PHYSIOLOGY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.
Vegetable Morphology.
Morphology in Linnæus.
I HAVE stated that Linnæus had some views on this subject. Dr. Hooker conceives these views to be more complete and correct than is generally allowed, though unhappily clothed in metaphorical language and mixed with speculative matter. By his permission I insert some remarks which I have received from him.
The fundamental passage on this subject is in the Systema Naturæ; in the Introduction to which work the following passage occurs:—
“Prolepsis (Anticipation) exhibits the mystery of the metamorphosis of plants, by which the herb, which is the larva or imperfect condition, is changed into the declared fructification: for the plant is capable of producing either a leafy herb or a fructification. . . . . .
“When a tree produces a flower, nature anticipates the produce of five years where these come out all at once; forming of the bud-leaves of the next year bracts; of those of the following year, the calyx; of the following, the corolla; of the next, the stamina; of the subsequent, the pistils, filled with the granulated marrow of the seed, the terminus of the life of a vegetable.”