ON THE
PROTEACEÆ OF JUSSIEU.
The Linnean system of botany, though confessedly [15 artificial, has not only contributed more than all others to facilitate the knowledge of species, but, by constantly directing the attention to those essential parts of the flower on which it is founded, has made us acquainted with more of their important modifications than we probably should have known, had it not been generally adopted, and has thus laid a more solid foundation for the establishment of a natural arrangement, the superior importance of which no one has been more fully impressed with than Linnaeus himself.
There are still, however, certain circumstances respecting the stamina and pistilla, which appear to me to have been much less attended to than they deserve, both by Linnaeus and succeeding botanists. What I chiefly allude to is the state of these organs before the expansion of the flower. The utility of ascertaining the internal condition of the ovarium before fœcundation will hardly be called in question, now that the immortal works of Gærtner and Jussieu have demonstrated the necessity of minutely studying the fruits of plants in attempting to arrange them according to the sum of their affinities, as in many cases the true nature of the ripe fruit, especially with respect to the placentation of the seeds, can only be determined by this means. Its importance is indeed expressly inculcated by many botanists, who, however, have frequently neglected it in practice : [16 nor do I find any one who has steadily kept it in view, except Aubert Du Petit-Thouars in his excellent work on
