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Proserpina: Studies Of Wayside Flowers, Volume 1, a non-fiction book by John Ruskin |
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Index 1. Descriptive Nomenclature |
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_ INDEX I. DESCRIPTIVE NOMENCLATURE {238} Plants in perfect form are said, at page 26, to consist of four principal parts: root, stem, leaf, and flower. (Compare Chapter V., Sec. 2.) The reader may have been surprised at the omission of the fruit from this list. But a plant which has borne fruit is no longer of 'perfect' form. Its flower is dead. And, observe, it is further said, at page 65, (and compare Chapter III., Sec. 2,) that the use of the fruit is to produce the flower: not of the flower to produce the fruit. Therefore, the plant in perfect blossom, is itself perfect. Nevertheless, the formation of the fruit, practically, is included in the flower, and so spoken of in the fifteenth line of the same page. Each of these four main parts of a plant consist normally of a certain series of minor parts, to which it is well to attach easily remembered names. In this section of my index I will not admit the confusion of idea involved by alphabetical arrangement of these names, but will sacrifice facility of reference to clearness of explanation, and taking the four great parts of the plant in {239} succession, I will give the list of the minor and constituent parts, with their names as determined in Proserpina, and reference to the pages where the reasons for such determination are given, endeavouring to supply, at the same time, any deficiencies which I find in the body of the text. I. THE ROOT. PAGE Origin of the word Root 27 The offices of the root are threefold: namely, Tenure, Nourishment, and Animation 27-34 The essential parts of a Root are two: the Limbs and Fibres 33 I. THE LIMB is the gathered mass of fibres, or at least of fibrous substance, which extends itself in search of nourishment 32 II. THE FIBRE is the organ by which the nourishment is received 32 The inessential or accidental parts of roots, which are attached to the roots of some plants, but not to those of others, (and are, indeed, for the most part absent,) are three: namely, Store-Houses, Refuges, and Ruins 34 III. Store-houses contain the food of the future plant 34 {240} IV. REFUGES shelter the future plant itself for a time 35 V. RUINS form a basis for the growth of the future plant in its proper order 36 Root-Stocks, the accumulation of such ruins in a vital order 37 General questions relating to the office and chemical power of roots 38 /# The nomenclature of Roots will not be extended, in Proserpina, beyond the five simple terms here given: though the ordinary botanical ones--corm, bulb, tuber, etc.--will be severally explained in connection with the plants which they specially characterize. #/
Derivation of word 137 The channel of communication between leaf and root 153 In a perfect plant it consists of three parts: I. THE STEM (STEMMA) proper.--A growing or advancing shoot which sustains all the other organs of the plant 136 It may grow by adding thickness to its sides without advancing; but its essential characteristic is the vital power of Advance 136 {241} It may be round, square, or polygonal, but is always roundly minded 136 Its structural power is Spiral 137 It is essentially branched; having subordinate leaf-stalks and flower-stalks, if not larger branches 139 It developes the buds, leaves, and flowers of the plant. This power is not yet properly defined, or explained; and referred to only incidentally throughout the eighth chapter 134-138 II. THE LEAF-STALK (CYMBA) sustains, and expands itself into, the Leaf 133, 134 It is essentially furrowed above, and convex below 134 It is to be called in Latin, the Cymba; in English, the Leaf-Stalk 135 III. THE FLOWER-STALK (PETIOLUS): It is essentially round 130 It is usually separated distinctly at its termination from the flower 130, 131 It is to be called in Latin, Petiolus; in English, Flower-stalk 130
/# The stems of annual plants are either leafy, as of a thistle, or bare, sustaining the flower or flower-cluster at a certain height above the ground. Receiving therefore these following names:--- #/ V. THE VIRGA.--The leafy stem of an annual plant, not a grass, yet growing upright 147 VI. THE VIRGULA.--The leafless flower-stem of an annual plant, not a grass, as of a primrose or dandelion 147 VII. THE FILUM.--The running stem of a creeping plant /# It is not specified in the text for use; but will be necessary; so also, perhaps, the Stelechos, or stalk proper (26), the branched stem of an annual plant, not a grass; one cannot well talk of the Virga of hemlock. The 'Stolon' is explained in its classical sense at page 158, but I believe botanists use it otherwise. I shall have occasion to refer to, and complete its explanation, in speaking of bulbous plants. #/ VIII. THE CAUDEX.--The essentially ligneous and compact part of a stem 149 {243} /# This equivocal word is not specified for use in the text, but I mean to keep it for the accumulated stems of inlaid plants, palms, and the like; for which otherwise we have no separate term. #/ IX. THE AVENA.--Not specified in the text at all; but it will be prettier than 'baculus,' which is that I had proposed, for the 'staff' of grasses. See page 179. /# These ten names are all that the student need remember; but he will find some interesting particulars respecting the following three, noticed in the text:--- #/ STIPS.--The origin of stipend, stupid, and stump 148 STIPULA.--The subtlest Latin term for straw 148 CAULIS (Kale).--The peculiar stem of branched eatable vegetables 149 CANNA.--Not noticed in the text; but likely to be sometimes useful for the stronger stems of grasses. III. THE LEAF. Derivation of word 26 The Latin form 'folium' 41 The Greek form 'petalos' 42 Veins and ribs of leaves, to be usually summed under the term 'rib' 44 Chemistry of leaves 46 {244} /# The nomenclature of the leaf consists, in botanical books, of little more than barbarous, and, for the general reader, totally useless attempts to describe their forms in Latin. But their forms are infinite and indescribable except by the pencil. I will give central types of form in the next volume of Proserpina; which, so that the reader sees and remembers, he may _call_ anything he likes. But it is necessary that names should be assigned to certain classes of leaves which are essentially different from each other in character and tissue, not merely in form. Of these the two main divisions have been already given: but I will now add the less important ones which yet require distinct names. #/ I. APOLLINE.--Typically represented by the laurel 51 II. ARETHUSAN.--Represented by the alisma 52 /# It ought to have been noticed that the character of serration, within reserved limits, is essential to an Apolline leaf, and absolutely refused by an Arethusan one. #/ III. DRYAD.--Of the ordinary leaf tissue, neither manifestly strong, nor admirably tender, but serviceably consistent, which we find generally to be the substance of the leaves of forest trees. Typically represented by those of the oak. IV. ABIETINE.--Shaft or sword-shape, as the leaves of firs and pines. V. CRESSIC.--Delicate and light, with smooth tissue, as the leaves of cresses, and clover. {245} VI. SALVIAN.--Soft and woolly, like miniature blankets, easily folded, as the leaves of sage. VII. CAULINE.--Softly succulent, with thick central ribs, as of the cabbage. VIII. ALOEINE.--Inflexibly succulent, as of the aloe or houseleek. /# No rigid application of these terms must ever be attempted; but they direct the attention to important general conditions, and will often be found to save time and trouble in description. #/ IV. THE FLOWER. Its general nature and function 65 Consists essentially of Corolla and Treasury 78 Has in perfect form the following parts:-- I. THE TORUS.--Not yet enough described in the text. It is the expansion of the extremity of the flower-stalk, in preparation for the support of the expanding flower 66, 224 II. THE INVOLUCRUM.--Any kind of wrapping or propping condition of leafage at the base of a flower may properly come under this head; but the manner of prop or protection differs in different kinds, and I will not at present give generic names to these peculiar forms. {246} III. THE CALYX (The Hiding-place).--The outer whorl of leaves, under the protection of which the real flower is brought to maturity. Its separate leaves are called SEPALS 80 IV. THE COROLLA (The Cup).--The inner whorl of leaves, forming the flower itself. Its separate leaves are called PETALS 71 V. THE TREASURY.--The part of the flower that contains its seeds. VI. THE PILLAR.--The part of the flower above its treasury, by which the power of the pollen is carried down to the seeds 78 It consists usually of two parts--the SHAFT and VOLUTE 78 When the pillar is composed of two or more shafts, attached to separate treasury-cells, each cell with its shaft is called a CARPEL 235 VII. THE STAMENS.--The parts of the flower which secrete its pollen 78 They consist usually of two parts, the FILAMENT and ANTHER, not yet described. VIII. THE NECTARY.--The part of the flower containing its honey, or any other special product of its inflorescence. The name has often been {247} given to certain forms of petals of which the use is not yet known. No notice has yet been taken of this part of the flower in Proserpina. /# These being all the essential parts of the flower itself, other forms and substances are developed in the seed as it ripens, which, I believe, may most conveniently be arranged in a separate section, though not logically to be considered as separable from the flower, but only as mature states of certain parts of it. #/ V. THE SEED. I must once more desire the reader to take notice that, under the four sections already defined, the morphology of the plant is to be considered as complete, and that we are now only to examine and name, farther, its _product_; and that not so much as the germ of its own future descendant flower, but as a separate substance which it is appointed to form, partly to its own detriment, for the sake of higher creatures. This product consists essentially of two parts: the Seed and its Husk.
Besides these all-important products of the seed, others are formed in the stems and leaves of plants, of which no account hitherto has been given in Proserpina. I delay any extended description of these until we have examined the structure of wood itself more closely; this intricate and difficult task having been remitted (p. 195) to the days of coming spring; and I am well pleased that my younger readers should at first be vexed with no more names to be learned than those of the vegetable productions with which they are most pleasantly acquainted: but for older ones, I think it well, before closing the present volume, to indicate, with warning, some of the obscurities, and probable fallacies, with which this vanity of science encumbers the chemistry, no less than the morphology, of plants. Looking back to one of the first books in which our new knowledge of organic chemistry began to be displayed, thirty years ago, I find that even at that period the organic elements which the cuisine of the laboratory had already detected in simple Indigo, were the following:-- {250}
"The disposition of various substances to yield vapour is very different: and the difference depends doubtless on the relative power of cohesion with which they are endowed."[67] Even in this not extremely pregnant, though extremely {251} cautious, sentence, two conditions of matter are confused, no notice being taken of the difference in manner of dissolution between a vitally fragrant and a mortally putrid substance. It is still more curious that when I look for more definite instruction on such points to the higher ranks of botanists, I find in the index to Dr. Lindley's 'Introduction to Botany'--seven hundred pages of close print--not one of the four words 'Volatile,' 'Essence,' 'Scent,' or 'Perfume.' I examine the index to Gray's 'Structural and Systematic Botany,' with precisely the same success. I next consult Professors Balfour and Grindon, and am met by the same dignified silence. Finally, I think over the possible chances in French, and try in Figuier's indices to the 'Histoire des Plantes' for 'Odeur'--no such word! 'Parfum'--no such word. 'Essence'--no such word. 'Encens'--no such word. I try at last 'Pois de Senteur,' at a venture, and am referred to a page which describes their going to sleep. Left thus to my own resources, I must be content for the present to bring the subject at least under safe laws of nomenclature. It is possible that modern chemistry may be entirely right in alleging the absolute identity of substances such as albumen, or fibrine, whether they occur in the animal or vegetable economies. But I do not choose to assume this identity in my nomenclature. It may, perhaps, be very fine and very instructive to {252} inform the pupils preparing for competitive examination that the main element of Milk is Milkine, and of Cheese, Cheesine. But for the practical purposes of life, all that I think it necessary for the pupil to know is that in order to get either milk or cheese, he must address himself to a Cow, and not to a Pump; and that what a chemist can produce for him out of dandelions or cocoanuts, however milky or cheesy it may look, may more safely be called by some name of its own. This distinctness of language becomes every day more desirable, in the face of the refinements of chemical art which now enable the ingenious confectioner to meet the demands of an unscientific person for (suppose) a lemon drop, with a mixture of nitric acid, sulphur, and stewed bones. It is better, whatever the chemical identity of the products may be, that each should receive a distinctive epithet, and be asked for and supplied, in vulgar English, and vulgar probity, either as essence of lemons, or skeletons. I intend, therefore,--and believe that the practice will be found both wise and convenient,--to separate in all my works on natural history the terms used for vegetable products from those used for animal or mineral ones, whatever may be their chemical identity, or resemblance in aspect. I do not mean to talk of fat in seeds, nor of flour in eggs, nor of milk in rocks. Pace my prelatical friends, I mean to use the word 'Alb' for vegetable albumen; and although I cannot without pedantry avoid {253} using sometimes the word 'milky' of the white juices of plants, I must beg the reader to remain unaffected in his conviction that there is a vital difference between liquids that coagulate into butter, or congeal into India-rubber. Oil, when used simply, will always mean a vegetable product: and when I have occasion to speak of petroleum, tallow, or blubber, I shall generally call these substances by their right names. There are also a certain number of vegetable materials more or less prepared, secreted, or digested for us by animals, such as wax, honey, silk, and cochineal. The properties of these require more complex definitions, but they have all very intelligible and well-established names. 'Tea' must be a general term for an extract of any plant in boiling water: though when standing alone the word will take its accepted Chinese meaning: and essence, the general term for the condensed dew of a vegetable vapour, which is with grace and fitness called the 'being' of a plant, because its properties are almost always characteristic of the species; and it is not, like leaf tissue or wood fibre, approximately the same material in different shapes; but a separate element in each family of flowers, of a mysterious, delightful, or dangerous influence, logically inexplicable, chemically inconstructible, and wholly, in dignity of nature, above all modes and faculties of form. _ |
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