ON THE
ORGANS AND MODE OF FECUNDATION
IN
ORCHIDEÆ AND ASCLEPIADEÆ.
Read November 1st and 15th, 1831.[1]
In the Essay now submitted to the Society, my principal object is to give an account of some observations, made chiefly in the course of the present year, on the structure and economy of the sexual organs in Orchideæ and Asclepiadeæ,—the two families of phænogamous plants which have hitherto presented the most important objections to the prevailing theories of vegetable fecundation.
But before entering on this account, it is necessary to notice the various opinions that have been held respecting the mode of impregnation in both families: and in concluding the subject of Orchideæ, I shall advert to a few other points of structure in that natural order.
- ↑ [This portion of the Memoir was originally printed for private distribution in October, 1831. The additions made to it when reprinted in the 'Linnean Transactions,' consist chiefly of the references to the authors quoted, of three notes at pp. 495, 496 and 197, and of the plates and their explanations. The alterations are merely verbal, with the exception of a passage at pp. 522-4, beneath which I have appended the corresponding passage of the first impression in a note.—Edit.]
