evidently introduces the divisions in the 'Philosophia,' in order that it may be seen how far the statements that follow are applicable to all the Vegetabilia or only to certain sections of them. The parts in the individual plant which the beginner must distinguish are three; the root, the herb[1], and the parts of fructification, in which enumeration Linnaeus departs from his predecessors, by whom the fructification and the herb together are opposed to the root. In the central part of the plant is the pith, enclosed by the wood which is formed from the bast; the bast is distinct from the rind, which again is covered by the epidermis; these anatomical facts are from Malpighi; the statement that the pith grows by extending itself and its envelopes is borrowed from Mariotte. Cesalpino's view on the formation of the bud is expressed by Linnaeus in the statement, that the end of a thread of the pith passing through the rind is resolved into a bud, etc. The bud is a compressed stem, capable of unlimited extension till fructification puts a term to vegetation. The fructification is formed by the leaves uniting into a calyx, from which the apex of a branch issues as a flower about one year in advance, while the fruit arising from the substance of the pith cannot begin a new life till the woody substance of the stamens has been absorbed by the fluids of the pistil. In this way Linnaeus corrected Cesalpino's theory of the flower, that he might take into account the sexual importance of the stamens discovered by Camerarius. He concludes by saying that there is no new creation but only a continuous generation, for which he gives the remarkable and thoroughly Cesalpinian reason, 'cum corculum seminis constat parte radicis medullari.'
The root, which takes up the food, and produces the stem and the fructification, consists of pith, wood, bast, and rind, and is divided into the two parts, 'caudex' and 'radicula.'
- ↑ Linnaeus uses the word 'herba' for the older word 'germen,' which with him means the ovary.
