“Keeping in view,” says the poet-philosopher, “the observations that have been made, there will be no difficulty in discovering the leaf in the seed-vessel, notwithstanding the variable structure of that part and its peculiar combinations. Thus the pod is a leaf which is folded up and grown together at its edges, and the capsules consist of several leaves grown together, and the compound fruit is composed of several leaves united round a common centre, their sides being opened so as to form a communication between them, and their edges adhering together. This is obvious from capsules which, when ripe, split asunder, at which time each portion is a separate pod. It is also shown by different species of one genus, in which modifications exist of the principle on which their fruit is formed; for instance, the capsule of nigella orientalis consists of pods assembled round a centre, and partially united; in nigella damascena their union is complete.”[256]
Professor Lindley thus explains the same view:—“Every flower, with its peduncle and bracteolæ, being the development of a flower-bud, and flower-buds being altogether analogous to leaf-buds, it follows as a corollary that every flower, with its peduncle and bracteolæ, is a metamorphosed branch.
“And, further, the flowers being abortive branches, whatever the laws are of the arrangement of branches with respect to each other, the same will be the laws of the flowers with respect to each other.
“In consequence of a flower and its peduncle being a branch in a particular state, the rudimentary or metamorphosed leaves which constitute bracteæ, floral envelopes, and sexes, are subject to exactly the same laws of arrangement as regularly-formed leaves.”[257]
The idea that the leaf is the principal organ of the plant, and that from it all the other organs are probably developed, is worthy the genius of the great German poet.
Every leaf, a mystery in itself, is an individual gifted with peculiar powers; they congregate in families, and each one ministers to the formation of the branch on
which it hangs, and to the main trunk of the tree of which it is a member. The tree represents a world, every part exhibiting a mutual dependence.
“The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can;