Tab. 54.HE Leaves of the Flower are folded up in such Sort, as is most agreeable to their own Shape, and that of their inclosed Attire: Ch. 5. whereof I have given Instances in the First Book. I shall here add some further Remarques.
2. §. The Leaves of the Flower of Blattaria, although of different Size and Shape; Tab. 54. are so lapped one over another, as to make an Equilateral Pentangle.
3. §. The Spiral Fold, which is proper to the Flower, and never seen in the Green Leaves; Tab. 54. as it is it self immediately visible on the Surface, so by cutting off the top of the Flower before it is expanded, seems also to make a Helix; as in Perwincle, the larger Convolvulus, &c.
4. §. In some Flowers, where the Attire is lofty or spreading, as in Holioak, together with the Spiral Fold, the Leaves are all at the top tacked down a little; thereby making a blunter Cone, and so a more ample Pyramid for the inclosed Attire.
5. §. In Poppy, although the Leaves are extraordinary broad, yet being but few, and inclosing a small Attire; they could not be well reduced to any regular Fold, Tab. 54. without leaving such a Vacuity, as by being filled with Aer, might be prejudicial to the Seed. For which reason, they are cramb’d up within the Empalement by hundreds of little Wrinckles or Puckers; as if Three or Four fine Cambrick Handcherchiefs were thrust into ones Pocket.
6. §. In Ladies-Bower, the Leaves are neither laped one over another, as is most usual, nor set Edge to Edge, as sometimes, but Side to Side, Tab. 54. answerable to their Shape, and the Distribution of their Fibres. Their broad Tops being also rowled up so as to make a Cone. In Ladys-Looking-Glass, they stand also Side to Side, but in a different manner: in the Former with the Sides standing inward, but here, bearing outward.
7. §. In the Marvel of Peru, the Fold is likewise very peculiar. For, besides the several Plates, about Six, Tab. 54. whereby the Flower is gathered in the Midle; the Top of it is also gathered up by as many distinct Plates, underneath the former; and these rowled or wreathed up together so exactly, that the like could hardly be imitated by a very dextrous Hand.
8. §. OF the Hairs upon Flowers and their Use to the Attire, I have also spoken in the First Book.Ch. 5. I shall here add, That they are likewise of Use to the Leaves themselves, that is, for their closer and faster Conjunction. For of some Flowers it is observable, That they are all over smooth, saving on their Edges, which are border’d with Fringes of Hair; as of Spanish Broome, Dulcamara, and others: Tab. 55. In which, the Hairs on the Edge of one Leaf, are so complicated, or at least indented, with those of another, that all the Leaves seem to be but one piece. Nature seeing it fit, by this means to tie them together, lest they should be expanded before it be due time.
9. §. Many Flowers instead of Hairs, are beset round about, with a great Number of small Parts, not ending in a Poynt, but having a Head. Sometimes oval, as in Snap-Dragon, like the Horns of a Butterfly, or a Plummers Sodering-Iron. But usually Globular, as in Deadly Nightshade, like so many little Mushrooms sprouting out of the Flower.
10. §. Out of these Heads, doth sometimes issue a Gummy or Balsamick Juyce. From whence proceeds that Clamminess of some Flowers, whereby, being handled they stick to our Fingers, as do those of Blattaria, and of Marigold; and those of Colus Jovis, where the said Heads are so soft and succulent, that they resemble so many little Drops of Balsame. The Clamminess which is felt upon fresh Carduus, may perhaps proceed from the like Cause.
11. §. THE Number of the Leaves of the Flower hath been noted by the Learned Sir Thomas Brown, Treat. of the Quinc. to be usually Five. And this Nature so far affecteth, that many times where the Leaves of the same Flower are of a different Size, yet they keep to this Number, Tab. 54. as in Blattaria.
12. §. I also add, That even those Flowers, which are not properly parted into Leaves, have yet their Tops usually divided into Five great Scallops; as those of Toad-Flax, Snap-Dragon, Coded-Arsmart, Clary, Broom, and others. And when the Flower hath more than Five, even many times Five Leaves; yet the Top of each Leaf is indented into Five Parts; Tab. 54. as in Scorzonera, Cichory, and all the Intybous Kind, with many others.
13. §. From whence and other like Instances, it may seem, That there is some certain Species of Salt in Nature, and that in most Plants, of whose Agency there are still some Footsteps or other in the Flower.
14. §. The Number of the Leaves, as hath been said, is commonly Five. Yet some Flowers have fewer, and some more, and that with Constancy, in divers Numbers, from One to One and Twenty; perhaps in all, so far. The Flower of Acanthus Syriacus, is in a manner one single Leaf, that of Monks-Rubarb, Three-Leav’d; of Poppy, Crosswort, Radish, and many others, Four-Leav’d; the greater Number of Flowers, Five-Leav’d; of White Hellebore, Tulip, Onion, and most Plants with Bulbous Roots, Six-Leav’d; of Wild-Crowfoot, Seven-Leav’d; of French Marigold, commonly Eight-Leav’d; of Flower-de-luce, Nine-Leav’d; of Chickweed, Ladies-Mantle, Ten-Leav’d; of St. James’s Wort, Thirteen-Leav’d; and I think of Febrifuga, Cotula, Ageratum, Corn-Marigold, with others; and of Chamemile, Buphthalmum, and some few more, the Leaves are commonly One and Twenty. In that of St. James’s Wort, the Number is so constant that there is scarce One Flower in Forty, wherein the Leaves are more or fewer than Thirteen. Tab. 55. Divers of which Numbers, seem also to have some relation to the Number 5. For 9, is Twice; 13, Thrice; and 25, Five times 5 running into it self.
15. §. THE Constituent Parts of the Flower are the same as those of the Leaf, sc. the Parenchyma or Pulp, and the Vessels. But in the Basis or bottom of the Flower, the Parenchyma is commonly much more spongy and dry, than in the Leaves; conteining, after the Flower is open’d, little or no Sap, but only a dry and warm Aer. Which standing continually under the Seed, hastens the Maturation or due Exiccation thereof: as we use to dry Maulted Barly over a warm Killn.
16. §. The Vessels of the Flower, are both for Sap and for Aer, as well as in other Parts. And both of them sometimes, even in the Skin of the Flower; as may be argued from its being stained with divers Colours; produced as hath formerly been shewed, by the mixed Tinctures of the said Vessels. B. 2. P. 2. §. 65, 66, 67. These Colours, in many Flowers, as Tulips, as they are in the Skin it self, so therein only; the Pulp of the Leaf being white.
17. §. The Lignous or Sap-Vessels are fewer, and the Aer-Vessels smaller in the Flower, than in the Leaf. And therefore it is very difficult to observe the latter by Glasses; especially the Proportion which they hold to the other Parts. But if you break the Leaves of some Flowers, with very great gentleness; they may hereby be Unroaved or drawn out, as in the Green Leaves, to some visible length; and their different Number in divers Flowers may be discerned.
18. §. THE Use of the Flower or of the Foliature whereof we are speaking, is various; B. 1. Ch. 5. as hath formerly been shewed. I now only add, That one Use hereof seemeth to be, for the Separation of the more Volatile and stronger Sulphur of the Plant. That so the Seed, which lyeth within or next it, may be so much the milder, and the Principles thereof more fixed and concentred. And this, both for its better Duration till the time of Sowing; and also, that its Fermentation, when it is sow’n, may not be too hot and precipitate; but suitable to so slow and equal a motion, as is the Vegetation of a Seed.
19. §. And that this Sulphur is separated and discharged by the Flower, seems evident, not only from the Strength of its Odour, above that of the other Parts; but likewise, in that many times where there is no Flower, or that very small, the Seed, that is its Cover, as in the Umbelliferous Kind, is the more odorous. And therefore also, the Vine hath no Flower, partly, that the most Volatile Spirit and Sulphur might all run into the Fruit.
20. §. THE Figure of the Flower, although it is often much more complex, than that of the Leaf: yet there is no doubt, but that the Measure hereof may be defined in some way, answerable to that exemplified in the foregoing Part. The difference is only this, That whereas the Green Leaves, and the Plain Leaves also of the Flower, are all measured by the parts of several Circles: those Flowers which are Bellyed, and those Leaves of the Flower which are not Plain, but Convex, are all measured by the parts of several Spheres. And as the Diametres of those Circles, bear a certain proportion to the midle Stemm of the Leaf; so the Axes of these Spheres, to an imaginary one in the Centre of the Flower.
21 §. NOW the reason why the Figure of the Flower is more multiplex, than that of the Leaf; may be, partly, because it is under the Command and Government of those Salts, which are here more refined and depurate, than in the Leaf; and so more free to lay the Foundation of any kind of Figure, for which, of their own Nature, they are adapted. Partly, for that as the Nitrous and Alkaline Salts are chiefly regnant in the Leaf; so in the Flower, in which the Parenchymous Part hath a greater[66] proportion than in the Leaf; it is most reasonable, to assign the Predominion to the Acid[67]: the Particles whereof, both as they are less, and also poynted at both ends,[68] seem to be more easily applicable one to another for the making of any Sort of Line or Figure.