Chapter XVIII: Part III: Biology--Of the Whole in Singulars (5)

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1566. I therefore place in this class the _Coniferæ_ or trees with acicular foliage, because they have no ovarium, but naked seeds; and besides these, some other plants, though doubtfully, on account of their very abortive blossoms, as the Naiadaceæ. There are therefore Tracheal plants without and with stamina. The first portray the stock or trunk, the second, the thyrsus or blossom; they live mostly in dry situations, and produce resins or fetid matters.

1567. First order. _Parenchymatous ferns--Aquatic ferns._ I here place the aquatic ferns, because, as water-plants, they occupy a lower situation, because they support the fruits upon a radical trunk, and finally, because these fruit-vesicles have two kinds of contents, all of which seems to remind us of the fuci and lichens; they correspond to the Tremellini.

1568. Second order. _Sheath-ferns--Club-ferns._ Here commence the land ferns, and those kinds indeed whose so-called capsules open in a valvular manner, just as in the liverworts; or almost after the fashion of a pyxidium by an orifice, somewhat as in the mosses; the trunk is provided with squamose leaves or lobes, e. g. Lycopodiaceæ and Osmundaceæ; they correspond to the Confervaceæ.

1569. Third order. _Stem-ferns--Annular or Ring-ferns._ Here we meet with phylloidal involuted capsules or seeds upon the back of a stem that is likewise leaf-like; e. g. the typical or true ferns.

1570. They have rudiments of roots and a stem, together with foliage, because they are the prototypes of these three organs.

1571. The ring of their capsules corresponds to the midrib of the leaf. In the preceding order the capsule was only an upsprung stalk; but it is here an upsprung and unfolded leaf, the prototype of the bud-development.

1572. The fern-capsules, namely, the true seeds, are an accumulation of leaf-buds at the extremity of the fascicle of spiral vessels. The indusium is the upraised epidermis, which opens in a spathose manner; it consequently stands in the signification perhaps of the floral spathe or involucrum. They correspond to the Fuci.

1573. Fourth order. _Floral ferns--Fluviales._ If the tracheal plants be exalted unto the flower, male organs cannot fail in at once beginning to develop. I place therefore in this order the Naiadaceæ with very arrested blossoms, and simply stamina without calyx and corolla. The spiral vessels are rather doubtful.

1574. Fifth order. _Fruit ferns--Coniferæ._ Tree with imperfectly-formed spiral vessels, stamina without corollæ, seeds without ovarium; thus agreeing with the Cryptogamia even to the stamina; they form likewise sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

SEXUAL PLANTS.

1575. So soon as the three tissues separate completely from each other into bark, liber, and wood, while the tracheæ are arranged circularly into several clusters or groups, does the antagonism of these organs also make its appearance, and exhibit itself as sex in the floral organs.

1576. This separation can only be attained through the influence of the air and light, whereby the sexual organs are conditionated. These plants have therefore the several organs of the trunk and blossom.

1577. Anthers can be wanting to none of the following plants. Now, the anthers are leaf-buds; the leaf-formation must be therefore developed also in their antagonism, or in the seed. The leaves of the seed, however, are called seed-lobes; consequently all seeds of sexual plants have seed-lobes or cotyledons.

1578. Now the perfect seed is the whole plant in miniature with root, stalk, and leaf. This formation is, however, only possible where there is a sex, or where the vegetable tissues have emerged self-substantially from each other.

1579. But the anthers are buds upon a floral rib; consequently all sexual plants must have a part of the blossom, which ranks in the signification of leaf, and thus either the calyx or, with this also, the corolla.

1580. All sexual plants must have a shaft or scape, in which its three parts, bark, liber, and wood, are to be distinguished; even so must the three parts of the stem, the root, stalk, and leaf, have the parts of the blossom which correspond to them, viz. seed, ovarium, and calyx or corolla.

1581. The sexual plants next divide into Stock-and Blossom-plants, the former of these parting into Shaft-and Stem-plants.

_Second Province._

SHAFT-PLANTS--MONOCOTYLEDONES.

1582. In the Shaft-plants the invaginate character is predominant, the wood being surrounded by liber, and this by bark; they are therefore tubular in form--_tubular plants_.

1583. The cellular tissue preponderates in them, and the tracheal fascicles form therefore no closed circle, but are dispersed; scattered fasciculi cannot, however, ramify but only pursue a straight course and form streaks--_striated plants_.

1584. Ramification is wanting unto these plants, partly on account of their tubular form, partly on account of the smaller quantity of tracheal fascicles--_aramose plants_. A vegetable stem without branches is called shaft or scape; thus they are _shaft-plants_.

1585. The blossoms do not stand upon ramules, but upon the stem itself; thus, if ever ramification originates, it can first occur in the floral peduncles.

1586. As they are deficient in branches, so also are they in buds--_agemmal_ or _budless plants_.

1587. The tendency to produce branches forms nodes, which are only imperfect ramal zones--_nodose plants_.

1588. Where the formation of branches is wanting, the minor ramification of ribs must be also wanting in the leaves; they are parallel-ribbed.

1589. The leaf is only a ruptured and expanded tube or spathe, which surrounds the shaft--_spathose plants_.

1590. Where branches are wanting, there can be also no petiolated leaves; they have therefore only radical leaves, from the midst of which the shaft or scape sprouts forth, only as a floral-peduncle--_radical-leaved plants_.

1591. If all these leaves be still sheathed or encased within each other, they are called bulbs--_bulbose plants_.

1592. Since the corolla is the repetition of the leaves, so also must its structure resemble theirs--_spathose corollæ_.

1593. But as there are here only radical leaves, so also is the corolla only a radical leaf-corolla. In the blossom, however, the radical leaf has become spathe, the cauline leaf, calyx, the ramuscular leaf, corolla. Such blossoms consist therefore either of a spathe only, as in the Aroideæ, or of a calyx--_calycine plants_.

1594. The stamina originate from the calyx. In calycine flowers therefore all the stamina must range opposite to the corolla-petals. These plants have only _opposite_, no _alternate stamina_. It has been generally assumed that the Monocotyledones have no true corollæ, but only coloured calyces. Philosophy agrees with this opinion; but adds thereunto that the corollæ of the Monocotyledones may be also merely spathes or involucra.

1595. The separation of the bud-formation here takes place for the first time in the blossom, namely, in the stamina. The number of the floral parts must be limited to three; for this is the first number, in which the leaf-ribs may divide. Corollæ, stamina, and capsules are ternary--_trinity-plants_.

1596. As the seed is only an undeveloped leaf-bud, so in it only can the number of the leaf be found. Since, however, the leaf does not ramify in the present group of plants, but is only a single spathose leaf; so also does the seed consist only of one such leaf or of one seed-lobe--_Monocotyledones_. The wheat-seed or grain is none other than a grass-leaf with a short spathe and very dense, highly farinaceous, lamellæ. In germinating a new leaf emerges from the short spathe; it is the germinal leaf.

1597. Thus plants having a tubular stem, and such kind of foliage, corollæ and seeds, are Monocotyledones.

1598. The chemical bodies are more diversified in these than in the remaining members of the vegetable kingdom. In the roots, as in the tubers of the Orchideæ we meet with distinct mucilage; in the bulbs with alkalies or acrid matter; and with sugar, as being a feeble conversion of the starch in the stalk. The mucilage of the root becomes, when repeated in the seed, flour. Oily matters or acids seldom occur, and fleshy fruits scarcely ever.

1599. The ovary is almost throughout this region of plants either a single spathose leaf or caryopsis; or three spathe-leaves are united together, which thus, as follicles or carpels, usually burst open upon the internal edge.

DIVISION.

1600. If we now proceed to survey the Monocotyledons, in the order just set before us, we shall recognize among them three typical groups, to which the others are allied; they are the Gramineæ, Liliaceæ, and Palmaceæ.

1601. The Grasses obviously rank the lowest as well in respect of their root, stalk, and foliage, as also of their stunted blossoms, ovarium, and seeds.

1602. To them succeed the Lilies, which have a well-marked root, a more perfect, though still always herbaceous, stalk, and a few spathoid, more numerously ribbed leaves; lastly, their corollæ, ovaria, and seeds are perfect; but still they invariably have no genuine fruits.

1603. Finally, the Palms are elevated above all by their stem being rich in tracheæ and wooded, as also by the perfection of their fruit. Scientifically, the scapose or shaft-plants must also resolve themselves into three classes; into Bark-, Liber-, and Wood-plants.

_CLASS IV._

_Bark-plants--Gramineæ._

1604. In these plants the whole stalk must have assumed the form of the cortex or bark, and consequently be hollow--_tubular_, or _culmaceous plants_.

1605. A mere bark cannot ramify. But the tendency unto ramification is manifested as nodes--_nodose plants_.

1606. The leaf which still represents the bark, is only imperfectly slit up, and therefore still forms a tube. Such leaves are called tubular or spathe-leaves proper.

1607. Such tubular leaves being only half slit up can only shoot forth gradually from each other, and that indeed in such a manner that they stand actually by twos, encased in, or opposite to, each other.

1608. Since the blossom is, as it were, an impression, or copy of the leaves, so will it here also consist only of spathiform, involucral, or calycine leaves, and only of two, one of which, though opposite to, is surrounded by the other. Such floral parts are called glumes--_glumaceous plants_. If four glumes are present, then the external pair of them corresponds to the involucrum or spatha, the internal to the calyx.

1609. The corolla-petals are of necessity arrested in plants such as these, where no true leaf is as yet developed; frequently two only are left persistent as pellicles or _lodiculæ_.

1610. This is still more the case with the ovary and seed; in each only one leaf attains development, and the seed has entirely coalesced with the ovarium. This kind of fruit is called _caryopsis_.

1611. Nodose plants with hollow scape or shaft, tubular leaves, glumose blossoms, and cariopsidal fruits are _Grasses_.

DIVISION.

1612. The Bark-plants pass moreover, together with their subdivisions, through the five stages of vegetable organs, and they will therefore produce also a more perfect stalk, leaves, and flowers. The whole calyx will, however, never be coloured or corolla-like in its character. Cortical plants are thus herbaceous plants with hollow stalk, and with an arrested or green calyx, without sarcose or fleshy fruit.

1613. Those, which have simply glumose flowers, are without doubt the lowest in rank, as corresponding to the tissues and stock, but not yet to the flower.

1614. These again divide into two great groups, whereof the one includes plants with simply uni-seminal cariopsides, the other, on the contrary, capsules containing a free seed--_Grasses_ and _Reed-grasses_. The grasses which have a cariopsis or grain-fruit reascend by two stages; the most inferior in rank do not attain to a ramification, but the flowers stand crowded together in spikes; the others, on the contrary, are pedunculated and ramify in panicles.

1615. Among the higher kinds instead of glumes there are regular flowers, of which, however, the calyx is still glumose or at least green. The cariopsis is converted into a multilocular capsule, as in the Restiaceæ, Commelineæ, &c.

1616. The first order, or the _Parenchymatous grasses_, have glumose flowers with a cariopsis for fruit, borne upon culms or nodose straws, and do not attain to any ramification--_spicate grasses_. In their seeds we meet with the greatest amount of starch developed, though doubtless at the cost of the trunk.

1617. The second order of _Spathose grasses_ are similar, and support ramified flowers--_paniculate grasses_. In this division occur grasses of a dendroidal character, and having occasionally fruit-like ovaria, as in the bamboos.

1618. The third order consists of the _Cauline grasses_. Here the leaves at once separate completely from the shaft, which is therefore free from nodes. Nut-like capsules, though still inclosed in glumes, also make their appearance--_reed-grasses_.

1619. The fourth order, _Floral grasses_. The leaves are still only radical; the shaft is anodal; the flowers are separated into green calyx and coloured corolla, with three or six stamina, and mostly with a trilocular capsule--Junceæ, to which the Commelinaceæ are allied.

1620. The fifth order, _Carpal grasses_. Hollow anodal shafts, with scarcely spathiform, mostly broad leaves, the ribs of which begin to ramify; with similar calyces and corollæ, and numerous capsules--_Seeroseæ_, to which the _Alismaceæ_ and _Hydrocharideæ_ are related.

1621. The highest kind of fruit attained by this class is nut-like, never fleshy in character. The stalk is nowhere woody as in some grasses. The grasses divide, as do all other orders of plants, into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS V._

_Liber-plants_--_Liliaceæ._

1622. The substance of the stalk is soft and succulent; its structure devoid of nodes; the leaves are tolerably free and ribbed; calyx and corolla coloured, both being perfectly formed and invariably tripartite, as is likewise the capsule, which has many seeds upon its inner angle. These plants are the _Lilies_. In the present class all parts have been developed in conformity to the liber, are rich in sap, and have become dense and fleshy.

1623. The roots are mostly tubers or bulbs, containing a superior kind of mucilage, or aromatic principles. The shaft is not hollow but, though herbaceous, filled up; the leaves are elevated upon the stalk. One division of these plants has irregular corollæ with stunted stamina and capsules, the latter containing mostly dust-like seeds, as in the Orchideæ and aromatic plants.

1624. The other division has regular 2 × 3ary corollæ, with, perfect glume-capsules and middling-sized seeds, as the Irideæ and Liliaceæ proper.

1625. The first order, _Parenchymatose lilies_. The corollæ are irregular, bilabiate, and stand upon the calyx and a membranous sexlocular capsule with very small seeds; are divided according to the pollen--e. g. _pulverulent Orchideæ_.

1626. The second order, _Sheath-lilies_. Characters similar to those of the preceding order, but the pollen is agglomerated into waxy granules--_granular orchideæ_.

1627. The third order, _Stem-lilies_. The corollæ are likewise bilabiate and situated above the calyx, but the ovarium contains few seeds, and the capsule is mostly nut-like--_aromatic plants_, such as the _Scitamineæ_ and _Musaceæ_.

1628. The fourth order _Floral-lilies_, have regular blossoms, separated into calyx and corolla, placed _above_ the capsule, and mostly furnished with three stamina. Here belong the _Hypoxideæ_, _Hæmodoraceæ_ and _Irideæ_.

1629. The fifth order, _Fruit-lilies_. The leaves have not yet completely separated from each other, but still form bulbs; the corollæ are regular, have six stamina, and are placed _beneath_ the capsule, as in the _true lilies_. To this order belong the _Colchicaceæ_, _Aloinæ_ and _Liliaceæ_. Their bulbs contain mostly acrid matters. They divide into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS VI._

_Wood-plants--Palmaceæ._

_Plants with woody shaft and with fruits, mostly enclosed in spadices._

1630. The desiccation of the cells and fibres is promoted by the increased process of oxydation. Where therefore the tracheæ attain the preponderance, there the conversion into wood originates.

1631. The stalks of these plants are not hollow, but have a dense interior, because the fasciculi of tracheæ lie within the liber, and there increase.

1632. The main bulk of the stalk will consist of tracheæ.

1633. As the tracheæ are longitudinal organs, and the other tissues also extend lengthways, so does the stalk or stem in these plants predominate over the other parts.

1634. In this class the most perfect leaves as regards their present stage are developed; for they are only expansions of the tracheæ, which are here present in superabundance. As regards the form also, these leaves must rank higher than those of the preceding class; the spathe is shorter, the leaf itself usually broad, many-ribbed, and frequently pinnate. The leaves are also perfect as to position, being no longer mere radical leaves, but situated upon the stalk, even on its apical extremity.

1635. The ramification gradually emerges into view, where forsooth its occurrence is possible in the shaft-plants, or in the inflorescence. It is always multiple in character, mostly spadici-, muscari-, and paniculiform.

1636. As regards the blossom the ovarium is most perfectly evolved, because it is developed out of the stalk; it is ternary and becomes elevated into a fruit with few seeds.

1637. The corollæ are frequently stunted, yet regular and 2 × 3ary, though insignificant on account of the preponderance in size of the fruit.

1638. In this class we meet with the first true or genuine fruits; because in it for the first time the three anatomical systems are completely separated.

1639. Plants having a ligneous stalk, free and many-ribbed leaves, ramified inflorescence and ternary fleshy fruits, are the _Palmaceæ_. The Palmaceæ have a woody, very hollow stem, with many-ribbed, divided, and often pinnate leaves; a muscariform inflorescence lodged in spathes, sexanary corollæ with nuts, berries, or drupes. With the palms are associated the Typhaceæ, Aroideæ, Piperales, Pandanales, Dioscoreæ, Smilaceæ, Asparagi, Convallariæ, and Bromeliæ; for their stalks are mostly woody, the leaves broad, and placed upon the stalk, the corollæ stunted, while, on the contrary, the ovarium is carpoidal or fruit-like. The five orders may be disposed as follows:

1640. Order I. _Palmaceæ parenchymatosæ._ _Cynomoridæ_, _Typhaceæ_, _Aroideæ_.

1641. Order II. _P. thecales._ _Saurureæ_, _Piperaceæ_, _Pandanaceæ_.

1642. Order III. _P. axonales._ _Dioscoreæ_, _Smilaceæ_, _Parideæ_.

1643. Order IV. _P. florales._ _Asparagoideæ_, _Convallariæ_, _Bromeliæ_.

1644. Order V. _P. carpales._ _Palms._

1645. The plants of the first order are very imperfect herbs with spadices. Those of the second have mostly a ligneous, nodose stalk, with one-seeded fruits in spadices, without corollæ. The third have separated corollæ disposed in an open form of inflorescence. The fourth have perfect sexanary corollæ, with a frequently woody stalk and ternary, many-seeded berries. The fifth order consists of trees having large leaves, muscariform spadices, and perfect fruits, nuts, plums, and berries, ternary and one-seeded. They divide into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_Third Province._

RETICULAR-LEAVED PLANTS--DICOTYLEDONES.

1646. With the separation of the stock or trunk into root, stalk and leaf, the latter organ attains its perfection; it becomes a reticular leaf--the plants possessing it being called _reticular_.

1647. The retinerved or reticular leaf is, however, only the result of a modified organization in the stalk, and indicates a ramification or foliiform arrangement of the tracheæ in the stem. The foliiform arrangement of the tracheæ in the stalk is their circular disposition. These plants have _woody zones_. Through this zone or ring of wood first originates the perfect separation into wood, liber and bark, whereof each formerly occupied the whole stalk or stem.

1648. The stalk is no longer a shaft or scape, but it divides into branches and twigs--_ramular plants_.

1649. The reticular-veined are ramular leaves, and are no longer therefore spathiform but petiolated--_petiolated leaves_. It is only at the root that spathose leaves may occur, and this only in the plants of the inferior classes.

1650. With the disappearance of the spathose leaves, and the appearance of the ramules, the nodes and bulbs also disappear.

1651. The blossoms stand no longer upon a radical peduncle or stipes, but upon ramules; in other words, upon a plant, which again stands upon another plant, namely, the stalk.

1652. As all the higher separations of leaves here occur, so also does the flower obtain its higher amount of separation; it becomes quinary--_pentaschematose plants_. The ovarium passes through all numerical conditions, being 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and polycarpellar. In like manner all the forms of ovaria and fruits occur in the present class, such as caryopsis, follicle, legumen, siliqua, capsule, nut, plum, berry and apple.

1653. As the seed is a leaf-formation, so must it resemble the reticular leaf. But reticular leaves are not spathes or simple tubes, but ramified or separated ribs. The seed has therefore several leaves, and two indeed for the first time, which are called seed-lobes. These plants are therefore styled _Dicotyledones_.

DIVISION.

1654. The Dicotyledones are, in the first place, empirically divisible into apetalous, monopetalous and polypetalous, or into plants with calycine, tubular and petalous corollæ.

1655. It might be believed that the Apetalæ were, without further trouble, the lowest in point of rank; but, when closely considered, they appear as Polypetalæ with stunted corolla-petals, and are obviously allied to the Rosaceæ. Moreover, they all bear nuts, a fact which occurs in no other class, and they must be therefore placed among the fruit-bearing plants. Since, however, they are epigynous and perigynous, so must the other polypetalous Perigynæ enter into proximity with them, and in like manner forsooth come among the Fruit-plants.

1656. Thus the Dicotyledones separate into the Monopetalæ, hypogynous Polypetalæ, and perigynous Polypetalæ, along with the Apetalæ. Viewed in a scientific light, they separate according to the principal members of the plant into three districts, Axis-, Flower-, and Fruit-plants.

FIRST CIRCLE.

_Stem-plants--Monopetalæ._

1657. The Monopetalæ or Tubulifloræ are the lowest in rank, and must therefore take the place here assigned them. They are still spathose corollæ. Among them are found for the most part only cariopsides and membranous capsules, rarely fruits. They are usually, too, merely herbs, rarely bushes, and still more rarely trees.

1658. They divide into Epigynes, Peri-and Hypogynes, of which the former are the lowest, the latter the highest; for in that which is left similar the coalition is an inferior sign.

1659. Their essential or typical character does not, however, reside in the blossom, but in the trunk, and that indeed in the root, stalk, and foliage. The question therefore may now be asked, whether in the Epigynes the root, in the Perigynes the stalk, and in the Hypogynes the foliage, be the principal organ.

_CLASS VII._

_Root-plants._

1660. That the Tubulifloræ with superior blossoms and fleshy root are radical plants, admits of being easily demonstrated. The preponderance of the root is evident from its size, its quantity of contained sap, or special chemical ingredients. A root that is rich in sap, and much denser than the stalk, is called a turnip. These plants are thus _turnip-plants_.

1661. Among the Monopetalæ, however, there are napiform roots only in the _Epigynes_, namely, the Syngenesia or salad-plants, and among some _Perigynes_, namely, the Campanuleæ, as well as the Cucurbitaceæ. The Syngenesia are consequently the radical plants. The roots of the Scorzoneræ, Pastinaceæ, Cichoraceæ, and Tussilago or coltsfoot, &c., belong to this class.

1662. That the Scabiosæ and Valerianeæ are directly related to the Syngenesia is likewise indicated by their roots. Unto these succeed in point of structure the Campanulaceæ and the Cucurbitaceæ, which have frequently, too, napiform or turnip-shaped roots.

1663. The number of the Syngenesia is so great that they fill up all the orders of the trunk. In accordance with their whole structure they are obviously the lowest, the stalk being for the most part herbaceous and placed within a circle of radical leaves, but being itself provided with few, imperfect, and scarcely ever pinnate leaves; they have moreover numerous stunted blossoms that are connate with the single or solitary seed, and crowded together, like spadices, grass-spikes, or the fungal pilei, upon a carpoclinium or receptacle.

1664. They are a repetition of the fungi and grasses; of the former in their fleshy root and inflorescence, of the latter likewise in the inflorescence and in the spathoidal root-leaves; above all, in the single large seed, confluent with the ovarium and calyx. The principle of their division must, where it is possible, and for obvious reasons, be drawn from the organs of the trunk.

1665. First order. _Radicariæ parenchymatosæ._--Syngenesia, having radical leaves and uniform florets, tubular or wholly stunted ligular florets--_Cichoraceæ_ and _Thistles_.

1666. Second order. _P. vaginatæ._--Syngenesia, with opposite leaves and different kinds of florets, such as radiated, partly lingual and partly tubular corollæ--_Sunflowers_, _Silphieæ_.

1667. Third order. _R. axonales._--Syngenesia, with alternate leaves and diversified florets--_Anthemideæ_, _Senecionidæ_, _Astereæ_.

1668. Fourth order. _R. florales._--Here the ovarium is no longer dense and confluent with the calyx, and it begins to become trilocular--_Scabiosæ_, _Valerianeæ_, and _Campanulæ_.

1669. Fifth order. _R. fructuariæ._--Here a perfect fruit is developed, which is connate with the calyx--_Asarideæ_, _Passifloreæ_, and _Cucurbitaceæ_. They have apple-like 3-5 ry fruits, and many of them have napiform roots, e. g. the Gichtrüben. They divide into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS VIII._

_Stalk-plants._

1670. Plants with a predominating development of stalk, leaves narrow, mostly opposite, quaternary corollæ upon the calyx, ovarium multilocular, and containing few seeds.

1671. Here everything, both root and leaf, must be stalk-like in character; the stalk is therefore woody, the root fibrous, the foliage twig-like or narrow, like needles.

1672. This structure is chiefly found in the _Heaths_ and _Stellatæ_. The stalk is mostly woody; the foliage either aciculiform or leathery in texture, and never pinnated. The leaves are either arranged in whorls or opposite, a position which indicates a lower grade of development. Moreover, they are related to the plants of the preceding class; they are either _Epigynous_ or _Perigynous_. The corolla and ovarium follow the opposite position of the leaves; the former being quadripartite, the latter bi-and quaternary. Most of them grow in hot countries upon dry ground, and their virtues reside in the stalk, e. g. the Peruvian bark.

1673. The Stellatæ or Rubiaceæ are without doubt the lowest, because they are epigynous and have a quadri-petalous corolla, with a binary and frequently only follicular ovarium.

1674. First order. _Cauliariæ parenchymatosæ._ The _Stellatæ_ proper along with the _Coffeaceæ_, all of them being two-seeded.

1675. Second order. _C. vaginatæ._ The Rubiaceæ with bilocular many-seeded capsules--_Rondeletiæ_ and _Cinchoneæ_.

1676. Third order. _C. axonales._ _Rubiaceæ_ with fruits--_Guettardidæ_, _Hameliæ_, _Gardeniæ_.

1677. Fourth order. _C. florales._ Quadripetalar Perigynæ, with similar capsules or berries--_Epacrideæ_, _Vacciniaceæ_, _Ericaceæ_.

1678. Fifth order, _C. fructuariæ._ Quaternary Perigynes with fruits--_Myrobalaneæ_, _Olacineæ_, _Diospyroideæ_ and _Sapoteæ_. (For the arrangement of their families vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS IX._

_Leaf-plants._

1679. Herbs having broad leaves, quinary hypogynous corollæ, and bilocular capsule. Here the whole stem has become leaf; all the parts are soft; they are _herbs_ in the propermost sense of the word.

1680. Here belong the _hypogynous_ Monopetalæ: _Primulaceæ_, _Personatæ_, _Solaneæ_, _Gentianeæ_, _Asclepiadæ_, _Cariceæ_, _Asperifoliæ_, _Sambuceæ_. The roots are fibrous; the stalk herbaceous, being wholly covered, and that indeed with large leaves; calyx and corolla quinquepartite, frequently bilabiate; the germen a bilocular membranous capsule, which seldom becomes fleshy, and contains few seeds. It is these plants which serve chiefly as food for cattle, and whose whole trunk is officinally known under the name of _herbage_; relations which express the leafy character.

1681. First order, _Foliariæ parenchymatosæ_. Herbs with bilocular capsules, in which there are many seeds placed upon a median cone. The capsule dehisces, while both carpels separate from each other--_Primulaceæ_, _Scrophulariæ_, _Solaneæ_.

1682. Second order, _F. vaginatæ_. For the most part herbaceous, their many-seeded carpels springing open at the dorsal suture--_Orobanchaceæ_, _Rhinanthaceæ_, and _Bignoniaceæ_.

1683. Third order, _F. axonales_. Regular quinary corollæ with seeds borne upon the margins of the two carpellar valves--_Gentianaceæ_, _Asclepiadaceæ_, _Jasmineæ_.

1684. Fourth order, _F. florales_. Few seeds in one capsule; the pistil becomes nut-like or trilocular--_Labiatæ_, _Polemoniaceæ_, _Convolvulaceæ_.

1685. Fifth order, _F. fructuariæ_. Herbs and shrubs with fruits; as nuts, plums and berries. For their sixteen families (vid. Tab. B.)

B. BLOSSOM-PLANTS.

1686. Flowers polypetalous.

SECOND CIRCLE.

_Flower-plants._

1687. Calyx, corolla, stamina and ovarium perfectly separated from each other--_Pedunculate corollæ_, _Stielblumen_ or _Hypogynes_. The blossom must be here developed in the most perfect manner; i. e. all its parts must be complete and separated from each other. This is the case only in the hypogynous Polypetalæ.

1688. The lowest organized kinds must, from being a repetition of them, remind us of the grasses and Syngenesia. They are therefore polycarpellar or multi-ovarial.--_Ranunculaceæ_, _Malvaceæ_, _Magnoliaceæ_.

1689. Unto these are allied those plants whose ovaria consist of several carpels, but that are connate with each other, and mutually separate for the first time with their maturation or decay, as in the _Rutaceæ_, _Polygaleæ_, _Malvaceæ_, _Aurantiacæ_, _Platanaceæ_, _Malpighieæ_, _Sapindeæ_.

1690. The highest are characterized by coalition of the carpels into a single ovarium with stunted dissepiments, and by corollæ that are well developed and distinguished for colour, delicacy, and magnitude--_Carnations_, _Violets_, _Cistaceæ_, _Siliquosæ_, _Poppies_, _Gamboge-trees_.

_CLASS X._

_Seed-plants._

1691. Plants having a preponderance of seed, that draws after it all the floral parts.

1692. The ovaria have become seed-like, have separated from each other, and inclose for the most part only a single seed.

1693. As in the grasses and Syngenesia many flowers are collected into a spike or upon a receptacle, so here are many carpels in a single corolla--_Ranunculaceæ_, _Geraniaceæ_, _Tiliaceæ_, _Malvaceæ_, _Magnoliaceæ_.

1694. The stamina are usually of indefinite number, and mostly connate.

1695. All forms of stalks are here met with; such as herbs, bushes, shrubs, and trees. All forms also of leaves; spathose leaves, petiolated leaves, simple and divided, yet rarely pinnated.

1696. The component parts are usually mucilage, as in the roots of the Syngenesia.

1697. They divide into two great groups, into the quinary and sexanary. Since among the quinary, herbaceous stalks with nodes and spathe-leaves, but capsules only, occur; they must be arranged in the lowest rank. The sexanary bear fruits.

1698. First order, _Seminariæ parenchymatosæ_. Herbs with nodes and spathose leaves, together with numerous, mostly one-seeded, carpels, attached in an irregular manner to a median columella--_Ranunculaceæ_ and _Geraniaceæ_.

1699. Second order, _S. vaginatæ._ Trees having many-seeded carpels, coalesced like the style, _Theaceæ_, _Tiliaceæ_, _Elæocarpaceæ_.

1700. Third order, _S. axonales._ Bushes and shrubs with free, mostly simple, leaves, ovaria, mostly one-seeded, and arranged in a circle around the mediate axis or columella; anthers bilocular--_Hermanniaceæ_, _Dombeyaceæ_, _Sterculiaceæ_, and _Büttneriaceæ_.

1701. Fourth order, _S. florales._ For the most part trees, having frequently divided leaves and similar ovaria, yet mostly many-seeded and connate--_Malvaceæ_ and _Bombaceæ_.

1702. Fifth order, _S. fructuariæ._ Corollæ mostly sexanary, ovaria in a circle without a columella--_Magnoliaceæ_, _Menispermaceæ_, _Dilleniaceæ_, _Anonaceæ_. They divide into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS XI._

_Ovarium-plants._

1703. Hypogynous Polypetalæ with perfect multilocular ovarium--_Polygaleæ_, _Melieæ_, _Aurantiaceæ_, _Platanaceæ_, _Malpighieæ_, _Sapindeæ_.

1704. While in the preceding class the number of the carpels was usually indeterminate; it is here limited to three and five. In the one, they usually stood around a middle columella or axis, in the other, they form a true capsule with perfect partition-walls or septa, and a single style. The number of the seeds is moderate, i. e. there are more than one, but they are easily counted. They are therefore of mediate size, having no kernels, as is the case in the nuts, but also no granules, as in the berries or poppy capsules. In the preceding class the fruits were rare; here they occur frequently in the upper orders. The number of the floral parts is, throughout the present class, five, that of the stamina five or ten, and they are seldom coalesced; the stalk also passes through all the stages of development from that of the herb through the shrub into the tree. The leaves are seldom spathe-like, but frequently coriaceous and aciculate, as in their predecessors the _Heaths_; many are pinnated.

1705. First order, _Capsulariæ parenchymatosæ_--_Rutaceæ_. Herbs and shrubs frequently provided with aciculate and coriaceous leaves; corollæ regular with ten stamina; ovarium consisting of five carpels, which separate when ripe, and contain few seeds--_Rutaceæ_, _Diosmaceæ_.

1706. Second order, _C. vaginatæ._ Shrubs and trees with similar corollæ and ovaria, which are nevertheless frequently separated and fleshy--_Quassiaceæ_, _Ochnaceæ_.

1707. Third order, _C. axonales._ Mostly shrubs and trees with irregular corollæ and bilocular ovarium--_Polygalaceæ_, _Vochysieæ_, _Pittosporeæ_.

1708. Fourth order, _C. florales._ Trees with a woody or berry-like ovarium, having several cells--_Cedreleæ_, _Melieæ_, _Aurantiaceæ_.

1709. Fifth order, _C. fructuariæ._ Trees; flowers quinary, ovarium mostly ternary, becoming a winged or fleshy fruit. (Their sixteen families probably pursue the order indicated at Tab. B.)

_CLASS XII._

_Corolla-plants._

1710. Corollæ stipaceous, having free stamina; ovaria with stunted septa, and numerous marginal seeds--_Carnations_, _Violets_, _Cistaceæ_, _Siliquosæ_, _Papaveraceæ_, _Guttiferæ_.

1711. The stalk passes through all the stages of formation, from the nodose herb unto the shrub and tree. The leaves occur likewise under all forms, modes, division, and arrangement. The plants of this class are found in all climates, and yield etherial or volatile and fatty oil with resins. They divide first of all into quinary and quaternary; the former being mostly herbs with a hollow capsule; the latter herbs, shrubs, and trees, with siliquæ or berries.

1712. Their strength or virtue resides in the flower, which, is therefore of large size, beautifully coloured, sweet-scented, is frequently appreciated and adopted as an ornament. On the contrary, the ovarium and seed are stunted. The former is a siliqua or hollow capsule, which therefore supports the numerous smaller seeds on the septum.

1713. First order, _Corollariæ parenchymatosæ_. Nodose herbs with spathose leaves, quinary corollæ, and ten stamina; many seeds upon a columellar or median placenta situated within a hollow capsule--_Portulaceæ_, _Carnations_.

1714. Second order, _C. vaginatæ_. Herbs, shrubs, and trees, with similar but mostly multi-staminal corollæ, and seeds on the capsular septa--Droseraceæ, _Hypericineæ_, _Violaceæ_, _Cistaceæ_, and _Bixeæ_.

1715. Third order, _C. axonales_. Herbs with quaternary corollæ and a siliqua--_Siliquosæ_.

1716. Fourth order, _C. florales_. Bushes and shrubs with quaternary corollæ and numerous stamina; ovarium a siliqua or multi-valvular hollow capsule--_Capparidæ_, _Berberideæ_, _Papaveraceæ_.

1717. Fifth order, _C. fructuariæ_. Trees with quaternary and quinary corollæ, numerous stamina, and a fruit--_Guttiferæ_. They divide into the usual sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

THIRD CIRCLE.

_Fruit-plants--Apetalæ, Perigynes._

1718. Stunted calycine corollæ, with nuts, plums, berries, or apples.

1719. They are perigynous Polypetalæ, and include the Apetalæ and Diclines.

1720. The nut consists of a large seed, connate with the woody ovarium, and frequently with the calyx.

1721. The plum is a legumen, between the coats of which fleshy matter has accumulated, and whose internal tunic or endocarp has become woody. The berry is a many-seeded hollow capsule, which, as well as the calyx, has become soft and succulent.

1722. The apple is an ovarium surrounded by a fleshy calyx.

_CLASS XIII._

_Nut-plants--Apetalæ, Diclines._

1723. Ovarium woody, and inclosing only one seed. Here belong the Apetalous and Diclinous Exogens.

1724. These plants repeat the fungi, grasses and Syngenesia, and have therefore imperfect corollæ, the calyx of which has alone remained, and usually closely surrounds the nut.

1725. The stalk is indeed usually woody; yet is still found to be also herbaceous and nodose with spathiform leaves. The leaves are simple, frequently needle-shaped or else arrested. The principal ingredients are starch, as in the Gramineæ and Syngenesia.

1726. The inflorescence is mostly amentaceous, as in the Agarics, Grasses and Syngenesia.

1727. They divide into androgynous and dioecious plants.

1728. First order, _Nucariæ parenchymatosæ_. Hermaphrodite herbs with nodes and spathose leaves, calyx green, superior, and quinquepartite with five opposite stamina; nut mostly triangular and utricular.

1729. Second order, _N. vaginatæ_. Form of vegetation pretty nearly as in preceding order, but the calyx is corolla-like, and the stamina mostly alternate--_Phytolacceæ_, _Illecebreæ_.

1730. Third order, _N. axonales_. Hermaphrodite, calyx corolla-like, superior and wholly quaternary; herbs and shrubs bearing nuts and plums--_Nyctagineæ_, _Daphneæ_, and _Santalaceæ_.

1731. Fourth order, _N. florales_. Trees, calyx corolla-like but inferior; capsules, plums and berries--_Proteaceæ_.

1732. Fifth order, _N. fructuariæ_. Diclines; herbs, shrubs and trees without corollæ, but with nuts or plums. (Their sixteen families stand in the order exhibited at Tab. B.)

_CLASS XIV._

_Plum-plants--Papilionaceæ._

1733. Polypetalous calycine corollæ, with a drupe or its fundamental form, the legumen. Here belong the papilionaceous plants, Rhamnaceæ and Terebinthaceæ.

1734. The stalk is frequently herbaceous with nodes; but mostly fruticose and arborescent.

1735. The leaves here attain their highest development, and are mostly pinnated, sometimes endowed with the power of independent motion.

1736. The corollæ are mostly irregular, quinary, arranged like pinnate leaves, with ten, rarely more, connate and free stamina.

1737. The ovarium is a single carpel, owing to the four others being arrested; it is usually compressed and bivalved, with few seeds; it is a legumen, frequently converted into a fleshy fruit.

1738. The Papilionaceæ are so rich in number that they include all the orders of the trunk, and even transcend or exceed its limits; their allied families are the Rhamnaceæ and Terebinthaceæ with fleshy fruits.

1739. First order, _Drupariæ parenchymatosæ_. Papilionaceæ with herbaceous, nodose stalk and pinnated leaves; corolla-petals and single stamen free; seed-lobes thin--Hedysareæ, _Astragaleæ_, _Glycineæ_.

1740. Second order, _D. vaginatæ_. Herbs and shrubs with ternary or tendrilless leaves; the corolla-petals or stamina frequently confluent--_Trifoliaceæ_, _Genisteæ_, _Galegeæ_.

1741. Third order, _D. axonales_. Bushes, shrubs, or trees, frequently training with pinnate leaves and tendrils; calyx large, seed-lobes thick--_Vicieæ_, _Beans_, _Dalbergiæ_.

1742. Fourth order, _D. florales_. Shrubs and trees, with tolerably regular flowers and separated stamina; legumens with frequently transverse septa, embryo straight--_Geoffroyæ_, _Swartzieæ_, _Detarium_, _Mimosæ_, and _Cassiæ_.

1743. Fifth order, _D. fructuariæ_. Regular flowers with separate stamina and multilocular plums--_Stackhouseæ_, _Empetreæ_, _Celastrineæ_, _Rhamneæ_, and _Terebintheæ_. (For their sixteen families vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS XV._

_Berry-plants_--_Umbelliferæ_, &c.

1744. Ovarial and calycine corolla with a single perfectly soft fruit or berry, on which are five corolla-petals, with a moderate number of stamina. This fruit is wholly edible, and has only one or two styles; stalk and leaves pass through all the stages of formation.

1745. They divide first of all into two groups, having few or many stamina; of these the fruit of one is dry, of the other fleshy. The dry fruits are also perfectly edible, as the Caraway-seeds.

1746. First order, _Baccariæ parenchymatosæ_. Epigynous; nodose herbs with two seeds in the calyx; only five stamina--_Umbellatæ_.

1747. Second order, _B. vaginatæ_. Mostly shrubs with quinary corollæ and bi-or quinquelocular berries--_Mistletoes_, _Elders_, _Araliaceæ_, _Vines_.

1748. Third order, _B. axonales_. Bushes and shrubs with quaternary corollæ, only one style and one multilocular many-seeded capsule--_Epilobeæ_, _Salicariæ_.

1749. Fourth order, _B. florales_. Mostly shrubs with quinary corollæ and manifold stamina; capsule or berry multilocular--_Melastomaceæ_.

1750. Fifth order, _B. fructuariæ_. Trees with many, frequently fasciculated, stamina; fruit multilocular and many-seeded--_Myrtaceæ_. These plants likewise divide into sixteen families. (Vid. Tab. B.)

_CLASS XVI._

_Apple-plants_--_Rosaceæ_.

1751. The fruit is an apple, i. e. several carpels, containing but few seeds, adhere in one calyx, upon which there are five corolla-petals, with four to six times as many stamina. Herbs, shrubs, and trees with different kinds of leaves are here met with; the corollæ are mostly small and perigynous, the style separated, and thus polycarpal. Perigynous Polycarpæ. They grow, dispersed over the whole earth, in dry situations; several of them yield edible fruits, and are pretty generally cultivated.

1752. The apples are without doubt the most perfect fruit, as well in reference to their structure as their chemical ingredients. The apple consists of all the parts of the blossom: seed, capsule, and fleshy calyx, and is besides polycarpellar, i. e. composed of separate carpels. Its edible substance or flesh is not simply a sweet-meat, but a true aliment, which admits of being eaten after it has been kept fresh for a year, of being dried, exported, or cooked as a kitchen vegetable; in cases of exigency too it occurs in such abundance that the whole human race might live upon it, which cannot be said of any other fruit. The apple quenches at the same time the thirst, and thus supplies also the place of drink. All the other fruits are either a dainty relish only against thirst, or a simple amylaceous medium of nutrition. However, most of the plants belonging to this class produce only dry capsules and calyces.

1753. They divide into two groups, having few or many stamina.

First order, _Pomariæ parenchymatosæ_. Herbs with few stamina and five or more carpels, as the _Crassulaceæ_ and _Mesembryanthemaceæ_.

Second order, _P. vaginatæ_. Shrubs with few stamina, only two to three carpels and few seeds.--_Tamaricaceæ_, _Bruniaceæ._

VEGETABLE SYSTEM. [TABLE B, p. 316.]

Third order, _P. axonales_. Herbs, shrubs, and trees, with similar blossoms, but many seeds.--_Saxifrageæ_, _Cunoniaceæ_, _Hortensiæ_ and _Lilacs_.

Fourth order, _P. florales_. Herbs and shrubs, with many stamina and follicles.--_Rosaceæ_.

Fifth order, _P. fructuariæ_. Trees with multistaminal-corollæ and fleshy fruits.--_Monimieæ_, _Pomegranates_, _Plums_, _Medlars_, _Apples_. (For their sixteen families vid. Tab. B.)

1754. In order to prove that each class of vegetables commences from below, and that all ascend in a parallel series beside each other, it is requisite only to place them in a tabular form. Further details upon this subject are to be found in my earlier works upon Natural History. The adjoining Table may here suffice. I place the families according to my "Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte," although I am very well aware that all do not stand in the right place. That indeed no one will expect.

THIRD KINGDOM.

ANIMAL KINGDOM.

1755. The animal kingdom is the individual development of all four elements.

ZOOSOPHY,

1756. Is the development of the animal kingdom in consciousness. The repetition of the animal creation is spiritually divisible into Anatomy (Zoogeny), Physiology (Zoonomy), and Zoology.

I.--_ZOOGENY_.

1757. Zoogeny represents the idea of the animal or the developmental history of the individual animal.

IRRITABILITY OF THE BLOSSOM.

1758. The Highest to which the vegetable kingdom could attain was the blossom; and of this the sexual parts are the completion. At the instant when the sex originated, the vegetable functions became of a nobler character; for the sexual organs are only the inferior organs refined or purified by light. The electrical and chemical process of the vegetable body are again represented, but in a spiritual manner, in the blossom. The functions of the fruit were none other than those of the elevated chemism; they were only the nobler processes of digestion and nutrition. As their purest expression of life, and that which has been produced simply by their co-operation, is the motion which resides in cellular tissue, so also was it this only, which obtained a preponderance in the fruit, and that indeed at the cost of the material processes. The germen obtained a kind of motion; yet this appears to be still imparted by material processes. In the corolla, however, this expression of life attained to completion. It is no longer simple nutrition or accumulation of sap that moves the stamina upon the female stigma, but a purely polar act; the Immaterial, the Spiritual produces the phenomena of life. These movements of copulation are by no means a coalescence, are not a nutritive act, nor the result of mechanical decissation, as is the case in many capsules; but true elevated vital actions. The parts reassume after the motion their first or original position, a feat which is performed by no capsule upon its dehiscence. Of these movements, those of the leaves in the sensitive plants, e. g. Hedysarum gyrans, are the antetypes or prefigurations. There consequently originates with the highest development of the light-organs in the plant, a motion independent of the material processes, and of the terrestrial elements.

1759. A motion, that is liberated from the terrestrial elements, is free from their mechanism; it simply obeys the nature of the æther, which is of a spiritual, or voluntary, kind.

1760. The essence of volition or free-will does not reside, in a physical sense, in the consciousness of the action, but in the autocrasy; or in the ability to perform an action, without external or terrestrial influence. The æther-actions have originated from special polarity. Independent movements must therefore be such as have been produced simply by polarity, apart from material intrusion.

1761. The ability or power upon the part of organic bodies to apprehend polar excitation, to move themselves simply by its means, and again to restore themselves to their former state, without regard being paid to a material process, I call _Irritability_. That organ is irritable which can move itself without any other object than that of automacy or self-motion.

1762. Irritability belongs to the plant, but is only of that kind where the perception cannot express itself otherwise than by direct motion. In the sexual parts and probably in the highest leaf-formation, the plant is elevated to irritability; unto motion through simple perception, unto motion without design, to motion from mere lust or desire. The highest spiritual operation, of which the plant is capable, is irritability. But as everything which has attained its Highest, stands at the end of its development, so also has the plant terminated, when it has once exercised its power of irritability through copulation.

SEXUAL MOTION.

1763. All the irritable motion of the vegetable may be confined or reduced to the movements of the stamen-filaments, the other movements being merely precursors of these. What, therefore, the stamina would achieve by their motion, that the irritability does in a general point of view. The motion of the stamina is directed merely upon the stigma, in order to impart the male pollen to the female body; and thus, simply to evoke the spiritual tension, which resides originally in the male semen, as in light-æther from the dead mass, but that originally dwells in the female seed as in the dark mass of earth.

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Elements of PhysiophilosophyChapter XVIII: Part III: Biology--Of the Whole in Singulars (5)

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