The four requirements for measurement, number, shape, proportion, and position, are so many pillars supporting the art.
The shape is defined by the terms that describe the leaves: Section 83.
The proportion is reckoned according to the relative heights of the parts.
The position or the insertion or else the connexion of the parts, are the same.
The following are quite often unsettled:
size, colour, smell, and taste.
93. The
M O S T N AT U R A Lstructure (92) of the fruit-body is taken from a variety of existing [factors]: in α. the number (94), β. the shape (95), γ. the proportion (96), and δ. the position (97).
The most natural [structure] occurs in very many plants:
it usually possesses a calyx thicker and shorter than the corolla, which is tender and falls off;
a pistil in the middle of the flower within the stamens; anthers resting on filaments;
and stigmas resting on styles, etc.
Fruit-bodies are all different, and yet in that they all agree.
The most natural structure becomes familiar as a result of habit, and thereafter it is not noticed by a real botanist; but it is described at length by amateurs and the generality of travellers; and thereby they betray their ignorance, which is praised by the perverse.
It seems to me that an eminent writer on rustic matters, though otherwise truly great, made little impression here.
As an example, I will set forth a character, crudely constructed: the C A LY Xgreen, erect, short, of five parts, with narrow segments, more narrow than long.2 TheC O R O L L Awith five petals, flattened, narrower at the base, coloured, very thin, spread out, inserted into the receptacle within the calyx, descending to the base, alternating with the lappets of the calyx, falling before the fruit is ripe. Some filaments of the S TA M E N S, narrow, slightly rounded, narrower at the top, inserted into the receptacle within the corolla, alternate with the petals, but opposite the [lappets of the] calyx. A solitary anther in [each] individual filament, and it bursts and produces flour, and then withers. The P I S T I Loccupies the centre of the flower, within the stamens, and it has for its base the small rudiment of the fruit; and on the tip of that, the styles are situated, and they are narrower than the ovary; they are not flat but narrow, and separate from the corolla, and they display rather thick stigmas at their tips. After the plant has finished flowering, the ovary grows out and becomes the PERICARP, which fills the calyx, becomes hard, and displays a vestige of the style at its tip; eventually it bursts into several chambers and valvules, and throws out the taper-pointed seeds, which were fixed to the internal walls of the pericarp. Who would say that it isL I N U M?
94. The most natural
N U M B E R(93) is that the calyx is divided into the same number of segments as the corolla, and that filaments correspond to them, each one furnished with a solitary anther. But the division of the pistil usually agrees with the chambers of the pericarp or the receptacles of the seeds.
The number five is the most frequent in fruit-bodies, as is apparent in those with five stamens, those with united anthers, and others.
The calyx and the corolla turn out to be five-fold in most cases.
Lysimachia and Linum may serve as examples of the most natural number.
95. The most natural
S H A P E(93) is that the calyx should be less open, and contain the gradually expanded corolla, which is furnished with erect stamens and pistils, gradually becoming thinner; and when all these, except the calyx, fall off, the pericarp swells and is enlarged, being packed with seeds.
The calyx is a perianth that is somewhat erect, so as to support the corolla.
The corolla quite often resembles the shape of a funnel, more or less.
The filaments of the stamens usually become thin at the top; they are awl-shaped, erect, and slightly bent back at the tips.
The styles of the pistils in most [plants] are erect and narrow, like the filaments.
It is common knowledge that the pericarp swells and increases in size.
96. The most natural
P R O P O RT I O N(93) exhibits a calyx smaller than the corolla, with stamens and pistils equal in length, if the flower is erect.
A D R O O P I N Gflower displays a pistil longer than the stamens.
A P R O S T R AT Eflower display stamens and pistils bent down against the lower side.
But an A S C E N D I N Gflower displays stamens and pistils hidden under the upper side.
The calyx is shorter, when the bud of the fruit-body is present.
The corolla, turns out to be large in most [flowers].
In many, the stamens and pistils are hardly longer than the calyx.
A drooping flower is so, to facilitate fertilization, Section 145.
Fritillaria, Campanula, Galanthus, and Geranium.
It follows that this is not caused by its own weight.
It is prostrate in Cassia, and in every flower with stamens in two sets.
It is ascending in didynamous gymnosperms.
Where the pistil is shorter than the stamens, the anthers are shut in: Saxifraga and Parnassia.