DCET. CES de NAT UR A iL. Cr SSE ë de LE / DJ 9
the clafs fyngenefa the florets of the ray are furnifhed with a ftyle and no ftioma, as in the funflower.
The flowers of the polysonum, whofe claflical charatter‘is oc- tandria, and its order trigynia, affords many inftances of the uncer- tainty of the number of the fexual organs, both in refpect to the ftamina and piftilla.‘Thus the fpecies 4, 5, 6, 7, poflefs but five ftsmina 4n- each j.the fpeciesi6,-09,.2105.-have-each of thém. f& ftamina, and the eleventh fpecies has fèven famina. And lftly the fpecies 4, 5, 6, 8, gd, 11, 12, have each of them. but two piftilla, nd all the reft three piftilla.
From thefe and other innumerable inftances there is reafon tocon- clude, that the proportions, fituations, and forms of the ftyle and figma, to which might be added their number conjointly, would have made eflential characters for the orders, which would have been lefs variable than thofe derived only from the number of them, and
uld have rendered them more natural colle“tions.
7. The characters of the orders might be deduced firft from the length of the ftyle compared with that of the ob as where
the ftyle is more than twice as long as the filaments, as in meadia, cyclamen, folanum, fufchia, Secondly, where the ftyle is about one third longer than the filaments, as in llium, fritillaria, cam-
panula, and many other bell-flowers. Thirdly, where the ftyle: very fhort compared to the filaments, as in poppies. The charaéters of the orders might be deduced from the cur-
vatures of the ftyle. As firft, where the ftyle bends into a curve over the pi to Mint the ftigma into contact with them, as in :..) f J: SR= nigella, devil in the bufh. Secondly, where the ftyle bends into a RE æ Va
circle like a french-horn to accommodate the ftigma to two fets of
"TX ftamina in fucceflion, firft the lower, and then Que higher, as in
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fpartium fcoparium, common broom. Thirdly, where the{tyle 1s A e 5 m+ 1 rot
crooked in the middle of it, making a kind of zigzag, to lower the
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