen, care should be taken to preserve the natural posi- tion of the parts as far as consistent with the laying flat. In general, if the specimen is fresh and not very slender, it may be simply laid on the lower sheet, holding it by the stalk and drawing it slightly downwards ; then, as the upper sheet is laid over, if it be slightly drawn downwards as it is pressed down, it will be found, after a few trials, that the specimen will have retained a natural form with very little trouble. If the specimen has been gathered long enough to have become flaccid, it will require more care in laying the leaves flat and giving the parts their proper direction. Speci- mens kept in tin boxes, will also often have taken unnatural bends which will require to be corrected.
232. If the specimen is very bushy, some branches must be thinned out, but always so as to show where they have been. If any part, such as the head of a thistle, the stem of an Orobanche, or the bulb of a Lily, be very thick, a portion of what is to be the under side of the specimen may be sliced off. Some thick specimens may be split from top to bottom before drying.
233. If the specimen be succulent or tenacious of life, such as a Sedum or an Orchis , it may be dipped in boiling water all but the flowers. This will kill the plant at once, and enable it to be dried rapidly, losing less of its colour or foliage than would otherwise be the case. Dipping in boiling water is also useful in the case of Heaths and other plants which are apt to shed then' leaves during the process of drying.
234. Plants with very delicate corollas may he placed between single leaves of very thin unglazed tissue-paper. In shifting these plants into dry paper the tissue-paper is not to be removed, but lifted with its contents on to the dry paper.
235. The number of sheets of paper to be placed between each specimen or sheet of specimens, will depend, on the one hand, on the thickness and humidity of the speci- mens ; on the other hand, on the quantity and quality of the paper one has at command. The more and the better the paper, the less frequently will it be necessary to change
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it, and the sooner the plants will dry. The paper ought to be coarse, stout, and un- sized. Common blotting-paper is much too tender.
236. Care must be taken that the paper used is well dried. If it be likewise hot, all the better ; but it must then be very dry ; and wet plants put into hot paper will require changing very soon, to prevent their turning black, for hot damp without ven- tilation produces fermentation, and spoils the specimens.
237. For pressing plants, various more or less complicated and costly presses are made. None is better than a pair of boards the size of the paper, and a stone or other heavy weight upon them if at home, or a pair of strong leather straps round them if travelling. Each of these boards should be double, that is, made of two layers of thin boards, the opposite way of the grain, and joined together by a row of clenched brads round the edge, without glue. Such boards, in deal, rather less than half an inch thick (each layer about 2| lines) will be found light and durable.
238. It is useful also to have extra boards or pasteboards the size of the paper, to separate thick plants from thin ones, wet ones from those nearly dry, etc. Open wooden frames with cross-bars, or frames of strong wire-work lattice, are still better than boards for this purpose, as accelerating the drying by promoting ventilation.
239. The more frequently the plants are shifted into dry paper the better. Except- ing for very stiff or woody plants, the first pressure should be light, and the first shift- ing, if possible, after a few hours. Then, or at the second shifting, when the specimens will have lost their elasticity, will be the time for putting right any part of a specimen which may have taken a wrong fold or a bad direction. After this the pressure may be gradually increased, and the plants left from one to several days without shifting. The exact amount of pressure to be given will depend on the consistence of the speci- mens and the amount of paper. It must only be borne in mind that too much pres- sure crushes the delicate parts, too little allows them to shrivel, in both cases inter- fering with their future examination.
240. The most convenient specimens will be made, if the drying-paper is the same size as that of the herbarium in which they are to be kept. That of writing-demy, rather more than 16 inches by 10j inches, is a common and very convenient size. A small size reduces the specimens too much, a large size is both costly and inconvenient for use.
241. When the specimens are quite dry and stiff, they may be packed up in bundles with a single sheet of paper between each layer, and this paper need not be bibulous. The specimens may be placed very closely on the sheets, but not in more than one layer on each sheet, and care must be taken to protect the bundles by sufficient cover- ing from the effects of external moisture or the attacks of insects.
242. In laying the specimens into the herbarium, no more than one species should ever be fastened on one sheet of paper, although several specimens of the same species may be laid side by side. And throughout the process of drying, packing, and laying in, great care must be taken that the labels be not separated from the specimens they belong to.
243. To examine or dissect flowers or fruits in dried specimens it is necessary to soften them. If the parts are very delicate, this is best done by gradually moistening them in cold water ; in most cases, steeping them in boiling water or in steam is much quicker. Very hard fruits and seeds will require boiling to be able to dissect them easily.
244. For dissecting and examining flowers in the field, all that is necessary is a pen-
knife and a pocket-lens of two or three glasses from 1 to 2 inches focus. At home it is more convenient to have a mounted lens or simple microscope, with a stage holding a glass plate, upon which the flowers may be laid ; and a pair of dissectors, one of which should be narrow and pointed, or a mere point, like a thick needle, in a handle; the other should have a pointed blade, with a sharp edge, to make clean sections across the ovary. A compound microscope is rarely necessary, except in cryptogamic botany and vegetable anatomy. For the simple microscope, lenses of |, 1, and 1^ inches
focus are sufficient.
245. To assist the student in determining or ascertaining the name of a plant be- longing to a Flora, analytical tables should be prefixed to the Orders, Genera, and
e
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OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
Species. These tables should be so constructed as to contain, under each bracket, or equally indented, two (rarely three or more) alternatives as nearly as possible contradic- tory or incompatible with each other, each alternative referring to another bracket, or having under it another pair of alternatives further indented. The student having a plant to determine, will first, take the general table of Natural Orders, and examining his plant at each step to see which alternative agrees with it, will be led on to the Order to which it belongs ; he will then compare it with the detaded character of the Order given in the text. If it agrees, he will follow the same course with the table of the genera of that Order, and again with the table of species of the genus. But in each case, if he finds that his plant does not agree with the detailed description of the genus or species to which he has thus been referred, he must revert to the beginning and carefully go through every step of the investigation before he can be satisfied. A fresh examination of his specimen, or of others of the same plant, a critical considera- tion of the meaning of every expression in the characters given, may lead him to detect some minute point overlooked or mistaken, and put him into the right way. Species vary within limits which it is often very difficult to express in words, and it proves often impossible, in framing these analytical tables, so to divide the genera and species, that those which come under one alternative should absolutely exclude the others. In such doubtful cases both alternatives must be tiled before the student can come to the conclusion that his plant is not contained in the Flora, or that it is erroneously described.
216. In those Floras where analytical tables are not given, the student is usually guided to the most important or prominent characters of each genus or species, either by a general summary prefixed to the genera of an Order or to the species of the genus, for all such genera or species ; or by a special summary immediately preceding the detaded description of each genus or species. In the latter case this summary is called a diagnosis. Or sometimes the important characters are only indicated by italicizing them in the detailed description.
217. It may also happen that the specimen gathered may present some occasional or accidental anomalies peculiar to that single one, or to a very few individuals, which may prevent the species from being at once recognized by its technical characters. It may be useful here to point out a few of these anomalies which the botanist may be most likely to meet with. For this purpose we may divide them into two classes, viz. :
1. Aberrations from the ordinary type or appearance of a species for which some general cause may be assigned.
A bright, light, and open situation, particularly at considerable elevations above the sea, or at high latitudes, without too much wet or drought, tends to increase the size and heighten the colour of flowers, in proportion to the stature and foliage of the plant.
Shade, on the contrary, especially if accompanied by richness of soil and sufficient moisture, tends to increase the foliage and draw up the stem, but to diminish the num- ber, size, and colour of the flowers.
A hot climate and dry situation tend to increase the hairs, prickle3, and other pro- ductions of the epidermis, to shorten and stiffen the branches, rendering thorny plants yet more spinous. Moisture in a rich soil has a contrary effect.
The neighbourhood of the sea, or a saline soil or atmosphere, imparts a tlucker and more succulent consistence to the foliage and almost every part of the plant, and ap- pears not unfrequently to enable plants usually annual to live through the winter. Flowers in a maritime variety are often much fewer, but not smaller.
The luxuriance of plants growing in a rich soil, and the dwarf stunted character of those crowded in poor soils, are too well known to need particularizing. It is also an everyday observation how gradually the specimens of a species become dwarf and stunted as we advance into the cold damp regions of the summits of high mountain- ranges, or into high northern latitudes ; and yet it is frequently from the want of at- tention to these circumstances that numbers of false species have been added to our Enumerations and Floras. Luxuriance entails not only increase of size to the whole plant, or of particular parts, but increase of number in branches, in leaves, or leaflets of a compound leaf ; or it may diminish the hairiness of the plant, induce thorns to grow out into branches, etc.
OUTLINES OF BOTANY.
XXXV
Capsules which, while growing, lie close upon the ground, will often become larger, more succulent, and less readily dehiscent, than those which are not so exposed to the moisture of the soil.
Herbs eaten down by sheep or cattle, or crushed underfoot, or otherwise checked in their growth, or trees or shrubs cut down to the ground, if then exposed to favourable circumstances of soil and climate, will send up luxuriant side-shoots, often so different in the form of their leaves, in their ramification and inflorescence, as to be scarcely re- cognizable for the same species.
Annuals which have germinated in spring, and flowered without check, will often be very different in aspect from individuals of the same species, which, having germinated later, are stopped by summer droughts or the approach of winter, and only flower the following season upon a second growth. The latter have often been mistaken for per- ennials.
Hybrids, or crosses between two distinct species, come under the same category of anomalous specimens from a known cause. Frequent as they are in gardens, where they are artificially produced, they are probably rare in nature, although on this sub- ject there is much diversity of opinion, some believing them to be very frequent, others almost denying their existence. Absolute proof of the origin of a plant found wild, is of course impossible ; but it is pretty generally agreed that the following particulars must always co-exist in a wild hybrid. It partakes of the characters of its two parents ; it is to be found isolated, or almost isolated, in places where the two parents are abun- dant ; if there are two or three, they will generally be dissimilar from each other, one partaking more of one parent, another of the other ; it seldom ripens good seed ; it will never be found where one of the parents grows alone.
Where two supposed species grow together, intermixed with numerous intermediates bearing good seed, and passing more or less gradually from the one to the other, it may generally be concluded that the whole are mere varieties of one species. The be- ginner, however, must be very cautious not to set down a specimen as intermediate between two species, because it appears to be so in some, even the most striking cha- racters, such as stature and foliage. Extreme varieties of one species are connected together by transitions in all their characters, but these transitions are not all observa- ble in the same specimens. The observation of a single intermediate is therefore of little value, unless it he one link in a long series of intermediate forms, and, when met with, should lead to the search for the other connecting links.
2. Accidental aberrations from the ordinary type, that is, those of which the cause is unknown.
These require the more attention, as they may sometimes lead the beginner far astray in his search for the genus, whilst the aberrations above-mentioned as reducible more or less to general laws, affect chiefly the distinction of species.
Almost all species with coloured flowers are liable to occur occasionally with them all white.
Many may be found even in a wild state with double flowers, that is, with a multi- plication of petals.
Plants which have usually conspicuous petals will occasionally appear without any at all, either to the flowers produced at particular seasons, or to all the flowers of in- dividual plants, or the petals may be reduced to narrow slips.
Flowers usually very irregular, may, on certain individuals, lose more or less of their irregularity, or appear in some very different shitpe. Spurs, for instance, may disap- pear, or be produced on all instead of one only of the petals.
One part may be occasionally added to, or subtracted from, the usual number of parts in each floral whorl, more especially in regular polypetalous flowers.
Plants usually monoecious or dioecious may become occasionally hermaphrodite, or hermaphrodite plants may produce occasionally unisexual flowers by the abortion of the stamens or of the pistils.
Leaves cut or divided where they are usually entire, variegated or spotted where they are usually of one colour, or the reverse, must also be classed amongst those accidental aberrations which the botanist must always be on his guard against mistaking for specific distinctions.
XXXY1
INDEX OF TERMS, OR GLOSSARY.
The Figures refer to the Paragraphs of the Outlines.
|
Aberrations . . |
Par. 247 |
|
|
Abortive . |
84 |
|
|
Abruptly pinnate |
43 |
|
|
Accessory organs |
. |
16S |
|
Acicular . . |
54 |
|
|
Aehene |
158 |
|
|
Aculeate . . . |
170 |
|
|
Acuminate, acnmen |
47 |
|
|
Acute .... |
47 |
|
|
Adherent . |
140, |
145 |
|
A dnate |
.63, |
145 |
|
Adnate anther . |
114 |
|
|
Adventitious . |
. 17 |
, 19 |
|
Aerial = growing in the |
||
|
air. |
||
|
Aestivation . . |
102 |
|
|
Aggregate fruit . |
147 |
|
|
Alabastrum (bud) |
214 |
|
|
Alse (wings) . . |
37, |
155 |
|
Alate = having wings. |
||
|
Albumen, albuminous . |
162 |
|
|
Alburnum |
198 |
|
|
Alliances . . |
182 |
|
|
Alternate . |
. 32, 90 |
|
|
Amentum = catkin |
76 |
|
|
Amphitropous . |
134 |
|
|
Amplexicaul . . |
37 |
|
|
Amygdaloid = almond- |
||
|
like. |
||
|
Amyloid . . . |
192 |
|
|
Anastomose . |
40 |
|
|
Anatropous . |
134 |
|
|
Androgynous . . |
87 |
|
|
Angiospermous . |
161 |
|
|
Anisomerous . . |
94 |
|
|
Annuals . |
12 |
|
|
Anterior . . . |
91 |
|
|
Anther . . . |
109, |
114 |
Anthesis (flowering pe- riod) 214
Apetalous 85
Par.
Apex ... 36, 47, 115 Apiculate=with a little point.
Apocarpous . . . .125
Aquatic = growing in
water 14
Arboreous or arbores- cent plants ... 12
Aril, arillus . . . .164
Arilate (having an aril) 164
Aristate 47
Article, articulate, arti- culation .... 54
Artificial divisions and characters .... 184 Ascending .... 28
Asepalous 85
Assimilation . . . .218
Auricle 49
Auricu'ate = l aving au- ricles 50
Axil, axillary .... 17
Axile (in the axis) . . 132
Bark 198
Barren .... 85, 110 Base ... 36, 48, 115
Bast-cells 198
Berry 157
Bi- (2 in composition) . 44
Bicarpellary .... 125
Bidentate 44
Biennials 12
Bifid 44
Bifoliolate .... 44
Bijugate 44
Bilabiate (two-lipped) 102, 105
Bilocular 126
Bipiunate 43
Bisexual 85
Par.
Biternate 44
Blade 35
Bracts, bractem 60, 77, 202 Bracteate = having bracts. Bracteoles .... 62
Bristles, bristly . . .173
Bud 16
Bulb 26
Bush 12
Csespitose = tufted . . 28
Callous = hardened and usually thickened. Calycule, calvculate. . 80
Calyx . . . .15, 90, 96
Cambium-region . . .211
Campanulate . . . .104
Campylotropous . . .134
Canescent 173
Capillary = hair-like . 54
Capitate 74
Capsule 158
Carpel 15,123
Carpophore .... 146
Cartilaginous = of the consistence of carti- lage or of parchment. Caruncule, caruncnlate . 164
Caryopsis 160
Catkins 76
Cauline (on the stem) . 38
Caulocarpic . . . . 12
Cells (elementary) . .186
Cells (of anthers') . . 109
Cells (of the ovary) . . 121
Cellular system . . .193
Cellular tissue . . . 1 S8
Cellulose 191
Centrifugal .... 72
Centripetal .... 72
Chaff 82
|
GLOSSARY OF |
TERMS. |
xxxvu |
||||||
|
Par. |
Par. |
Par. |
||||||
|
Chalaza . . . |
133 |
Cylindrical . . |
54 |
Elaborated sap . |
217 |
|||
|
Character . . . |
183 |
Cyme, cyvnose |
74 |
Elementary cells and tis- |
||||
|
Chlorophyll . . |
152 |
sues |
186 |
|||||
|
Chromule . . , |
192 |
Deca- or decern- (10 |
in |
Elliptical |
45 |
|||
|
Ciliate .... |
39 |
composition) . |
44, 92 |
Emarginate .... |
47 |
|||
|
Circumseiss . . |
153 |
Deciduous calyx . |
152 |
Embryo . . . 162, 163 |
||||
|
Cirrhus = tendril |
169 |
Decompound . |
43 |
Endocarp |
157 |
|||
|
Class .... |
182 |
Decumbent . . |
28 |
Endogens, endogenous |
||||
|
Claw (of a petal) |
107 |
Decurrent . . . |
37 |
plants |
195 |
|||
|
Climbing stem |
29 |
Decussate . . |
32 |
Endogenous stem |
199 |
|||
|
Coats of the ovule |
133 |
Definite .. . |
89 |
Endosmose .... |
217 |
|||
|
Coats of the seed |
163 |
Definitions |
(p- i ) |
Ennea- (9 in composi- |
||||
|
Coccus .... |
159 |
Dehiscence, dehiscent |
tion) |
92 |
||||
|
Coherent . . . |
145 |
118, |
156 |
Entire |
39 |
|||
|
Collateral = inserted one |
Dentate . . . |
39 |
Epicarp |
157 |
||||
|
by the side of |
the |
Depressed . . . |
54 |
Epidermis . . . 173, |
193 |
|||
|
other. |
Descriptive Botany |
(p. i.) |
Epigynous .... |
140 |
||||
|
Collection of specimens |
224 |
Determinate . |
67 |
Epigynous disk . |
144 |
|||
|
Coma .... |
163 |
Determination of plants |
245 |
Epiphyte |
14 |
|||
|
Common petiole . |
39 |
Dextrine . . |
Erect |
28 |
||||
|
Complete flower . |
89 |
Di- (2 in composition) . |
92 |
Exalbuminous (without |
||||
|
Compound leaf . |
39 |
Diadelphous . |
113 |
albumen) .... |
162 |
|||
|
Compound flower |
74 |
Diagnosis . . . |
246 |
Examination of plants . |
243 |
|||
|
Compound fruit . |
147 |
Dialypetalous . |
100 |
Exogens, exogenous |
||||
|
Compound ovary |
126 |
Diaudrous . |
93 |
plants |
195 |
|||
|
Compound umbel |
74 |
Dichlamydeous . |
85 |
Exogenous stem . |
198 |
|||
|
Compressed . . |
54 |
Dichotomous . . |
33 |
Exserted |
113 |
|||
|
Cone .... |
160 |
Diclinous . |
86 |
Extrorse |
113 |
|||
|
Confluent . . |
117 |
Dicotyledonous plants |
167 |
|||||
|
Conical . . . |
54 |
Didymous . |
54 |
Falcate |
45 |
|||
|
Connate . . . |
145 |
Didynamous . |
113 |
Families |
181 |
|||
|
Connective, connectivum 109 |
Diffuse .... |
28 |
Farinose |
173 |
||||
|
Conniveut . . . |
145 |
Digitate . . |
41 |
Fascicled, fasciculate |
32 |
|||
|
Contorted, convolute . |
102 |
Digvnous . . . |
. 93 |
125 |
Fastigiate |
74 |
||
|
Cordate |
49 |
Dimerous . . . |
93 |
Fecula |
192 |
|||
|
Cordiform. |
49 |
Dimidiate . |
117 |
Female |
85 |
|||
|
Coriaceous |
55 |
Dioecious . . . |
86 |
Fertile |
85 |
|||
|
Corky layer . . |
198 |
Dipetalous |
93 |
Fibre |
IS |
|||
|
Corm .... |
27 |
Disepalous |
93 |
Fibrous root .... |
20 |
|||
|
Corolla . . .15, 90, 97 |
Disk .... |
136 |
Fibro-vascular system . |
193 |
||||
|
Corrugate (crumpled) . |
102 |
Dissepiment . . |
126 |
Filament |
109 |
|||
|
Corymb, corymbose |
74 |
Dissected . . . |
39 |
F’ili form = thread-like. |
||||
|
Costate |
173 |
Distichous |
32 |
Fimbriate = fringed. |
||||
|
Cotton, cottony . |
173 |
Distinct |
145 |
Flabelliform = fan-shape( |
45 |
|||
|
Cotyledons |
166 |
Divaricate . |
115 |
Fleshy |
55 |
|||
|
Creeping . . . |
28 |
Diverging, divergent 115, 145 |
Floccose |
173 |
||||
|
Creuate, crennlate |
39 |
Divided |
39 |
Floral envelope . |
To |
|||
|
Cri state = h avi n g a crest- |
Dorsal = on the back. |
Floral leaves .... |
61 |
|||||
|
like appendage. |
Double flowers . |
97 |
Flowers . 15, 84, 213, |
219 |
||||
|
Crown of the root |
24 |
Down, downy |
173 |
Flowering plants . . |
10 |
|||
|
Crumpled . . . |
102 |
Drupe .... |
Foliaeeous = leaf-like. |
|||||
|
Crustaceous . . |
55 |
Dry fruits . . . |
158 |
Follicle |
159 |
|||
|
Cryptogamous plants . |
10 |
Ducts .... |
188 |
Foramen |
133 |
|||
|
Culm .... |
34 |
Duramen . . . |
198 |
Forked |
||||
|
Cimeate |
45 |
Foveolate |
105 |
|||||
|
Cupular (cup-shaped) . |
136 |
Ear ....... |
76 |
Free . 89,132,140, |
145 |
|||
|
Cuspidate , , , |
47 |
. Echmate ,. .. .. |
173 |
Fruit . . .15,. 146, |
222 |
XXX. V1U
GLOSSARY OF TERMS.
|
Frutescent, fruticose |
Par. 12 |
|
Function |
7 |
|
Funicle (funiculus) . |
164 |
|
Funnel-shaped . . . |
104 |
|
Furrowed |
173 |
|
Fusiform = spindle- shaped |
54 |
|
Gamopetalous . . . |
100 |
|
Geminate |
32 |
|
Genus, genera . . . |
180 |
|
Germ, germination . . |
215 |
|
Gibbous |
105 |
|
Glabrous |
173 |
|
Glands. . . . 173, |
206 |
|
Glandular-setose . . |
173 |
|
Glaucous |
173 |
|
Globose, globular . . |
54 |
|
Glocbidiate . . . . |
173 |
|
Glume |
83 |
|
Glutinous |
173 |
|
Grain |
160 |
|
Gymnospermous . |
161 |
|
Gynobasis, gynopkore . |
143 |
|
Habit |
183 |
|
Hairs . . .171,205 |
223 |
|
Hastate |
50 |
|
Head |
74 |
|
Heart-wood . . . . |
198 |
|
Hepta- (7 in composi- tion) |
92 |
|
Herbaceous perennials . |
12 |
|
Herbarium . . . . |
224 |
|
Hermaphrodite . |
85 |
|
Heterogamous . . . |
87 |
|
Hexa- (6 in composition) |
92 |
|
Hilum |
165 |
|
Hirsute |
173 |
|
Hispid |
173 |
|
Hoary |
173 |
|
Hoinogamous |
87 |
|
Hooks |
169 |
|
Hvbernaeulum . . . |
23 |
|
Hybrids |
247 |
|
Hypocrateriform (salver |
|
|
shaped) |
104 |
|
Hypogynous . . . . |
140 |
|
Imbricate, imbricated 58,102 |
|
|
Imparipinuate |
43 |
|
Imperfect .... |
84 |
|
Incomplete |
84 |
|
Indefinite .... |
92 |
|
Indehisccnt . |
156 |
|
Indeterminate . . |
67 |
|
Indumentum . . . |
171 |
|
[uduplicate |
Par. . . 102 |
|
Inferior |
. . 140 |
|
Inferior radicle . |
. . 167 |
|
Inflorescence . |
. . 66 |
|
tnfuudibuliform (funnel- |
|
|
shaped) . . . |
. . 104 |
|
Innate anther |
. . 114 |
|
Insertion . |
. . 140 |
|
Internode . . . |
. . 31 |
|
Interrupted spike or ra- |
|
|
ceme . . |
. . 75 |
|
Introrse . |
. . 118 |
|
Involucre, involucel |
. 79 |
|
Involute . |
. . 102 |
|
Irregular . . |
. . 95 |
|
Isomerous . . . |
. . 89 |
|
Joint, joining . |
. . 54 |
|
Jugum, juga = pairs |
. . 44 |
|
Kernel .... |
. . 157 |
|
Knob .... |
|
|
Labellum . . . |
. . 105 |
|
Laciniate . |
. . 39 |
|
Lamina |
.35, 107 |
|
Lanate = woolly . |
. . 173 |
|
Lanceolate . . |
. . 45 |
|
Lateral .... |
. . 91 |
|
Leaf, leaves 15, 35, |
200, 218 |
|
Leaf- bud . . . |
. . 16 |
|
Leaflet .... |
. . 39 |
|
Leaf-opposed . |
. . 67 |
|
Legume |
. . 160 |
|
Lepidote . . |
. . 172 |
|
Liber .... |
198, 211 |
|
Ligulate = strap-shaped. |
|
|
Limb .... |
. . 104 |
|
Linear .... |
. 45, 54 |
|
Lip, lipped . . |
. . 105 |
|
Lobe, lobed |
. . 39 |
|
Loculicidal |
. . 158 |
|
Lower ..... |
|
|
Lunate = crescent-shaped. |
|
|
Lyrate .... |
. . 41 |
|
31 ale .... |
|
|
Mareescent . . |
. . 151 |
|
Mealy .... |
. . 173 |
|
Medullary rays |
and |
|
sheath . |
. . 198 |
|
Membranous . |
. . 5 5 |
|
Micropyle . |
. . 165 |
|
Midrib ... |
. . 40 |
|
Monadelphous |
. . 113 |
|
Monandrou3 . |
. . 112 |
|
Moniliform . . |
. . 54 |
Par.
Mono- (1 in composi-
tion) 92
Monocarpellary . . .125
Monocarpic .... 12
Monochlamydeous . . 85
Monocotyledouons plants 167 Monoecious .... 86
Monogynous .... 125 Monopetalous . . .100
Morphology . . . 8, 88
Mucronate .... 47 Multi- {many, or an in- definite number, in composition) ... 44
Muricate 173
Naked 85, 1 61
Natural divisions and
characters . . . .184
Natural Order . . . 181
Navicular = boat-shaped.
Nectary 138
Nerve 40
Net-veined .... 40
Neuter 85
Node 31
Novem- (9 in composi- tion) 44
Nucleus of a cell . . . 191
Nucleus of the ovule . 133 Nut 158
Obcompressed ... 54
Obconical 54
Obcordate 47
Oblate 45
Oblong 45, 54
Obovate 45
Obovoid 54
Obpyramidal .... 54
Obtuse 47
Oct- or oeto- (8 in com- position) . . . 44, 92
Offset 23
Opposite 32
Orbicular 45
Order 181
Organ 7
Organogenesis . . . 213
Organs of vegetation and reproduction ... 9
Orthotropous . . . . 134
Oval 45
Ovary 121
Ovate 45
Ovoid 54
Ovule .... 121, 133
|
GLOSSARY OF |
TERMS. |
XXXIX |
|||
|
Par. |
Par. |
Par. |
|||
|
Palate ...... |
105 |
Pod .... |
. . 158 |
Rhomboidal .... |
45 |
|
Palea, palese .... |
82 |
Podocarp . . . |
. . 120 |
Ribs |
40 |
|
Paleaceous = of a chaffy |
Pollen .... |
109, 119 |
Ribbed |
173 |
|
|
consistence. |
Poly- {many, or an in- |
Ringent |
105 |
||
|
Palmate .... 41 |
, 42 |
definite number, in |
Root 15, 18, 196, 207, |
216 |
|
|
Palmatifid, palmatisect . |
42 |
composition) . |
. . 92 |
Rootstock ..... |
24 |
|
Panicle, paniculate . . |
74 |
Polyadelphous |
. . 113 |
Rostrate = beaked. |
|
|
Papillee |
122 |
Polvandrous . |
. 92,112 |
Rosulate |
38 |
|
Pappus |
155 |
Polygamous . . |
. . 86 |
Rotate |
104 |
|
Parallel veins .... |
40 |
Polyscynous . |
. 92, 125 |
Rudimentary .... |
84 |
|
Parasite |
14 |
Polypetalous . . |
. . 100 |
Rugose |
173 |
|
Parenchyma .... |
188 |
Pome .... |
Runcinate |
41 |
|
|
Parietal |
132 |
Posterior . |
. . 91 |
Runner |
30 |
|
Pectinate |
41 |
Prsefoliation . |
. . 57 |
||
|
Pedate 41, 42 |
Preservation of speci- |
Saccate |
105 |
||
|
Pedatifid, pedatisect |
42 |
mens . . . |
. . 224 |
Sagittate |
50 |
|
Pedicel |
70 |
Prickles . . . |
. . 170 |
Salver-shaped . . . |
104 |
|
Pedicellate = on a pedicel. |
Primine . . . |
. . 133 |
Samara |
158 |
|
|
Peduncle . . . . |
68 |
Procumbent . . |
. . 28 |
Sap ....... |
192 |
|
Pedunculate = on a pe- |
Proliferous . . |
. . 17 |
Sapwood |
198 |
|
|
duncle. |
Prosenchyma . |
. . 188 |
Sarcocarp |
157 |
|
|
Peltate |
52 |
Prostrate . |
. . 28 |
Sarmentose . . . . |
28 |
|
Peuicillate |
130 |
Protoplasm . |
. . 191 |
Scabrous |
173 |
|
Penta- (5 in composition |
92 |
Pubescent, puberulent . 173 |
Scales . . 58, 59, 172, |
201 |
|
|
Pepo |
160 |
Pulvinate (cushion |
Scaly bulb .... |
26 |
|
|
Perennials ..... |
12 |
shaped) . |
. . 136 |
Scaly surface .... |
172 |
|
Perfect flower . . . |
84 |
Punctiform = like a |
point |
Scape |
69 |
|
Perfoliate |
37 |
or dot. |
Scariose, scarious |
55 |
|
|
Perianth . 15, 98, 202. 220 |
Putamen . . . |
. . 157 |
Scattered |
32 |
|
|
Pericarp |
154 |
Pyramidal . . . |
. . 54 |
Scion |
30 |
|
Perigynous . . . . |
140 |
Pyrenes |
. . 157 |
Scorpioid cyme . . . |
74 |
|
Perispenn |
162 |
Section |
182 |
||
|
Persistent |
146 |
Quadri- (4 in composi- |
Secund |
32 |
|
|
Personate |
105 |
tion) . . . |
. . 44 |
Secundine |
133 |
|
Petal |
90 |
Quincuncial . |
. . 102 |
Seed |
161 |
|
Petiole |
35 |
Quinque- (5 in compo- |
Segment |
39 |
|
|
Petiolule |
39 |
sition) . . . |
. . 44 |
Sepals |
90 |
|
Piuenogamous, phanero- |
Quint uplincrved . |
. . 40 |
Septem- (7 in composi- |
||
|
gamous |
10 |
tion) |
44 |
||
|
Phyllaries |
79 |
Race .... |
. . 178 |
Septicidal |
158 |
|
Phyllodium — a flat pe- |
Raceme, racemose |
. . 74 |
Septum = partition . . |
126 |
|
|
tiole with no blade. |
Rachis .... |
. 39,68 |
Serrate, serrulate . . |
39 |
|
|
Pilose |
173 |
Radical . . . |
. . 38 |
Sessile |
37 |
|
Pinna |
43 |
Radicle . . . |
. . 166 |
Seta, setae (bristles) . . |
173 |
|
Pinnate .... 41,42 |
Raphe .... |
. . 134 |
Setaceous (bristle-like) . |
54 |
|
|
Pinnatifid, pinnatisect . |
42 |
Raphides . |
. . 192 |
Setose (bearing bristles) 173 |
|
|
Pistil . 15,90,120,203, 221 |
Receptacle . . |
. 74, 135 |
Sex- (6 in composition) |
44 |
|
|
Pistillate |
85 |
Reduplicate . . |
. . 102 |
Sheathing . , . . . |
37 |
|
Pith |
198 |
Regular . . . |
. . 95 |
Shrubs |
12 |
|
Placenta, placentation . |
131 |
Reniform . |
. . 51 |
Silicule, siliqua . |
160 |
|
Plant |
6 |
Resupinate . . |
. . 105 |
Silver grain . . . . |
198 |
|
Plicate |
102 |
Reticulate . |
. . 40 |
Simple ...... |
39 |
|
Plumose |
172 |
Refuse .... |
. . 47 |
Sinuate |
39 |
|
Pumule |
166 |
Revolute . . . |
. . 102 |
Sinus |
39 |
|
Pluri -—several, in com- |
Rhachis . . |
. 39, 68 |
Smooth |
173 |
|
|
position. |
Bhaphe |
. . 134 |
Spadix |
76 |
|
|
Plurilocular . . . , |
126 |
Rhizome . , . |
. 21, 24 |
Spatha |
81 |
xl
GLOSSARY OF TERMS.
|
Spathnlate . . . |
Par. . 45 |
|
Species |
. 177 |
|
Specimen .... |
. 225 |
|
Spherical .... |
. 54 |
|
Spike, spicate |
. 74 |
|
Spikelet .... |
. 76 |
|
Spinous .... |
. 170 |
|
Spiral vessels . |
. 188 |
|
Spur, spurred |
. 105 |
|
Squamse = scales . |
. 58 |
|
Squarrose .... |
. 58 |
|
Stamens . 15, 90, 108, 203 |
|
|
Staminate .... |
. 85 |
|
Staminodia . . . |
. 110 |
|
Starch |
. 192 |
|
Stellate .... |
. 104 |
|
Stellate hairs . |
. 172 |
|
Stein 15,28, 197,210,217 |
|
|
Stem-clasping . . |
. 37 |
|
Sterile |
. 85 |
|
Stigma |
. 121 |
|
Stipella .... |
. 64 |
|
Stipes, stipitate . |
. 65 |
|
Stipules .... |
. 63 |
|
Stock |
16, 22 |
|
Stole, stolon . . . |
23, 30 |
|
Stomates .... |
. 194 |
|
Stone, stone-fruit . |
. 157 |
|
Striate |
. 173 |
|
Strigose, strigillose . |
. 173 |
Stropbiole, strophiolate 164
Style 121
Sub = a /most, or under, in composition.
Subclass, snborder . . 182
Submerged = under water.
Subulate 54
Succuleut 55
Succulent fruits . . .157
Sucker 30
Suffruteseent, suffruti-
cose 12
Sugar 192
Sulcate 173
Superior 140
Superior radicle . . . 167
Superposed = inserted one above the other.
|
Par. |
|
|
Suture |
159 |
|
Symmetrical . . . |
89 |
|
Synandrous . |
112 |
|
Syncarpous . . . . |
125 |
|
Syngenesious . . . . |
113 |
|
Systematic Botany (p. xxiv.) |
|
|
Taproot Teeth 39 |
20 |
|
101 |
|
|
Tegmen |
163 |
|
Tendril . . . .29, 169 |
|
|
Terete |
54 |
|
Ternate .... 32, 41 |
|
|
Terrestrial = growing on |
|
|
the earth .... |
14 |
|
Testa |
163 |
|
Tetra- (4 in composition) |
92 |
|
i’etradyuamous . |
113 |
|
Thorns |
170 |
|
Throat . . . . |
104 |
|
Thyrsus, thyrsoid . . |
74 |
|
Tissues (elementary) |
186 |
|
Tomentose .... |
173 |
|
Toothed |
39 |
|
Torus |
135 |
|
Trees |
12 |
|
Tri- (3 in composition) 44, 92 |
|
|
Tribe |
182 |
|
Trichotomous |
33 |
|
Trifid |
41 |
|
Trifoliolate .... |
41 |
|
Trigonous |
54 |
|
Tripin uate . . . . |
43 |
|
Triplinerved .... |
40 |
|
Triquetrous .... |
54 |
|
Tristichous .... |
32 |
|
Truncate |
47 |
|
Trunk |
12 |
|
Tube . . '. . 101,104 |
|
|
Tuber, tuberous 20, 25, |
204 |
|
Tuberculate .... |
173 |
|
Tubular . |
104 |
|
Tufted |
28 |
|
Tunicated bulb . . . |
27 |
|
Turbinate = top-shaped . |
54 |
|
1 wiuer |
|
|
Twisted |
102 |
|
Type, typical .... |
181 |
Par.
Umbel, umbellate, urn-
|
bellule . . . . |
33, 74 |
|
Umbilicate . . |
. 173 |
|
Umbonate. . . |
. 173 |
|
Uncinate = hooked. |
|
|
Undershrubs . |
. 12 |
|
Undulate . . . . |
. 39 |
|
Unequally pinnate . |
. 43 |
|
Unguiculate . |
. 107 |
|
Unguis (claw) |
. 107 |
|
Uni- (1 in composition) 44 |
|
|
Unilateral (one-sided) |
ra- |
|
cemes . |
. 74 |
|
Unilocular |
. 126 |
|
Unisexual .... |
. 86 |
|
Unsymmetrical . . |
. 94 |
|
Upper |
. 91 |
|
Urceolate .... |
. 104 |
|
Utricle |
. 158 |
|
Valvate .... |
. 102 |
|
Valves |
. 158 |
|
Variety .... |
. 178 |
|
Vascular tissue . |
. 188 |
|
Vegetable Anatomy . |
8, 186 |
|
Vegetable Chemistry |
. 8 |
|
Vegetable Homologv |
or |
|
Metamorphosis . |
. 88 |
|
Vegetable Physiology |
8, 207 |
|
Veins, veinlets, venation 40 |
|
|
Vernation .... |
|
|
Versatile anther . . |
. 114 |
|
Verticil, vertieillate . |
. 32 |
|
Vessels |
. 188 |
|
Virgate = twiggy . |
. 28 |
|
Viscid, viscous . |
. 173 |
|
Vitta, vittm . . . |
. 175 |
|
Viviparous |
. 17 |
|
Voluble .... |
. 29 |
|
Wart, warted . |
. 173 |
|
Wavy |
. 39 |
|
W i orl, whorled . |
. 32 |
|
Wing, winged |
17, 155 |
|
Wood |
. 198 |
|
Woody tissue. |
. 188 |
|
Wool, woolly . . . |
. 173 |
CLASSIFICATIONS OF TIIE ORDERS AND GENERA.
I. KEY, CHIEFLY ADAPTED FROM DR. LINDLEY’s ‘ VEGETABLE KINGDOM.’
II. KEY, ACCORDING TO THE LINN.EAN CLASSES.
III. ARRANGEMENT AND CHARACTERS OF THE ORDERS ACCORDING TO
THE NATURAL SYSTEM, AS ADOPTED IN THE PRESENT WORK.
The following Keys are intended to facilitate the student’s endeavours to determine the names of New Zealand plants. I have tried to make them as simple as possible, by avoiding the use of more technical terms than ne- cessary, and by employing' in many cases characters taken from the general habit of the plants. None of these Keys can, however, be used, without some previous study of the elements of structural botany ;* for the terms employed have each an exact meaidng, which cannot safely be guessed at. The amount of study required depends much upon whether the student’s powers of observation and of reasoning are good and accurate ; but no. amount of ability will obviate the absolute necessity of observing the characters of plants carefully and accurately, and clearly understanding the application of the terms used in defining these characters ; and I would remind both teachers and students, that it is now a generally received opinion, that no subject is so well suited as systematic botany, to quicken the observing powers, and to improve the reasoning faculties of the young; and I believe that a little training in the use of these Keys alone, will sharpen the intellect of the quickest to a remarkable degree, and materially improve that of the dullest.
So many New Zealand plants are variable, have minute or unisexual flowers, or are otherwise difficult of determination, that by one key alone the student may fail to find out his plant ; he must then try by means of the others ; but there are a few New Zealand plants, which, as it appears to me, no system of keys will enable an uninstructed student to find out ; just as there are idioms and expressions in languages that no grammar will teach.
All plants are naturally divisible into two great primary groups -Flower- ing (Pheenogamic) and Flowerless (Cryptogamic). To the first belong all
* These can be obtained from the excellent outlines of Botany by G. Bentham, Esq., P.L.S., prefixed to this work.
/
xlii
CLASSIFICATIONS OF ORDERS AND GENERA.
such as have more or less obvious flowers, and in which fertilization is effected by pollen (shed by the stamens) falling on the stigma of the pistil, which contains the ovules, or on the ovule itself. The effect of this fertilization is, that the ovule ripens into a seed, which consists of one or more integuments enclosing an embryo or rudimentary plant. This embryo, again, consists of distinct parts, from which in germination the stem and leaves are developed upwards, and the root downwards. Cryptogamic plants have no such appa- ratus, no obvious flowers, no stamens nor pistil nor ovule, nor have their seeds any distinguishable integuments or embryo. Their fertilization is effected in a very different manner, by most minute organs, extremely difficult to dis- cover ; and they are propagated chiefly by minute spores, or microscopic glo- bular or angular bodies, usually without integument, and never containing an embryo. When the spore germinates, it is by growth from any point of its surface, As a rule, all commonly recognized trees, shrubs, and herbs belong to Phsenogams, or flowering plants, whilst Cryptogams include Ferns, Lyco- pods, Mosses, Hepaticae, Lichens, Fungi, and Algae ; of these the Ferns and Lycopods have leaves and branches more or less resembling those of Phae- nogams (but never flowers) ; the remainder are successively less and less like flowering plants, till we arrive at some of the lowest forms of Fungi and Algae, which are with difficulty to be distinguished from the lowest forms of animal life.
The only New Zealand Phaenogam that can be mistaken for a Cryptogam is Lenina (p. 277); and the Cryptogams which most nearly approach Phae- nogams are Lycopods, which have much of the habit of miniature Conifers, and are often furnished with cones also : these resemblances are, however, mainly in appearance.
The Cryptogams are a special study of great difficulty ; and it will take time and research, and the collection of many specimens, before the student can make much progress in a knowledge of any of the Cryptogamic Orders except Ferns. 1 confess to having found very great difficulty in so describing the plants of any Cryptogamic Orders that a student shall readily name a specimen by this book; and with regard to Fungi, and certain divisions of the other Orders, as the crustaceous Lichens, freshwater, filamentous, unicel- lular and other Algae, no descriptions alone will suffice either to give the un- instructed student a general accjuaintance with the subject, or to enable him to name an isolated species. To understand these plants, good magnified drawings are essential; and indeed the same may be said for all departments of Cryptogamic botany after the Lycopods. I would recommend the student who is disposed to study Mosses, Hepaticae, Lichens, Algae, and Fungi, to take up one of these Orders at a time, to dissect, magnify,* and draw the organs of fructification (in all stages) of a good many species, before attempt- ing to name any by this book. Should he have access to the ‘ Botany of the Antarctic Voyage,- he will find in all its parts (Antarctic Flora, Flora of New
* For this purpose, a good “simple microscope,” with powers of £ in., ^ in., in., and U- in. (the 2 latter Coddington lenses), is sufficient ; such may be had of Ross, optician, Featherstone Buildings, Ilolborn, for about £4. 10,s. Triangular-pointed (glovers’) needles stuck in a handle, and a small keen-edged knife (such as are used in eye-operations) are the best instruments for ordinary purposes to dissect with ; they are easily sharpened on a whetstone.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF ORDERS AND GENERA.
xliii
Zealand, and Flora of Tasmania) figures of a vast number of New Zealand species, for very many of these are widely diffused over the southern hemi- sphere.
Of New Zealand flowering plants, the following are more or less remarkable for some peculiarity of habit, habitat, locality, etc.
1. More or less aquatic species will be found in the following genera and Orders : —
Ranunculus, p. 3. Montia, p. 27. Elatine, p. 28. Myriophyllum, p. G6. Callitriehe, p. 68. Hydrocotyle, p. 85.
Limosella, p. 204. Utricularia, p. 222. Typhacese, p. 276. Naiadeee, p. 277. Scirpus, p. 299. Eleocharis, p. 300.
Isolepis, p. 301.
Cladium, p. 303.
( Azolla , which somewhat re- sembles a dowering plant, is a Cryptogam.)
2. Leafless plants, or plants provided with scale -like or very reduced leaves only, will be found in the following genera : —
Discaria, p. 43. Carmichaelia, p. 48. Iinbus, p. 54.
Viscum, 108.
Cuscnta, p. 199.
Veronica (§ 4, a), p. 205. Utricularia, p. 222.
Salicornia, p. 233. Cassytha, p. 239. Exocarpus, p. 246. Dactylanthus, p. 255. Gastrodia, p. 263. Prasophyllum, p. 272. Lemna, p. 277.
Juncus, p. 288. Leptocarpus, p. 294. Schcenus, p. 297. Scirpus, p. 299. Eleocharis, p. 300. Cladium, p. 301.