Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/252

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222
OF THE FULCRA,

sometimes coloured. The Lime-trees, Tilia enropæa, t. 610, and parvifolia, t. 1705, have a very peculiar oblong pale floral leaf, attached to the flower-stalk. The Lavenders, see Curt. Mag., t. 400 and 401, have coloured bracteas, and the Purple-topped Clary, Salvia Horminum, Fl. Græc. t. 20, exhibits a gradation from the proper leaves to green bracteas, and from them to coloured ones, which last are barren, or unaccompanied by flowers. Hence I am induced to believe this plant a mere variety of S. viridis, t. 19, all whose bracteas are green and fertile. Bartsia alpina, Engl. Bot. t. 361, and Melampyrum arvense, t. 53, display an elegant transition from leaves to coloured bracteas. The Orchis tribe have green leafy bracteas, different in size in different species. A most beautiful large and coloured bractea is produced in Mussænda frondosa, Hort. Mal. v. 2. t. 18, from one of the teeth of the calyx, also in M. glabra of Willdenow, and two new species brought from America by Mr. John Fraser. Spinous bracteas of a curious construction guard the calyx