E

:.JI,IUM r OANDIDUM.

J=>/ciU s.

BO TAfJ

INTRODUCTION

SYSTEMATIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL

BOTANY.

By THOMAS NUTTALL, A. M., F. L. S., &c.

CAMBRIDGF. :

HILLIARD AND BROWN.

BOSTON :

HILLIARD, GRAY, LITTLE, AND WILKINS,
AND RICHARDSON AND LORD.

1827.

t N8

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit :

District Clerk's Office.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the 16th day of May, A. D.
1827, and in the fifty-first year of the Independence of the Unit-
ed States of America, Hilliard & Brown, of the said district, have
deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they
claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit :

" An Introduction to Systematic and Physiological Botany. By
Thomas Nuttall, A. M. F. L. S. &c."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States,
entitled " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing
the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprie-
tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ;" and also
to an act, entitled " An act supplementary to an act, entitled, ' An
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of
maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such
copies, during the times therein mentioned ;' and extending the
benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching
historical and other prints."

JNO. W. DAVIS,
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE :

University Press. — Hilliard, Metcalf, & Co.

<

HON. JOHN LOWELL, L L. D.

PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
AGRICULTURE, &C. &C.

Sir,

Permit me to lay before you this humble attempt,
to render familiar to all, a science, to which I have
been so long devoted, and for which your attachment
has been conspicuous. If I have failed in my endea-
vours, to answer this important end, I hope it may be
attributed rather to inability, than to any want of zeal
to promote the cause of this interesting branch of
Natural History. That my imperfect labors may in
some degree prove useful, is the sincere wish of
Your humble servant,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

Nearly all the elementary works on Botany ex-
tant are derived from the Philosophic/, Botanica of
Linnaeus, a work of great labor and utility to those
who would wish to make themselves masters of this
fascinating branch of natural knowledge. Its techni-
cal character, however, often proves appalling to ma-
ny who would willingly become acquainted with the
characters of plants, did any easier route present it-
self. The first and most natural enquiry concerning
plants, is the nature and character of those beautiful
objects we call the flowers ; these, by various interest-
ing qualities, recommend themselves to every one.
Their brilliant colors, beautiful forms, fragrant odors,
and delightful association with the various seasons of
the year, with the promise of fruits and of harvests,
all combine to give them an importance, which no
other part of the plant possesses. To indulge this
shorter route to the knowledge of plants as a science,

VI PREFACE.

after the manner of Rousseau's delightful Letters on
Botany, is the object of the present volume. The
arrangement of this author, and that of his well known
editor, Professor Martyn of Oxford, has been the
model on which the author proceeded in the first part
of this treatise. The technical history of the herba-
ceous part of the plant, and the terminalogy as a
separate treatise, have appeared to him as scarcely
forming any necessary part of a direct introduction to
systematic botany, and all its purposes are probably
answered by the glossary of terms given at the end of
the volume, with the familiar explanations interspers-
ed through some of the first chapters of the work ;
these, with the aid of the plates and the explanations
attached to them, it is to be hoped, will not leave much
to acquire of the technical part of the science. To
be able at an early period of the study to commence
the arrangement of plants by their flowers, and to dis-
tinguish them from each other, as well as to contem-
plate their structure and observe their mutual relations,
is a study certainly far more amusing and useful, than
a mere attention to the names and characters of the
unimportant and unattractive parts of the vegetable.

I must also acknowledge, that, however attractive
the natural method of arranging plants may be to my-
self, I do not yet, for the beginner, know of any sub-

PREFACE. VU

stitute for the Linnaean system : and, indeed, its gen-
eral prevalence to the present time, after so long a
trial, is almost a tacit acknowledgment of its conve-
nience, if not of its superiority over other systems of
arbitrary arrangement ; for, however natural groups
or orders of plants may be in their mutual affinities,
all classes and higher divisions of the vegetable sys-
tem are now confessedly artificial, even among the
warmest advocates for a natural method.

Of the second part of this work I have but little to
say, as it is chiefly an abridgment of a very laborious
and useful work on Vegetable Physiology, making
part of a course of Lectures by Mr. Anthony Todd
Thompson, published in London, and forming, in the
estimation of the author, one of the best treatises on
the subject which has appeared in the English lan-
guage. But a very small part of the volume has been
introduced, and that only on the general composition
of vegetables, and the structure of the principal parts
of the plant our limits not permitting any thing like a
general system of vegetable physiology. If what has
been given should awaken a taste for additional know-
ledge on the subject, the following works may be con-
sulted with advantage. Greiv, on the Anatomy of
Plants ; Malpighi, Anatome Plantarum ; Rudolphi,
Anatomie der Pflanzen ; Kieser, Memoire sur l'Or-

Vlll PREFACE.

ganisation des Plantes ; Mirbel, Elemens de Physiol-
ogie Vegetale ; Senebier, Physiologie Vegetale ; Du
Hamel, La Physique des Arbres ; Hill, on the Con-
struction of Timber ; Bauer, Tracts relative to Bota-
ny, London, 1 809 ; Riechel, de Vasis Plantarum spi-
ralibus ; Histoire d'un Morceau de Bois, &-c. par
A. A. du Petit Thouars , Keith's System of Physio-
logical Botany ; Thompson's Lectures on the Ele-
ments of Botany ; Supplement to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica ; and Mr. Knights' papers in the Philo-
sophical Transactions.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. pa ge

The Character of a Lilaceous Flower - *

CHAPTER II.

Of Cruciform Flowers - -

CHAPTER III.
Of Papilionaceous Flowers 10

CHAPTER IV.
Of Labiate and Personate Flowers 15

CHAPTER V.
Of Umbellate Plants 17

CHAPTER VI.
Of Compound Flowers 21

CHAPTER VII.
Of the Rosaceous Family 24

CHAPTER VIII.

Explanation of the Classes of the Linnaean System - 27

CHAPTER IX.

Explanation of the Orders of the System of Linnaeus - 35

CHAPTER X.
On the Class Monandria - 43

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI. page

Of the Class Diandria 46

CHAPTER XII.
The Third Class. Of the Grasses 48

CHAPTER XIII.
The Class Triandria continued 56

CHAPTER XIV.
Of the Class Tetrandria 59

CHAPTER XV.
The Class Pentandria 64

CHAPTER XVI.

Of the other Orders of the Class Pentandria 75

CHAPTER XVII.
The Class Hexandria 88

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Classes Heptandria, Octandria, Enneandria, and Decandria 94

CHAPTER XIX.
Of the Class Icosandria - 110

CHAPTER XX.
Of the Class Polyandria 115

CHAPTER XXI.
The Class Didynamia 124

CHAPTER XXII.
Of the Class Tetradynamia 135

CHAPTER XXIII.
Of the Class Monadelphia 141

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER XXIV. page

Of the Class Diadelphia 147

CHAPTER XXV.
The Class Syngenesia 159

CHAPTER XXVI.
Of the Class Gynandria 177

CHAPTER XXVII.
Of the Class Monoecia 186

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Of the Class Dioecia 200

CHAPTER XXIX.
Of the Class Cryptogamia ....... 209

PART II.

PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS.

CHAPTER I.

Remarks on the General Character of Plants ... 219

CHAPTER II.

General Components of the Vegetable Structure - - 224

CHAPTER III.
The Anatomy of Stems ---.-. 250

CHAPTER IV.
The Origin and Attachment of Branches .... 273

CHAPTER V.
Anatomy of Leaves ----... 28'

Glossary of Botanical Terms .... 315

AN

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

STUDY OF BOTANY.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHARACTER OF A LILIACEOUS FLOWER.

To acquire a knowledge of the vegetable world,
so pleasing to all observers, it may not perhaps be
amiss to anticipate the dry detail of technical phrases,*
which has but too often deterred, at the very portal
of Flora's temple, the enquirer into the nature and
character of this beautiful and useful tribe of beings,
and begin, at once, by examining plants as we find
them, in the manner our predecessors must have
done, from whom we have received their history.

We ought then to commence by making ourselves
acquainted with the common names of those plants
which are around us, and these few objects, known
by sight, will serve as so many points of comparison
in order to extend our knowledge of the subject.

* A glossary of botanical terms will be found alphabetically-
arranged at the close of the volume, intended to answer the gen-
eral purpose of a treatise on terminalogy.

1

2 LLLIACEOUS FLOWERS.

Let us not imagine that the science of Botany ends
in the mere acquisition of imposed names ; we may
become acquainted with the structure of plants and
their curious economy, like the human anatomist,
without troubling ourselves materially with the particu-
lar name given to the individual subject. We cannot,
however, proceed far, without employing something
like definite language for the several parts of the ob-
ject under view.

We shall begin, then, by defining a perfect plant
to be composed of a root, of a stem with its branches,
of leaves, flower, and fruit ; for, in Botany, by fruit
is universally understood the whole fabric of the seed,
and that which contains it ; but we must examine
more at large the principal part of the plant, namely,
the fructification, a term which includes the idea of
both floiver and fruit. The flower is first offered to
us ; by it is elaborated nature's choicest and most
wonderful work, the mystery of perpetuation ; this
complicated organ is commonly the most brilliant,
symmetrical, and uniform part of the vegetable.

Take a Lily or a Tulip; — at first it is seen in
bud, and green ; at length it becomes distinctly color-
ed, spreads open, and takes the form of a cup or
vase, divided into several segments. This is called
the corolla, and not the flower, as in common lan-
guage, because the flower is a composition of several
parts, of which the corolla is only the most conspicu-
ous.

You will easily perceive that the corolla of the Lily
or the Tulip is not of one piece ; when it withers and
falls, it separates into six distinct pieces, which are
called petals. Thus the corolla of the Lily or the
Tulip is composed of six petals. A corolla, consist-
ing of several pieces like this, is called a polypetal-
ous corolla. If it were all of one piece, like the

LILIACEOUS FLOWERS. «->

Bell-flower, Honeysuckle, or Marvel of Peru, it
would be called monopetalous. But to return to the

Lily.

You will find, exactly in the middle of the corolla,
a sort of little column rising 'from the bottom, and
pointing directly upwards ; this, taken as a whole,
is called the pistil or pointal : taken in its parts, it is
divided into three. 1 . The swollen base, with three
blunted angles, called the germ or ovary; 2. A
thread placed upon this, called the style; 3. The
style crowned by a sort of capital with three notches :
this capital is called the stigma.

Between the pistil and the corolla you find six other
bodies entirely separate from each other, which are
called the stamens. Each stamen is composed of two
parts, one long and slender, by which it is attached to
die bottom of the corolla, and called the filament ;
the other thicker, placed at the top of the filament,
and called anthera or anther. Each anther is a kind
of box or cell, which opens commonly on either side
lengthwise when it is ripe, and throws out a yellow
dust, which has often a strong odor, and this is
called pollen or farina.

Such is the general analysis of the parts which con-
stitute a flower. As the corolla fades and falls, the
germ inci eases, and becomes an oblong triangular
capsule, within which are flat seeds arranged in a
double order in three cells. This capsule, considered
as the cover of the seeds, takes the name of pericarp.
In the Tulip the second part of the pistil, or style, is
absent. All these parts of the flower, and in the
same number, though differing in size and form, will
also be found in the single Hyacinth.* The same

* For a figure of these parts as composing a liliaceous flower,
see the end of the volume.

4 LILIACEOUS FLOWERS.

parts are found in the flowers of most other plants.,-
but in different proportion, situation, and number. By
the analogy of these parts, and their different combi-
nations, the families of the vegetable kingdom are
determined ; and these analogies are connected with
others in those parts of the plant which seem to have
no relation to them. For instance, this number of
six stamens, sometimes only three, with six petals or
divisions of the corolla, and the triangular germ with
its three cells, determine the liliaceous tribe ; in its
most extensive sense, and in many of the most con-
spicuous genera, the roots partake more or less of
the nature of bulbs. That of the Lily is a squamous
bulb, or composed of scales, disposed in an imbricated
order, or laid over each other like tiles on the roof of
a house ; in the onion it is tunicated, or consisting of
a number of coats laid over each other circularly ; in
the Tulip the coatings are so indistinct, that the bulb
appears nearly solid, and so approaches the nature
of the tuberous root ; in the Crocus the bulbs appear
to grow over each other, or, more properly, beneath
each other, for many bulbs have apparently a tenden-
cy to descend as long as the soil permits them ; in the
Colchicum they grow out side by side.

Bulbs appear often, if not always, to be produced
by the subterraneous continuation of the bases of the
leaves, taking upon them a thick and fleshy consistence,
and containing within them resources of nourishment
for the plant they are destined to support. In the squa-
mous bulbs, also, each scale often appears, like a bud,
to possess the germ of an independent existence, so
that the species may be increased by planting them.
Bulbs have a prolific faculty superior to buds, with
which they have been compared, as the scales them-
selves are capable of budding and growing upwards
and downwards ; but ordinarily the bud perishes if

L1LACE0US FLOWERS. O

taken from its parent trunk, excepting it be done in
connexion with a small portion of the liber, or inner
bark, and be then ingrafted into the trunk of a similar
species of plant.

In the bulb, all the nutritious, or cellular'part, is
carried inwards by the circulation to the support
of the bud or embryon plant, after which the coats
shrink, and at length turn into those brown scaly
coverings, destitute of moisture and of life, which we
observe around the Tulip and the Onion.

The Lily and the Tulip, which we have chosen to
examine because of the conspicuous size of the flow-
ers and their parts, are, however, deficient in one of
the constituent parts of a perfect flower, namely, the
calyx, which is that outer green part of the flower,
usually divided into parts or small leaves, often five
in number, sustaining and embracing the corolla at
the bottom, and enveloping it entirely before opening,
as you may have remarked in the Rose. The calyx,
which accompanies so many other flowers, is wanting,
in the greater part of the liliaceous tribe ; as the
Tulip, the Hyacinth, the Daffodil, the Crocus, and
Snowdrop, &ic. and even in the Onion, Leek, Sic.
which are likewise, generally speaking, also lilia-
ceous, though they appear so very different at first
sight. In the whole of this tribe you will perceive
that the stems are simple and unbranched, the leaves
entire, never cut or divided ; observations which
confirm the analogy of the flower and fruit in this
family, by the prevailing similarity in the other parts
of the plant. By bestowing some attention upon these
particulars, and making them familiar by frequent ob-
servation, you will be in a condition to determine, by
an attentive inspection of a plant, whether it be of
the liliaceous tribe or not ; aud this without knowing
1*

6 CRUCIFORM FLOWERS.

any thing of its name. This is not then a mere labor
of the memory, but a study and observation of facts
worthy the attention of a naturalist.

CHAPTER II.

OF CRUCIFORM FLOWERS.

Several plants of this very natural family are
commonly cultivated for their beauty and fragrance,
and may be readily known by the four petals they
produce in the form of a cross, from whence the
order has derived its name of Crucifer^:. The only
difficulty against which we have to guard, on this, as
on all other occasions where we examine the luxuriant
productions of the garden, is the employment of those
monstrous flowers which we term double, as in the
Pink, the Rose, the Stock, and Wallflower, in which
the stamina become transformed into so many petals,
or even give place, as in the Pink, to an almost in-
numerable quantity of petals, bearing no proportion
to the ordinary number of stamens. In what manner
this change is produced may often be perceived on
examination. Sometimes, as in the Hollihock, it is
the anthers which are transformed into petals, but
more commonly, as in the Stock and the Rose, the
flat filaments become petals. In the Waterlily (JVym-
phce) the filaments are always a kind of petals, and
differ but little, except in color, from the true petals.

Having premised thus much concerning the nature
of double flowers, let us now proceed to the analysis
of the flower of the single Stock-gilliflower or Wall-
flower ; and here you will immediately perceive an
exterior part which was wanting in the liliaceous

CRUCIFORM FLOWERS. 7

flower, namely, the calyx. This consists of four
pieces, simply called leaves, without any appropriate
name expressive of distinction, as that of petals for
flower-leaves, without we adopt the very modern term
of sepals for these parts, as is done by several eminent
French botanists. These four leaves, in our plant,
are commonly in unequal pairs, two of them being
enlarged or swelled out at the bottom so as to exhibit
a very sensible protuberance.

Within the calyx you will find a corolla of four
broadish or roundish petals disposed opposite to each
other in the manner of a cross. Each of these petals
is attached to the receptacle or base of the germ, by
a narrow pale part, which is called unguis or the claw
of the petal, and above and out of the calyx spreads
the large, flat, colored part, called the lamina or
border.

Each petal, you will observe, instead of corres-
ponding in place with each leaflet of the calyx, is, on
the contrary, placed between two, so that it occupies
the opening space between them, and this alternate
position is common to all flowers having as many
petals as leaves in the calyx.

In the centre of the corolla is one pistil, long, and
somewhat cylindric, composed of a germ terminated
by an oblong stigma which is bifid, or cleft into two
parts, and reflected backwards.

The stamens in the stock are remarkable for their
number and proportion ; there are six, as in the lilia-
ceous flowers, though only four petals, but they are
disposed in two sets, namely, four by opposite pairs
which are long, and another pair which are short, in
consequence of a small gland being interposed between
their base and the germ, and which also gives occa-
sion to that enlargement already observed at the base
of two of the leaves of the calyx.

O CRUCIFORM FLOWERS.

I say that the number of the stamina are in this
tribe of plants remarkable, for, generally speaking,
there exists a symmetrical proportion between the
number of the parts of the flower and that of the sta-
mens, where the number does not exceed ten, or
where they are constant and definite in quantity, and
the principal exception to this rule is in the present
class of plants, and in those with gaping or irregular
flowers, which, though divided into five unequal parts,
commonly produce and perfect only four stamens of
unequal length, with occasionally, however, the rudi-
ment of a fifth. The Orchis tribe, (hereafter de-
scribed,) so singular in every thing else, have also, it
is true, only two instead of three or six stamens or
masses of pollen, and the Grasses three stamens to
a corolla with only two parts.

But to finish the history of the Stock. It is neces-
sary to observe the changes produced on the germ,
after the departure of the flower ; it now lengthens
very considerably, but remains narrow, merely swell-
ing a little with the growth of the seeds. When ripe,
it becomes a somewhat cylindric, but flattened pod,
called a silique.

This silique is composed of two valves or parts,
which, at length, fly open from the bottom upwards,
and their interior sides form so many cells or cham-
bers for the protection of the seed. These cells are
separated from each other by a thin partition, called
the dissepiment, and the seeds, which are in this plant
flat and round, are arranged along each side of the
partition, alternately to the right and left by short
pedicles to the sutures or edge of the partition.

Botanists distinguish the cruciferous flowers into two
orders or sections, from the distinctions apparent in the
fruit or seed-vessel. Thus, the first order compre-
hends those which produce a silique or long pod, as
in the Stock, Mustard, and such like.

CRUCIFORM FLOWERS. 9

The second contains those whose seed-vessel is a
silicle, or small and short pod, as in the Cress, Candy-
tuft, and Shepherd's purse, where it is almost as wide
as long. The most part of these silicles or short pods
present valves which are not flat, but hollow, and form-
ed like the keel of a boat ; in these the partition or dis-
sepiment is very narrow, and in place of being parallel
with the valves, cuts across them or is transverse.
This character is not, however, uniform, or without
exception, for in Lunaria or Honesty the fruit is an
elliptic, broad, flat pod, with the dissepiment as wide as
the valves, and in Myagrum sativum and other genera,
the valves, instead of being keeled, are only convex,
and have, consequently, the partitions nearly equal, or
apparently so, with the valves.* In fine, we meet in
nature with none of those broad, abrupt distinctions,
which system-makers are so fond of seizing. On the
contrary, we every where perceive an interlinking of
objects in various directions, not pursuing that regular
chain of finite connexion, which some have thought to
exist in nature, like a succession of units, each in sim-
ple connexion with that which follows or precedes it,
but each object is connected variously, so that a view
of the relations existing among them would nearer re-
semble a geographical map, or a tree with its branch-
es, than a chain of simple links.

* For figures of these, and the flowers of the other natural fami-
lies described, see the close of the volume.

10 PAPILIONACEOUS FLOWERS.

CHAPTER III.

OF PAPILIONACEOUS FLOWERS.

From a fancied resemblance to the butterfly, these
plants derive the present name. The same tribe are
also distinguished with some botanists by the name of
Leguminosje, from the legume being their uniform
fruit or seed-vessel.

The Pea may serve as a type of this very natural
and curious family of plants.

The grand division of flowers is into regular and
irregular. The regular, present a symmetry and
equality in all their parts, each portion forming the
segment of a circle, as in the Rose, Tulip, and Pink ;
in which we perceive no distinction of the flower into
an upper and an under part, no difference betwixt
right and left; such is the case with the two tribes we
have already examined.

But you will perceive, at first sight, that the flower
of the Pea is irregular ; and that it is readily distin-
guishable into an upper and an under part. In dis-
tinguishing these parts of an irregular flower into up-
per and under, the natural position of the flower on
its stem is always presupposed.

In examining the flower of the Pea you will first
observe a one-leafed, or, technically speaking, a mo-
nophyllous calyx ; that is, one of an entire piece, end-
ing in five distinct leafy points, in two sets, the two
wider it the top, and the three narrower at the bottom.
This calyx, as well as its peduncle or supporting
stalk, also bends downwards, as is, indeed, commonly
the case with most flowers at particular times and
seasons, for in rainy weather, and at the approach of
night, the flowers close their petals, and droop from

PAPILIONACEOUS FLOWERS. 11

their erect posture, to guard, from the injuries of un-
due moisture, the internal organs essential to the ex-
istence and propagation of the plant. In this apparent
contrivance of wisdom, the plant itself takes no in-
stinctive share, as it is produced mechanically by the
mere descent, or languid motion of the sap, induced
by the absence of the lisht and heat of day.

Having now examined the calyx, (and examine you
must, for yourself, if the structure of plants is to be
any amusement,) you may now pull it off, so as to
leave the rest of the flower in its natural place, and
you will now plainly see that the corolla is polypetal-
ous.

The first piece is a large petal, at first covering the
rest, and occupying the upper part of the corolla,
known to botanists by the name of the vexillum,
standard, or banner.

The standard being removed, the two side petals to
which it adhered are brought to view ; these are called
alee or the wings, from their peculiar situation and ap-
pearance with the rest of the flower.

Taking off the wings, you discover the last piece of
the corolla, which covers and defends the stamens and
pistillum. This last piece, formed, in fact, of two pe-
tals ingrafted together above, is, on account of its form,
termed the carina, keel or boat.

In drawing downwards this sheathing petal, you
bring to view the stamens, which are ten in number,
or double the proportion of the other parts of the
flower ; these are very singular in their disposition, for
instead of being so many distinct stamens, they have
the filaments joined together at the sides, so as, at first
sight, to present a cylinder embracing the pistillum, but
they are only so in appearance, and as the germ ad-
vances in size, you perceive that the cylinder is cleft
above, and that the chasm is closed by a solitary sta-

12 PAPILIONACEOUS FLOWERS.

men ; indeed, this separation is always visible at the
base of the body of filaments, where one of them ap-
pears constantly separated from the rest.

The next great characteristic of this tribe is in the
kind of fruit they produce, which we term, legume, dis-
tinguished from the pod or silique of the cruciform
plants by its consisting of but a single cell, or without
the partition, and having the seeds (peas or beans)
attached only to the upper edge or suture. The le-
gume, also, opens lengthwise and rolls backwards,
whereas in the silique, the valves separate and roll or
stand out from the bottom upwards. The seeds of
this tribe have commonly a very marked scar, black
spot, or line by which they adhered to the legume,
and known to the Botanist as the hylum, or umbilical
point of attachment. Near this scar there exists a
minute opening into the body of the seed, through
which vivifying moisture is imbibed at the period
of first growth or germination ; it continues to swell,
and, at length, bursts the imprisoning integument, and
now presents, between the divided halves of the pea,
the rudiments of the first true leaves, and the short
sheathed root. These two hemispheres, which never,
as in oiher plants, expand into proper seed leaves, are
still, as well as them, termed eotyledones, in allu-
sion to the important part they take in the nourish-
ment and early protection of the infant plant. In the
Pea they contain a sweetish farinaceous substance,
which is slowly imbibed by the growing embryon, af-
fording nutrition of the most necessary and suitable
kind to the infant vegetable, not yet prepared to ela-
borate the means of its own support. Thus we see,
independent of the existence of sentiment or of in-
stinct, in plants, as in animals, a certain dependance
on a female parent, which endures from early concep-
tion to a period which might be termed adolescence.

PAPILONACEOTJS FLOWERS. lo

These cotyledones or seed-leaves are generally two
in number, and indicative of that double system which
so generally prevails throughout organic nature. In
such plants as the Lilac, Ash, Privet, and many others,
this double system, commenced in the seed, is perpe-
tually continued, the leaves coining out in constant
pairs ; but in many others, as in the Oak, Elm, Ches-
nut, Beach, and Alder, no opposite, or paired leaves
come out after the opposite seed-leaves, so that they
appear subject, as in very many other cases, to a per-
petual abortion of one half of their supposed exist-
ence.

In the liliaceous plants and grasses, however, and
some other tribes, there appears lo exist no proper
leaf-like cotyledones, and the uncleft, unchanged sub-
stance of the seed, serves to nourish the growing em-
bryon.

Among the anomalies which nature ever presents to
baffle our feeble systems, and to assert her predilec-
tion for endless variety, we may observe, that though
we can, in general, circumscribe and define with suf-
ficient precision the character of the very natural family
of the papilionaceee, yet there exist among them some
notable exceptions ; thus, in Amorpha, there exists
but a single petal occuping the place of the vexillum ;
and the ten stamens, all united into an uncloven cyl-
inder. Nay more, in the Petalostemon of Michaux, a
plant of the western regions of the United States, re-
sembling Saint-foin, there are no proper petals in their
true place, but five of the filaments of the stamens, in
place of anthers, developing as many petals, so that
the tube presents alternately five anthers and five pe-
tals. In the Wild Indigo (Podalyria tinctoria),
with a truly papilionaceous corolla, there are ten dis-
tinct stamens, as there are also in the Judas-tree ov
2

14 PAPILONACEOUS PLANTS.

Red-bud (Cercis canadensis), and, in this plant, the
carina is formed of two distinct petals.

In the common Red-clover ( Trifolium pratense) all
the petals are united together into a tubular base, so
that it is, in fact, monopetalous. In the Cassia, of any
species, (of which the most common, with us, is the
Cassia marilandica,) the corolla, though evidently
unequal in its proportions, consists of five spreading
yellow petals, and the stamens, all distinct to the base,
are disposed in a triple order, the three near the situ-
ation of the carina are furnished with large horn-like
black anthers, behind which occur four smaller an-
thers, and contiguous to the situation of the vexillum
three abortive stamens, or mere rudiments ; and in
the Honey-locust (Gleditscia triacanthos) and Coffee
bean (Gymnocladus canadensis), the papilionaceous
character of the flower altogether disappears, the co-
rolla being quite regular, but the fruit, more constant-
ly characteristic of the order, is still a legume contain-
ing b ;ans.

In the leguminous tribe are included many useful
plants, such as Beans, Peas, Lentils, Lupins, Vetches,
Lucern, Saint-foin, Indigo, Liquorice, Kidney-beans.
The curious character of the last genus, is to have the
keel, and the stamens it includes, spirally twisted.

In this tribe, the United States presents several
trees, particularly the common and Honey-locusts,
Coffee-bean, and the Virgilia of Tennessee.

LABIATE AND PERSONATE FLOWEKS. 15

CHAPTER IV.

OF LABIATE AND PERSONATE FLOWERS.

The flowers we have hitherto examined are poly-
petalous. We now come to examine a tribe, whose
corolla is monopetalous, or of one piece, and also ir-
regubr in its outline, and, indeed, altogether so mark-
ed that we shall distinguish its members easily by
their general aspect. It is that to whose flowers Lin-
naeus has given the name of ringent, or gaping, ap-
pearing like so many projecting mouths divided into
an appropriate upper and under lip. This tribe is
separated into at least two orders ; one with labiate or
ringent flowers, properly so called, the entrance into
the corolla being always open ; and the other of per-
sonate or masked flowers, from the Latin persona, a
mask, in which the orifice of the corolla is closed by
a prominent palate. The character common to all
the tribe is then a monopetalous corolla, divided into
two lips, bearing often, under the upper, four stamens
in two pairs of unequal length, one of the pairs being
longer than the other.

As a specimen of the perfect labiate flower we
may take up that of the Balm, Catmint, or Ground-
Ivy (Glechoma hederacea), the latter remarkable for
the disposition of its anthers into the form of a double
cross. In the Catmint, you will find a monopetalous,
labiate corolla, with the upper lip arched over the
stamina ; the lower lip is dependent, and consists prin-
cipally of one rounded, concave, and notched lobe,
characteristic of the genus or family. On removing
the corolla, which, as in all monopetalous flowers, car-
ries with it the stamina, you will find in the bottom of
the calyx, being tubular, lined, and terminated with

16 LABIATE AND PERSONATE FLOWERS.

five bristly points, four ovules, at length becoming foup
naked seeds. From the centre of these ovules arises
a single style, terminated with a bifid summit or stig-
ma. The corolla, when removed, is open at the bot-
tom, and tubular for the admission of the style, which "
grows up within it.

Four naked seeds in the bottom of the calyx, and a
gaping open corolla is characteristic of the labiate or-
der. They have also very generally square stems,
and flowers disposed in whorls or apparent circles
round the upper part of the stem. Some of them, as
the Rosemary and Sage, have only two stamens. In
Sage there are only two filaments supporting two oth-
ers in an horizontal, moveable posture, and producing
an anther only at one of the extremities. In Self-
heal (Prunella vulgaris) all the filaments are forked,
but only one of the prongs bears an anther ; most of
these plants are highly aromatic, such as Marjoram,
Thyme, Basil, Mint, Hyssop, Lavender, &c. or else
strong-smelling and foetid, as the Deadnettle, Catmint,
Black Horehound, &sc. Some, such as the Selfheal,
have but little odor of any kind.

In the second order of labiate flowers the seeds are
numerous, and produced in a capsule, commonly of
two cells and two valves, as in the Foxglove, Toad-
flax (Antirrhinum linaria), and Snapdragon (An-
tirrhinum majus) ; the corolla is personate, having the
two lips closed and joined. From the lower lip of the
Toadflax depends a spur. In this plant, the Fox-
glove, Bignonia, Pentstemon, and many others, there
exist the rudiments of a fifth stamen, in accordance
then with the five divisions of the calyx and corolla.
In that curious variety of the Toadflax, named Pelo-
ria by Linnaeus, the corolla appears in the form of a
cone, terminated above by a prominent border of five
divisions, and below producing five spurs in place of

UMBELLATE PLANTS. I i

one, and five equal and perfect stamens ; so that, in tlii.-
example, we have the ringent flower restored to its na-
tural symmetry and regularity, and though this is con-
sequently the perfect state of the personate corolla, its
occurrence is so uncommon that it is hailed as a mon-
strosity, though the ordinary state alone is, in fact, such !
Here "then, we have again, as in the irregular papilio-
naceous corolla, a decided tendency to the regular
forms of other flowers, and an additional link of affin-
ity with them in general ; this irregularity being only
a sort of mask or disguise, produced by that copious
source of change, abortion, and imperfection of parts.

CHAPTER V.

OF UMBELLATE PLANTS.

This truly natural assemblage of plants derives its
name from umbella, an umbrella, in allusion to its par-
ticular and characteristic mode of inflorescence, or the
disposition of its flowers.

The umbel may be either simple or compound :
when compounded, which is most usual, certain gen~
eral flower stalks (as in the Parsnip and Parsley)
growing at the ends of the branches, divide themselves
circularly, like the spokes of a wheel, or the skeleton
of an umbrella, from a common central point, and
form above a round and flat-topped cluster of branch-
es ; each branch or partial umbel (the first being the
general one) will now be perceived, likewise, to divide
itself in a similar circular manner, the true peduncles,
or stalks of the flowers, then forming the umbellet or
lesser umbel. This primary distinction is only indic-
ative of others which follow, and which are equally
essential ; and here the situation of the germ with re-
2*

IS CJMBELLATE PLANTS.

gard to the flower demands some explanation. In the
greater number of plants, as the Pink, Foxglove, Tu-
lip, and Primrose, the germ is inclosed within the flow-
er. These have been called inferior flowers, as being
situated below the germ, though it appears preferable
to regard the situation of the germ alone, which in this
case is said to be superior.

In a much smaller number of plants, the germ oc-
curs below the flower, as in the Gooseberry, Apple,
Melon, Fuschia, Tree-primrose, and Rose, and is then
said to be inferior, and the flower superior.

In the Rose and others, this relation of the germ
with the flower is ambiguous, as the berry or hep of
this plant, apparently inferior, is only the enlarged hol-
low base of the calyx, rendered succulent, and bearing
the seeds attached to its inner side.

The umbelliferous plants have a superior flower,
and a corolla of five petals, called regular, though
there is frequently an inequality of size between the
external and internal petals of the flower.

The petals are generally cordate or heart-shaped,
yet inversely so, or obcordate, having the point
downward. From the centre of the lobed extremity a
point is commonly reflected inwards, which produces
that notched, emarginate, or heart-shaped appearance
->o characteristic.

Between each petal there is a stamen with its an-
ther generally standing out beyond the corolla. Of a
proper calyx there is seldom a vestige, except in the
Lovage, Angelica, and Water Dropwort {(Enanthe
fistulosa.)

From the centre of the flower arise two styles,
each furnished with its stigma, sufficiently appa-
rent, and these often continue so as to crown the
fruit.

The general figure of this fruit is an oblong or oval,

LMBELLATE PLANTS. 10

and either flat, as in the Parsnip, or more or less con-
vex or protuberant, as in the Coriander and Parsley ;
when mature, it divides in the centre into two naked
seeds, which for a while, sometimes, remain suspended
to a hair like pedicle or receptacle.

A superior corolla of five petals, scarcely any visi-
ble calyx, five stamens, and two styles upon a naked
fruit, at length spontaneously divisible into two dry
seeds, connected with a radiated inflorescence, form
the very natural character of the umbelliferous tribe.

The Elder, from its peculiar mode ol inflorescence,
might perhaps be sometimes mistaken for an umbelli-
ferous plant, as well as some ol the species of Cornel,
particularly the red-twigged, but the flowers and
fruit are quite different, and the apparent umbel is
not so in reality, for though the general flower-stalks
come out from a common centre, the peduncles or
partial flower-stalks come out without any regular or-
der ; the whole, however, at a distance presenting a
round and flat cluster, has the appearance of an um-
bel, but is in reality what Botanists term a cyme.

The umbelliferous order is somewhat numerous,
and so natural as to render it difficult to distinguish
the genera. Some authors have given an undue im-
portance to the presence or absence of certain small
leaves placed beneath the general and partial umbel,
the larger termed involucrum, and the lesser, or par-
tial, called involucellum. It may be true, that they
are pretty generally present or absent in certain gene-
ra, but as they are only equivalent to those minute or
peculiar leaves which we find under certain flowers,
and then called bractes, we ought to search for more
important characters, connected, if possible, in every
genus, with those essential organs, termed the parts of
fructification. But in these plants we find nothing,
commonly, peculiar in any part of the flower ; but in

20 UMBELLATE PLANTS.

the seed, when mature, a marked distinction is ob-
servable in each genus. In some, as the Parsnip, the
seeds are perfectly flat; in Coriander quite spherical;
in the Caraway almost cylindric ; in the Carrot arm-
ed with hooked bristles; in the Hemlock marked with
undulating ridges ; in Thapsia furnished with little
margins like wings ; in Cachrys coated with a large
spongy shell, like cork, &tc. So that an attention to
this particular alone will be sufficient, very generally,
to point out the genus.

As specimens of this family, which I may recom-
mend to your examination, may be mentioned the
Carrot, Parsley, Hemlock, Lovage, Angelica, Fool's-
parsley, Cow-parsnip, Water-parsnip, &ic. which
have white flowers, and Fennel, Dill, and Parsnip,
which have them yellow.

Among this tribe, the Carrot, Parsnip, Parsley,
Cellery, Chervil, Skerret, and Arrekacha are em-
ployed as articles of diet, but most of them, in their
natural state, are either poisonous or unwholesome ;
indeed, most of the tribe are considered dangerous
when grown in a wet soil, and several, as the Hem-
loci , Dropwort, Fool's-parsley , and Cicuta or Cowbane,
rank amongst the most certain poisons indigenous to
E'irope and North America. The Fool's-parsley
{JEthasa Cynapivm), as its name implies, has not
unfrequently been gathered and eaten with Parsley,
which it much resembles in its finely compounded
and dissected leaves ; its taste, however, is nauseous,
and its smell heavy and disagreeable, but the botanist
has long pointed out its physical trait of distinction,
in the peculiar character of its involucelluin, of three
long, narrow leaflets depending from the outer base
of the partial umbel. The form of its seed is also
entirely different from Parsley, being convex, and
broader, marked on the back with three prominent

COMPOUND FLOWERS. 21

ridges, whereas Parsley has a seed marked with five
equal inconspicuous lines.

CHAPTER VI.

OF COMPOUND FLOWKHS.

The true character of these common flowers are
but little suspected by ordinary observers. Thus the
flower of the White-weed or Ox-eye Daisy (Chry-
santhemum Leucanthemum), but too common in our
dry pastures, in place of being a single flower, as
every body supposes who has not studied its charac-
ter, is, in fact, an aggregate of some hundreds of
minute flowers, most of them provided with a corolla,
stamens, styles, and seed, as perfect in their kind as
the flower of the Tuiip or the Lily. To be con-
vinced of this, you have only to take it up and
examine it with a little care by the help of the most
simple microscope. You will perceive that this flow-
er consists of two principal parts, namely, a yellow
centre, and a white border. The yellow floscules in
the centre, called the disc of the flower, and which
appear little bigger than so many anthers, consist of a
funnel-formed corolla, with a five-toothed border.
Within this corolla exists a yellow tube, formed of five
anthers joined together in the form of a cylinder ; at
their base, indeed, the five filaments appear distinct,
and are elastic, curling up when torn from the corolla.
Through the centre of this tube of anthers passes the
style, terminated by a bifid, reflected stigma ; below
is attached the germ which becomes the seed, and in
many of these plants, as in the Dandelion, the seed
is crowned by an egret or downy plume, by which it
becomes wafted abroad to considerable distances.

22 COMPOUND FLOWERS.

"The white rays of the border, which look like bits
of tape, are also so many distinct florets, but less per-
fect than the yellew tubular ones of the disc ; they
are toothed commonly at the extremity, and appear to
be tubular florets, cleft open nearly to the base, and
deprived of the tube of stamens, but furnished with
the style and bifid stigma. The whole of these
florets or lesser flowers included within one common
calyx, formed, in the White-weed, of numerous scales
laid over each other like tiles on the roof of a house
or imbricated, constitute this curious assemblage, de-
servedly called a compound flower. The Sun-flower,
Thistle, or Artichoke, from their superior magnitude,
would best explain the nature of these curious little
flowers, which are almost always similar in any other
flower that you may discover to be componnd. As
might ^e supposed from the nature of a compound
flower, the florets are not all eijftunled at the same time,
and they commonly begin to open at the edge of the
disc, and proceed inwards to the centre for a period
of several days.

The tribe of compound flowers are divisible into
three distinct sections, upon which Linnaeus, Jussieu,
and others have divided them into orders and tribes.
The whole are composed of two sorts of flowers, or
rather florets, as many, or several of them united in
a common calyx go to form the general or compound
flower. These florets are all either tubular, with a
toothed border ; or strap-shaped, the floret appearing
split open, and spread out like a piece of tape, but
still retaining the toothed extremity. These were call-
ed by old botanical writers semi-florets, or halved
flowers.

In the first section, then, we may place the semi-
flosculous flowers, being made up entirely of flat or
strap-shaped florets. Such you* will find the flowers of

COMPOUND FLOWERS. 23

the Dandelion, Succory (or Blue weed), Lettuce,
Sowthistle, and others. These plants, so naturally-
allied to each other, have nearly all the same physical
properties ; several of them are eatable as salads,
though they all possess, at one period or other, a de-
gree of bitterness, and a milky sap of the nature of
opium.

The second section comprehends the flosculous
flowers, or such as are composed solely of the tubular
florets, and are, like the preceding flowers, of an uni-
form color ; such are those of Thistles, the Burdock,
the Artichoke, Wormwood, and Uatris.

In the third general section, the flowers are com-
posed of botli kinds of florets ; the centre or disc,
which is often yellow (as in the White-weed, or Ox-
eye Daisy), consisting of tubular florets, while the
circumference or ray is formed of flat florets generally
of a different color from the disc. These have been
called radiate fioxvers. The radial florets are gener-
ally provided with the style and stigma, but destitute
of anthers. In some flowers, as the Sunflower, the
rays are entirely barren or destitute of the style ;
while, on the contrary, in the Marygold, the florets of
the disc are abortive, and the flat rays only afford the
perfect seed ; hence, from this comparative degree of
perfection, has Linnaeus divided the radiate flowers
into different orders of his class Syngenesia.

The general point or place where the florets are
seated in a compound flower is called the receptacle,
and it usually presents little pits like the summit of a
honeycomb ; though commonly naked, sometimes this
receptacle presents hairs or scales, which are inter-
posed between the florets. The calyx generally con-
sists of a number of divisions or leaflets, either spread-
ing out erect, or closely laid over each other, or im-
bricated. In the Dandelion these leaves are in a

24 THE ROSACEOUS FAMILY.

double row, the outer spreading. In the Thistle the
calyx is imbricated, and each scale or leaflet termi-
nated by a spine. But every genus or family of the
compound flowers, has its particular marks or charac-
ters of distinction to be studied at leisure. At present,
we have only to do with the distinguishing traits of
the compound flowers ; and here one of the most
obvious and certain distinctions of this great tribe is
the union of the anthers into a tube. This circum-
stance alone, will at once direct you, in every case of
doubt, to the true and invariable character of the
compound class, and hence termed Syngenesia by
Linnaeus, in reference to this growing together of the
anthers. But for this character, you might readily
suppose that the flowers of the Teasel and the Sca-
bious were indubitably of this tribe, and though they
are indeed compound or aggregate flowers, their
stamens, only four, are not united or syngenesious.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE ROSACEOUS FAMILY.

In the family of the Roses are included not only
some of the most beautiful ornaments of our gardens,
but the principal, and almost only fruits of our or-
chards. It is divisible, however, into several sections,
and in the first, which has been called Pomaces, or
the Apple tribe, is arranged our fruits, distinguished
as follow : The stamens, twenty or more, (or indefi-
nite in their number,) instead of arising from the re-
ceptacle or base of the germ, are attached to the
calyx, either immediately, or with the corolla, which
consists commonly of five petals. The following are
characters of some of the principal genera.

OK THE ROSACEOUS FAMILY. 25

In Pyrus, which contains the Apple, Pear, and
formerly the Quince, the calyx is monophyllous or of
one piece, and divided into five segments ; the corolla
of five petals attached to the calyx ; about twenty
stamens, also, growing to the calyx, and, indeed, re-
maining with it in a withered state on the summit of
the fruit. The germ is inferior, or immersed in the
enlarging fleshy calyx, and there are five styles, cor-
responding with the five cells containing the seeds
buried in the centre of the apple.

The genus Primus or the Plum, comprehending
also the Cherry, the Laurel, and till lately the Apri-
cot, has the calyx, corolla, and stamens, nearly as in
the Pear. But the germ is superior, or within the
corolla ; and there is but one style. The fruit is also
succulent, contains a stone or nut, and is in technical
botanic language then called a drupe.

The genus Almond (or Amygdalus), including also
the Peach and Nectarine, is almost like the Plum,
but the germ has often a down upon it ; and the fruit,
which every body knows to be succulent in the Peach,
and dry in the Almond, incloses a hard nut, readily
distinguished from that of the Prunus or Plum, by
being rough, and full of cavities.

The Pomegranate, Service, and Medlar also belong
to this useful section of the Rosacea.

The Rose itself, and the section to which it more
immediately belongs, is easily distinguished by the in-
definite and very considerable number of styles, and
peculiar nature of its fruit. In the Rose, each style
is terminated below by a dry and hairy seed attached
to the sides of the persisting and swelling base of the
calyx, which, as the hip, acquires a red or yellow
color, and fleshy consistence.

Next to the Rose, in the order of affinity or natural
relation, comes the Rubus or Bramble, which only
3

26 OF THE ROSACEOUS FAMILY.

differs from the Rose in having the whole calyx spread
out flat, and the clustered seeds each coated with a
pulp. This is then called a compound berry, and its
separate succulent grains, acini. To this genus be-
long the Blackberry, Raspberry, Dewberry, Thim-
ble-berry, and others.

The Strawberry has also the flower of the Rose,
but the calyx is furnished with five small additional
leaflets, and the receptacle becomes a succulent
sweet mass covered with the dry seeds, and is thus
entitled, as it were, by a slight accident of structure,
to the rank of a most delicious fruit. This receptacle
when mature is deciduous, or separable from the
calyx.

The Cinquefoil, or Potentilla, only differs from the
Strawberry in the dryness and juicelessness of its
seed receptacle ; but though some species have also
trifoliate leaves, they have more commonly five leaf-
lets, like the fingers of the hand, all arising from the
summit of the petiole, or leaf stalk, and hence called
digitate. In the barren Strawberry, now very proper-
ly referred to Potentilla, the flowers, in place of the
usual yellow color, are white, and the leaves trifoliate
and ribbed as in the Strawberry ; so that here we
almost lose the discriminating limits of the two genera,
which insensibly pass into each other, and tend, among
many other facts of the same kind, to prove, that, in
truth, our generic distinctions are only arbitrary helps
which we employ for discrimination, and that nature
knows no rigid bounds, but plays through an infinite
variety of forms, and ever avoids monotony.

Nearly all the fine fruits and flowers of the family
of the RosacejE which we so generally cultivate,
originate in temperate climates. The Apple has been
obtained from the wild Crabtree of Northern Europe :
the Pear from the very unpromising wilding of

CLASSES OF THE LINNiEAN SYSTEM. 2 i

the same country, but bears a warm climate better
than the apple. The Quince (Cydonia) is found
wild in hedges and rocky places in the south of Eu-
rope. The Plum (Prunus domestica) is likewise
indigenous to the south of Europe, but scarcely eat-
able in its native state. That variety called the
Damason, or the egg-shaped plum, was probably
introduced from Syria. The Peach (Jimygdalm
persica) is the produce of Persia. The Almond
occurs wild in the hedges of Morocco. The Cherry
(Prunus cemsas) is the product of Cerasonte ; the
Apricot of Armenia ; the Pomegranate (Punka gra-
natum) of Persia and Carthage.

CHAPTER VIII.

EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES OF THE LINNiEAN
SYSTEM.

The difficulties, defects, and laborious investigation
requisite for classing plants by a natural method of
arrangement, render it necessary, at least for the be-
ginner, to chose some easier route to the knowledge
of plants. For this purpose artificial methods have
been invented, and none more successfully applied in
practice than that of the celebrated Linnaeus.

His classes are founded upon the number and dis-
position of the stamina, and his orders often upon the
number of the pistils.

In comparing a plant by this system, you first ex-
amine whether the flowers are complete, or furnished
with stamens and pistils, and in the next place,
whether the stamens are entirely separate from the
pistil, and each other, from top to bottom, or united
in some part or other : if they are separate, of the

-ZO EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES

same or an indeterminate length, and less in numbei
than fifteen, then the number alone will Suffice to
determine the class ; so those which have one stamen
will belong to the first class, entitled Monandria;
those with two stamens to the second, Diandric;
those with three to the third, Triandria; and so on
to the tenth, entitled Decandria. These names are
derived from the Greek language, as most expressive
in composition, and ought to be committed to memory,
as they are of constant use and occurrence in this
ingenious system.

Flowers in their natural or wild state ought to be
preferred by the beginner, to those which are culti-
vated in gardens, as the exuberance arising from the
richness of soil, and an artificial treatment, are often
influential in altering the natural number of the parts
of flowers ; and, in the examples of those which are
double, entirely transforming or annihilating the sta-
mens and pistils. A certain symmetry, however,
which prevails in the general structure of flowers, will,
when understood, serve in a measure to guard the
student from error in his decisions on the class and
order of a plant ; as, for example, if you meet with a
flower whose calyx presents five or ten divisions, and
includes five or ten petals, you may constantly expect
to find in such flower, if possessed of a definite num-
ber of stamens, five or ten of these essential organs,
and if the divisions of the flower be four or six. there
will be, as a concomitant circumstance, four, eight, or
six stamens. As to the rare class Heptandria, or of
seven stamens, for which the Horse-cbesnut is given
as an example, it is so irregular, and foreign to the
symmetry of the parts of the flower with which it is
conjoined, that as a class it might probably be laid
aside without inconvenience.

OF THE LINNiEAN SYSTEM. 29

No flower being known constantly possessed of
eleven stamens, the eleventh class of Linnaeus con-
tained those plants which were said to have twelve,
and therefore entitled Dodecandria ; but as there are
scarcely any plants in existence with exactly twelve
stamens, all plants were comprehended in this class
possessed of any number of stamens from eleven to
nineteen inclusive. This slender distinction of num-
ber, however, where irregular and inconstant, and
more than ten, does not deserve to form the basis of
any particular class ; and all the plants of Dodecandria,
according to the insertion of the stamens, may be
conveniently distributed in one or other of the two
following classes ; for, without this generalizing, spe-
cies of one natural genus might be dispersed into two
different classes, as in Hudsonia, where some species
are Dodecandrous, and another Icosandrous !

All plants having more separate stamens than ten,
if we abolish Dodecandria, will belong to one of the
two following classes, in which, the mere number of
stamens is no longer of importance, being inconstant,
and the insertion or situation of the stamens alone
distinguishes the class : thus, in Icosandria they are
seated upon the calyx or corolla (as in the Apple and
the Rose) ; but in the class Polyandria, on the base
or receptacle of the flower (as in the Columbine and
Poppy). This difference of situation, in this system,
is only attended to in the flowers of these two classes,
which have many stamens. The name Icosandria
(from the Greek uxoov, twenty, and wvt^q, a mm, by
allusion a stamen), would indicate apparently a class of
flowers with twenty stamens ; in many of our orchard
fruits this is about the usual number ; but in the Rose
and Cactus there are many more, and their insertion
alone, either immediately on the calyx, or on the
3*

30 EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES

claws or bases of the petals, decides what plants ought
to be referred to this class.*

The class Polyandria (from nolvg, many, and arijp)
differs only from the preceding in the insertion of the
stamens, which may be, if we abolish Dodecandria,from
eleven to one thousand ; these are always situated on
the base or receptable of the flower, and fall off with
the petals. But in the Rose and many orchard fruits
of the preceding class the stamens adhere to the per-
manent calyx.

In the next class Didynamia (or of two powers,
in allusion to the unequal length of the stamens, which
are only four in number), the proportional length is
the essential character, two being longer than the
other pair. In such flowers, also, there is almost uni-
versally an irregularity in the form of the corolla,
which is always monopetalous ; and, in fact, you will
immediately perceive in the Didynamous class of Lin-
naeus, the labiate and personate groups with which
you are already acquainted ; so that here, as in sev-
eral other instances, the artificial and natural method
of arrangement agree together.

Your Cruciform flowers form, also, Linnaeus's next
class of stamens with different proportions in length,
which he terms Tetradynamia. These have four
stamens longer than the other two, which gives rise
to the name of the class. The flowers are remark-
able, in having, contrary to the usual symmetry in
the structure, six stamens, and only a calyx and
corolla of four parts ; yet two of the six stamens

* Calycandria, in allusion to the insertion of the stamens in
this class, would have been a preferable name to that of Icosandria,
so commonly deceptive ; and such a term, which I had long thought
of. has been employed by my friend Dr.' Darlington, in his Cata-
logue of Plants growing round Chester, Pennsylvania,

OF THE LINNJEAN SYSTEM. 31

recede from the rest, and four others are symmetri-
cal with the other parts of the flower.

In the four following classes, the essential circum-
stance assumed is the union of the filaments or of the
anthers.

Thus in Monadelphia (or the class of one brother-
hood, as the word implies), the filaments are united,
more or less distinctly, from their base upwards ; but
in some genera this character is far from being as ob-
vious as could be desired. In the family of the Mal-
lows, which includes the Hollihocfc, this union of the
filaments into a column occupying the interior of the
flower, is, however, very obvious, and gave rise in
former systems to the just application of the term Co-
lumniferce to this tribe. Nearly all of them are provid-
ed with a double calyx of an unequal number of di-
visions ; the corolla, of five inversely heart or wedge-
shaped petals, is united together into one piece at the
base, where it also coalesces with the column of sta-
mens; and through the centre of this column, at
length, is seen the projecting thread-like styles, being
from five, to an indefinite, or considerable number in
each flower ; whatever be the number, there is at the
base a similar number of distinct capsules, or so ma-
ny united cells forming a single capsule by their ad-
herence. In the cotton plant the seeds are envelop-
ed in a considerable quantity of that kind of vegetable
wool which constitutes so important an article of our
clothing.

In the next class, the seventeenth of Linnaeus, called
Diadelphia (or two brotherhoods), the united fila-
ments are disposed in two bodies. The flowers have but
one pistil ; the fruit is a legume or pod ; and the irre-
gular corolla, termed papilionaceous, must at once
bring to your recollection a natural group of plants
with which you are already acquainted. The Dia-

32 EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES

delphous character of this tribe is sometimes quite
ambiguous ; the united filaments are commonly nine
out of ten, the whole number ; but there are, as in the
broom (Spartium), some papilionaceous flowers with
all the ten filaments united ; and only the curious gen-
era Sesbania, and sensitive Smithia in which the ten
filaments are united in two equal numbers.

In the eighteenth class of Linnoeus (by many justly
abolished and added to Polyandria), there are three
or more bundles of stamens, more or less united at the
base, and it is hence termed Pol\adelphia (or many
brotherhoods). In St. John's wort [Hypericum) there
are species with the filaments in bundles, and others
with the stamens simply Polyandrous. In the beauti-
ful examples of Melaleuca, this character can be noth-
ing more than generic ; as it is, in fact, the principal
distinction which separates it from the Icosandrous
M.etrosideros.

The next class, called Syngenesia (in allusion to
the peculiar union of the anthers), is perfectly natural,
and one with which you are acquainted as the com-
pound flowers. In the examination of the Thistle, the
Artichoke, and the Sunflower, you will be at no loss
to perceive the double character of this class. The
apparent flowers, or rather heads, being always form-
ed by the aggregation of several, sometimes some hun-
dreds of lesser flowers, hence called jlosculi or florets,
which in themselves are peculiarly distinguished by
having the anthers (always four or five) united into a
minute cylinder, but distinguishable as the parts of so
many distinct stamens by the disunion of the filaments
that rest upon the small corolla.

In the class Gynandria, the 20th of Linnaeus, there
is a singular union of the stamen and pistillum, suffi-
ciently remarkable among the natural tribe of Orchi-
deous plants, in which the pollen, or fertilizing pow-

OF THE LINNJEAN SYSTEM. 06

tier, but little resembling ordinary stamens, is concret-
ed into masses, commonly two, which lie concealed,
as in the Orchis, within two lateral hoods of the style,
or within a moveable or hinged lid at its summit, as in
the Calopogon and Jlrethusa of our swamps. Very
few plants now find place in this ambiguous class, and
those which do, particularly the Orchides, are among
the rarest and most curious productions of the vegeta-
ble kingdom.

The flowers of the plants of the preceding classes,
each possessed of both stamens and pistils, have been
termed perfect, to distinguish them from those of the
two following classes, in which the flowers are dissim-
ilar, some producing stamens, but no pistils, and are
consequently unproductive of the seed ; while others
afford pistils and fruit, but are without perfect stamens.
These two kinds of flowers are differently circum-
stanced. In the Cucumber, or Gourd, for example,
you will find both sorts of flowers upon the same plant,
occupying different situations on the stem ; for such
plants Linnaeus has provided the class which he calls
MoNfficiA (or of one house), two kinds of flowers being
found on the same plant.

But in the next class Dicecia (or of two houses),
as in the Hemp and Spinage, only one sort of flowers
are found on a plant, some ol them being altogether
pistiliferous or staminiferous. Two different plants
are here, therefore, necessary to the perfection of the
species ; and that such an association of these dissimi-
larly flowered individuals is requisite in the plan ot na-
ture has been proven by the Date palm, as a pistilife-
rous plant bears no fruit in the absence of the stamin-
iferous individual, and even the pollen itself, when
conveyed to a distance, still possesses this fertilizing
power, and has been found to act exclusively upon the
branch to which it was applied.

,34 EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES

In the twenty-third class of Linnaeus, Polygamia,
now generally abolished as inconvenient in practice, and
incorporated with the preceding class Dicecia, there
are complete and incomplete flowers distributed on
two or three different individuals of the same spe-
cies.

The last, or twenty-fourth class of this system, call-
ed Cryptogamia, from the obscurity of the parts of
fructification, merits almost the distinction of a sepa-
rate kingdom ; to it belong the Ferns, Mosses, Li-
chens, Seaweeds, and Fungusses. In all these,
though seed or spora be produced, of extreme minute-
ness, no distinct corolla, stamens, nor pistils are dis-
coverable, and the fruit itself is so inconspicuous as to
be a mere object for the exercise of the microscope.
In this tribe, generation appears almost spontaneous,
as in the Mould and Mucor, which show themselves
readily wherever there is moisture, and in the absence
of light so necessary to all other vegetables. Yet
even in these, the most simple of organized bodies,
appropriate receptacles are provided for the spores or
seminal germs, proving the existence of the universal
law of nature, that without a parent mediate or imme-
diate,* neither animal nor vegetable, in whatever part
of the scale of existence they are found, can possibly
have a being.

* In these, as in all other plants, there are two modes of origin ;
one from the seed consequent on generation, and giving place to
variety ; the other soboliferous, individuals protruded as buds or off-
sets, and, when separated from the parent producing other perfect
plants, but possessed of all the qualities of the individual parent.

ORDERS OF THE LINNJEAN SYSTEM. 35

CHAPTER IX.

EXPLANATION OF THE ORDERS OF THE SYSTEM OF

LINNiEUS.

The orders, or secondary divisions of this system,
in the first thirteen classes are founded wholly upon
the number ot the pistils; and, like the classes, receive
their names from the Greek, as Monogynia or Digy-
■ina the order of one or two styles; the term gynia,
indicating the feminine or fruit-bearing part of the
flower.

In the class Didynamia, including two very distinct
natural orders, the pistillum, which is single in them
both, affords no longer a numerical distinction, and in
consequence, the character of the fruit forms the ordi-
nal distinctions. In the first order, called Gymno-
spermia (or naked seed), there is no capsule ; but a
gaping flower, succeeded by four naked seeds within
the calyx. In the second order, Angiospermia, the
vingent or personate flower is succeeded generally by
a two-celled pericarp, containing many seeds.

In the next class Tetradynamia, there is also but
a single pistil ; so that the two sections, or natural or-
ders, into which it is divided, are again distinguished
by the nature of the fruit. In the first order, Sincu-
losa, the pod is short, or nearly as broad as long, and
divided commonly by a narrow or transverse partition
into two cells, as in the Cress and Shepherd's-purse ;
in Lunaria or Moonwort, however, wmere the silicle is
very large and quite flat, the valves and partition are
all of the same width. There is almost an insensible
passage from one order to the other, Siliqjiosa, of
this class, which differs from the preceding order by
having a long and narrow pod, as in the Cabbage, and

36 ORDERS OF THE LINN^AN SYSTEM.

Wallflower ; also, similarly divided into two cells by a
partition, in which last character the pod or silique es-
sentially differs from the legume, or fruit of the Pea
and Bean, which has only one cell, with two valves,
but no partition, and only a single row of seeds.

In the classes Monadelphia and Diadelphia,
the number of stamens constitute the ordinal divis-
ions, as Monadelphia Pentandria, &c. of which the
Passion-flower is an example.

In the class Syngensia, or compound flowers, a
somewhat complex method is employed to character-
ize the orders. The comparative perfection of the
florets is taken into account, for in this class there ex-
ists all degrees of aberration, from the perfect floscules
of the Thistle, containing both stamens and styles,
to the rays, or neutral florets, in the border of the Sun-
flower, which are reduced to mere petals, with the ru-
diments of seed.

It is with this view that the first order of Syngene-
sia takes the appellation of Polygamia ./Equalis, po-
lygamia indicates the compound nature of the flower
in all the orders but Monogamia (or one marriage) ;
but as this last order is universally abolished, the term
Polygamia ought also to cease. The order JEqualis,
or of equal flowers, indicates that in such compound
flowers, as the Thistle and Burdock, every floscule is
equally provided with styles and stamens. This order
is also subdivided into floscidosa and ligulata. The flos-
culous flowers, as those of the Thistle and Artichoke,
consist of an aggregate of small tubular flowers, with
a regular five-cleft border, but are still distinct from all
other simple flowers in the singular character of the
class, the united, anthers. In the second division of
the order ^E^ualis, called ligulata, as you may see
at once in the Dandelion, all the flowers are still per-
fect, but the corolla, from centre to circumference,

OF THE LINNJEAN SYSTEM. 37

presents nothing but flat or strap-shaped florets, notch-
ed at the extremity ; they may, in fact, be properly
considered as so many ordinary florets, with the di-
visions so closely united, as merely to be ascertained
by the number of teeth at the extremity of the strap,
but with the whole tubular corolla split open to the
base, so as, at first glance, to resemble a single petal,
or component of an ordinary flower. This tribe, the
ligulatce, are also curiously distinguished from the
preceding, or flosculosce, by the physical character of
giving out a milky juice on being wounded, which
juice partakes, more or less, of the nature of opium,
a drug which we derive from a very different family
of plants.

In the second order, termed Superflua, as you
will perceive in the Daisy, Aster, and African Mary-
gold, the florets of the centre or disc of the flower
are all perfect, while the flat florets, which form the
ray, are merely pistilliferous, and without stamens ;
but in this order, to distinguish it from Necessaria, all
the florets perfect seed. Most of the radiate, or
bordered compound flowers with which you will meet,
belong to this common order.

In the third order, called Frustranea, of which
you will find an example in the Sunflower and the
Rudbeckia, the disc, as in the preceding order,
affords perfect flowers, but the rays, excepting an
imperfect rudiment of seed, are reduced to mere
petals, and have no style.

The fourth order, Necessaria, (of which there are
but few examples in nature, and none which you can
more readily examine than the common single Mary-
gold,) presents a disc of florets apparently perfect,
but not so in reality, as they are not succeeded by
seed, the rays only affording this prerequisite of fu-
ture existence. The five native genera, Silphium,
4

38 EXPLANATION OF THE ORDERS

Polymnia, Parthenium, Chrysogonum, and Baltimora,
are nearly all that appertain to this curious order in
the United States.

In the fifth order, Segregata, which is essentially-
only a modification of the first, there is, besides the
general calyx or involucrum of the whole family, par-
tial or included calyces, each containing one or more
florets, which in Echinops and Elephantopus are
perfect, as in iEojJALis, and tubular, as in the section
fiosculosce. This order approaches in some degree
the aggregate flowers, such as the Teasel and Scabi-
ous, but is at once distinguished as Syngenesious, by
the characteristic union of the anthers.

The sixth order, now very properly abolished, was
termed Monogamia, because it contained plants with
simple, instead of compound or polygamous flowers; but
the plants referred to it were completely at variance
with all the rest of the class ; such were the Violet
and Balsam, in which, indeed, no proper union of the
anthers takes place.

In the three following classes, Gynandria, Mo-
n(ecia, and Dkecia, the orders are founded upon the
number and disposition of the stamens, and bear the
same names as the foregoing classes, as Gynandria
Monandria; and so on.

The class Polygamia, now generally laid aside,
was divided into three orders ; viz. Moncecia, when
perfect and imperfect flowers existed on the same
plant (as may be seen in some Maples) ; Dicecia (as
in the Ash), when perfect flowers are found on one
plant, and imperfect ones on a second individual of
the same species ; and Triogcia, when perfect flow-
ers exist on one plant, staminiferous ones on a second,
and pistilliferous flowers on a third individual of the
same species ; of which singular and very uncommon
disposition, the common Fig is given as an example ;

OF THE LINN-SAN SYSTEM. 39

but, at this time, the three orders of this perplexing
class are more readily found, and better arranged in
the two preceding classes.

The last class of Linnaeus, or more properly grand
division of the vegetable kingdom, is called Crypto-
gam] a, from its invisible flowers and obscure fruit.
Neither stamens nor pistils, as in the other classes,
are here found. The natural divisions alone, then,
serve as ordinal distinctions, and four of these orders
are commonly adopted ; viz. 1st. The Filices, or
Ferns, by much the largest plants of the class,
some of them in tropical climates attaining the stature
of trees. 2d. Musci, the Mosses, having the fruit
of a very curious and complicated structure. 3d.
Alce, or Seaweeds, whose seeds or Spora are im-
mersed or hidden within some part more or less con-
spicuous of the substance of the plant. 4th. Fungi,
or Funguses ; such are the Mushroom and Puff-ball,
the impalpable dust of which last plant, specifically
light as air, consists of innumerable quantities of
germs, capable, like seeds, of regenerating individuals,
and that to almost any extent, if external circum-
stances were equally favorable. Indeed the lightness
and minuteness of the seeds or spora of this class of
plants may readily account for their occasional ap-
pearance in places and situations where they are
so little expected, that many among them have
been brought forward as common examples of the
existence of spontaneous vegetation. The indestruc-
tibility of many plants of this class is, also, nearly as
remarkable as the minuteness and prolificacy of their
spora. Many of the same Lichens and Seaweeds
are found in all situations, and in all climates, tropical,
as well as frigid ; and we have no reason, consequent-
ly, to believe that their means of increase and propa-
gation are less elusive or extensive.

40 EXPLANATION &.C. OF THE LINNjEAN SYSTEM.

Linnxus, at one period, formed of the palms,
which he had not then well examined, a twenty-fifth
class. Among the vegetable gnomes which his fancy
had created, they were the " Princes of India," bear-
ing their fructification on a spadix (or peculiar re-
ceptable) within a spathe ; remarkable for their pro-
digious height and flowing summit, having an unvaried,
undivided, perennial trunk, crowned by a sempervi-
rent tuft of leaves, and rich in abundance of large,
(and sometimes) fine fruit.

A TABULAR VIEW

OF THE

CLASSES OF THE SYSTEM OF LINNAEUS.

I. Phjenogamous Plants, or with conspicuous Flowers

Classes dependent on the number of stamens only.

I. Monandria. One stamen.

II. Diandria. Two stamens.

III. Triandria. Three stamens.

IV. Tetrandria Four equal stamens.
V. Pentandria. Five stamens.

VI. Hexandria. Six equal stamens.
VII. Heptandria. Seven stamens.
VIII. Octandria. Eight stamens.
IX. Enneandria. Nine stamens.
X. Decandria. Ten stamens.
Stamens many, indefinite in number, and in which the situation
is essential.
XI. Icosandria. 15 or more stamens on the calyx.
XII. Polyandria. 15 or more stamens on the receptacle
Stamens definite, but of unequal length.

XIII. Didynamia. 4 stamens ; 2 longer. Corolla irregular.

XIV. Tetradynamia. 6 stamens ; 4 longer. Corolla cru-

ciform.

Stamens with the filaments united.
XV. Monadelphia. Filaments united in one bundle.
XVI. Diadelphia. Filaments in two bodies. Corollst

papilionaceous

Stamens with the anthers united.
XVII. Syngenesia. Flowers compound.
Stamens attached to the pistillum.
XVIII. Gynandria. Stamens generally one or two.
Flowers of two kinds, on the same or on different plants.
XIX. Monoecia. Two kinds of flowers on the same plant.
XX. Dkecia. Two kinds of flowers on 2 different plants.

II. Cryptogamous Plants, or with inconspicuous or he-

TEROMORPHOUS FLOWERS.

XXI. Cryptogamia. No proper flowers ; and spora for
seed.

N. B. The classes omitted have been discussed in a preceding
chapter, and the above table is consequently the modified view of
rhe author. The orders are explained in the ninth chapter.
4*

THE CLASS MONANDRIA.

CHAPTER X.

ON THE CLASS MONANDRIA.

We come now to the determination of individual
plants, which from classes and orders, descend to
genera or kinds, and individuals or species ; species
are likewise subject to variations more or less con-
stant, as we see in our fruit trees ; for instance, in the
Apple, of which, all the kinds we cultivate are mere
varieties of one original species, called by botanists
Pyrus Malus, the latter word indicating the name of
the species, the former, or Pyrus, the genus or kind,
and which also includes other species, as the Pyrus
communis, or Pear, the Pyrus coronaria, or sweet-
scented Crab of America, &c. This common generic
character is applied to all such groups of plants, as,
agreeing generally among themselves, present a simi-
larity, not only in the class and order, or stamens and
styles, but in the more intimate connexion of resem-
blance in the flower, and its succeeding fruit ; so that
while classes and orders are often merely artificial
assemblages of plants, a genus always rests satisfied
with bringing together such subordinate groups only
as are clearly natural ; or, while they agree in the
structure of flower and fruit, only differ, specifically,
in the minor consideration of the forms of leaves,
petals, appendages, or slight modifications of parts.
It cannot be denied, that, however anxious the syste-
matic botanist may be to draw nice distinctions among
kindred genera and species, yet, when he proves so
fortunate as to become acquainted with a perfect
group of natural or resembling genera, and approxi-
mating species, he cannot often help but observe
such an interlinking, and gradual passage of one modi-

44 THE CLASS MONANDRIA.

fication of form into another, as to lead to the belief,
that such divisions as genera and species, though
generally convenient and lucid in arrangement, are
often not really in the original plan of nature, which
ever delights in slender shadows of distinction, and
while uniting, yet contrives to vary, with an infinite
diversity, the tribes of her numerous kingdom.

As instruction in Botany, like all other branches of
Natural History, is only attainable by the actual ob-
servation of its individual subjects, and the structure
of their parts, we shall now proceed, as before, to
illustrate the classes by endeavoring to bring before
you a few specimens of each ; after which, the
whole vegetable kingdom, and its numerous individuals
(now known to include more than forty-four thousand
species), will be accessible to you at will, though never
without labor and patience, particularly where the
species of a genus are numerous. This difficulty,
however, is often much lessened by the different
groups or sections into which such genera are divided
from some obvious trait of distinction, common to such
partial assemblage of species.

The class Monandria contains very few plants, and
those principally indigenous to tropical climates, most
of them forming part of Linnaeus's natural order
Scitamine^, so called, in reference to the spicy and
aromatic odor and flavor with which they are so
remarkably endowed ; such, for example, are the
Ginger, Cardamom, Costus, Turmerick, Galangale,
and Arrow-root.

The Canna, however, which, with the Thalia and
Arrow-root, are the only plants of this interesting and
magnificent family, found native within the limits of
the United States, is destitute of the prevailing racy-
flavor and odor of this tribe. They all agree in gen-
eral aspect, and resemble so many luxuriant reeds

THE CLASS MONANDBIA. 45

or grasses, with leaves of an unusual breadth. The
flowers are commonly collected into clusters or spikes,
which gradually expand, and produce flowers of un-
usual brilliance, fragrance, or curiosity of structure.
Indeed, in the flowers of the genus Canna (or Indian
shot), so much augmented by accessions from India,
the specific, as well as generic, or family trait, resides
mostly in the variations of structure observable in the
flower. In all, the calyx, which is superior, or seated
upon the fruit, consists of three leaves, the corolla of
six parts, as among the Lilies, five of them erect,
and the sixth reflected backwards ; the seed-vessel is
also a capsule of three cells, each cell containing
several very hard, and rather large seeds, like Duck-
shot, and from hence it has received the common
name already given. From such a structure, we
should hardly be led to expect the presence of only
a single stamen ; it is also very curiously and un-
usually attached to the side of a petal, which answers
the purpose of a filament. The style itself, likewise
a petal, is entangled or attached to the petaloid fila-
ment.

With the curious aquatic plant Hippuris, also of
this class, possessing scarcely any thing more of flow-
er than a style, anther, and single seed in the bosom
of a set of small verticillate or stellated leaves, I will
not detain you, as it is too uncommon here for a
familiar example ; and even the preceding, except
in the southern extremity of the Union, are only to
be sought for in the garden or green-house.

46 THE CLASS DIANDRIA.

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE CLASS DIANDRIA.

In studying the plants of this and some other
classes, great facility will be derived from attending
to the divisions under which the genera are arranged
in all the systematic books.

In this class, though not numerous, we shall not
find so great a difficulty in obtaining specimens for
examination as in the preceding. There are few
gardens which do not contain the Ldlac and Privet.
They are both provided with an inferior, tubular
corolla ; with a quadrifid or four-cleft border ; but
they are distinguished from each other, as genera, by
the diiFerence of their fruit ; that of the Privet (Li-
gustrum) being a berry with four seeds ; that of the
Lilac (Syringa), a flat and dry capsule of two cells,
with many seeds. The species of Lilac may be
known apart by the leaves, as, in the common Lilac,
where they are heart-shaped ; and in the Persian
(Syringa persica), where they are narrow and lance-
olate or lance-shaped ; of this last, there is also a
variety with the leaves pinnatifid or cleft on either
side into parallel segments, after the manner of the
divisions of a feather. That it is only a variety is
proved, by its seeds producing plants of the ordinary
kind, as also takes place in the Parsley-leaved Elder,
a mere variety of the common species.

In wastes, by road-sides, where there is a little
moisture, in ditches, and in neglected gardens, you
will find early in the spring, and late in autumn, a
set of very humble plants, mostly introduced by acci-
dent from Europe, forming another common genus of
plants belonging to this class, called in Europe, Speed-

THE CLASS DIANDRIC. 4T

well, by Botanists, Veronica. In these, the corolla,
which is extremely fugaceous in warm weather, is
flat or wheel-shaped, and monopetalous, commonly
white, or bluish, and delicately veined with blue, di-
vided into four segments, and the lowest always nar-
rower than the rest ; to this succeeds a two-celled,
inversely heart-shaped, or obcordate, flat capsule,
containing several seeds. In this genus, as in most
others, it is impossible almost to omit observing a
symmetry of parts by two and four.

In the Circaa, called in Europe, Enchanters'
Nightshade (which you will now and then find in
our shady woods, which are not too much pastured
and exposed), the number two prevails throughout.
The calyx is superior and two-leaved ; the corolla of
two petals ; and the pericarp consists of two little
burs or capsules which do not spontaneously open,
and each of them contains two seeds.

In this, as an artificial system of classification, the
mere number and disposition of the stamens are often
in danger of severing apart groups of plants, which
are otherwise natural. As such, Salvia, or the genus
of Sage, though really belonging to the Laeiatje,
lipped, or ringent flowers, already examined, and
which mostly constitute the first order of the class
Didynamia, is placed here for no other reason, than
its possessing two, in place of four unequal sta-
mens ; yet in this genus, characterized entirely by
the peculiarity of its stamens, they make no very
distant approach to the Didynamous character.
The filaments of the stamina are, in fact, double,
or jointed, for one is articulated across the summit of
the other, like a hammer upon its handle, and only
one extremity of the transverse filament produces a
perfect anther, though there is often an abortive or
imperfect rudiment of another at the other extremity.

48 THE GRASSES.

You will observe the same general structure of flower
in the Monarda (sometimes called Mountain Balm),
but none of this peculiarity in the structure of the
stamens ; the corolla, also, is very long and narrow, so
that the upper lip appears to embrace the filaments of
the stamina ; the calyx is regular, and the fruit, as in
Sage, and all the Labiatje, four naked seeds in the
bottom of the calyx, though not often all matured.

The leaves, bractes, and divisions of the calyx
distinguish the species of Salvia from each other.
The common officinal Sage of our gardens has hoary
wrinkled leaves of an oblong-oval form, and crenulate
on the margin ; while in Pennsylvania, New York, and
to the south, you will frequently meet, in meadows,
with a species of Sage (S. lyrata) having transversely
divided or lyrate leaves, without wrinkles, and almost
without odor.

CHAPTER XII.

THE THIRD CLASS.

Of the Grasses.

Under this botanical title, or Gramine;e, are also
included all the grain we cultivate, in common, as
well as Grass, Reeds, and the Sugar-cane. This tribe,
almost without exception, have three stamens, and
two styles, though but a single seed in a husk. No
person, who has ever seen a field of Maize (here
called Corn), at the time when it begins to show a
promise of the grain, need be at a loss, on examining
the top or panicle of this plant, for the obvious exist-
ence of stamens, and every three of them will be
found separately included within a small husk of two

THE GRASSES. 49

leaves ; this is called the glume, as well as the second
envelope, consisting also of two leaves, but in the
situation of the calyx, as the other is in that of the co-
rolla. There is a circumstance in the Maize, how-
ever, which is almost peculiar in this family ; it belongs
to the class Moncecia ; the upper being barren sta-
miniferous flowers, without styles ; the lower aggre-
gated together in a covered spike, are alone fertile and
styliferous ; in the genus Zea, likewise, the styles are
undivided, and only one to each grain, but the whole
cluster contained in the ear, which is so remarkably
long as to be called silk, are exserted or come out to
the light from all parts of the spike to receive the ne-
cessary influence of the aura of the pollen or fertilizing
powder. This pollen may be observed to fall, at times,
almost in a shower from the staminiferous panicle, and
consists of spherical grains, nearly as large as the
eggs of a moth, which necessarily gravitate towards
the lower part of the plant. But how minute the sub-
stance necessary to stimulate to life the preexisting
germ must be, in this, and perhaps all plants, is suffi-
ciently obvious in the Maize, of whose grain there are
several varieties in size, consistence, and color ; for, if
only a single plant of a deep coloured variety be suf-
fered to grow in a field with the white or yellow kind,
an extensive circle of plants which grew in its vicinity
apparently unaltered, will, from their seed, often pro-
duce individuals bearing deep colored (say red or
purple) ears, or grains of some different variety mixed
with the ordinary kind, by which the previous parent,
though growing at a distance, had been influenced.
Nor does the structure of the long and silk-like style
present the possibility of an internal passage to the
germ of any thing large and gross enough to come
under the cognizance of vision, even aided with the
most powerful magnifiers. We perceive then here, in
5

50 THE GRASSES.

this instance, and perhaps generally, no necessity for
the aid of insects to assist the fertilization of the Mo-
noecious or Dioecous plants. Nature is all sufficient for
the purposes she intended, and never could have left
the perpetuation of existence, either wholly or partial-
ly, even in plants, to the uncertain and accidental aid of
animals.

The general aspect of the Grasses is so similar,
and so well understood by all observers, that it is nearly
superfluous to enter into any general definition for the
Tyro. They vary in duration ; those most useful to
man, such as grains, are only annual, or perish when
they have matured their seed, so that perpetual indus-
try, in providing for their existence, is so much a human
requisition, that, as far as we yet know, Wheat, Oats,
and Maize, are extinct as wild plants, and now owe
their being entirely to that stage of human society,
which they so eminently assist to support.

But the greatest number of Grasses are perennial,
or exist for an indefinite period, and annually die to
the ground. A few in mild or tropical climates only
are supplied with woody or enduring stems ; such are
some of the Reeds, the Sugar-cane, the Cane of the
western and southern parts of the United States, and
the Bamboo, which becomes so large a tree as to af-
ford a canoe from half of a culm, as the Botanists call
the stems of all the Grasses; their joints or articula-
tions are also called nodes, and from this point alone
they produce their leaves and buds. The interior of
the culm, in the cane, often produces a secretion of
flinty liquor, and the whole epidermis, or outer sur-
face of Canes and Grasses, is in reality glazed with a
thin siliceous coating, which in the woody stems rea-
dily blunts the edge of a knife.

The leaves of this tribe are arranged along the
stem in an alternate order, and attached by means of

THK GHASSKS. <J 1

aa embracing sheath to the cylindric or flattened culm,
they are invariably undivided, long, narrow and ter-
minating in a lengthened point. The vessels which
compose the leaf, after the manner of the Lilies, and
other plants of the great Monocotyledonous* class oi
the natural method, go off in right lines, and are nev-
er reticulated or branched.

The flowers in the Grasses scarcely deserve the
name ; they are always herbaceous or greenish like
the leaves, from which, even to the philosophic eye,
they in reality scarcely differ ; for they have no sym-
metry in the number of parts with the stamens, which
are three ; the glume being constantly two-valved, or
leaved, except as in Alopecurus (Foxtail grass), and a
few others, where the two leaves are naturally ingraft-
ed together at the sides, and have only two distinct
points. The relation of the glume (both that of the
calyx and corolla) to mere leaves, or their sheathes,
would appear from their alternate order, one being
always outside or embracing the other which is interi-
or. The glume of the calyx even sends out a real
leaf in Cripsis and the Spinifex pumilus of the Mis-
souri. The name glume, then, given to the calyx and
corolla of the grasses, will serve at once to distinguish
this heteroclite class of flowers, there being, in fact,
among the Grasses no true calyx or corolla, merely
two or three sets of sheathes for the purpose of pro-
tecting the stamens. This abortion and anomaly of
parts operating against the symmetry of the flower of
the grasses goes yet farther, for we find two stigmas to
the production of one seed, but that seed is of an irre-
gular form, as you may at once observe in a grain of
Wheat, Oats, or Barley, which presents not a cylin-

* So called from the peculiar character of their germination ;
sending up no seed-leaves or Cotyltdones, the mass of the seed
itself, undivided or single, remaining attached to the summit of
the root of the young plant.

52 THE GRASSES.

der, but its half ; or rather, it is on one side convex,
and on the opposite hollow or grooved. Nor is there
any thing like a pericarp, or vessel for the enclosure
of the seed in the Grasses, which, destitute of a true
flower, are likewise without its concomitant pericarp,
and present the rare example of a perfectly naked
seed, inclosed only by that substitute which nature has
provided for the protection of the stamens. The
Grasses, in common with the Lilies, also present anom-
alies, from the other plants we have examined, in their
mode of germinating. After planting the seed of the
Radish or Mustard, you perceive that it, at first, de-
velopes two leaves, quite different in form and sub-
stance from those which succeed ; these two leaves
are called cotyledones, and the great mass of plants
which produce them, are, by those who study natural
affinities, hence called Dicotyledones. In our tribe,
the Grasses, a very different arrangement takes place
for the nourishment of the infant plant, which could
not, apparently, subsist without some such prepared
supply. On planting a grain of Corn, Wheafr or
Barley, after the protrusion of the germ, and the de-
velopement of its leaves, which are all alike except in
size, and very different from true seed-leaves, the
whole mass of the grain, unaltered in its form, will be
found attached, and never transformed into cotyle-
dones. By most of those, however, who study the nat-
ural method, this class of plants are called Monocoty-
ledones, or plants with one seed-lobe, though with
propriety they may rather be considered as destitute
of proper seed-lobes altogether, and the germ, mere-
ly nourished by a reservoir of inert matter, saccharine
in Barley, after undergoing a chemical change, and
passing by solution into the vessels of the growing
plant. We see, then, here, an additional substitution
for true rotvledones, not merelv for the Grasses,

THE GRASSES.

53

but for the whole monocotyledonous class, so called.
In the Grasses, then, there are no eotyledones ; no true
leaves as well distinguished from the glume, when fur-
nished with articulated appendages ; no true corolla or
calyx; three perfect stamens, in common, though
sometimes (as in Leersia but a single one) ; no peri-
carp ; and but a single seed to two stigmas (or styles,
as they are commonly imagined, and so classed
chiefly in Digynia).

The genera of Grasses are distributed commonly
into grand divisions for convenience, as you will find
in most of the books which treat of the species ; and
though the false flowers of the Grasses, (for such I
must consider them) are often minute, their uniformity
is such, as to leave no room scarcely for ambiguity
when all the parts are examined ; there are frequent-
ly two sets of glumes, of two valves each ; the inner,
inclosing either three stamens, when in flower, or a
single seed when in fruit-
In Timothy or Herd's grass (Phleum pratense), the
longcylindric spike or head, as it is called, consists of
very many minute flowers ; the outer or calyx glume is
very peculiar, each valve being flattened and obtuse,
though terminated by a very short bristle, within
these two truncated valves is the corolla glume con-
sisting also of two awnless or simple valves.

The Jllopecurm or Foxtail-grass resembles the
Herd's grass, but flowers earlier, bears a soft, in place
of a rough spike, and a corolla glume of but one valve,
bearing an awn on the back.

In the Poa, or Meadow grass, of which there are
many species, the flowers are in small heads, called
spikelets, and have a general calyx glume, including
from 3, or 5, to 40 flower-glumes, which are all
consequently destitute of any thing more than the
two-valved general calyx, and are without any proper
5*

:

54 THE GRASSES.

calyx to each flower ; the flower is compressed so as to
appear almost keeled, and destitute of awns. II, with all
these appearances, except a roundness and rigidity in
the valves, they should gradually terminate in awns or
bristles, your plant will be a Festuca (Fescue grass),
in place of a Poa, a genus of Grasses common in high
European pastures, and not unfrequently met with in
dry American meadows, and sandy grounds.

But if your plant, with the same appearance gener-
ally, should have the corolla glume blunt and awned
a very little below the point, it will then be a Bromus
instead of a Festuca.

The Oat (Avena) presents a thin membranaceous
calyx glume including 2 or 3 flowers, which it ex-
ceeds in length ; the glume of the corolla is almost of
a cartilaginous or horny consistence, two-valved, the
dorsal or larger valve producing below its cleft point a
conspicuous twisted awn, and, unlike the thin glume
of the Wheat, it pertinaciously incloses the grain, in
such a manner, as only to be separable by parching in
a kiln, which renders it brittle, and assists its separation
from the meal which this grain affords, and of which
bread is commonly made in the northern parts of Eu-
rope. The other species of Avena are only known as
Grasses, but not as grain ; they are, also, generally
perennial, and produce a tall crop of herbage, partic-
ularly the Avena elatior, which has been cultivated in
some of the middle states for hay. The most impor-
tant grass, however, for cultivation in the middle
.states, is certainly the Orchard-grass (Dactylis glom-
erata), a stout and tall grass, bearing a panicle (or irre-
gularly branched flowering culm), terminating in ma-
ny rough clusters of small, flat, and pointed glumes, all
in each lobe or cluster inclining one way, and nearly
all of the same form and consistence. The seed is
small, and falls out of the glume when ripe, though

THE GRASSES.

55

not very readily. The leaves have almost uniformly
a plaited or wrinkled margin when they first ex-
pand.

The Reed (Arundo) is distinguished by having
3. 5, or more woolly glumes in a common, and
rather long, membranaceous calyx. It has also
broader leaves than almost any other grass, is nearly
aquatic, and generally of a gigantic height, in all the
species.

In Wheat the flowers are collected together into a
spike of two rows, made up of spikelets or clus-
ters seated on the indented stem or rachis, each
calyx containing 3 or 4 flowers, the central ones,
for want of room to expand, are rendered infertile,
the two outer flowers only producing any grain.
The calyx glume, from the magnitude of the seed, be-
comes broad and boat-shaped, terminated simply by
a point, or else by an awn, the larger v >lve of the co-
rolla also ends in a bristle Nearly all the Wheat cul-
tivated is but one species, and now known to produce
many permanent varieties.

The Darnel, Tare or Lolkim, produces its flowers
in a spike almost in the manner of Wheat, but the calyx
consists of but a single outer valve, and contains a
spikelet of many equal flowers like a Festuca. The
common species, here naturalized, is perennial, and
has beardless flowers ; the annual kind, in Europe,
though, I believe, seldom in America, overruns fields of
grain, and where mixed in any considerable propor-
tion with Wheat, which it resembles, though less in
size, produces a bread which is deleterious, and ap-
parently intoxicating.

The delightful and well known vanilla odor of new
hay is chiefly produced by the presence of the Ver-
nal-grass, or Anthoxanthum odoratum. The flowers,
when mature, form a yellow chaffy spike ; the calyx,

56 CLASS TRIANDRIA CONTINUED.

thin like that of the oat, includes a flower which, at a
late period, assumes a brownish tinge, and falls out in-
closing the seed, each of its valves produces an awn,
one of them nearly from the base, the other from near
the tip of the valve ; there are also two minute abor-
tive rudiments of flowers, near the base of the true
flower glume. This grass is likewise remarkable for
producing only two, in place of three stamens.

Nearly allied to the Grasses are the Carices, or
Sedges, but they belong to the class and order Mon<e-
cia Triandria, bearing always two kinds of flowers,
and those in their structure, as well as that of the seed,
entirely different from the true Grasses.

Without possessing any thing specious in their flow-
ers, no class of plants add so much to the beauty of
the landscape as the grasses ; their presence marks
the distinction between desolate sterility, and verdant
plenty ; a very important part of the food of man, and
the whole of that of his principal domestic animals de-
pend upon this important tribe of plants. The indus-
try of man is requisite to the very existence of the
grain he employs for food, while that part of this family
necessary for the food of animals is every where spon-
taneous, and perennial, and scarcely denied to any
climate in the world.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CLASS TRIANDRIA CONTINUED.

In the artificial classes of Linnaeus, you are not to
expect much attention to the natural relations which
plants bear to each other, and that consequently, the
mere number and disposition of the stamens, however

CLASS TRIANDRIA CONTINUED.

61

convenient as a general system of arrangement, does
not often justify the approximation of the genera so in-
cluded. In the same class then with the Grasses, you
will meet with other plants of a very dissimilar aspect ;
such are the natural family of the Iris (Iuipeje), in-
cluding the Ixia of the Cape of Good Hope, and
the Gladiolus, common to the same country, and
also to the south of Europe ; our garden Crocus,
which affords the Saffron of commerce, likewise takes
its place here. In these plants there is, however, a
close relation with the Lilies of the class Hexandria.
Like them, they are destitute of a true calyx, and
have a corolla of six parts, all the parts or petals
nearly alike, except in the Ms, which has three
larger and differently colored reflected petals, in many
species furnished with a central tuft of fringe, com-
monly compared to a beard ; and three erect, and
smaller, conniving petals approaching the stigma,
which also resembles three other petals ; its stigmata
or divisions are arched outwards, and under their three
concavities you find the three stamens, formed as
usual. The whole of these parts of the flower are
seated upon the summit of the germ, which eventually,
as in the Lilies, becomes a triquetrous or three-sided
capsule, divided into three cells, and each cell filled
with rows of flat, triangular, brownish seeds. The
leaves of nearly all the genus are ensiform, or sword-
shaped, and make some approach, in the simplicity of
their structure, to those of grass ; they appear, indeed,
to be like sheathing grass-leaves folded up and graft-
ed together, so that their position is rendered vertical ;
they are thus also thickened, and have both their
surfaces nearly similar; but in the quadrangular leav-
ed Ms (I. tuberosa), as in the Gladiolus pterophyl-
lus (or winged-leaved Corn-flag), every apparent leaf
may, in fact, be considered as two leaves ingraited

58 CLASS TRIANDRIA CONTINUED.

together by the surface. Unlike most of the family,
the Persian, and also the vernal Iris (J. verna) of
Carolina, are possessed of a delicate and fragrant
odor, though not equally perceptible to all persons.
They differ in the nature of their roots ; in most of
the species they are progressive horizontal tubers,
but a tew, as the Persian, and the Iris Xiphium, have
bulbous roots, like Tulips.

About midsummer, in most of our dry and open fields
and meadows, you will frequently meet with something
like an Iris in miniature, with bright blue flowers, and
leaves so narrow and ensiform, as to give it both the
appearance and nickname of a grass. This plant,
the Sisyrinchium, presents terminal spathes or sheathes
of two leaves each, sending out from time to time,
no inconsiderable number of small flowers, and round-
ish three-celled capsules. The corolla, unlike the
Iris, however, consists of six equal spreading divisions,
each of them terminating abruptly in a short point,
like a bristle ; the stamens, three in number, are
only known as so many by the anthers, the filaments
being so united, as to render it truly monadelphous,
but placed here, because of its affinities to the Iris ;
the stigma is three-cleft, but quite inconspicuous,
compared with that of the Iris.

In ditches you will not unfrequently meet with a
humble, unobtrusive plant, hitherto known only to
botanists, by the name of Proserpinaca. The stems
are undivided above, only a few inches out of the
water, with the immersed or drowned leaves finely
pinnatifid, in divisions slender as hairs, while the
upper leaves, better nourished, are only divided on
the margin into serratures, or sharp teeth. In the
bosom of these upper leaves, about the months of
July and August, you will perceive small greenish
flowers, consisting of a superior three-parted persist-

CLASS TETRANDR1A. 59

ent (or abiding) calyx ; a total absence of corolla ;
three stamens ; and three villous or downy stigmas ;
to these succeed a hard, almost cartilaginous, three-
sided capsule of three cells, with three seeds. This
plant, though so unostentatious (allied to the Mirio-
phyllum or Water-milfoil), cannot help, still, to amuse
the rational botanist intent upon searching out the
harmonies and symmetry of vegetable nature. The
number three, or six, so extremely uncommon among
the great Dicotyledonous kingdom of plants, prevails
here throughout every part of the flower ; and yet,
theory would prescribe, both from its germinal char-
acter, and affinity with Miriophyllum, a number four
in place of three, and it is not very uncommon to
meet with single flowers in which the quadruple form
does, in reality, prevail.

CHAPTER XIV.

OF THE CLASS TETRANDRIA.

Among the curious natural assemblages of plants,
included either wholly or partially in this artifical
class of four stamens, I will first introduce to your
notice the Teasel (Dipsacus of Linnaeus), constituting
the type of comparison for the natural lamily of the
Dips ace *:, or aggregate flowers, which, with the ex-
ception of disunited anthers, and commonly only four
in number, might readily be mistaken for examples
of truly compound or Syngenesious flowers. The
Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), is a plant exten-
sively cultivated for the purpose of dressing woollen
cloth, and inducing upon it a short and finishing knap.
Almost all the plants of the genus are large, rough

60 CLASS TETRANDRIA.

with spiny tubercles, and possess leaves which gen-
erally grow together at their base, and so become
perfoliate, or with the stem passing, as it were, through
the centre of the united leaf. The flowers are pro-
duced in dense cylindric heads, have an involucrum or
common calyx of many slender and almost bristly leaves,
and also a proper, superior, or crowning calyx, of a
single, funnel-formed piece ; the corolla (usually pale
pink) is superior, and tubular, spreading out above
into a four-cleft border ; a single seed, as in the syn-
genesious plants, is produced at the base of the co-
rolla ; and the common conic receptacle is provided
with narrow, bristly leaves, which are straight in the
wild Teasel (Dipsacus silvestris), but hooked in the
cultivated species {Dipsacus fullonuni), avid it is for
this little accident of difference in the termination of
these minute receptacular leaves, that the plant is
generally cultivated ; their curved points, arranged in
rows, answering inimitably the purpose of a most
delicate card for fine woolen cloth.

The Scabious of the gardens, of which the brown-
flowered species (Scabiosa atro purpurea) is the most
common, differs from the Teasel, in possessing a
double calyx to each floret, one above, and the other
below the seed.

To this artificial class, though to a very different
natural order, belongs the common Button-bush, or
Cephalanthus, so common in swamps, and along the
margins of ponds. It is a shrub, bearing, in July
and August, a profusion of perfectly globular heads
of flowers, each head made up of numerous florets,
without any general calyx or involucrum, though fur-
nished with minute four-cleft calyces to each floret ;
the corolla is tubular and slender, with a four-cleft
border ; the style is exerted or stretched out greatly
beyond the corolla, and the stigma globular ; to the

class tetrandria.

61

floret succeeds a somewhat woody, 2-celled, 2-
seeded capsule, which divides commonly into two
parts, so as to appear a kind of double pericarp ; the
receptacle, or common globular point of attachment
for the florets, is somewhat hairy. There is only one
species of the genus known, and exclusively indigen-
ous to the United States and Canada ; it bears en-
tire leaves by 2's and 3's, or opposite and ternate,
at each joint of the stem. In the southern states
there is a variety, with the leaves and branchlets
pubescent.

I know no common, prevalent name for our beautiful
Hovstonia ccervlea, which bears low tufts of delicate
pale blue cross-shaped flowers, adorning every mossy
bank or shorn meadow, and presenting themselves in
all directions, like the eyes of Argus ; seeming almost
as handfulls of pale scattered flowers of the Lilac,
which had come ton early to maturity. Each little
plant, when examined apart, presents a few forked
branches of an inch or two in length, and with but a
few ovate or egg-shaped leaves, principally clustered
round the root. The flower consists of a small 4-
cleft calyx ; a somewhat funnel-formed, long-tubed
corolla, with an elegant 4-lobed border ; to this
succeeds a half-superior, 2-celled, 2-valved, many-
seeded capsule, which opens transversely or across.

The beautiful little evergreen, box-leaved Mitchella,
or Partridge berry, of our shady woods, is also de-
serving of particular attention ; its branches trail along
the ground, and form a small, deep green, shining
mat, enlivened, about June and July, with pairs of
white, 4-cleft, monopetalous flowers, singularly vil-
lous or downy on the upper or inner surface ; but
the most remarkable character of the genus, of which
there is but a single species, is, that by the ingraft-
ment and coalescence of the two germs of each pair
6

62 CLASS TETRAKURIA.

of flowers, only a single scarlet berry is produced,
but containing four seeds.

The Cornus (Cornel or Dogwood), with which
the United States abound in species, are small trees
or shrubs bearing flat clusters or cymes of flowers
resembling those of the Elder, and commonly white.
In the Dog-wood ( Cornus florida), these small flow-
ers are aggregated into flat heads, like compound
flowers, surrounded by an involucrum of four leaves,
which gradually grow out, and become of a white
color, adding, from the latter end of May to June,
one of the greatest and most characteristic vegetable
features to our vernal landscape. Examined a little
more closely, the minute flowers of the head consist
each of a 4-toothed calyx ; and 4 narrow, spread-
ing, pointed petals ; to these succeeds a red drupe,
or succulent stone-fruit, inclosing a nut of 2 cells.
Almost exactly similar to the arborescent Dog-wood,
is the humble Canadian species (Cornus canadensis),
which runs at the root, and sends up at near intervals,
small herbaceous stems four or five inches high, ter-
minating in a tuft of ovate leaves, and a single cluster
or head of flowers. This is one of our northern
species found amidst bushes, in shady woods, and
scarcely differs horn a similar species, the Cornus
suecica, of northern Europe.

One of our earliest flowering plants of tins class,
belonging to the family of the Arum, is the Skunk-
cabbage (Symplocarpus fuztidus), a foetid plant, which
you will often find in flower on the margins of swamps,
in the months of February and March, if sufficiently
uncovered by the snow. These flowers, in round
naked heads, are defended by a kind of cowl or egg-
shaped spathe of the most fantastic and marbled color,
in which brown and green predominate. The flow-
ers of the head, each consist pretty obviously of a

CLASS TETRANDR1A. 63

calyx of 4 leaves, which persists to the ripening ol*
the fruit, and even continues, after the period of in-
florescence, still to increase with the enlarging spadix.
There are no petals, and each pyramidal style is
succeeded at its hase by a single seed, large as a pea,
not forming a berry, as in the Arum triphyllum, or
Indian Turnip, but immersed in the spongy mass of
the common receptacle.

To the second order, or Digynia, of this class,
belongs the curious, common shrub, called Witch-
hazel in this country, from its resemblance to the
Hazel, the Hamamelis, of Botanists. Its time of
flowering, October to November, when almost every
flower else, but the lingering Asters, are faded and
gone, is, for a shrub, sufficiently singular ; when this
takes place, the leaves of the plant are daily falling,
and on a few but naked branches are its pale yellow,
fringe-like, clustered blossoms developed. The flow-
ers grow commonly by threes, with a little involu-
crum of three bractes at their base ; the calyx is
4-cleft ; the petals, at first rolled up like a piece of
tape, are unusually long and narrow ; to these, in the
course of the following season, succeed a kind of
leathery, 2-horned, 2-celled nuts, at length, cleft
at the top, with one elastically coated black seed in
each cell.

The Pond-weeds (Potamogeton) belong to the
fourth order, Tetragynia, as well as the fourth
class, and, indeed, have every thing by fours ; a 4-
leaved calyx ; no corolla ; to each flower succeeds
4 one-seeded nuts. These plants have commonly
floating or immersed leaves of an olivaceous green,
and thin texture ; when immersed, the flowers them-
selves are of the same dingy green and inconspicuous
hue as the leaves. Nearly allied to this genus is
the Ruppia maritima, found on almost every sea-coast

64 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

in the world, growing in great quantities together, and
its narrow, thin, and immersed leaves affording food
for flocks of sea-birds. In this plant there is neither
calyx nor corolla, but each set of anthers and styles is
succeeded by four pedieellated seeds.

CHAPTER XV.

THE CLASS PENTANDRIA.

More than one fourth of the vegetable kingdom
produce flowers with five stamens, either free, or
combined together, as in Syngenesia. But the pres-
ent class professes to include, alone, such plants as
have 5 separate stamens; and this symmetry of the
number 5, which obtains even in the lowest order of
the animal kingdom, among the zoophytes, such as
the star-fish, and sea-egg, prevails equally through
every other subordinate part of the flower, except the
style, and some of the fruits. The calyx and corolla
will be found almost universally quinquifid, and the
fruit, not unfrequently, 5-celled, 5-valved, or 5-part-
ed, though by a kind of constant and hereditary
abortion, or abridgment, this number in the parts of
the fruit is often reduced to an apparent unit. In the
case of all fruits, however it may be with the other
parts of the flower, there are strong reasons, as will
appear more apparent in the sequel of our examina-
tions, to believe, that when consisting of more than
one cell or one valve, their number is only augmented
by portions, more or less distinct, of several ingrafted
or coalescing single-celled, and single-valved pericarps.
Spontaneous and hereditary ingraftment by approach,
and obliteration and abortion of parts for want of equal
room and nourishment, are the obvious causes of most

CLASS PENTANDRIA. 65

of those aberrations from symmetry which might be
presupposed to exist in union with the other devel-
oped parts of the flower. Of this rule, as operat-
ing on the number of pericarps, we have no bad
example in the Asperifoli^e or Rough-leaved plants,
of which we shall immediately treat, for here we have,
in fact, for fruit, 4 one-seeded, naked, and distinct
pericarps succeeding to each flower ; and on the con-
fines of this order, in Phacelia, a coalescence of these
pericarps so as to form but a single 4-celled, 4-seed-
ed capsule. The consistence of the pericarp and
its integuments produce differences which, viewed
apart, seem more important than they really are ; for
example, the bony integument of the fruit of the Asper-
iFoLiiE entitles its pericarp to the name ot a nut ; and
such integuments are, as may be supposed from their
hardness and unyielding texture, extremely prone to
promote the abortion of every thing imprisoned within
their walls. On the contrary, the pericarp in the
Gooseberry and Currant, becoming filled with a soft
and yielding pulp, constitutes a berry, and is a con-
sistence of the pericarp extremely favorable to the
production and perfection of the inclosed seeds. Dry
capsules or cases, if not of too hard a texture, also
yield to the growing seeds, and are very fertile. The
Apple, distinct as it appears as a fruit, differs only
from an ordinary capsule, in the accumulation of cel-
lular juicy matter within the integuments of the lower
part of the calyx. The berry of the Strawberry is
only produced by the succulent enlargement of the
receptacle ; and, in this respect alone, differs from the
genus Potentilla, which has dry seeds seated on a
juiceless receptacle. But it is unnecessary to multi-
ply examples of these curious, but little i portant,
^bailees which prevail in the vegetable kingdom, and
6*

66 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

mask to ordinary observers the real affinities and true
relations which plants bear to each other.

In the present artificial and enormous class, the
importance of classifying plants by their natural char-
acters, rather than by the unimportant coincidence in
their number of stamens, becomes quite obvious ; and
we shall, accordingly, select a few examples of natur-
al groups in the first order of Pentandria. At the
commencement of the class you will find the group
long known by the name of Asperifoli«, or Rough-
leaved plants, a character obvious enough in most of
the tribe ; but they will be more certainly known by
the character they have, in common with the Labiate
plants, of producing 4 naked seeds, or rather, bony,
single-seeded pericarps in the bottom of the calyx.
They have likewise a monopetalous corolla of five
equal divisions ; except in Echium, where there is an
evident ringeucy, approaching by a shade, to the La-
biate character. In some genera the corolla has its
orifice closed or hidden by five projections or inden-
tions which cover the stamens. The plants themselves
have rough and undivided leaves, set in alternate order
along the stem, the summit of which presents spikes
or racemes of flowers, before developement coiled
inward, but, in time, lengthening out, and becoming
straight and forked flower-branches.

To this tribe, though the common American species
presents a remarkable exception in the perfect smooth-
ness of its leaves, belongs the Lungwort, or Pulmona-
ria. The Virginian species (Pulmonaria virginica),
occurs pretty commonly in the shady woods of Penn-
sylvania, and most other of the southern and western
states ; its flowers, which appear in May, look like so
many small, bright blue, pendulous funnels, internally
open at the orifice, after the manner of the genus,
each springing out of a prismatic, pentagonal, 5-

CLASS PENTANDRIA. 67

toothed calyx ; the seeds, also, unlike Anchusa, are
imperforate or without hollows at the base, and are
smooth on the surface.

The Eehium, or Viper's-bu gloss, so called in allusion
to the style, which looks like the forked tongue of a
snake, is here better known, at least, in Virginia and
Pennsylvania, by the name of Blueweed, as when in
flower, which is almost throughout the summer, its
blue and abundant blossoms form a striking feature to
every observer. In this genus the calyx will be found
divided into 5 narrow segments ; and the corolla
almost entirely open, and naked of scales, somewhat
resembles a bell with an unequally 5-lobed border,
of which the lower segment is acute and reflected.
The stamens and style are conspicuously exerted or
stretched out, and the stigma forked ; the seeds pre-
sent a tubercular surface, and are imperforate.

In Myosotis, Mouse-ear, or Scorpion-grass, the
latter name from its ancient reputed virtues, and which
vou will find common by the margins of springs, the
corolla has the form of a salver, with the border divid-
ed into 5 very obtuse shallow lobes, with its sta-
mens entirely hidden by 5 projecting bodies which
close up the opening of the tube of the corolla ; the
seeds are naked, and, as in all the rest of the preced-
ing genera, fixed merely to the bottom of the calyx,
an arrangement which you will find very different in the
Cynoglossum, Hound's-tongue, and Rochelia, both,
till very "lately, species of one genus, differing chiefly
in their seeds, which are even, and flattened down into
hollows in the Hound's-tongue ; but prickly or very
rough, and simply flattened, in Rochelia ; but in both,
the seeds are fixed to a distinct central column or
receptacle ; the corolla in each is closed, as in Myo-
sotis, by 5 obtuse projections, short and funnel-form
also in Cynoglossum. but salver-formed in UorhrJia.

t)8 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

The common species, R. virginiana (formerly Cy-
noglossum), is a common, unsightly weed, with very
small white flowers ; oblong-lanceolate and acuminate
leaves, scabrous on the upper surface ; the flower-
branches spreading ; and the pericarps so densely cov-
ered with hooked prickles as too readily to adhere to
the fleeces of sheep, and become inextricable when
attached.

Our next natural group shall be the Lysimachi^,
the genus Lysimachia, or Loose-strife, being the type
of comparison, and a genus of which you will hardly
fail to meet with some species or other, however lim-
ited may be your excursions. The character of the
genus is to have a 5-cleft calyx, a rotate, or wheel-
shaped corolla, inclining, in some species, to be cam-
panulate, with a 5-cleft, sharp pointed border ; and a
capsule of 1 cell, with an opening, according to the
species, by 5 or 10 valves. In some species the
stamens have their filaments of unequal length, and
below united into a short tube, so as to appear mona-
delphous ; in others, as the L. ciliata, the stamens
are equal, disunited, and furnished with the imperfect
rudiments of five other filaments, in the form of so
many intermediate dentures ; and, in fact, in the L.
thyrsiflora of America, the corolla itself is oiten
6 to 7 parted, with 6 or 7 perfect stamens, thus
making a still nearer approach to the symmetri-
cal number 10, indicated in the structure of some of
the other species. The most common species, in low
grounds, is the L. ciliata, known by its oppositely situ-
ated, long petiolated leaves, of a form belwixt cordate
an<> ovate, with an acuminated point, and particularly
by the row of long hairs, resembling the cilimri or eye
lash, arranged on either side the petiole. The flowers
come out by pairs, and nod or turn downwards.

In the same family of the Lysimachije you will

CLASS PENTANDRIA. 69

find a rather common, and very humble, but beauti-
ful garden-weed, the Pimpernel, Red-Chickweed, or
Poor-man's Weather-glass (Jlnagallis arvcnsis), it
scarcely differs from the preceding genus in anything
but the dehiscence of the capsule, which is globose,
one-celled, and many-seeded ; and instead of longi-
tudinal valves, opens transversely all round into 2
pretty equal cups or hemispheres ; the common kind
is a low annual plant, trailing or procumbent on the
ground, with opposite, sitting, ovate leaves; and axillary,
solitary, or singly disposed flowers, of a pretty scarlet
color, never open but in the sunshine of a fine day,
and closing at the approach of storm and darkness.
There is another kind, occasionally cultivated, with
flowers of as bright a blue as the others are scarlet.

Another well known family of this class is the
CoNVOLvuLi,of which the Bindweed, or Convolvulus,
is the principal genus. They derive their name from
their slender twining stems, and are among the more
common plants which we cultivate, as well as wild in
our bushy and rich woods. They are known, at once,
by the large, somewhat bell-shaped, and plaited corol-
la, which before and after opening resembles a twisted
cone ; the border is almost equal, though a division
into 5 superficial lobes is not unapparent, and in-
deed, quite obvious in the Cypress-vine, or Quamoclit,
of the following, and once united genus Ipomaia,
The calyx is 5-parted, and either naked at the base,
or subtended by 2 bractes, which last character,
with some others not sufficiently apparent, have led
some botanists still further to divide the old genus
of Convolvulus. There are 2 stigmas, but only 1
in Ipomcea ; a capsule of 2 or 3 cells, with the
same number of valves, and each cell containing J
or 2 seeds. Their flowers only open in the morn-
ing sunshine, und wither by noon. The purple Bind^

70 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

weed has rough heart-shaped leaves; 2 or 3 flow-
ers on a peduncle, commonly of a fine purple, though
sometimes red, bluish, and white, with five pur-
ple lines. The tricolor Bindweed, (C. tricolor)
grows low and prostrate, but does not twine, having
smooth, oblong lance-shaped leaves ; singly disposed,
or solitary flowers in the bosom or axil of the leaves;
the corolla is of a beautiful bright blue, with a white
eye, or centre edged with yellow.

Nearly allied to the preceding group is the natural
order of the Polemonia, from Polemonium, its type,
of which the moist shady woods of the United States
affords a single species. The principal character of
this group is the ternate division of* the stigma and
capsule. In the Polemonium or Jacob's-Ladder, as
it is called in Europe, from its pinnately cleft leaves,
the calyx is campanulate, with a 5-cleft border ; the
corolla also campanulate, with a 4 or 5-lobed erect
border, and having its short tube closed up by
five staminiferous valves. The stigma, as in the
whole order, trifid ; the capsule roundish, of 3 cells,
each cell many-seeded ; the seeds oblong, and some-
what triangular. Besides the P. reptans, which is a
native of the middle and western states, we sometimes
find in gardens, the P. cceruleum of Europe, like our
own, bearing blue flowers, and now and then occurring,
like most other plants, with those that are white.

But the most common plant, in all our woods and
meadows, of this natural order, is the Phlox, of which
we have many species, and all of them not unaptly
resembling Pinks, except in their having a monopeta-
lous corolla. These have a small deeply 5-cleft
calyx ; a very conspicuous bluish or purplish, flat,
salver-shaped corolla, with 5 inversely wedge-shap-
ed lobes, and a conspicuous tube more or less curved,
which irregularity also operates on the disposition of

CLASS FENTANPK1A. tl

the stamens, being so many mere anthers situated, in
two different though contiguous parts of the tube.
The capsule resembles that of the Polemonium, but
differs in producing only a single seed in each of the
three cells of which it consists. The seeds are also
oblong, and, following the contours of the round cap-
sule, without angles.

Another splendid genus of this family, altogether
American, is the Cantua or lpomopsis of Michaux.
These are chiefly biennials, with finely divided, or
rather pinnately dissected, alternate leaves, (those of
Phlox being entire and opposite.) The calyx resem-
bles that of Phlox, but more membranaceous ; the co-
rolla has a long, straight tube, and pointed, lobed border;
the capsule has many angular seeds in each of its
3 cells. The Cantua coronopifolia, in its leaves
and flowers so much resembling the Ipomasa qua-
moclit, or Cypress-vine, is perhaps the most splen-
did and elegant plant which the United States can
boast. The flowers are numerous, resembling so many
clustered little scarlet trumpets, spotted with the rich-
est carmine, and all inclined to a single side of the
erect stem, crowded below with leaves as fine as hairs.
B 'sides this better known species of the sandy woods
of the Carolinas, there are in the southwestern wilds
of the United States, up to the foot of the Rocky
Mountains, four or five other species of great beauty,
but as yet scarcely known to botanists.

Another tribe of Pentandria deserving particular
attention is the order Solane^, of which Solarium,
the genus of the common potatoe, is the type. In this
genus the calyx has 5 or 10 persisting divisions; a
rotate corolla of one piece, commonly divided into 5
lobes on the border. The anthers connive together
iii the form of a cone, are of an oblong form, and have
the peculiarity of opening merelv at the top by two

72 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

terminal perforations, instead of longitudinally, as is
the usual manner of the dehiscence of anthers ; the
berry, which succeeds, is divided into from 2 to
5 cells. The genus is extremely numerous, and
most of the species belong to South America. The
Potaloe [Solarium tuberosum) was introduced into
Europe from the mountains of Peru, and has become
infinitely more valuable, as an article of food, in the
colder regions of Europe and North America, than it
could ever have been in its native climate. It is with
us an annual, perishing after the ripening of its nume-
rous tubers or roots, which are, in reality, only so many
short and succulent running branches, readily capable
of growth when divided into eyes, or single buds.

The Ground-cherry (Physalis) scarcely differs
from Solarium, except in the calyx, which at length
becomes inflated like a bladder, and incloses the 2-
celled berry, when ripe becoming yellow, pleasantly
acid, palatable, and wholesome in all the American
species, though the European kind called Mkelcengi,
is considered a poison.

We have commonly in gardens, and almost a weed,
another genus, called JVicandra, having blue flowers
somewhat bell-shaped, merely differing from Physalis,
in having a dry berry, but likewise inclosed by the in-
flated calyx.

The Datura, or Thorn- Apple, called also James'-
town-weed, is another genus of the family Solaneje.
It bears a tubular, angular, and deciduous calyx, of
which the orbicular and enlarging base is alone per-
sistent. The corolla is plaited, and when expanded,
funnel-form. The thorny capsule is ovate, 2-celled,
4-valved, with the cells 2-parted. This is a com-
mon foetid and poisonous annual, too abundant in every
waste and neglected garden, expanding its flowers
only in the evening. There are several other species

cla#s pentandria. <o

besides the D. stramonium, natives of South America,
and India.

The Tobacco (Nicotiana) belongs equally to this
tribe, and bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx ; a funnel-form
corolla, with a plaited, 5-cleft border ; the stamina
inclined ; the stigma capitate ; the capsule 2-celled,
and 2 to 4-valved. Nearly related to this almost ex-
clusively South American genus of narcotics, is the

Henbane (Hyoscyamas) of Europe, differing princi-
pally in the irregularity of its 5-lobed, funnel formed
corolla, and the singular opening of its 2-celled cap-
sule, which is by a transverse valve or lid, like that of
a box. The whole plant in the common species, H.
niger, has the heavy smell and viscid pubescence of
green Tobacco, and is still more powerfully narcotic.
The corolla is yellowish, and elegantly spotted with
dull purple.

Another interesting and common tribe of Pentandria
is the Caprifolia, from Caprifolium, its type, our
commonly cultivated coral Honeysuckle, which is,
however, perfectly wild and indigenous from Cape
Henlopen, in Delaware, to an interminable distance
south, generally trailing amidst bushes, and almost ever-
green in the Carolinas. In this genus, scarcely dis-
tinct from Lonicera, or the true Honeysuckle, the
calyx, which crowns the germ of the berry, is very
small and 5-toothed ; the tube of the corolla long,
the border 5-cleft and equal, but in the true Lonice-
ra unequal, or in 2 lips ; the stamina are exserted ;
the stigma round, the berries distinct from each other,
3-celled, and many-seeded, but in

Xylosteum the flowers grow by pairs on the summit
of the same peduncle ; the corolla, as in the Honey-
suckle, to which this genus was formerly joined, pre-
sents often a deviation from regularity in the outline ;
7

74 CLASS PENTANDRIA.

and the berries grow by pairs more or less distinctly
united together, each having 2 cells and many seeds.

In Symphoria, formerly also included in Lonicera,
the minute calyx is only 4-toothed, and, as in the
preceding genus, furnished with 2 small bractes at
its base. The corolla is small, partly campanulate,
with a 5-cleft, nearly equal border. The berry is
crowned with the persistent calyx, and is divisible into
4 cells, with only 4 seeds, and 2 of the cells are
often abortive. The most singular and ornamental
shrub of this genus is the Shovvberry (»S. racemosa),
which in the autumn, appears loaded with a profusion
of snow-white or wax-like berries in clusters, adding
to the plant a singular beauty, of which the inconspicu-
ous flowers have not to boast.

The Violet (Viola), of which the United States
possess more than twenty species, is the type of a
very distinct natural order, the Violace^. The genus
is characterized by having a deeply 5-cleft calyx,
produced or projecting at the base. The corolla
consists of 5 irregular petals, the upper petal con-
tinued backwards in the form of a spur. The anthers
are connivent, and slightly cohering. The capsule
is conic, of 1 cell, spontaneously divisible into 3
valves, the seeds adhering to the centre of the valves.
The species are very naturally divisible into 2 sec-
tions ; those which are stemless and produce their
flowers immediately from the root ; and those which
have stems and flowers in their axils or the junction
of the leaf and stem.

OF THE CLASS PENTA^DRIA. 75

CHAPTER XVI.

OF THE OTHER ORDERS OF THE CLASS PENTANDR1A.

We shall commence the second order of the fifth
class by presenting you with the natural family of the
ApociNEiE, so called from Apocynum, its type, known
by the various names of Dog's-bane, Catch-fly, and
Indian Hemp. Two species are with us common,
upright, and somewhat branching, milky juiced plants,
found in sandy fields, and amidst bushy open woods ;
their stems are extremely tough, and afford a durable
flax or hemp, but in a quantity perhaps too small to
deserve cultivation. The anthers of the flower, which
are arrow-shaped, connive together into a cone, and
firmly cohere to the columnar stigma about their mid-
dle ; within, and below these anthers is situated the
secreting nectariferous cavity. Flies attempting to rifle
this reservoir, by inserting the proboscis between the
interstices of the anthers, become cruelly imprisoned,
and held till dead, by that organ of their nutrition, which,
once exserted, and shifted a little upwards, can then
be no longer retracted ; and the poor insect, like Tan-
talus, with plenty in view, but out of reach, perishes
of want. That you may find this plant and its con-
geners, attend to the following characters. They
have a very small 5-cleft calyx ; a campanulate (white
or rose-colored, veined) corolla, the border with 5
short, spreading or revolute lobes ; the anthers are
already described. There are also 5 glandular acute
teeth, alternating with the stamens, and opposite to the
segments of the corolla. The species are very simi-
lar, so that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish them
from each other ; but with these specific characters we
have not here room to interfere, and refer you rather

76 OF THE OTHER ORDERS

to the local or general floras or descriptions of plants,
with which you are, probably, already provided.

The Asclepiadeje, nearly allied to the preceding
order, shall be our next natural family of the fifth
class, and second order ; and here, if you examine
closely, you will probably find a difficulty in making
out either what are the stamens or the pistils, so dif-
ferent is the arrangement and consistence of these
parts in Asclepias, Swallow-wort, or Silk-weed, from
those of most other plants ; and we confess, that, but
for their relation with the decidedly pentandrous Apo-
cymim, we should certainly place this genus in Gynan-
dria, its genuine artificial station.

In this genus the calyx is also very small, and 5-
parted ; the corolla rotate, 5-parted, and reflected
backwards from its first opening. The next set of
organs, which now present themselves, are not the
stamens, as usual ; you will, at once, perceive that
they are of the nature of an inner corolla. By Lin-
naeus such processes were confounded with the nec-
tary, or secreting honeyed glands of flowers. I ventur-
ed to give them the epithet of lepanihia, inner scales
or petals. In this genus, this process, connected be-
low to the corolla, is divided into 5 parts, each of
which is hollow or ear-shaped, sending out from with-
in its base a subulate or awl-shaped averted process,
bent towards the summit of the stigma. The anthers
are 5 crustaceous bodies, adhering about the mid-
dle to the stigma, consisting of so many pairs of cells
for the reception of the pollen, which is collected
into five pairs of club-shaped, yellow, wax-like, solid
masses, suspended from the 5 angles of the summit
of the stigma ; each pair of these pollen masses has
not, however, a corresponding set of antheroid cells
for their reception, but each pair passes into the con-
tiguous cavities of 2 pair of the receiving cells. But

OF THE CLASS PENTANDRIA. 77

one stigma also is visible, though beneath it will be
found 2 germs united in a common base, which, at
length, become 2 soft, conic capsules, called folli-
cles, each of which, according to the nature of that
very simple pericarp, consists of only one cell and one
valve folded together concavely, and opening length-
wise by a suture. The seeds, flat, and imbricated or
tiled over each other, and terminated by a coma or
long silky crown, are attached to a depending furrow-
ed receptacle, the coma being the umbilical cord or
attaching string of the seed, and at length, its buoyant
crown ready to waft or launch it in the air, and carry
it almost to any distance, as a new germ of veg-
etable colonization. The larger flowered species of
Asclepias, such as the A. syriaca or Silk-weed, and
A. tuberosa or Butterfly-weed, act also as catch-flies,
the insects getting entangled by the feet in the chinks
of the contiguous antheroid cells, and remain prisoners
till they perish with hunger and fatigue. To suppose
these plants peculiarly possessed of a carnivorous ap-
petite, instead of a structure accidentally fatal to some
insects, as in the case also of so many glutinous plants
and flowers, is devoid of all evidence, and only one
of those unsupported interpretations of the operations
of nature which would limit every idea to our con-
tracted views of general utility. More than 20 spe-
cies of Asclepias are indigenous to the United States,
They have very generally a milky sap, which, like that
of the Apocynum, partakes, when inspissated, of the na-
ture of gum-elastic. Some of the species are among om
most common productions, particularly the red-flow-
ered swamp species, A. incarnata, and the A. syriaca.
or common Silk-weed, growing so abundantly along
the rich margins of streams. The silky down of the
seed of this last species has been manufactured, and
the fibres of the stem afford a durable flax, The A
7*

78 OF THE OTHER ORDERS

tuberosa of the sandy fields of the southern and mid-
dle states bears, in August, a profusion of bright orange
colored flowers, alternate leaves, tuberous roots, and
is destitute of milky sap.

In botanizing in the middle and southern states you
will probably meet, occasionally, with foetid, twining
plants producing umbels of brown or greenish flowers,
nearly resembling those of Asclepias, but without awns
in the lepanthium or nectary ; these will belong, prob-
ably, to the genus Gonolobus or Cynanchum. They
likewise produce follicles, and comose seeds, and
strictly belong to the Asclepiadeje.

Late in autumn, when few other flowers are visible,
you will still meet in wet places with a set of very rich
blue-flowered plants of a bitter taste, belonging to the
second order of Pentandria, of the genus Gen-
tiana or Gentian, a bitter medicinal drug, and the
type of a natural family of similar name. The calyx
is 4 or 5-parted ; the corolla partly campanulate,
but tubular at the base, having a 4 or 5-cleft border,
with its edge, in some species, fringed, and, though
commonly expanding, sometimes almost shut up, as
in our common G. saponaria, where the corolla is so
closed as to look like a barrel. The stamina are in-
cluded or inclosed. The stigmas 2. The capsule l-
celled, 2-valved, containing very many minute seeds
attached to 2 longitudinal receptacles.

To the same natural family Gentianje, but with-
out much reason placed in the first order of Pentan-
dria, appertains the American Centaury (Sabbatia),
the common and beautiful ornament of our open,
swampy, natural meadows and saline marshes, with
pink red or white flowers, having a particolored star
in the centre. According to the species, the calyx
as well as the corolla is 5 to 12-parted, the latter
quite open or rotate, and so readily distinguished

OF THE CLASS PENTANDRIA. 79

from the tubular campanulate corolla of the Gentian.
There are also two spirally twisted stigmas, and the
anthers themselves are, at length, revolute. The
capsule, as in Gentian, 1 -celled and 2-valved. All
these plants have the medicinal bitter resin of the
Gentian, grow low, have opposite, entire smooth leaves,
and flowers in terminal or flat clusters or corymbs.

The Umbelliferous plants, of which we have else-
where already spoken, find place also in the second
order of this artificial class. There is a difficulty
in distinguishing the genera in this tribe, common,
more or less, to every very natural group, for the
numerous links which connect the whole order so
closely together, at the same time diminish the minor
distinctions of the genera. In the Umbelliferje,
so intimate is this general resemblance, that but little
remains for generic distinction, save the form of the
pericarp, which is, indeed, very distinct in many
genera ; as, for example, it is round, flattened, and
nearly naked in the Parsnip : of an oblong, round-
ish form, with five ribs, armed with prickles in the
Carrot (Daucus) : ovate and solid (or not coated),
with 5 ribs, at first crenulate or waved, in the
Hemlock (Conium) : the fruit narrow, pyramidal,
rostrate, and sharply 5-ridged in the Myrrhis (or
American Chervil) : the umbel simple, and the
leaves undivided in Hydrocotyle, Water-rot, or Marsh
Pennywort,* and the fruit roundish, but compressed
in a reverse sense with that of the Parsnip, and each
seed backed with three ribs. In the Sanicle (Sani-
cula) the umbel is also nearly simple, the flowers
crowded, and of different sexes, with a distinct 5-
parted calyx, which is persistent, and an oblong,

* So called, in allusion to the round peltate form of the leaves
in many of the common species.

80 OF THE OTHER ORDERS

solid, unribbed fruit, closely armed with hooked
bristles. In the Eryngium, or Sea-holly, generally
spiny plants, with blue flowers and bractes, the flow-
ers grow in dense, roundish heads, upon a chaff-bear-
ing receptacle, and have a many-leaved, more or less
spiny, involucrum.

And though the mutual distinctions which mark
the genera are not all so obvious as those above se-
lected, a due attention to the fixed characters of the
fruit, taken sometimes in conjunction with the involu-
crum, and other lesser traits, will, on the whole, prove
sufficient to remove ambiguity, and bring you suffi-
ciently acquainted with this remarkable tribe of plants,
of which so many are poisons to men and cattle, and
so (ew are either useful or ornamental. Among those
which we cultivate, are the Parsley and Cellery,
Carrot, Parsnip, Skerret, Caraway, Coriander, Fen-
nel, and Chervil (Scandix cerefolium). The Earth-
nut (Bunias bulbocastanum) of Europe, though not
cultivated, is often eaten by children, and may be
considered harmless. The large tuberous roots of the
Arecacha, an umbelliferous plant of South America,
belonging to the genus Conium, or Hemlock, are also
eaten, and esteemed as but little inferior, either in
quantity or quality, to the common Potatoe. From
the Ferula Jlssafatida of Persia, is obtained the gum
and drug of that name. The Lovage and Angelica
were formerly in repute as domestic medicines.

To the third order of Pentandria belongs the
Elder [Sambucus), having the flowers disposed in that
kind of flat cluster, termed a cyme. The calyx is
minute, and 5-cleft. The corolla nearly rotate, 5-
cleft. Stigmas minute; the berry globular, 1-celled,
and 3-seeded.

The Viburnum, also appertaining to the Caprifo-
lia tribe, differs from the Elder in bearing, for its

OP THE CLASS PENTANDRIA. 81

3 stigmas, an oblong berry, or rather drupe, in
many of the species containing only 1 seed. In
the Viburnum shrubs, too, the leaves, though some-
times lobed, as in the Cranberry-tree (V. oxycoccus),
are never compounded, as in the Elder. Among the
foreign species of this genus, best known to us, is the
early flowering Laurvstinus.

The Sumach, or Rhus, of the Terebintaceje,
though placed here, has many species with dioicous
flowers. They are all shrubs, or small trees, many
with a milky sap, and some with an aromatic odor ;
they have ternate or pinnated leaves ; inconspicuous
greenish flowers, in terminal conic clusters. The
flowers are inferior, with a 5-parted calyx. 5 pe-
tals ; a small, dryish, and flattish berry, often red,
and then acid, or white and poisonous, including one
hardish 'seed, or nut. The most common, creeping,
and scandent kind, called Poison-vine, has ternate,
entire, or coarsely-toothed leaves, and clusters of
whitish berries. This species is, however, less ven-
omous than the Poison-ash, or Dogwood of New
England (R. vernix), which grows always in dark
swamps, is very smooth, with pinnate leaves in many
pairs, and naked, reddish petioles, the leaflets oval,
entire, and acuminated, the panicle loose, the flowers
dioicous, and the berries nearly white.

To Pentandria tetragynia, but to no certain
natural order, without it may be considered as an
order as well as genus apart, belongs the Parnassia,
or Grass of Parnassus. Their white, solitary, beau-
tifully veined flowers may be observed in August and
September in considerable abundance, in the low,
marshy meadows of the Mew England states and
Canada, but chiefly in mountain meadows, and near
boggy springs in the southern states. Each stem is
embraced by a single leaf below its middle, and pro-

32 OF THE OTHER ORDERS &£C OF PENTANDRIA.

duces only a single flower with the aspect of a Ra-
nunculus, or Butter-cup. The calyx is 5-parted
and persistent. The petals 5, and inferior. There
are 5 cordate lepanthia or nectaries, arising from
the claws of the petals, each edged with a variable
number of hairs terminated by globular glands. Stig-
mas 4. Capsule 1 -celled, 4-valved, the valves
bearing imperfect partitions in the middle. The seeds,
with a membranaceous margin. There appears to
be some affinity betwixt this genus and Passijiora,
but the seeds and lepanthia are still very different,
and would not justify its situation in the same natural
family.

In the 5th order, of the 5th class, you will find
the Flax (Linum) of the natural family LinejE, itself
the type. The calyx is deeply 5-parted and per-
sistent. Petals 5, unguiculate. The filaments of
the stamina are united at the base. The capsule
superior, nearly globular, 10-valved, and 10-celled.
A single ovate, compressed seed in each cell. The
flowers are either blue or yellow, and some of the
species afford those cortical fibres, which we call
Flax. In nearly all the species, the leaves are nar-
row, alternate, and entire. The Virginian species
(L virginianum), a pretty common perennial, in the
middle states, has small, yellow, remotely situated
flowers. The perennial Flax of Europe (Linum
perenne), with blue flowers, like the cultivated species,
is met with on the banks of the Missouri.

The Aralia (two of the native species called Spike-
nard and Angelica-tree), of the natural order Arali^e,
nearly allied to the umbelliferous tribe, belongs also
to the 5th order of this class. They are either low
or stout herbs or shrubs ; the A. spinosa becomes
almost a tree, and has its stem and branches covered
with sharp thorns. The flowers, small and white,

CLASS HEXANDRIA. 83

are disposed in numerous white umbels. The calyx
is 5-toothed, and superior ; the petals 5. The stig-
mas partly globose. The fruit a 5-celled, 5-seeded
berry.

To the singular classification of Pentandria po-
lygynia is referred the Xanthorhiza, or Yellow Root
of the mountains of Carolina. But as it belongs to
the natural order Ranunculaceje, we may properly
consider it as a plant of an irregular number of sta-
mens, and related to Polyandria. It is a very low
running undershrub, with a yellow root, occasionally
used in dying, having bipinnate, Parsley-looking
leaves, and brown, small flowers, disposed in com-
pound racemes. There is no calyx ; 5 petals ; and
5 obovate, pedicellate lepanthia, or petaloid nectaries.
Each flower is succeeded by from 5 to 8, I -seeded,
half 2-valved capsules.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CLASS HEXANDRIA.

In this artificial class will be found a very natural,
though varied assemblage of plants, of which some
are closely related to others of the third class, the
numbers 3 and 6 having a symmetrical ratio to each
other, and are indicative of one of those grand
distinctions in the vegetable kingdom, which separate
them into primary or principal divisions ; most of the
plants of Hexandria, with the exception of a few
shrubs, appertaining to the great monocotykdonons
class of the natural method.

With the liliaceous tribe you are already generally
acquainted. The Lily itself presents two sections in
the form of the corolla, which is composed of 6

84 CLASS HEXANDRIA.

petals inclining to the campanulate form, and without
calyx, the 3 outer petals seeming to answer that
purpose, the 3 inner are marked with a longitudi-
nal channelled line, the base of which is nectariferous.
In the common orange, white, and Philadelphian
Lily the corolla forms an erect cup ; but in the Marta-
gon, Tiger, Canadian, and Superb Lily (L. super-
bum), the petals are so reflected, as to put on al-
most the appearance of a turban. The stamina are
shorter than the style, and the stigma entire. The
capsule is superior, and 3-sided, with 3 cells and 3
valves, the valves connected, even after opening, by
cancellate or crossing hairs. The seeds are flat and
triangular, arranged in 6 rows. The United States
affords five or six species of this splendid genus.
They generally affect low and rich meadows, or fer-
tile shady woods, and thickets.

The Tulip differs chiefly from the Lily in the absence
of a style, the triangular germ being crowned only by
a trifid stigma. The corolla is bell-shaped, when open
like a Lily, but has none of the nectariferous grooves,
and is always more swelled or ventricose towards
the base ; 1 or 2 embracing lanceolate leaves, too,
with but a single flower on a stem, and that extremely
subject to variation by culture, at once distinguish the
Tulip from the Lily. There are several species of
this vernal queen of flowers and favorite of the florists,
of which the Yellow European (Tulipa sylvestris,
Eng. Bot. t. 63,) and Van Thol or T. suaveolens,
are sensibly fragrant. But the later flowering, and
more splendid species, T. gesneriana, is the most re-
markable for the variety and beauty of its colors.
This particolored hue, brought to such perfection in
Holland, is, however, natural to this species, in a
lesser degree, even in its native plains of the East.

Somewhat related to the Tulip, in general aspect.

CLASS HEXANDR1A. 85

is the genus Erythronium, or DogVtooth Violet, the
latter appellation seemingly derived from the oblong
and slender form of the bulb, somewhat resembling the
canine tooth. The corolla is of 6 petals, and part-
ly campanulate, but the petals are reflected, as in die
Martagon Lily, though oniy during the shining of the
sun. The interior petals have a tooth-like, thickish
process, on either side, near their base, and a honeyed
pore. The style is club-shaped, and the stigma
entire, or 3- cleft. The capsule is superior, partly
stipitate or pedicellate ; and the seeds, instead of tri-
angular, are ovate. They are all early vernal plants.
We have two or three species, the most common, with
yellow flowers (E. americanum, Curt. Mag. t. 1113),
appearing in moist and shady places, amidst thickets,
growing together in extensive clusters, though but iew
bulbs flowering at a time, and those that do, sending
up 2 lanceolate, brown, blotched leaves, and a low
scape with a single nodding flower. The root is a
brown, smallish bulb, not unlike that of a Tulip.

In similar situations with the last plant, and flower-
ing nearly about the same early period, you will find
frequently some species of the genus Uvularia, which
might, from its aspect, be called Bellwort ; a plant,
also, of the Liliaceje order. The inferior corolla
consists of 6 erect petals, with a nectariferous cavity
at the base of each. The filaments are very short
and adnate, or inseparably adherent to the anthers ;
the stigma reflected. The capsule about as abroad
as long, triangular, 3-celled, 3-valved, each valve
with a central dissepiment. The seeds are numerous
and partly globular, with an arillus or process at the
scar or hilum. They are all low growing, fleshy,
fibrous-rooted plants, with elegantly forked, though
not much divided, stems, having alternate, oval, or
elliptic leaves, and smallish yellow, not well opened,
8

86 CLASS HEXANDRIA.

pendulous flowers. The U. perfoliala, a rather com-
mon plant, has the elliptic obtuse leaves perfoliate, or
as if bored through for the passage of the stem ;
the corolla campanulate, granular and scabrous with-
in, and the anthers awned. In the U. grandiflora,
so common in western Pennsylvania, the leaves are
also perfoliate, but the petals smooth within, and the
anthers bluntly terminated ; the flower is also con-
siderably larger. There are likewise 2 other species
with which your Floras or systematic books will
readily bring you acquainted.

In Asparagus, by some assumed as the type of a
natural order of the same name, the corolla is inferior
and 6-parted. The style very short, with 3 stigmas;
and the berry 3-celled, with 2 roundish seeds in each
cell.

In Convallaria, Solomon's Seal, and Lily of the
Valley, which takes its place among the Liliaceje,
the corolla is inferior and 6-cleft ; the berry globu-
lar, spotted, and 3-celled. The genus is now divided
into several sections, or rather distinct genera or
natural groups. In the C. bifolia, the corolla lacks a
third part of its organs, and is consequently only 4-
parted, with the border spreading; the stamens only 4;
and the berry 2, instead of 3-celled. The flowers
are white and small, in a terminal raceme, and the
very low stem furnished with 2 alternate cordate
leaves. This plant grows in clusters in shady woods,
and flowers in May and June. Here, as in many
other instances of well known analogy, we have an
example of the natural composition of flowers, formed
of so many concomitant parts linked together by per-
petual ingraftment, so as to form but one compound
individual.

In the next section, Smilacina, the corolla is per-
fect, or 6-parted, and spreading ; with the filaments

CLASS HEXAXDRIA. 87

divergent, and attached to the base of the segments
of the corolla. The most common species is the
C. racemosa, rather a large plant, with broad, plaited,
or. strongly nerved, sessile, pubescent leaves, and
paniculated or compounded racemes of greenish white
flowers. This species flowers about June.

The next section, or genus, is the Polygonatum,
or true Solomon's Seal, which has a G-cleft, cylindric,
unexpanding corolla ; and the filaments attached to
the upper part of the tube ; the berry perfect or 3-
celled, the cells 2-seeded. These plants have the
leaves permanently inclined to 2 sides of the stem ;
and the flowers, 2 or more together, growing nearly
all the way up the stem in the axil of the leaves.
The flowers are greenish white, and appear about
June or July. The shoots of the large species,
C. multiflora, are sometimes eaten as Asparagus.

The earliest harbinger of spring in Europe and the
United States,* is the Snowdrop, or Galanthus ni-
valis, belonging also to this showy class of flowers, so
finely described by Mrs. Barbauld.

As nature's breath, by some transforming pow'r.
Had chang'd an icicle into a flow'r. —
Its name and hue the scentless plant retains,
And winter lingers in its icy veins.

It begins often to grow beneath the snow, at a tem-
perature scarcely removed from the freezing point,
and flourishes alone, while all other plants lie dormant.
The French, in allusion to this remarkable precocity
of appearance, term it expressively " perce-neige."

* The small, but elegant flowered, umbelliferous plant, which
I hence named Erigenia (or harbinger of spring), is about as early
as the Snowdrop, flowering in the shady woods of Pennsylvani,
and Ohio from the 12th to the 20th of March.

88 CLASS HEXANDRIA.

Each plant consists of a bulb sending up 2 narrow
or linear leaves, from the centre of which arises a
scape, terminating in a spathe or sheath, answering
the protecting purpose of a calyx. The corolla
white, tipped with green, hangs pendulous or droop-
ing, and is situated superiorly with regard to the germ ;
it consists of 6 petals in 2 ranges, but of 2 different
forms, the 3 inner being one half shorter than the
3 outer, and notched or emarginate at their ex-
tremities. The Snowdrop is a native of the shady
woods and meadows of the south of Europe.

The Daffodil, or Narcissus, is the next early
flower of this class, which presents itself for our
inspection in almost every garden, but being cultivated
for show rather than science, the double kind is gen-
erally preferred, from which the young botanist can
learn nothing of the genus or true character of the
flower, the stamina and pistillum, in this case, being
transformed, as in other double flowers, into a mul-
tiplicity of irregular petals. In this transformation, the
filaments of the stamens are enlarged into an addition-
al set of inner petals, and the anthers are destroyed ;
but, as in the common double Daffodil, there are
many more than 6 additional petals, and no pistillum,
it appears that the latter organ is, in fact, changed
into the monstrous and infertile rudiments of one or
more additional flowers. This is very obviously the
case in some double Roses, double Wall-flowers, and
Stocks, which often present a later flower, or even
flower branch, coming out from the centre of a former
withered one. The Daffodil, in its natural simple
form, unaltered by the luxuriance of the soil, presents
from the bosom of a preceding spathe or chaffy
sheath, one or more flowers, consisting of a superior
corolla of 6 equal petals or parts, and within them
an interior, funnel-shaped lepanthium, or nectary of a

CLASS HEXANDIUA. 89

single piece, within which are the stamens. The
Polyanthus Narcissus (JV. tazetta), and the Jonquil
(JV. jonquilla), so called from its rush-like, narrow
leaves, are remarkably fragrant, and bear forcing, or
bringing early into flower, in Water-glasses, in the
ordinary temperature of a dwelling-room.

The Agave or American Aloe, referred to the
Bromeli/E or natural order of the Pine Apple, is a
very remarkable genus, of which there is one species
growing native in Virginia and the southern states.
The corolla, of a greenish color, is superior, erect and
tubular, or funnel-form. The stamina are erect, and
extend beyond the corolla. The capsule is bluntly
triangular and many-seeded. The tardy flowering
species, A. americana, of Mexico, which in cold cli-
mates has been cultivated near a century before flow-
ering, arrives at this state in 6 or 7 years in its native
climate, and in the warmth of Sicily. Before this pe-
riod the plant presents nothing but a perpetually un-
folding cone of long, rather narrow, but thick and
fleshy leaves, pointed, and beset on their margins with
strong thorns. Before flowering, this cone and cluster
of leaves attains an enormous bulk and developement,
at length, it swells more than usual, the circulation of
the sap in the outer leaves becomes visibly retarded,
and they put on a shrivelled aspect. At this period,
the Mexicans who cultivate this plant which they call
magui, tap it for the juice with which it now abounds,
and many gallons of sap continue for a time to exude
from this vegetable fountain. From this liquor, when
fermented, is distilled the common spirit drank through-
out that country, and when the plant is finally exhaust-
ed, its tenaceous and abundant fibres afford a durable
hemp or flax. If suffered to flower, it sends up a
central scapus 18 to 30 feet high, resembling a huge
chandelier with numerous clustered branches, bearing
8*

90 CLASS HEXANDRIA.

several thousands of elegant but not showy, greenish
yellow flowers, from which slowly drops a shower of
honey. With the flowering the energies of the plant
become exhausted, and it then perishes, however
long it may have previously existed, but at the same
time it sends up from the root numerous offsets for
the purpose of viviparous propagation.

The Tradescantia, or Spider-wort, of the natural
family Commelineje, is a remarkable grass-like look-
ing plant, with fugaceous delicate flowers, coming out
in long succession so as to form an umbel, from a ter-
minal sheathing leaf. In the common Virginian spe-
cies (T. virginica), they are of a rich blue, and occa-
sionally white. In this plant there is a green 3-leaved
calyx, but consequently only 3 petals. The filaments
are remarkably downy, and the hairs of which it con-
sists, when seen through a lens, are jointed like a neck-
lace. The capsule is superior, 3-celled, and many-
seeded.

To a very different grand division of the vegetable
kingdom, the Dicotyledones, belongs the genus
B&rberis of Hexandria, the type of a peculiar natural
order, the Berberideje. These are shrubs, com-
monly armed with trifid thorns, having yellow wood,
alternate acid leaves, edged with bristles : axillary
racemes or corymbs of yellow flowers, succeeded by
acid, oblong, 1 -celled, 2 to 4-seeded berries. The
calyx is yellow like the corolla, of 6 leaves. The
petals are also 6, with two glutinous glands situated
on each claw. There is no style, and an umbilicate
stigma. The stamens of the Barberry are remarka-
ble for their irritability ; they recline upon the petals,
but on touching the base of the filaments by a pin or
straw they instantly start forward to the stigma, and
this experiment may be repeated upon the same
flower.

CLASS HEXANDR1A. 9 1

The Rice, Orijza sativa, belongs, in reality, to the
grasses, of which it has all the structure, differing
chiefly from other genera, and particularly Leersia,
in having a double number of stamens ; and is remark-
able in this class, as belonging to the second order.
This useful annual is still found, apparently, wild in
some parts of India, probably its native country ; it
prefers wet situations, bears a terminal heavy yellow
panicle, or cluster of grain, each of which is inclosed
in a persistent, rigid, ribbed husk, either naked or ter-
minated by a long awn. The calyx glume is very
small. No plant in the world affords such general
sustenance as Rice. It is the prevailing grain of Asia,
Africa, and the warmer parts of America, and export-
ed into every part of Europe. It has a remarkable
native substitute in the Zizania, or Wild Rice of the
United States, which also belongs to Moncecia Hex-
andria, and will be noticed hereafter.

In Trigynia we find Rumex, the genus of the
Dock and Sorrel, of the natural order Polygone;e.
The perianth or calyx consists of 6 green leaves with-
out any corolla. The fruit is a triquetrous nut like
the seed of buck-wheat, covered by the 2 interior
valve-like leaves of the persisting calyx. The stigma
is many-cleft. The species are numerous and un-
sightly, one of the most common, indeed troublesome
species throughout the United States, is the Rumex
acetosella or common Sheep Sorrel, which has leaves
formed like the head of a halbert, or hastate.

One of our more curious vernal flowers is the
Trillium, so called from the prevalence of the number
3 in all the parts of the fructification. It is, in fact,
the European Herb Paris, lacking a fourth part
throughout its structure, for in that, the number 4 pre-
vails with the same regularity as the ternate quantity
in our plant. Clusters of these remarkable plants are

92 CLASS HEXANDRIA.

not unirequently met with in all our shady woods,
in flower about the month of May. They have ab-
rupt or praemorse, tuberous, perennial roots ; and each
plant consists of a low, undivided stem, bearing at its
summit 3 broad leaves, from the centre of which arises
a single sessile or pedunculated flower of a white
or brown color, consisting of a 3-leaved calyx ; 3 pe-
tals ; a sessile, trifid stigma ; a superior berry of 3
cells, each cell containing many seeds. This genus,
with the exception of one Siberian species, is exclu-
sively North American.

Considerably related to the preceding genus is the
Gyromia, or Indian Cucumber, which is found also in
moist or rich shady woods, in flower about June.
The roots are white, oblong tubers, tapering at the
extremity, and not unpalatable to the taste, having
been once collected for food by the original natives.
The stem is about a foot high, or little more, and un-
divided, about the middle sending off a whorl or circle
of entire lanceolate leaves ; above these appears a ring
of 3 other leaves, surmounted by several small green-
ish-yellow pedunculated flowers, each consisting of a
6-parted, revolute corolla, and no calyx. The fila-
ments and their anthers distinct ; no style ; but 3 long,
brownish filiform and divaricate stigmas, united at the
base. The berry 3-celled, the cells each 5 or 6 seed-
ed ; the seeds 3-sided and compressed. Of this
genus, allied considerably to the preceding, there is
but a single species peculiar to North America. It
was formerly referred to the genus MedeoJa, which
produces a 3-seeded berry, and is peculiar to the
Cape of Good Hope.

To the 4th order of this class, or Tetragynia, is
referred a very singular, almost aquatic plant of the
middle and southern states, called Saunirus, which is
translated Lizards-tail, in allusion to the appearance

CLASS HEXANDR1A.

93

of the spike. It evidently belongs to the same natural
family as the Pepper-plant (Piper). The roots pos-
sess, "indeed, a racey aroma and taste, and the whole
aspect of the plant is that of some species of Pep-
per. They grow in considerable clusters, as the root
runs, and sends up at short intervals, sparingly forked
stems about 18 inches or 2 feet high, clothed not very
thickly, with alternate, petiolate, heart-shaped, point-
ed, entire leaves. The narrow and crowded spikes
of white flowers terminate the branches, and are from
3 to 6 inches long, gracefully nodding towards the
extremity, and hence the specific name of cernuus ap-
plied unnecessarily, to this only species of its genus,
by Linnaeus. The rachis, as well as flowers, are
equally yellowish white, and the flowers from then-
crowded position, irregularity in their number of parts,
and imperfection or abridgment of structure, are not
very well calculated for the study of an entire novice
in botany. All of flower that will be found, is a single
scale subtending its cluster of stamens, of which the
anthers and filaments are adnate, or form but one
continuous body. The capsules, commonly 4 in num-
ber, are small, and each contains 1, or rarely 2 seeds.
Alisma, or Water Plantain, holds, at the end of the
6th class, precisely the same relative situation as Xan-
thorhiza did in the 5th, namely, the order Polygy-
nia, and though now made the type of a natural or-
der apart, Alismace^, it scarcely differs from the
Ranunculaceje, to which that genus of the 5th class
is referred. The Alismas are aquatic plants, with
nerved, ovate, or partly heart-shaped leaves, bearing
perfect small flowers, in a very compound ternately
verticillated panicle. In the perfect character of their
flowers, and the small and definite number of their
stamens, they differ from the Sagitaria or Arrow-leaf.
As in that genus, Alisma has a calyx of 3 leaves, 3

94 CLASS HEPTANDRTA.

petals, and a cluster of minute carpels or capsules,
each containing 1 seed, but never spontaneously open-
ing. The flowers appear from July to August.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CLASSES HEPTANDRIA, OCTANDRIA, ENNEAN-
DRIA, AND DECANDRIA.

Scarcely any plant but the Septus of the Cape of
Good Hope affords a genuine example of the 7th
class. The Trientnlis, or Chickweed Wintergreen,
common to Europe and North America, though some-
times presenting 7 parts in the flower, for which rea-
son it has been here classed, very commonly shows a
division of 6 or 8 parts in the flower. The American
species, having narrower and longer leaves than that
of Europe, is not uncommon in the shady woods of
the northern states, near the roots of trees. It flowers
about May and June, has a fleshy fibrous root, and
most part of the plant an acid taste. The stem is
scarce a span high, unbranched, and terminated by a
tuft of lanceolate, acuminated leaves. From t!ie bosom
of these arise several filiform peduncles, terminated by
elegant small, white, flat, stellated flowers, with 6, 7,
or sometimes 8 acuminated parts. The leaves of the
calyx and stamens bear the same number, and are
equally various. The berry is juiceless, and appears
shrunk, consisting of i cell with many seeds. It is re-
ferred to the natural order Primulace;e, but has no
very obvious affinity with the type of that order.

The JEs'adus, or Horse-chesnut of Asia, has a better
claim to be classed here, than most of the American
species of that genus. In both, the calyx is one-leaf-
ed, 4 or 5-toothed, and ventricose or swelled. The

CLASS OCTANDR1A. 95

corolla, in the Asiatic plant, has 5 unequal, pubescent
petals inserted upon the calyx ; but in the American
species orPavias, only 4. The capsule, either smooth
or prickly, has 3 cells, and each cell one seed, though
2 Out of the 3 are commonly abortive. The seeds re-
semble Chesnuts, but are rounder and bitter. On the
Ohio they are said to have been employed successfully
as a fish poison, and the farina has been made into
starch. They are all trees, or large shrubs with digi-
tate leaves, bearing flowers in compound thyrsoid ra-
cemes. In most of the Pavias the number of stamens
fall short of 7, and in the Asiatic species they proba-
bly often exceed that number. Indeed 5 or 10 sta-
mens is the natural number that might be expected
from the rest of the conformation of the flower.

In the Befaria of Florida, for want of a more de-
finite class, placed in Poly anuria, there prevails a
very curious combination of septimal parts. The ca-
lyx is 7-cleft ; the corolla of 7 petals ; 14 stamens ;
and a capsule of 7 cells, with many seeds. But in
this instance, as well as the Septas, and the exact 12
stamened ^saruWjVvhichhasnotthe irregularity of num-
ber characteristic either of Dodecandria, Polyandria,
or Icosandria, it seems quite unnecessary to create for
them distinct classes on characters which ought to be
merely generic.

0CTANDR1A.

This class is by no means an extensive one, and
several of its genera are allied closely to otheis which
find place in Decandria. Among these may be
mentioned Rhexia of the natural order Melastoma-
ceje, its type, Melastoma, being Decandrous. Most of
these plants flowering about midsummer, affect wet
places, as the grassy margins of boggy ponds and

96 CLASS OCTANDRIA.

swamps. They are herbs, branching only to flower,
with opposite, rough-haired, entire, strongly nerved
leaves, and flowers in cymes ; with rather brilliant red,
but fugaceous petals. The calyx is urceolate or urn-
shaped, with a 4 or 5-cleft border. The petals 4, in-
serted near the summit of the calyx. The anthers are
incumbent or reclined, attached to the filaments be-
hind, and naked at the base, opening below. The
capsule 4-celled, and free in the enlarged base of the
calyx. The receptacle crescent-shaped, and pedicel-
late. The seeds small, and numerous.

The (Enothera, or Tree-primrose, of the natural or-
der Onagkari^:, is a genus peculiar to America, of
which there are many splendid and curious species in
the remote western states and territories of the United
States. Their flowers are commonly yellow or white,
and all of them vespertine, or opening in the evening
after sunset. They will be easily known by their
very constant generic character, which consists in a
tubular 4-cleft calyx ; the segments, though deflected
and deciduous, constantly adhere at the points. The
petals are 4, and generally large. The stigma 4-cleft ;
capsule 4-celled, 4-valved. The seeds naked, affixed
to a central, 4-sided receptacle.

From this genus Gaura is to be distinguished by
having commonly 4 ascending petals, and a quadran-
gular, 1 or few-seeded nut; and Epilobium or Wil-
low-herb bears commonly red flowers, and has the pe-
culiarity of producing downy tufted or comose seeds.

The Oxycoccus, or Cranberry, of the order Vacci-
nes, differs principally from the genus Vaccinium in
the deduction of a 5th part of the organs of the flow-
er having a superior calyx of 4 teeth ; a corolla with
only 4 parts, the segments linear and revolute. The
anthers are connivent into a cone, so long as to appear
tubular, and 2-parted, emitting the pollen from the

CLASS OCTANDR1A.

97

extremity only, as is the manner of the natural order
to which it belongs. The berry is red and acid, con-
taining many seeds. The O. macrocarpus, or large-
fruited American Cranberry compared with that of
Europe, is common in all our mossy bogs. It has
trailing wiry branches, and creeping roots ; the leaves
evergreen, about the size of Thyme, and somewhat
thickly scattered. The European species (O. vul-
garis) is distinguishable from the American, chiefly by
having the edges of the leaves turned down ; it is also,
a smaller plant, with the berries commonly spotted
profusely with brown.

The Dirca, or Leatherwood, the only North Amer-
ican plant belonging to the natural order Thymele;e,
is a singular looking, smooth barked, much branched,
low shrub, not very uncommon in some of our swampy
forests, where it flowers as early as April, and that too,
like the Mezereon of the same natural family, before
the expansion of the leaves. The flowers are small
and yellowish, coming out by 3's ; they have no ca-
lyx, and consist of a tubular corolla, with scarcely any
thing like a distinct border. The stamina are une-
qual, and exserted. The berry contains a single seed.
The bark of this shrub is so tenaceous, that it is easier
to tear off a branch down to the root than from the stem.

The Daphne, of which the Mezereon is a common
species, differs from the preceding genus in having a
funnel-shaped corolla inclosing the stamens, with the
border cut into 4 distinct segments ; but there is, as
in Dirca, no calyx, and a 1-seeded berry. The flow-
ers, which thickly clothe the branches before the ex-
pansion of the leaves, are also fragrant, of a red color,
and come out by clusters in 3's. This plant is ex-
tremely hot and caustic to the taste, particularly the
bark of the root, and the berries. Some of the other
species are evergreens, and commonly cultivated for
9

98 CLASS 0CTANDR1A.

the beauty and fragrance of their early flowers*
None of the species are natives of America ; but
the Dirca, of which there is but one species, is ex-
clusively so.

The Tropaolum, Indian Cress, or Nasturtium, re-
ferred also to the 8th class, deserves particular attention
from the incongruity of its parts with the alleged num-
ber of its stamens; as it has an inferior calyx of one
piece, but divided into 5, instead of 4 segments, and
terminated behind in a spur ; the corolla has likewise
5 unequal yellow petals finely pencilled with orange.
The fruit is 3 seeds, coated with a wrinkled integu-
ment ; these, from a similar warmth of taste and fla-
vor, have given to the plant the appellation of Cress,
and are employed for pickles. From the number of
parts in the flower we should naturally expect 10 sta-
mens, and, in fact, the rudiment or filament of a ninth
is not uncommon. From the inequality in the length
and situation of the stamens which are fully develop-
ed, as in the genus Cassia, it is pretty obvious that a
5th part are deducted by abortion. These plants,
originally from Peru, are now become common annu-
als, though rendered perennial by protection from
frost. They bear many long trailing tender branches,
with alternate, roundish, target-shaped, or peltate
leaves, so formed in consequence of having the petiole
attached below the margin of the disk of the leaf, and
in this instance nearly in the centre.

The genus Polygonum, which includes the Buck-
wheat plant and some of our most common weeds, such
as the Knotgrass, belongs pretty generally to the 3d or-
der of our 8th class, and is itself the type of the very na-
tural order Polygone^:. In this genus, we again find
the incongruity of a 5-parted petaloid, inferior perianth,
instead of a division into 4, to agree with the assumed
number of 8 stamens. The fruit is, as in Buckwheat,

CLASS ENNEANDRIA. 99

a 1-seeded, and mostly, angular nut. The stamens,
however, according to the species, are either 5, 6, 7,
or 8. In the P. virginianum, indeed, the flowers are
only 4-cleft, have but 5 stamens, and 2 styles. But
what the nature and extent of abortion is in this ge-
nus is not quite so certain as in Tropteolum, for in our
next genus, of this same natural order Polygoneje,
belonging to

ENNEANDRIA

Rheum, or Rhubarb, and also of the 3d artificial
order trigynia, the perianth, for there is but the one
floral envelope, is divided into 6 divisions, with the 9
stamens disposed in 2 series, of 6 and 3. The fruit
is, also, a triangular, thin nut, with winged margins.
In all the species, the leaves, resembling those of the
Dock, are very large and heart-shaped, and the thick
petioles of one species (R. rhaponiicum) are com-
monly cultivated for pies. The Rheum palmatum,
or medicinal Rhubarb, has scarcely any thing of an
acid taste, and palmated or 5-pointed leaves. Nearly
allied to this genus is the

Eriogonum of the southern and western states, as
far as the Rocky Mountains. These have all small,
downy, oblong leaves, in radical clusters, or whorls ;
and the flowers whitish or yellow, disposed in umbels,
each partial cluster is surrounded by an inversely
conic cup, or involucrum. The flowers themselves
are those of Rhubarb, but downy, being 6-parted,
the stamens also 9 ; but the triangular seed or nut,
like that of Buckwheat, though narrower, is destitute
of the winged margins the seeds of the Rhubarb.

Another remarkable genus of shrubs and trees be-
longing to the 9th class is Laurus, having mostly a
6-parted calyx ; a nectary consisting of 3 glands sur-

100 CLASS DECANDRIA.

rounding the germ, each of them sending out 2
bristles. The stamina 12, 6 of them interior, and 3
of them sterile, bearing glands. Most of the United
States species are dioicous or polygamous, have a 6-
parted calyx, and no nectary ; 9 fertile stamens, the
anthers mostly 4-celled, the 6 exterior naked ; the 3
interior augmented by 6 infertile ones, bearing glands
instead of anthers. The berry is 1 -seeded; and in
these the leaves are deciduous. The most remarka-
ble species of this subgenus (Euosmus) is the Sassa-
fras tree, which about April will be found crowded
with clustered dioicous flowers, making their appear-
ance earlier than the leaves ; the leaves are pubescent
beneath, and either quite entire, or divided into 2, or
more commonly, 3 lobes ; the berries are purple upon
thickish red peduncles.

The Alligator-Pear (Lauras Persea), of the West
Indies, affords a large eatable fruit, with something of
the taste of marrow, or of a buyteraceous substance,
and is greatly esteemed. From the distilled wood of
the Laurus camphora is derived much of the camphor
of commerce. The bark of the Laurus cinnamomum
is cinnamon ; and the unopened flowers with their
footstalks of the L. cassia are the cloves, employed
as a spice. No species of the genus extends so far
to the north as the Spice-bush (L. benzoin), which
may be met with in flower about April in shady and
wet places, from Georgia to Canada uninterruptedly.

DECANDRIA.

As might be expected from corresponding symme-
try, there is a considerable affinity between the 5th
and the 10th classes, and also between this and the
Papilionaceous plants of Diadelphia. Thus, for
example, the Baptisia has exactly the corolla of the

CLASS DECANDRIA. 101

Pea, but as the stamens are all separate, it finds place
in the simple class Decandria, instead of that of
Diadelphia, which plants only differ from the present
in the union of the filaments into 2 unequal bodies. It
would, perhaps, have been better, at least where
natural classification is at all concerned, to have
merged the mere character of an union of filaments,
and classed such plants rather by the number and
disposition or insertion of their stamens, by which
means, in this, and other cases, the artificial and natural
methods might have been more happily and conve-
niently combined. Thus mere sections of the same
natural order Papilionace2E would not need to be
sought for in 2 remote classes.

In the Baptisia, or Wild Indigo, the calyx is bila-
biate, with the border 4 or 5-cleft. The corolla
papilionaceous, or irregular in its proportions, the
petals nearly equal in length ; the vexillum having its
sides reflected ; and the flower, according to the spe-
cies, yellow, white, or rarely blue, and not much un-
like that of the Lupin. The stamina are deciduous,
in consequence of not being combined together. The
legume ventricose and pedicellate, containing many
smallish seeds. They are all perennial plants, chiefly
of the southern and western states, with long tap roots,
and low forked branches clothed with ternate leaves.
The flowers are generally in terminal racemes. Our
commonest species, growing in sandy woods, and
flowering from July to September, is very much
branched, with small, smooth, ternated, subsessile
leaves, bearing terminal racemes, each containing a
few yellow flowers, with the legume or pod pedicel-
lated. This is called Baptisia tinctoria, in conse-
quence of its having been once employed as a sub-
stitute for Indigo. The B. ceerulea, which grows
occasionally on the sandy and gravelly shores of the
9*

102 CLASS DECANDRIA.

Potomac and Ohio, is a larger leaved plant, much
less branched, and early producing its delicate blue
flowers.

The Cercis, or Red-bud of the Indians, is another
example of a papilionaceous plant with 10 uncom-
bined stamina. It has its branches early in the spring
loaded with clusters of fine red flowers, which make
their appearance before the leaves, and is a small,
spreading tree, at length, clothed with large, roundish,
cordate leaves. The calyx is 5-toothed and gibbous,
or swelled out at the base ; the corolla papilionace-
ous, as already remarked, with the wings larger than
the vexillum, and the keel (very unusual with this
form of flower), consists of 2 separate petals. The
legume is so much compressed, that but very few ever
produce perfect seed, and the seminiferous suture is
margined.

The Cassia (of which some of the species have
been called Wild Pea), also one of the Leguminosje,
or Papilionacete, presents a very anomalous structure,
having a 5-leaved calyx, and a spreading or open
corolla of 5 nearly equal petals. The stamina are
unequal in length, and the 3 upper ones have blackish,
sterile anthers, the 3 lower have elongated or ros-
trate anthers, and are seated upon longer and incurved
filaments. The legume is flat and membranaceous,
but does not readily open. All these plants have
pinnated leaves, which remain folded at night; and
yellow clustered flowers. The C. marilandica is a
common, tall, perennial plant in wet places and by
the banks of rivers, bearing abundance of flowers
about August, and the leaves have been employed as
a substitute for the Senna of the shops.

Rhododendron, the type of a peculiar, natural
order Rhododendraceje, is certainly one of the most
beautiful tribe of shrubs indigenous to America. To

CLASS DECANDRIA. 103

this genus, as a mere Pentandrous section, is now refer-
red the former genus Azalea of Linnaeus, well known in
many parts of the United States by the false name of
Honeysuckle. These, as well as the Pontic Azalea of
Asia, have all deciduous leaves ; but the decan-
drous kind, or true Rhododendrons, have semper-
virent leaves, and flowers more approaching to cam-
panulate, with the border less deeply cleft. The
character of the genus is to have a minute, 5-toothed
calyx ; a 5-cleft tubular, somewhat funnel-formed,
and rather irregular corolla, of which the uppermost,
central segment is always the largest, and frequently
spotted or deeper colored. The stamina 5 or 10,
are declinate ; the anthers opening each by 2 termi-
nal pores. The capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, opening
at the summit.

Of Azaleas, or Pentandrous Rhododendrons, called
Honeysuckles, the most common in dryish, shady
woods throughout the middle states, is the R. nudi-
jlorum, which so richly decorates and perfumes our
woods in the month of May. In this species the
flowers precede the full developement of the leaves,
and present every shade of pink or rose-red nearly
to absolute white, often with a tinge of yellow in the
deeper colored centre of the larger upper segment of
the corolla. In the southern states this species occa-
sionally occurs of a perfect scarlet. This species is
closely allied to the Asiatic or yellow Pontic Azalea,
and the R. calendulaceum of the southern states and
mountains, is apparently a mere variety of the Pontic
kind.

The next common species, always in shady swamps,
is the R. viscosum (formerly Azalea viscosa), or
Swamp Honeysuckle, of which there are several spon-
taneous varieties needlessly erected into species. In
this, the flowers are almost entirelv white, extremelv

I 04 CLASS DECANDRIA.

fragrant, externally covered with a clammy or viscid
pubescence, and never make their appearance until
about June, when the leaves have attained their full
growth. This species is almost the only one from
Massachusetts to the north, and is not, 1 believe, un-
common in Canada.

Of the Rhododendrons, properly so called, our
most common species, in mountainous, shady Fir, or
Hemlock woods, is the R. maximum, called in many
places Mountain Laurel. This is an evergreen, large
leaved shrub, 10 to 15 feet high. In the mountains
of North Carolina it is in such abundance as to
form very extensive, and almost impenetrable thick-
ets. From hence it prevails throughout the mountain
tracts, at length descends towards the sea-coast, and
finally disappears beyond the islands of Massachusetts
bay. This species unfolds its splendid clusters of
flowers about June or July. They are of various
shades of pink, and sometimes nearly white, but
without fragrance, as in all the other genuine Rhodo-
dendrons.

On the summit of the Catawba mountains, in North
Carolina, is found a peculiar species of this genus
(R. catawbiense), growing much lower than the com-
mon kind, with broader and shorter leaves almost of
a silvery whiteness beneath ; the flowers are also large,
and of a bright reddish purple, somewhat like those
of the Pontic Rhododendron.

On the highest, swampy depressions of the White
Mountains of New Hampshire, exists also the dwarf
Lapland Rhododendron (R. lapponicum), only a few
inches high, characterised by its elliptical leaves,
roughened beneath with excavated punctures, in
which respect it somewhat approaches the R. puncta-
turn of the mountains and hills of the southern states.

Nearly allied to Rhododendron, and of the same

CLASS DECANDRIA. 105

natural family, is the elegant vernal flowering Rko-
dora, so common and ornamental to the bogs and
swamps of the northern states and Canada. It has all
the external character of an Azalea, and like the
muli flora, is clothed with its clustered purple flowers,
previous to the developement of the leaves. But its
corolla of 3 unequal petals, slightly united at the
base, with the upper one thrice the breadth of the
rest, and 3-lobed, at once distinguishes this peculiar
American genus from all others in existence, and like
the Rhododendrons, rather than the Azaleas, it is
destitute of fragrance.

Of the same natural order as the 2 preceding ge-
nera, but very different in the form of the corolla, is
the American genus Kalmia, of which the corolla is
perfectly regular, and of the form of a deep edged
salver, protruding beneath 10 prominent convexities
in which the anthers lie for some time concealed, but
when liberated, fly up towards the stigma. The cap-
sule is short and round, with 5 cells, 5 valves, many small
seeds, and the dissepiments formed by the inflected
margins of the valves. All the species are shrubs,
with evergreen, narcotic leaves, excepting the K.
cuneifolia, which is deciduous. They have flowers in
corymbs, and are either white or red. The most
common species is the K. latifolia, Spoonwood or
Calico-bush, which occasionally becomes almost a
tree, and bears abundant clusters of white or rosaceous
flowers, spotted at the base with deeper red. This
species is found in shady and rocky woods, where
the Hemlock tree abounds, flowers about June or
July, and during its continuance in that state, is cer-
tainly one of the greatest ornaments which the Ameri-
can forests can boast.

The K. angustifolia of sandy woods and swamps
is likewise very common, and much smaller than the

106 CLASS DECANDRIA.

preceding, having the leaves by 3's, of a pale green,
and die flowers small and always red.

The K. glauca is only met with in deep, mossy
swamps, in mountainous situations ; flowers rather
earlier than the rest, and the corolla is large and ele-
gant ; but it is well known by its particolored leaves,
very green above, and white or glaucous beneath,
with the margin revolute, or turned down.

The Vacdnium, or Whortleberry, is a genus of
shrubs of various sizes, with smallish, entire leaves, in
some species evergreen. The calyx, which crowns
the berry, is 4 or 5-toothed. The corolla urceolate,
or campanulate, with the border 4 or 5-cleft. The
berry 4 or 5-celled, many-seeded. The United
States abound in species of this genus, and the fruit
of several is wholesome and palatable. This genus
is the type of a natural order Vaccineje, but scarce-
ly differs from Andromeda, of the Ekiceje, in any
thing but the fruit, which in this last is a capsule of 5
cells and 5 valves, with the dissepiments from the mid-
dle of the valves.

In very shady woods, coming up from under the
fallen leaves, you may perhaps, about August, chance
to meet with clusters of a very curious plant of this
class, called Monotropa, the type of a natural order
Monotropeje. It is altogether white and diapha-
nous, or yellowish, at no time verdant ; each stem,
about a span or less, is clothed with scales, and ter-
minated, according to the species or section of the
genus, by 1, or several flowers in a raceme. These
consist of a calyx of 3 to 5 parts, or is altogether
wanting in some of the species. The corolla is cam-
panulate, formed of 5 petals, cucullate, or concave at
the base. The anther consists of 1 cell, and opens
in a bilabiate manner. The capsule 5-celled, 5-
valved. The seeds are numerous and minute, in-
rested with a long arillus,

CLASS DECANDRIA. Id?

Somewhat allied to this genus is the Pyrola, or
Winter-green, of which there are several species both
in the United States and northern Europe. These
grow commonly in clusters, in shady Fir woods, have
running roots, and dark green, sempervirent leaves,
generally roundish or oblong, from which arise low
scapes, bearing 1, or many, sometimes fragrant,
whitish flowers disposed in racemes. These consist,
according to the genus, of a small 5-cleft calyx ; and
5 petals slightly united at the base. The stamina
open with 2 pores, and the anthers become reversed.
The capsule is 5-celled, and 5-valved ; and the seeds
very small and numerous, are, as in the preceding
genus, invested with a long arillus. The most com-
mon species is the P. rotundifolia, flowering about
July or August. The leaves of a thick consistence,
are rounded or dilated oval, obsoletely serrulate on
the margin, with the petiole about as long as the lami-
na of the leaf; the scape many flowered, and the style
declinate or inclined downwards.

The Chimaphila or Pipsisseway, formerly referred
to Pyrola, is a genus of evergreen plants with running
roots, and oblong lanceolate leaves clustered at different
distances along the stem, from the bosom of which
arise pedunculated umbels of a few white or reddish
flowers, constructed much like Pyrola, but with the
filaments arising from as many round margined disks,
and the germ destitute of any distinct style.

In the second order, or Digynia, you will find the
genus Dianthus or Pink, being the type of the natural
order Caryophylle^:. In this genus is included,
besides the Pink of our gardens, the China Pink,
Sweet William, and the small flowered Sand Pink
(D. armeria). In this genus the calyx is 1-leaved,
and tubular, with the border 5-tootheci, its base com-
monly subtended by about 4 imbricate opposite scales.

108 CLASS DKCANDRlA.

The 5 petals are conspicuously unguiculate. The
capsule cylindric, and 1-celled. From this genus
that of Saponaria differs in having a similar calyx
naked at the base.

The Sclevanthus annum, a common, small, incon-
spicuous annual in sandy wastes, belongs to the same
natural family as the Pink, but has no corolla, and a
campanulate, greenish calyx of 1 leaf, with 5 clefts.
The stamina are inserted into the calyx ; and the cap-
sule, containing only 1 seed, is covered by the calyx.

In the third order, or Trigynia, of the tenth class
you will find the genus Silene, belonging to the same
natural order with the Pink, and bearing a similar flow-
er, but distinguishable, at once, by its naked, 1 -leaved,
tubular or conic calyx, 5-tooihed at the summit, hav-
ing a capsule of 3 cells, containing many seeds, and
opening at the summit by 6 teeth. The clawed pe-
tals are also mostly crowned at the base of the border
with a small cleft process. One of the prettiest vernal
flowering species is the S. pennsylvanica, and so far
from being peculiar to that state which gives its spe-
cific name, it is not uncommon from Florida to Cana-
da. It forms a low tuft, sending up from its cluster
of wedge-shaped root leaves, many low stems, termin-
ating in trichotomous or 3-forked panicles of pale red
or pink flowers, having the petals a little emarginated
or notched, and somewhat crenated along the whole
margin. The S. virginica, which grows in rocky and
shady woods as far north as the western parts of Penn-
sylvania, has weak, forked branches ; and panicles
with bifid petals, and exserted stamens; this species
has deep scarlet flowers of great beauty. The Cu-
cubalus is a mere section of this genus, distinguished
by its roundish and inflated calyx. The most com-
mon species is the S. behen or Campion ; it is smooth
and glaucous, with decumbent or trailing stems ; acute.

I LASS DECANDR1A. I 09

Herveless, oblong leaves, with a reticulately veined
calyx, and very evanescent white flower. But the
most remarkable species is the C. stellatus, deriving
its specific name from the peculiar character of its
leaves, being verticillated or stellated, and growing in
4's ; they are also minutely, but closely pubescent,
and of an oval lanceolate form, with a long acuminat-
ed point. The petals are white, divided almost like
fringe, and, like the preceding, the flowers are chiefly
open in tbe evening.

In Decandria Pentagynia, still among the natu-
ral family of the Pinks, you will find the Cerastium,
or Mouse-ear Chickweed, a set of very common, small,
low growing, hairy leaved plants, with small white
flowers, like Chickweed. These will be found to con-
sist of a calyx of 5 leaves ; 5 bifid, cleft, or emarginate
petals ; and, at length, a cylindric-ovate, curved cap-
sule, of a thin texture, with 1 cell, containing many
seeds, and bursting at the summit only into a margin
of 10 teeth.

In the Agrostemma, or Cockle, a common annual
weed amongst corn, at least, the A. githago, which is
a hairy, narrow-leaved plant with Pink-like conspicu-
ous purple flowers, there is a 1 -leaved, tubular, thick-
ish calyx, with 5 long clefts or segments ; 5 un^uicu-
late petals, with an obtuse undivided limb or border;
and a capsule of 1 cell, opening by 5 teeth.

In the order Decagvnia, or 10 styles, you will find
the Common Poke (Phytolacca) of the natural family
of the Atriplices. The generic character is, a 5-
cleft petaloid or colored calyx ; and a superior berry
of 10 cells, with 10 seeds. You will readily find this
large herbaceous plant by way-sides, near fences, and
in wastes, generally where the soil is good. It con-
tinues flowering from June to October ; the flowers are
in racemes, coming out opposite the lanceolate leaves,
10

1 10 CLASS ICOSANDRIA.

and continue to be succeeded by a profusion of black-
ish berries, filled with an abundant purple juice. Like
most of the plants of the same natural order, the young
shoots of the Poke are boiled and eaten as greens,
though the older plant is said to be deleterious, and
the berries are considered medicinal.

CHAPTER XIX.

OF THE CLASS ICOSANDRIA.

We now come to the consideration of a class in
which the number of stamens, often considerable, is so
inconstant, that their mere notation is of less conse-
quence than the part of the flower on which they are
inserted. Three of these classes were given by Lin-
naeus, namely, Dodecandria, Icosandria, and Poly-
andria. The name of Dodecandria might lead us
to a belief that it was intended exclusively to classify
such plants as had 12 stamens, but in place of any
such certainty, it is said to be intended to contain all
plants with 12 to 19 stamens inclusively, without any
regard to their point of insertion. It is obvious, how-
ever, to all who have ever attentively examined these
Dodecandrous plants, that these numbers are illusory,
and that all the plants so referred, ought to find place
either in Icosandria or Polyandria, otherwise spe-
cies of the same genus might be referred to 2 classes ;
as in Agrimony, where, according to the species, there
are flowers with 7, 10, and 12 to 20 stamens, or Do-
decandrous and Icosandrous species. But here, as is the
general case, in this and the following classes, the incon-
stancy of the number and the point of insertion are the
only valid characters of the class ; the stamens out of
allcertain symmetry with the partsofthe flower, varying.

CLASS 1C0SANDRIA. ill

according to the genera and species, from even 7, or
9, to a thousand. Our present class then includes a
part of that of the former indefinite Dodecandria, or
all plants with an irregular, or uncertain number of
stamens, from 9 to 1000 ; but often about 20, as the
name Icosandria would imply, inserted upon the sides
of the calyx.

In the first order, or Monogynia, of this class, you
will find Cactus, a genus chiefly peculiar to South
America, forming almost the exclusive type of a nat-
ural order of the same name, Cacti. These are succu-
lent or fleshy plants, mostly destitute of leaves, and
many, in their native warm climates, attain to con-
siderable trees. They are generally beset with clusters
of radiating spines ; have angular, jointed, erect, or
prostrate stems ; and very considerable, and often mag-
nificent flowers, some of which open exclusively in the
evening. They divide themselves, however, into sev-
eral natural sections, if not genera, and so elude any
general description. Our only northern and common
species in sandy fields and wastes, is the C. opuntia,
the type of a section Opuntia, or Indian Fig, in which
the whole plant consists of roundish, flat, or Fig-shap-
ed joints proliferously protruded from each other, at
an early stage covered with small cylindric scattered
leaves, and, at length, clothed with spines and insidi-
ous bristles. From these joints are also protruded
large, pale yellow flowers, formed of numerous petals,
arranged in several series. The calyx seldom, and
never essentially, distinct from the petals, consists of
many imbricated segments. The stigma is many cleft.
The berry inferior, 1-celled, and many seeded, filled
with a very slow ripening glutinous pulp. The flow-
ers of this species open only to the sun, and the nu-
merous stamens, when touched, show a very evident
sensibility, approach the stigma, and at length nearly
close the corolla.

112 CLASS ICOSANDRIA.

The most splendid species of this genus is the Night-
blooming Cereus (C. grandiflorus), bearing flowers
near a foot in diameter, with the calyx yellow, and
the petals white. They have the odor of vanilla ; begin
to open soon after sunset, and close next morning to
open no more ; the stem is round, pentangular, and
weak or trailing, as is, also, that of the more common,
and easier cultivated Creeping Cereus ( C. flagelli-
formis), which has about 10 angles, and is closely
beset with spiny bristles ; the flower is very conspicu-
ous, a fine red, and continues a long time in blossom
both day and night.

Primus, the genus of the Plum and Cherry, belongs
to the natural order of the Rosaceje, and has an
inferior, campanulate, 5-cleft, deciduous calyx ; 5 pe-
tals ; a smooth drupe ; and a nut with a prominent
suture.

In Lythrum, which forms the type of the natural
order Salicarije, the calyx is tubular, and sometimes
partly campanulate, with a 6 or 12-toothed border.
The stamina, contrary to almost all the plants of this
class, are constant in number in each species, being in
some 6, in others 12, but as well as the 6 equal petals,
inserted upon the sides of the calyx. The capsule is 2
to 4-celled, and many-seeded. Our most common
species is the L. verticillatum, which has a 10-toothed,
almost companulate calyx, and a capsule of 3 or 4
cells. It grows on the edges of ponds, and in swamps,
sending out from a woody perennial root, many curved
pubescent branches, which not unfrequently take root
again at their extremities on approaching the ground.
The leaves are lanceolate, opposite, or by 3's ; the
flowers are red, axillary, verticillate, and decandrous,
with undulated petals. The capsule is nearly globose.
This species approaches somewhat to the splendid
Indian and Chinese genus Lagerstramia, belonging

CfcASS ICOSANDRIA. 113

likewise to the same natural family, but extremely
remarkable for its distinctly-clawed, dilated, and very
undulated or ruffle-like fine petals.

Nearly allied to Lythrum is Cuphea, differing
by its ventricose calyx ; which, at length, with the 1-
celled capsule, bursts longitudinally, and exposes upon
a toothed receptacle, the large lenticular seeds. The
petals, 6 in number, are also unequal, and attached or
inserted on the calyx. The only species in the Unit-
ed States is C. viscosissima, being viscid ; having op-
posite, petiolate, ovate, oblong leaves ; lateral, solitary
flowers on short peduncles, furnished with 12 stamens.
In certain places, and by way sides, it is rather a com-
mon plant from Pennsylvania southward, and bears
its purple flowers about September, after which it
perishes, being only annual.

The next order is very properly termed Di-Pen-
tagynia, there being, as in Crataegus, species in the
same genus with 1 or 2, to 5 styles. The -Cratagus,
or Hawthorn, which needs no description but that of
the genus, has a superior, 5-cleft calyx ; 5 petals ; and
a closed pulpy fruit, resembling a berry, with from 2
to 5, 1-seeded nuts. This genus belongs also to the
Rosacea, and is allied to the Sorbiis, or Mountain
Ash, which has also a 5-cleft calyx ; 5 petals ; 2 or
3 styles, and an inferior or crowned berry, with a
farinaceous pulp, including 3 cartilaginous seeds, like
the pippins of the Apple. These are small trees grow-
ing in mountain bogs, having pinnated leaves like Ash,
and clustered scarlet berries, which add greatly to the
autumnal ornament of the forest and pleasure ground.

The Agrimonia (Agrimony) is another genus of the
Rosaceje. They are herbs with some fragrance, hav-
ing simple or undivided herbaceous stems, clothed with
hairy interruptedly pinnated leaves ; and terminating in
slender spikes of small golden yellow flowers of 5 pe-
10*

114 CLASS IC0SANDR1A.

lals, with an inferior, 5-cleft, hispid or bristly calyx ;
7 to 20 stamens ; and only 2 hard coated seeds in the
bottom of the calyx.

In Pyrus, the genus of the Apple and Pear, of the
section Pomaces, in the Rosaceous order, the calyx
is 5 cleft ; the petals 5 ; the Apple inferior, or crown-
ed by the calyx, large, and of a fleshy or solid consis-
tence, including a 5-celled, few seeded capsule ; the
seeds themselves furnished with a cartilaginous coating.
The P. coronaria, or Native Crab, is remarkable for
the beauty of its somewhat fragrant blossoms, and
the leaves, instead of being entire, have often an evi-
dent tendency to lobing. The Apple or Crab of this
species, when ripe, is almost diaphanous, entirely yel-
low, and on mellowing becomes very fragrant ; it has
also scarcely any depression at the insertion of the
stalk.

The genus Aronia, or Shad-blossom, as it is called
in New-England, is the same with the Amelanchior
of Europe, and scarcely different from Pyrus, having
the same kind of seed, inclosed, however, in a berry,
rather than an apple, with 5 to 10 cells, the cells 1 to
2-seeded. These form one of the prominent orna-
ments of our forests, about the month of May, when
the branches appear as if loaded with clusters of white
fringe, from the narrowness of the petals. They come
out likewise before the full developement of the leaves,
and are disposed in racemes or corymbs.

In Polygynia, of the Icosandrous class, you will
find the Rose (Rosa), so long and deservedly celebrat-
ed for its beauty, variety, and fragrance. The calyx,
in the form of a pitcher, or urceolate, contracted at
its orifice, and terminating above in a deciduous 5-
cleft border, is the peculiar and most distinguishing-
trait of the genus. The 5 petals are remarkable for
their great size and fine color. The seeds, very nu-

CLASS POLVANDRIA. 115

merous, and hispid, are attached all round the interior
base of the calyx. With some of the principal traits
of the other Polygynous genera you are already par-
tially acquainted in a former chapter. To these we
may odd the character of the Calicanthus, Sweet-
Shrub, or Carolina Allspice bush, whose flower, in
many respects, resembles that of the Cactus, being
composed of a superior, somewhat urceolate, many
parted calyx, the segments squarrose, in several
series, colored and petaloid ; no corolla ; many
styles ; the seeds numerous and naked, included in
a venticose, succulent calyx. This genus, in fact,
forms the type of a natural order apart, but deserves
to be compared with the Cacti. All the species of
this North American genus are shrubs with campho-
rated roots ; opposite broad leaves, scabrous on the
upper surface ; with terminal, and lateral, sessile, brown
flowers, giving out, towards evening, principally, a de-
lightful odor Tike that of strawberries or ripe apples.

CHAPTER XX.

OF THE CLASS POLYANDRIA.

The class Polyandria, like the preceding, has an
indefinite number of stamens, namely, from 15 or under,
to 1000 ; but instead of growing out from the sides of
the calyx, they originate on the common receptacle
beneath the germ, as you will readily perceive by ex-
amining the flower of a Poppy, which has a caducous
or quickly falling calyx of 2 leaves ; a corolla (when
not double) of 4 petals ; and a roundish, large capsule
without any valves, but, internally, divided into as
many cells as there are rays in the many-toothed, dis-
coid stigma. The sides of the capsule, on drying,

116 CLASS POLYANDRIA.

shrink from the horny persisting stigma, and leave
openings at the summit of every cell by which the
seeds escape on the slightest agitation. These seeds
are exceedingly numerous, and filled with a mild and
pleasant flavored oil employed in the arts, being ob-
tained by expression, and might safely be used for diet,
which is not the case with the herb itself, lor the
milky juice so abundant in the capsules, when
inspissated, by simple drying on the plant from
which it exudes on incision, is the narcotic, but very
important, and useful lethean drug, Opium. Although
several species afford this milky sap, the Papaver
sonmifervm is chiefly cultivated for this purpose, and
produces spheroidal capsules as large as oranges,
preceded by white flowers, and having white seeds.
The Poppy is the type of a natural family Papa-
VERACEiE, to which also belongs the

Celandine, or Chelidonium, a common plant about
old garden walls, and under shady hedges, in flower
the greatest part of the year ; its milky sap, as well as
small flowers, are yellow, constructed exactly as in
the Poppy ; but the stigma is small, sessile, and bifid ;
succeeded by a long, narrow siliqueor pod-formed cap-
sule of 1 cell, with 2 valves, and many crested seeds,
attached to 2 thread-like receptacles.

The Meconopsis (Chelidonium diphyUum of Mi-
chaux), not uncommon in the western states, in moist
and rich shady woods, particularly along the banks of
the Ohio, differs only from the Celandine, which it
resembles, in flower and leaf, by having a distinct style;
a 4 to 6-rayed stigma ; and an oblong, bristly, 1 -celled
capsule, opening by 4 to 6 valves, containing many
seeds attached to filiform receptacles.

The Sanguinaria, or Bloodroot, likewise belonging
to the PAPAVERACEiE, is one of our earliest vernal or-
naments, sending up its lively, white, and large flower?

CLASS POLYANDRIA. 117

from the bosom of the withered leaves of the forest,
by which they are commonly protected from the cut-
ting winds of the season. The roots, growing in clus-
ters, are abrupt, and thickish tubers full of a bitter,
milky sap of a brownish, bright red color, appearing
almost like blood. From these issue low stems, each
consisting of a single lobed leaf, at first folded over
the stalk and its only flower, which is protected by a
2-leaved, deciduous calyx. The corolla consists of
about 8 expanded petals ; 2 stigmas ; the capsule
oblong, and pointed, 2-valved, 1 -celled, with many
seeds attached to 2 filiform receptacles. Allied to this
genus, but forming the type of a distinct natural order,
is the

Podophyllum, or May-Apple, falsely called Man-
drake, of which genus, like the preceding, there
is but a single species known, and both of the plants
are peculiar to North America. This plant is also
one of the characteristic, and rather common vernal
ornaments of our forests. The roots run profusely,
are esteemed in medicine as a valuable cathartic, and
send up, at near intervals, stems with 2 leaves of an
orbicular form, and lobed on the margin, with that pe-
culiar and uncommon mode of attachment in the pe-
tiole, under the centre of the disk, which constitutes
the peltate leaf, and hence its specific name of pelta-
tum. From the centre of these 2 leaves issues a single
pedunculated, nodding, white, and rather large con-
cave flower, having a 3-leaved calyx ; about 9 petals ; a
large crenate, or rather crested stigma ; a thick skinned,
1-celled, ovate, large berry, containing many seeds im-
mersed in a one-sided, large, and diaphanously pulpy
receptacle ; which pulp, at first foetid, when ripe, be-
comes, with the whole opaque berry, fragrant, of a very
pleasant sweetish acid taste, and as the May-Apple, is
commonly eaten, and considered wholesome.

1 18 CLASS POLYANDRIA.

The most curious plant of this class is undoubtedly
the peculiar North American genus Sarracenia, term-
ed in England the Side-saddle flower, or rather leaf,
as the resemblance only exists there, to the old-
fashioned side-saddle. It has no distinct affinity with
any other genus yet discovered, though somewhat
allied to Niiphar, the yellow Pond-lily, and will form,
no doubt, the type of a distinct natural order, as well
as genus. The »S. purpurea, or most common species,
is found only in wet, mossy bogs, and is an evergreen
perennial, sending up for leaves, clusters of peculiar
processes, which have heen termed ascidia, from the
Greek auxbg, a bottle. They are hollow, tubular ap-
pendages, enlarging above, where they remain open,
or but slightly sheltered by a broad valve-like process,
undulated, or arched over this extremity of the tube ;
above, and lengthwise, this tube sends off a leafy ridge.
In the yellow flowered species, so common in Virginia
and the southern states, these ascidia are very long,
and not unaptly resemble trumpets, the name by which
the plant is there generally known. From the bosom
of these curious leaves, commonly filled with water
and dead insects, arise, in June, a number of scapes
producing yellow or red flowers, consisting of a double
persisting calyx, the external one smaller, and 3-leav-
ed ; the inner 5 leaved. The petals 5 deciduous,
spreading out from beneath the very large, persistent,
peltate stigma, wiiich overshadows the numerous sta-
mens. The anther is adnate to its filament. The
capsule is roundish and scabrous, 5-celled, and 5-
valved, many seeded. The seeds are also somewhat
scabrous and compressed.

The Purslain (Portidacca), the type of the order
Portulage;e, belongs also, as well as all the preced-
ing genera, to the first order of our class. This suc-
culent annual weed, with wedge-shaped leaves, is but

CLASS POLYANDRIA. 119

too common in sandy soils, and in (he latter part of
summer seems to grow up like a Hydra. Its flowers,
small and yellow, are seldom open, and with the sta-
mens, sensitive like those of the Cactus, frequently
close at the touch. The calyx is inferior, and bifid ;
the petals 5; the capsule 1-celled, opening across in-
to 2 cups or hemispheres. The numerous seeds are
attached to an unconnected 5-lobed receptacle.

The Nymphrm, or Pond-lily, the type of the Nym-
PHiEACEJE, is one of our most beautiful aquatics, send-
ing up numerous floating, roundish, heart-shaped leaves;
and scapes, each terminated by large showy flowers ;
having a 4 or 5-leaved calyx, and many rows of large
petals inserted upon the germ. The filaments appear
as so many narrower and inner petals adnate to the
anthers, the cells of which are thus, often, widely sep-
arated. The stigma is discoid, radiated like that of
the Poppy, and the unopening capsule or succulent
pericarp contains as many cells as there are rays in
the stigma ; the seeds are numerous.

In the order Di-Pentagynia, or that of flowers
with from 2 to 5 pistils, will be found Delphinium, or
the genus of the Larkspur, of the natural order Ra-
nunculace^. There appears to be no calyx ; a co-
rolla of 5 petals, and an inner set, or lepanthium of 2
recurved, and pedunculated petal-like processes in the
Aconite or Monkshood ; but of only one sessile, but
bifid petal, continued backwards into a spur in the
Larkspur. The common garden species has but one
capsule ; but some of the native species, not very com-
mon plants, have as many as 3.

In the Columbine {Aquilegia), belonging to the
same natural family with Delphinium, there is a
5-leaved, petaloid calyx ; and 5 very singular, holiow,
tubular petals, or rather lepanthia, terminating below
in spurs or horns containing honey. The capsules

120 CLASS 1'OLYANDRIA.

are 5, many-seeded, and acuminated with the per-
sisting styles. Our common, coral-colored flower-
ing species (A. canadensis), like most of the genus,
has biternated, or twice 3-parted leaves, incisely or
deeply toothed at the extremity. The scarlet flowers
hang pendulous, with the styles and stamens exserted,
and form, in rocky situations, one of the most ele-
gant vernal ornaments of the season.

The Peony {Pceonia) is also another genus of the
Ranunculaceje, and one of the most gaudy orna-
ments of the flower-garden. It bears a 5-leaved
calyx ; (when single), a corolla of 5 petals ; and 2
or 3 germs, crowned by as many stigmas ; the cap-
sules the same number, each contain several seeds.
These have also ternately divided, and compound
leaves, and, in the P. tenuifolia, nearly as finely dis-
sected as those of Larkspur.

In the order Polygynia, you will find the beautiful
Tulip-tree, or Ldriodendron, sometimes, improperly
enough, called Yellow Poplar, from the color of its
wood. The form of its leaves truncated, or as if
cut off squarely at the extremity, and so giving it
something of the form of the ancient Lyre, is very
peculiar. It belongs to the same natural family with
the Magnolia (Magnoliace;e), and is distinguished
from it principally by the fruit, which consists of a
dry cone of imbricated, and partly lanceolate peri-
carps, each containing 1 or 2 seeds. The calyx, as
in Magnolia, is 3-leaved, and the petals 6.

In Magnolia the petals are 6 to 9 ; and the fruit
an imbricated cone of 2-valved, 1 -seeded capsules ;
but the seeds are covered with an aromatic red pulp,
and, when ripe, they hang out of the capsules by a
funiculus, resembling a white and silken thread. All
the species of this genus are remarkable for their
beautv and fragrance : indeed, the flowers of the

CLASS POLYANDRIA. 121

M. macrophylla of Lincoln, in North Carolina, are
said to be i 4 inches in diameter ; and the leaves,
disposed in clusters at the ends of the branches,
white beneath, and pale green above, attain sometimes
a length of 3 feet. The whole genus are trees or
shrubs peculiar to North America and China. Of the
Tulip tree there are 2 other species in India. The
most splendid tree in America is certainly the Mag-
nolia grandiflora, which extends from Charleston, in
South Carolina, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
Near Savannah, in Georgia, I have observed trees
with a smooth shaft of about 90 feet before sending
off any considerable branches ; the spreading top is
clothed with deep green, oblong-oval leaves, like a
Laurel ; these are, at most seasons, enlivened either
by large and fragrant flowers, or cones, decorated, as
it were, with pendulous scarlet seeds. Our most
common species, in every dark, swampy forest near
the sea-coast, is the J\'l. glauca, or Swamp Sassafras,
which extends from the sea islands of Massachusetts
bay to East Florida. This species forms a low tree
or shrub, with brittle, white, smooth branches, and
oblong, laurel-like, but deciduous leaves, whitened or
glaucous beneath ; from the bosom of these arise
numerous cream-colored, extremely fragrant, cup-
shaped flowers, which continue longer in succession
than in any other species. The J\fl. acuminata, a
large tree of the western states, and the back parts of
Pennsylvania, bears inconspicuous, yellowish green
flowers ; and the M. tripetcda of Virginia, or Um-
brella tree, is remarkable for the length of its leaves,
tufted, so as to spread out at the extremities of the
branches like an umbrella ; this bears also large,
showy, white flowers, very strongly and pleasantly
fragrant at a certain distance. The M. cordata, little
more than a variety of M. acuminata, is remarkable
for its abundance of fine, yellow flowers.
11

122 CLASS POLYANDRIA.

The Anemone, of the Ranunculaceje, is a genu-
of which you will find some of the species very early
in flower in the shade of the forest, particularly the
A. nemorosa, growing in spreading clusters, and thick-
ly scattered, with the stem low, bearing 3 leaves, all
connected together at the base ; the segments are 5-
parted, deeply toothed, lanceolate, and acute. Above
these comes out a similar involucrum ; and only a
single white, or externally reddish or purplish, bell-
shaped flower of 6 parts, resembling petals, but being
rather a calyx. The character of the genus is, to
have a 3-leaved involucrum distant from the flower,
with its leaflets divided. The calyx is petaloid, with
from 5 to as many as 15 leaves. There are no
proper petals in this view. The seeds are numerous,
and either, as in the Pulsatillas, ending in long plu-
mose awns, or naked of this appendage ; and in
some species, as in A. virginica and others, produc-
ing a copious quantity of wool at their base. These
ought properly to be separated, at least, from the
Pulsatillas, which have the plumose seeds of Cle-
matis.

Hepatica has been removed from Anemone, from
which it differs, no doubt, in general aspect. This
has a 3-leaved, undivided involucrum, near the
flower, and so resembling a calyx. The petaloid
calyx (commonly blue, sometimes white, or red) has
6 or 9 leaves, or even more in H. acuta, disposed in
more than one series, and the seeds are without awns
or down. These are very early flowering, evergreen
plants, with 3-lobed leaves, hence called Liverwort.
The flowers grow in considerable clusters, particularly
when cultivated, and then often occur double.

The Ranunculus (Crowfoot or Buttercup), giving
name to a natural order, of which we have already
quoted several genera, has flowers (commonly yellow)

CLASS POLYANDRIA.

123

famished with a 5-leaved calyx ; and 5 petals with a
nectariferous pore, and small scale at their base, on the
inside. The capsules or carpels are numerous, ovate,
and mucronated with the remaining stigma, contain-
ing 1 seed, but, like a nut, not opening. The species
of this genus are numerous, and many of them com-
mon in every field and lane. They have generally
deeply and much divided leaves ; and the yellow, cup-
shaped flowers appear internally as if varnished. The
Persian Ranunculus, R. asiaticus, with its numerous
and various colored double flowering varieties, is one
of the greatest ornaments of the garden, presenting
brilliant colored flowers, nearly as large as roses, and
coming out at an early season of the year. The
roots of these in a dry state, consisting of little tufts
of cylindric tubers, are commonly imported from
Holland, the great mart of the florist.

The largest flowered plant in America is the Ne-
lumbium, belonging to the Nymph.eaceje ; an aquatic
of the southern and western states, growing also
near Philadelphia, readily known even by its large
leaves, which are perfectly orbicular and peltate, and
either float or rise out of the water. The pedun-
cles always appear above the surface, each bearing
a large, yellowish white flower, having a petaloid, 4
to 6-leaved calyx ; and many concave petals. The
pericarps or nuts, like acorns, each containing 1 seed,
are entirely immersed to the summit in a top-shaped,
or turbinate spongy receptacle. Of this genus there
are also 1 or 2 other species in India and China ;
that of India scarcely differing from the N. luteum of
this country in any thing but the fine rose color of its
flowers, and more scabrous peduncles.

124 CLASS D1DYNAMIA,

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CLASS DIDYNAMIA.

This class and its 2 orders each embrace a very
natural and similar assemblage of plants. Tbe gen-
eral character of the flower, as we have elsewhere
already remarked, is its irregularity, being almost
universally ringent, gaping, or personate with the lips
closed. The corolla in all is monopetalous ; and the
stamina 4, in 2 pairs of unequal length, so situated in
consequence of the inequality of the corolla. This
distinction in the length or proportion of the stamens,
consequent on the peculiar trait of the corolla, is the
foundation of this class, and hence called Didynamia,
or 2 powers ; but, as in 2 very distinct natural orders
of the same class so characterized, there exists but
one pistillum, it became necessary to have recourse
to some other character for the foundation of the
orders, such a distinction is then very obvious in the
fruit ; for in the first order, including all the 4 sta-
mened Labiatje of the natural method of arrange-
«pent, in which, as in the following order, there is but
one style, there is always in the bottom of the calyx
4 apparently naked seeds, and hence the ordinal
name of Gymnospermia. But in the 2d order of
irregular flowers with didynamous stamens, the single
style is succeeded by a regular, and commonly 2-
celled capsule, containing abundance of small seeds
attached to a central receptacle.

The 2 orders of this class, in a natural point of
view, are quite distinct from each other ; and, not-
withstanding the nominal similarity of the fruit in the
Asperifoli;e of Pentandria, which have also 4 car-
pels in the bottom of the calyx, no 2 families of

CLASS D1DYNAMIA.

125

plants are much more dissimilar in aspect or general
character than these when compared with the Labi-
ate. That they are allied to plants of the 5th class,
however vaguely, is still certain from the quinary
divisions of the calyx and corolla. With regard to
the 2d order of this class, Angiospermia, their affi-
nities with plants of the 5th class is unquestionable,
several bearing, even with the irregular corolla, still
the plain rudiments of the 5th stamen, as in Foxglove,
Pentstemon, Bignonia, Antirrhinum, and others. The
Peloria, a variety of Antirrhinum Linaria, or Toad-
flax, is perhaps one of the most remarkable things
in the vegetable kingdom. This species, like the
rest, ordinarily bears a personate or close-lipped co-
rolla, from the lower segment sending out a long spur.
Internally is found 4 didynamous stamens, and the
slight rudiment of a 5th. But, in the Peloria, this
irregular flower is transformed into a regular one, with
an equal, 5-lobed, reflected, convex border, ending
below in 5 equidistant spurs ; and within containing
5 equal and perfect stamens. There is nothing here
of that monstrosity which characterizes double flow-
ers ; there are only 5 lobes to the border as in ordi-
nary, and only 5 stamens, but perfected, instead of 4
of unequal length, and the rudiment of a fifth. The
conclusion is, therefore, obvious, that this apparent
monstrosity, or departure from the ordinary course
of abortion and imperfection of parts, is, in reality,
the genuine symmetry, not merely of Antirrhinum,
but probably of all the genera of the 2d order of
Didynamia ; and, that the ordinary irregular figure of
the flowers of this class, and their abortion of parts,
is the real monstrosity, of which the rarely produced
regular flowers, as in Peloria, are the symmetrical
type ; and we see here another example of the great
11*

126 ORDER GYMNOSPERM1A.

prevalence of the quinary division or addition of parts
in the flowers throughout the Dicotyledonous class of
plants.

THE ORDER GYMNOSPERMIA

is, in fact, the remaining Labi at je of the natural
method, not included in the 2d artificial class of Lin-
naeus. In all these plants a common resemblance is
obvious ; they are many of them aromatic, all of
them square-stemmed, and opposite-leaved ; generally
producing their flowers in whorls or axillary clusters
at the summit of the stem, brought often so near
together as to resemble a spike. They may be con-
veniently divided into 2 sections : in the first of which
divisions of genera

The calyx is mostly 5-cleft, and nearly regular.

The first of these genera, which commonly offers
itself in our Floras, and in nature by the banks of
streams and in low grounds, in flower about midsum-
mer, is the Teucrium, which you cannot mistake, as
it entirely wants the upper lip of the corolla, or rather,
it appears cleft, and the stamens will be found pro-
truded through the conspicuous fissure. We have
but 2 species which are common, both with ovate,
entire leaves ; in one inclining to lanceolate (T. cana-
dense) ; in the other to oblong, and above sessile
(T. virginicum). The flowers are brought together
so closely, as to form a spike. These species are very
nearly related, and, contrary to most of the European
ones, have little or no odor.

The Isanthus, a peculiar American annual, deviates
very remarkably, as its name implies, from most
other Labiate, by the regularity of its 5-lobed (blue)

ORDER GYMNOSPERMIA. 127

corolla, almost like a funnel, with a straight and narrow
tube. The calyx is campanulate (externally bluish) ;
the stamens, as might be expected, nearly equal ;
and the stigma linear and recurved. This plant is
not uncommon, by way sides, in the middle and west-
ern states, and is covered with a somewhat viscid
pubescence of a strong and rather heavy, but not un-
pleasant, odor.

The Catmint (Nepeta) has a dryish striated calyx ;
the tube of the corolla rather long, the intermediate
segment of the lower lip crenate, with the margin of
the orifice reflected. The stamina approach each
other. The strong peculiar odor of most of the
species of this genus is well known, particularly that
of the common kind (.IV. cataria), which renders it
very attractive to cats, and they often tear and devour
it with greediness.

The Groundivy, or Glechoma, a trailing, prostrate
plant, with roundish, strong smelling leaves, and pretty
small, blue flowers, may be known, at once, from
other genera, by the disposition of its white anthers,
which approach each other in pairs, so as to form a
cross. It has also the upper lip of the corolla bifid.

Horehound, or Marrubium, may easily be recog-
nised by its 10-ribbed, 10-toothed calyx; it has, be-
sides, the upper lip of the corolla narrow, straight,
and cleft. The common species by way sides, near
houses, has hoary, wrinkled, roundish-ovate, toothed
leaves.

The Pycnanthemiim, or Mountain-mint, an Ameri-
can genus, may be known by having its small, pale
colored flowers disposed in heads, and surrounded by
an involucrum of many narrow bractes. The calyx
is tubular and striated ; the upper lip of the corolla
nearly entire ; the lower lip 3-cleft. The stamina
nearly equal and distant. In the 2d section the

12S ORDER GYMNOSPERMIA.

Calyx is bilabiate.

Here you will find the Marjoram (Origanum),
which has the flowers collected into a dense 4-sided
spike, and the upper lip of the corolla straight, flat, and
emarginate. The common species (O. vulgare) will
be met with in dryish fields, somewhat elevated,
in flower from June to October, or even November.

Dracoctphalum, or Dragon's-head, of which the
United States afford several fine perennial species,
may be known, at once, by the remarkable inflation
of the orifice of the corolla; the upper lip is concave,
and the stamina unconnected. The D. virginicum is
rather a tall plant, (at least when cultivated,) and re-
markable for its very regularly arranged, crowded,
and elongated spikes of conspicuous pink flowers. Its
leaves are also narrow, lanceolate, and serrate.

Prunella, or Self heal, common every where, but
particularly by way-sides, is readily distinguished by
its dense spikes of bright blue flowers ; and by the ca-
lyx, of which the upper lid is flat and dilated ; but
more particularly recognisable by its forked filaments
(not articulated as in Sage), one of the points only be-
ing antheriferous.

Scutellaria, or Skullcap, is at once known from all
the other Labiatje by the peculiarity of its calyx ;
the upper lip covering the fruit like an operculum or
lid, and with its edges entire. There are a considera-
ble number of species in the United States, all of them
bearing blue flowers, curved upwards, and having a
wide orifice to the corolla. The S. galericulata, with
cordate lanceolate, subsessile, crenated leaves, and
axillary, solitary flowers, has been somewhat celebrat-
ed as a specific for hydrophobia ; but it is, in all pro-
bability, very little entitled to such merit.

The Trichostema, or Blue-curls, is a genus peculiar

ORDER ANG10SPERMIA. 129

to the United States, being annuals, of which there are
only 2, very nearly allied species. The common T.
dichotoma, in flower from about July to September,
is frequent on gravelly and sandy hills, being low
and much branched, with an aromatic and rather
heavy odor. The flowers are of a bright blue, and
remarkable for the narrow, falcate or curved appear-
ance of the upper lip of the corolla. The calyx is
also resupinate, or lying along, as it were, upon its
back. The stamina are very long, and incurved.

THE ORDER ANGIOSPERMIA.

The plants of this order have very little relation
with those of the preceding ; and are easily distin-
guished by having a proper capsule. The corolla, in
many of the genera, is personate or closed, in others
open, and approaching to the regularity of the simple
pentandrous class. There are here also 2 sections,
characterized by the calyx, which is 4 or 5-cleft. The
first we shall notice have the

* Calyx h-cleft.

The Vervain [Verbena) appears distinctly related
to the preceding order, as it has 2 to 4 seeds, or car-
pells, inclosed, at first, in a thin evanescent pericarp,
but when mature, they appear naked. The calyx has
one of its teeth or dentures truncated ; and the corol-
la is funnel-formed, with a flat, slightly unequal 5-cleft
border. The stamens 2 to 4. Several of the spe-
cies are rather common weeds in moist grounds,
and by way-sides, particularly the Nettle-leaved Ver-
vain {V. urticifolia), with rough leaves, like Nettles
in form, and bearing filiform, or very slender spikes of
inconspicuous white flowers. The V. hastata is a tall

130 ORDER ANGIOSPERMIA.

plant with thicker, long spikes of blue flowers ; and
with the lanceolate, deeply serrated leaves occasional-
ly lobed, or halbert-shaped at the base, particularly
the lower and larger ones. This genus is the type of
a natural order Verbenace.e.

Scrophtdaria, or Figwort, is remarkable for its
brown, and almost globular flowers, which are resupi-
nate, divided into 2 short Jips, with an intermediate
scale. The capsule is 2-celled. The common spe-
cies, S. marilandica, has nettle like foetid leaves. This
genus is the type of the natural order Scrophulari-e.

The Bignonia, or Trumpet-flower, is also the type
of an order of the same name, and one of the most
beautiful and showy genera of this artificial order.
The calyx is cup-shaped, of a leathery consistence,
with a 5-toothed border. The corolla campanulate,
5-lobed, and ventricose or swelled out on the under
side. The capsule is a kind of 2-celled silique ; and
the seeds membranaceously winged. Our common
species, occasionally found by the banks of rivers
amidst bushes, and in flower from July to August, is
the B. radicans, having a creeping, long branched
stem, which sustains itself to neighboring objects and
rocks by the adhering fibres which the branches send
out, like Ivy, at short intervals. The leaves are pinnat-
ed ; and the flowers, large and scarlet, are sparingly
produced in terminal clusters from branches of the
present year. These flowers commonly contain the
rudiments of a 5th stamen.

Antirrhinum, or Toad-flax, is another genus of the
Scrophularije, which presents, in ordinary, a 5-part-
ed calyx ; a personate or ringent corolla, with a promi-
nent nectariferous spur at the base. The capsule is
2-celled, bursting at the summit, with reflected teeth.
The most common species of the genus is A. Linaria,
a perennial with running roots, growing profusely in

ORDER ANGIOSPERM1A. 131

wastes and by road sides ; in flower from June to
November. The stem is simple and terminated by a
dense spike of rather large flowers, sometimes called
Butter and Eggs, from the fine contrast of yellow and
orange which they present. The leaves are linear
and crowded. Of the Peloria, one of its extraordi-
nary varieties, we have already spoken.

The curious Collinsia, of the shady banks of the
Ohio, and the western forests of Pennsylvania, belongs
also to the same natural order with the preceding ge-
nus. It has a 5-cleft calyx ; a bilabiate corolla, with
the orifice closed ; the upper lip bifid, the lower trifid,
the intermediate segment forming a keeled sack, in
which are included the declinate style and stamens.
The capsule is globose, partly 1 -celled, and imperfect-
ly 4-valved ; seeds few, umbilicate. The C. verna
is a low annual, flowering in May ; with opposite, ovate,
oblong, sessile, obtuse leaves, the lower ones petiolat-
ed ; and having a capsule containing only 2 or 3 seeds.
The flower is beautifully particolored, the upper lip
being white, the lower a fine blue. A second, and very
similar annual species is found on the banks of the Ar-
kansa, west of the Mississippi; which I propose to call
Collinsia *violacea from the peculiar hue of the corolla.
In this species the capsule contains 8 to 12 seeds.

Another very ornamental American genus of this
order is Gerardia, of which there are no inconsidera-
ble number of species in the United States, and sev-
eral of them rather common. The genus is divisi-
ble into 2 sections from the color of the corolla ; as,
those with purple, and those with yellow flowers. In
the form of the corolla and general aspect they appear
as the counterpart of the European Foxglove, and
might well be called the American Foxglove. They
have acalyx which is hail" way down 5-cleft, or 5-tcoth-
ed. The corolla is somewhat campanulate, unequally

132 ORDER ANGIOSPERMIA.

and obtusely 5-lobed. The capsule 2-celled, opening
above. The G. purpurea, flowering from August to
October, is not unl'requent in moist sandy soils, and
marshes, near waters. It is much branched, bearing
long, scabrous, linear, acute leaves ; and large, purple,
subsessile flowers; with the divisions of the calyx sub-
ulate. Another species in drier places, in woods, the
G. tenuifolia, is very similar, but lower growing, and
with peduncles which are longer than the purple flow-
ers. The G. flava of the second section, unlike the
preceding, is perennial ; having nearly a simple stem,
subsessile, lanceolate, pubescent leaves, either entire
na toothed, the lower ones deeply so, with subsessile,
large, yellow flowers like those of the Foxglove. In
the corolla of several of these species there is often
the rudiments of a 5th stamen.

In wet places and ditches, about the month of Au-
gust, you will not unfrequently meet with the Mhnulus
ringens, with blue, ringent, almost personate flowers ;
having the palate of the lower lip prominent, and the
upper lip reflected at the sides. The calyx is also
angular, with the summit 5-toothed ; the stigma thick,
and bifid ; the capsule 2-celled, the seeds numerous
and minute. This species is erect and smooth, with
sessile, lanceolate, acuminate leaves, and axillary pe-
duncles longer than the flowers. The M. alatus is
very similar, but has quadrangularly margined stems,
peduncles shorter than the flowers, and petiolated,
broader leaves.

In Pcntstemon, a peculiar genus of America, abound-
ing in the western wilds and territories, there is a 5-
leaved calyx (as in Foxglove) ; a bilabiate, ventri-
cose corolla ; a ffth sterile filament longer than the
rest, and bearded on its upper side ; and hence the
name of PentaHnnon. The capsule is ovate, 2-celled,
2-valved, containing many angular seeds. There arc

ORDER ANGIOSPERMIA. 133

two species not uncommon in the middle states, in dry
fields, and stony grounds. The P. pubescens, pro-
ducing its purplish blue flowers about June ; the pu-
bescent leaves are lanceolate, oblong, sessile, and ser-
rulate ; the flowers in a thin panicle ; with the sterile
filament bearded above the middle. The P. Iceviga-
tum is very similar, but smooth, with paler, later flow-
ers, and is less common, except to the south.

The Chelone, more common than the preceding
genus, at least the C. glabra, found in wet places, in
flower from August to October, is distinguished from
Pentstemou by the thick, short ventricose form of the
ringent corolla, in which the sterile filament is shorter
likewise than the rest ; the anthers are woolly, and
the seeds niembranaceously margined. The flowers
of the C. glabra are large and white, in dense spikes;
the leaves lanceolate, oblong, acuminate and serrate.

** Calyx A-cleft.

In wet meadows, about May and June, you will
sometimes observe a very gaudy, low, unbranched
plant of this class and order, to which some years ago,
with its congeners equally characterized, I gave the
name of Evchroma, nearly the vulgar appellation of
Painted-cup (probably an Indian name, as is that of
Red-bud, given to the Cercii). The common species,
here alluded to, E. coccinea, has the leaves and fine
scarlet bractes spread out, each into 3 wide divisions
like fingers on the stretch. The corolla is inconspic-
uous, of a greenish yellow, and bilabiate, with the
upper lip very long and linear, embracing the style
and stamens ; the calyx ventricose, 2 to 4-eleft ;
the anthers linear with unequal sized lobes, all of
them cohering together into the form of an oblong
disk; the capsule ovate, and compressed, 2-celled :
12

134 ORDER ANGIOSPERMIA.

the seeds numerous, surrounded with a membranace-
ous inflated vesicle. The Bartsia pallida, of the
White Mountains of New Hampshire, is another spe-
cies of Euchroma, characterized by having entire nar-
row leaves, subovate, pale pink colored bractes, some-
times almost white, slightly toothed at the extremity ;
and the teeth of the calyx entire.

The Epiphegus, or Beech-drops, of the natural order
OROBANCHEiE, and formerly included in the genus
Orobanche, may well be known, as its generic appella-
tion implies, by its uniform parasitic situation near the
roots, and beneath the shade of Beech trees. The
flowers, on the same plant, are polygamous, or fertile
and infertile, though not as in true monoecious plants
reciprocally necessary to the perfection of the fruit,
for the first flowers produced, for some time, are all
perfect, and the latest developed flowers alone are
sterile. The calyx is very short, 5-toothed (and so
an exception to our section). The corolla of the in-
fertile flower (yellowish with purple stripes) is ringent,
compressed, and 4-cleft ; having the lower lip flat ;
the corolla of the fertile flower minute, 4-toothed,
and very deciduous ; the capsule truncate, oblique
to its axis, l-celled, imperfectly 2-valved, and opening
only on one side. This curious plant, thickly scatter-
ed, flowering about September, is entirely leafless,
and destitute of verdure, repeatedly but simply branch-
ed, with the flowers distant and all over the stem.

CLASS TETRADYNAMIA. 135

CHAPTER XXII.

OP THE CLASS TETRADYNAMIA.*

In the plants of this class, known to you already as
the Crucifer2£, and equally natural in the present
artificial system, there are 6 stamens, arranged com-
monly in 2 sets, and of an unequal length ; 2 being
shorter than the other 4, in consequence of a small
gland interposed betwixt their base and that of the
germ. Unlike the plants of the simple sixth class, the
flowers of this are easily distinguished by producing a
calyx and corola of only 4 parts, or in symmetry with
the 4 longer, and more perfect stamens. The fruit
also, as in JJidynamia, alone, forms the distinction of
the orders ; but here the orders both belong to the
same natural group, and are so closely related as to
pass insensibly almost into each other. They are
founded merely on the comparative length of the pod
or silique ; the first being termed Siliculosa, and the
second order Siliqjjosa.

Four stamens, instead of 6, the ordinary number,
appears to be the symmetrical proportion of this class ;
and constant examples of a number below 6 are not
wanting in nature ; as for example, in Lepidium vir-
ginicum there are only 2 to 4 ; and in Draba caroli-
niana, where there are also 2 of the 6 commonly want-
ing. The 2 other short stamens then with their glands,
which seem to form a separate system in the cruci-
ferous flowers, have been assumed, perhaps rather
boldly, as so many interposed rudiments of other flow-
ers ; and it is indeed asserted, that instances have oc-
curred of their so developing themselves. That a sin-
gle stamen with its gland may be occasionally the
type of a flower, is not so extraordinary a circum-

* From ri<7 taps, four, and Mm/jih, power, the power of four.

136 CLASS TETRADYNAMIA.

stance as at first might appear, for we have uniform
examples of this abridgment in the family of the
Euphorbias ; and, in that genus itself, the flower, till
lately considered simple, is always a compound of
one female individual without any perianth, and
many masculine flowers, perfected progressively, con-
sisting each of a mere jointed stamen, and its minute
inconspicuous scale. That such are real flowers appears
from the occasional occurrence of a calyx and corolla
in connexion with the single stamen, and arising from
the articulated point, of which the lower joint alone
thus represents the whole perianth.

THE ORDER SILICULOSA.

In this order the pod is short, round, and convex ;
or circular and flat, approaching more to the nature
of an ordinary capsule than the silique of the next
order. Its diminutive size, however, is not always the
most characteristic distinction which it presents for ob-
servation. In both kinds of fruit the pod is divided
into 2 cells by a partition, and opens by 2 valves, hav-
ing the seeds attached (when several), alternately, to
either edge of the dissepiment, which at once removes
this kind of fruit from the nature of the legume, or
pod of the Pea tribe, for this, though furnished with
2 long valves, has no partition, and only a single suture,
for the attachment of the seed. The partition of the
silique, or long pod, of the second order of this class,
is said to be parallel with the plane of the valves, and
is nearly their breadth, allowing for their convexity ;
but, in several of the silicles of our present order,
such as that of the Cress and Shepherd's-purse, the
valves are not merely convex, but folded together,
and so compressed as to appear keeled like a boat.
In this case, the partition appears very narrow com-
pared to the whole breadth of the silicle, and, is said.

ORDER SILICULOSA. 137

very truly, to be transverse, or as it were in an opposite
direction to that of the dissepiment in the silicle. One
of the most remarkable examples, though deviations
from the ordinary character of the capsella or silicle,
is that of the Psychine, so named from Psyche, the
Butterfly, in allusion to the fruit which instead of 2, pre-
sents constantly 3 cells, and 3 broadly carinated valves,
to the silicle. The same number of valves, though not
constant, may often be observed in the fruit of the com-
mon Candytuft (Iberis umbellata). In Biscutella,
the dissepiment is reduced to a mere axis of attach-
ment, to apparently, 2 different circular flat silicles,
united as one fruit by their edges merely, and hence
the name, which signifies 2 little shields.

One of the most common weeds of this order,
though worthy of examination, is the Shepherd's-purse
(T/ilaspi Bursa-pastoris)', deriving this specific name
from the peculiar form of the capsule. The plant has
but little to recommend it, being an unsightly annual,
running, only too quickly, over neglected gardens and
wastes, and is one of those plants, like the Chickweed,
and the Black Nightshade (Solnum nigrum), which
have made themselves denizens of the whole habitable
world. In the United States it is quite common on
the banks of the Mississippi, and the more distant
Missouri. Its radical leaves are pinnatifid, with the
divisions toothed, and sometimes bent in an arch.
The flowers are very small and white. The silicle or
capsella, which gave name to the plant itself amongst
the ancient botanists, is triangularly obcordate, but
without a keel or empty margin ; and the cells, each,
contain a multiplicity of minute seeds. Such ought
to be the description of the genus, which would then
probably include no other plant ; but at present, by
many, the genus is very unphilosophically constructed,
so as, in reality, to exclude our Shepherd's-purse, and
12*

138 ORDER SILICULOSA.

embrace other plants quite dissimilar, which common-
ly make a nearer approach to the Cress or Lepidivm
by their rounded and carinated silicles, but differ also
from that genus by their multiplicity of seeds.

One of our very earliest plants, the Draba verna, in
flower often in March, in the middle states, belongs to
this order. It is an annual, bearing small white flow-
ers, and the plant, of very diminutive size, bearing a
few lanceolate, short, hairy, somewhat serrated leaves,
and naked scapes, with a terminal corymb of flowers,
which, in character with the genus, are succeeded by
elliptic-oblong silicles, rather flatly compressed, and
the cells containing many minute seeds without mar-
gin. The cotyledones, here, indeed, a desperate mi-
croscopic character, are also brought in, as on many
other occasions in this class, to afford an additional
character, and they are said to be decumbent; that is,
with the back of one of the seed-lobes applied to the
curved radicle. The cotyledones are also said to be
incumbent, when their edges are applied to the radicle.
In this, and the next species, D. caroliniana, the
petals are very distinctly cleft. In the latter, the
silicle is so long as to appear linear- oblong, exceeding
in length its supporting pedicel.

In Lepidium, or Cress, the silicle is roundish-ovate,
or partly obcordate, with the valves carinated and
bursting open ; and each cell contains but 1 seed.
The cotyledones are incumbent.

In the Moonwort (Lunaria), sometimes called Hon-
esty, the silicle is roundish-oval, quite flat, pedicellate
or stipitate, and as large nearly as a cent. This is
not an uncommon garden plant, producing heart-
shaped, indented, acute leaves, the lower ones petio-
lated ; the flowers, nearly as large as those of the
Wall-flower, are of a fine purple ; and 2 of the leaves
of the calyx are swelled out or gibbous at the base.

SECOND ORDER SILIQUOSA. 139

The Candytuft of the gardens (lberis) is at once
known by its irregular corolla, in which the 2 outer
petals are larger than the 2 others.

THE SECOND ORDER SILIQUOSA.

The plants of this order are known by producing
a long, slender, linear pod, as in the example of the
Wall-flower (Cheiranthus), which has a flattish, or
convex-sided, long pod, containing many flat seeds,
with a winged margin ; and a calyx whose 2 opposite
leaflets are gibbous at the base, occasioned by a
glandular toothlet on each of these sides of the germ.
The Stock-Gillyflower, among others, also belongs to
this showy genus, several of which are remarkable
for the beauty and fragrance of their flowers. It
is only distinguishable from the true Erysimum, by its
round, instead of quadrangular pod.

The Radish (Raphanus) has a very peculiar, cy-
iindric, jointed, and swelling silique, which never
spontaneously opens ; and has a pair of glands be-
tween the shorter stamens and the pistil, and a second
pair between the longer stamens and the calyx.

In the genus Jlrabis, or Wall-cress, some of them
common annuals, with white flowers, the silique is
linear, with the valves flat, and 1-nerved. The seeds
disposed in a single row ; the cotyledones accumbent ;
and the calyx erect. Most of the species grow in
dry fields or rocky hills, and are in flower from April
to June.

In Hesperis (Dame's-violet or Rocket), of which we
have a common garden species (H. matronalis), with
purplish or white and fragrant flowers, very like to
those of the Stock-Gillyflower ; the silique is some-
what quadrangular, or 2-edged ; the stigma nearly
sessile, and formed of 2 connivent lobes ; the

140 SECOND ORDER SILIQJUOSA.

cotyleclones flat and incumbent, with the calyx closed
(or not spreading), and gibbous at the base. Of this
genus there is one small flowered, inodorous species
(H. pinaaiifida) in many parts of the valley of the
Ohio. The leaves are acutely serrate, the upper ones
lanceolate, the lower often pinnatifid-lyrate. This plant
is very nearly related to Sisymbrium.

In Sinapis, or Mustard, the silique is almost cylin-
dric ; the seeds globose, arranged in a single row ;
the calyx spreading ; and the cotyledones conduplicate
or folded together. Most of the species are common
weeds, but one of them is used in salad, and another
affords our common warm condiment of that name.
The genus differs but little from that of the Cabbage
(Brassica) ; but in the latter the calyx is erect.

Isatis, or VVoad, used by dyers, though placed
here, belongs more properly to the Siliculosa. It
bears lanceolate, 2-valved, and rather short siliques,
of only one cell, in consequence of abortion, and
containing but 1 seed ; the valves are also carinated
or keeled, like a boat. The flowers are yellow, and
numerous ; the stem-leaves amplexicaule or embrac-
ing, and sagittate or arrow-shaped.

For convenience and affinity, we find here append-
ed to the close of this class the genus Cleome, of the
natural order Capparides. It bears a 4-leaved,
spreading calyx, which is not deciduous ; and 4 un-
equal, long clawed petals. The stamina 6, unequal,
often connected at the base ; and the silique stipitate
in its calyx, consisting of but one cell, with the curv-
ed, shell-formed seeds attached to a filiform marginal
receptacle, in which character, of the silique and seed,
this, and the following genera, essentially differ from
the CRUCiFERiE. Most of them have a heavy, dis-
agreeable odor, and are possessed of deleterious
properties, which is not the case with the other plants
of this class.

CLASS MONADELPHIA. 141

The new genus Polanisia, lately separated from
Cleome, has a similar corolla with that genus ; but
from 8 to 32 stamens ; and a silique of an oblong,
linear form, and sessile in the calyx. This plant is
very heavy scented, and viscid, with ternated leaves ;
and is found, though not very commonly, on the
sandy shores of lakes and rivers.

The curious Stanleya, of the banks of the Missouri
and of Florida, where there is also an additional
species, appears to unite the Crucifer^s and Cappa-
rides almost uninterruptedly ; for with the flower,
partly, of Cleome, and its stipitated fruit, it presents a
complete dissepiment in the narrow and long silique,
and has oblong seeds, with flat cotyledones. The
S. pinnatifida produces thick, and glaucous, pinna-
tifid leaves, not much unlike those of Sea-kale ; its
flowers are bright yellow, in long and crowded ra-
cemes ; with a very spreading yellow calyx j long,
erect, conniving petals ; and 6 stamens.

CHAPTER XXIII.

OF THE CLASS MONADELPHIA.

The plants of this class are only to be known
from those of the other simpler classes by the com-
bination or union of their filaments into one body,
and hence the name of Monadelphia, or one brother-
hood. This character, sometimes ambiguous or slight,
as m+Geraitium and Pelargonium, is not calculated
to bring together an uniform and natural group of
plants. Though one of the orders, at least, contains
a natural assemblage of the strictest symmetry ; this
is the order Polyandria. The orders are formed
without any reference to the pistils or fruit, and un-

142 ORDERS PENTANDRIA AND DECANDRIA.

like any of the preceding, secondary divisions, upon
the number and disposition of the stamens.

THE ORDERS PENTANDRIA AND DECANDRIA.

In Pentandria is now placed the Passion-flower
{Passijiora), the type of a peculiar natural order of
the same name. This genus, of scandent or climb-
ing plants, is one among so many others peculiar to
America, but more particularly to the forests of the
southern continent. Their immensely long, and often
woody branches attain the summits of the loftiest
trees, or trail upon the ground, adorned with peren-
nially green or falling leaves, sometimes palmate or
lobed like fingers, in others like those of Laurel.
They sustain themselves by means of undivided ten-
drils ; and send out a long succession of the most
curious and splendid flowers, of which no other part
of the world offers any counterpart. Some of these
flowers are extremely fragrant, and succeeded by
pleasant tasted, acidulous fruits, resembling berries or
small cucumbers. — The character of the genus is,
to have a 5-parted, colored calyx ; 5 petals inserted
upon the calyx ; the nectary or lepanthium, a crown
of filaments ; and the fruit a pedicellated pepo, or
berry. There are 3 species indigenous to the United
States, commonly growing in light and dry soils, near
the banks of rivers, from the lower part of the states
of Delaware and Maryland, to the south and west
indefinitely. The P. hitea has small, greenish yellow
flowers of but little beauty, and cordate, obtuse, 3-
lobed leaves. The P. incarnata has conspicuous
reddish or pale colored flowers, and 3-lobed, acute,
serrated leaves, with 2 glands on the petiole, and,
as in many other species, furnished with a 3-leaved
involucrum, almost similar to an additional calyx.

ORDERS HEPTANDRIA AND DECANDRIA. 143

OF THE ORDER HEPTANDRIA.

In this order comes the genus Pelargonium of the
Cape of Good Hope, or green-house Geranium.
The flowers are irregular in their proportions ; there
are 1 filaments, but only 7 which bear anthers ; the
upper, larger segment of the calyx communicates
with a grooved nectary, which often proceeds a con-
siderable distance down the peduncle, and at its ter-
mination has the appearance of an articulation. The
fruit, as in the following genus, and most others of
the natural family Geraniace;e, consists of 5 peri-
carps with long awns, united to lengthened recepta-
cles 5 when mature, they separate elastically from
the summit to the base, with the awns then spirally
twisted, and internally smooth. Of this splendid,
and much admired genus, there are now more than
350 species, besides many varieties, the effect of ac-
cident and cultivation Most of them are fragrant,
and form straggling shrubs ; a few die to the ground,
and come up and flower periodically ; but most of
them are in perpetual leaf.

DECANDRIA.

Geranium, properly so called, only differs from
Pelargonium in the equality of its calyx and corolla ;
and in producing 10 perfect stamens, of which the
5 alternate ones are longer, and have nectariferous
glands at their base. Of this genus, our most com-
mon vernal, large flowering species, in woods, is the
pale purple flowered maculatum, which bears round-
ish, 3 to 5-parted gashed leaves, with the upper ones
opposite and sessile ; the petals are entire ; the stem
angular and forked ; the root tuberous and peren-
nial.

144 ORDER POLYANDRIA.

the order polyandria, or family Malvaceje.

After inspecting the flower of the Hollyhock or
Mallow, you will need no further definition of a Mal-
vaceous plant, or be at a loss for reference and
natural alliance wherever you may meet it. The
stamens are numerous, with their filaments united into
a column in the centre of the 5-petal!ed, but adhering
corolla ; to these they are also firmly ingrafted. This
peculiar union of the filaments gave rise to the ancient
appellation of CoLUiMNiFERiE, by which this natural
order was once known. In the centre of this hollow
column of stamens, when slit open, you will find the
styles disposed in another bundle, though not com-
monly ingrafted together as the filaments ; these vary,
from 5, to an indefinite number, and always accord
either with the number of the separate pericarps, or
the capsular cells. The calyx is often double, and
sometimes alone affords generic distinctions. In this,
family are included some of the most useful as well
as splendid productions of the vegetable kingdom ;
such are the Cotton ( Gossypium) : the Silk-cotton,
or Bombax, a splendid genus of tall evergreen tropi-
cal trees, also affording a long and soft silky cotton :
the Carolinea of the West Indies, remarkable for
the vivid colors and magnitude of their flowers : the
Barringtonia of the tropical islands of the Pacific, a
tall and magnificent tree, full of large and most beau-
tiful flowers, of a brilliant white and purple. But the
most wonderful of all productions, in the singularity
of its flower, is the Hand-tree of Mexico (Cheiroste-
mon), whose spreading, linear stigmas, inclined to one
side, not unaptly resemble the hand of a monkey.
The largest and longest lived tree in the world, is the
Adansonia, or Sour-sop of Africa, the base of whose
trunk has been found to be of the enormous diameter

ORDER POLYANDRIA.

145

of 25 feet, and sufficiency large, when hollow, to
afford shelter for several negro families. Adanson
states that they endure for G or 7 centuries ; but Pro-
fessor Smith, who fell an untimely victim in the Congo
expedition, thinks there is reason to believe that this
tree is of rather a quick growth, from the softness and
thickness of its alburnum and woody rings.

Among the most splendid productions of this fam-
ily, indigenous to the United States, is the genus
Hibiscus, of which most of the other species are
tropical. They are remarkable for the magnitude
and elegant colors of their flowers, which appear very
similar to those of the Hollyhock of China. This
genus produces flowers with a double calyx, the ex-
terior cl many (commonly narrow) leaves. The stig-
mas and styles only 5 ; agreeing with the 5-celled
capsule, each cell containing many seeds. By care-
ful dissection it will be found, that each dissepiment
of the cells, of the supposed, single capsule, is divisi-
ble ; or, that the apparent cells are so many distinct
small capsules. One of our finest, and most common
species, is the H. palustris, a tall perennial, growing
in marshy grounds, and flowering about August. The
leaves are broadish-ovate, toothed, and often 3-lobed,
with a short and whitish down or tomentum beneath ;
the peduncles are axillary, distinct from the petioles,
and articulated circularly above the middle. One
of our common ornamental shrubs is the Althaa
frutcx, or H. syriacus, with both double and single
flowers, white or purple, with a deeper colored ring
in the centre, as is common in the genus. It may be
known, at once, by its shrubby stem, and wedge-
shaped, smooth leaves, divided at the summit into 3
lobes.

In Althtca the calyx is also double, the exterior 6
to 9-cleft. The capsules are numerous, l-seeded»
13

146 ORDER POLYANDRIA.

and arranged in a circle* The A. officinalis, or
Marsh-mallow, with remarkably soft tomentose leaves,
entire, or 3-lobed, is sometimes met with on the bor-
ders of salt-marshes, apparently indigenous.

MalvUj or Mallow, has the exterior of its 2 calyces
mostly 3-leaved, and the capsules precisely as in
Mihaa.

In Lavatera, of our gardens, the generic character
only differs from Malva in having a tritid exterior
calyx.

In the Cotton, Gossypium, the exterior calyx is
large, and really resembles an involucrum, being com-
posed of 3 broad, heart-shaped, deeply serrated
leaves. The calyx is cup-shaped, and only 5-cleft
towards the summit. The flowers are somewhat
campanulate, white or yellow, with a deep purple
base. The 5-cleft capsule, preceded by 5 styles,
contains, in each cell, several rather large, brown, or
greenish, coated seeds, each surrounded by a mass of
compacted cotton, which arises from this coating. The
leaves are generally 3 to 5-lobed. The species are
originally tropical ; but one of them can be some-
what profitably cultivated up to the line of the state
of Delaware ; the cotton of warm countries is, how-
ever, most esteemed.

In Sida, and a few other genera, the exterior calyx
or involucrum, as it really is, is wanting, there being
but 1, 5-cleft, simple, and often angular calyx. The
styles adhere so as to appear almost single. The
capsules are numerous, arranged in a circle, each 1-
celled, dehiscent, and 1 to 3-seeded. The flowers
are often yellow, and rather small. Our but too
common species in gardens and wastes, is the S.
abutilon, which grows rather tall and large ; the leaves
are softly tomentose, roundish-cordate, acuminate,
and toothed ; the peduncle shorter than the petioles ;

CLASS D1ADELPH1A. 147

the capsules 15, truncate, hairy, and each opening
with 2 beaks or points. The seeds of this plant have
been employed as a substitute for Coffee, which they
resemble considerably both in texture and taste.
In Virginia and the southern states there is a Dioecious
species (S. dioica), which, with another of very tall
growth, formed once the genus Naptea. These have
abundance of small white flowers, and palmately
lobed leaves ; in Napcea smooth ; in $. dioica scabrous.
In both, the peduncles produce many flowers in a
kind of corymb, and 10 capsules in a calyx. This
genus is very numerous in species, many of them
being found in South America and India.

CHAPTER XXIV.

OF THE CLASS DIADELPHIA.

This class, like the preceding, includes, principally,
plants of a single very natural order, with which you
have already been made acquainted, as the Papilio-
naceje, or more properly LeguminoSjE, the character
of the fruit, the legume, being more uniform in this
tribe, than the Papilionaceous, or Pea-blossomed
flower. Its ostensible character, as the name of two
brotherhoods would imply, is to have flowers, of what-
ever kind, with the stamens disposed in 2 bodies of
united filaments. It will be found, however, that
there are several exceptions to this rule in examining
the plants referred to it, particularly in the Legumi-
nos;e. But here, justly enough, no doubt, all affinity
pleads for their detention in the same arrangement,
whatever it may be, which includes the rest of the
same natural family ; though this rule is violated against
our Wild Indigo, and many other Leguminos.e of

148 CLASS D1ADELPHIA.

New Holland, which, possessing separate filaments,
are forcibly, as we may say, detained in the simple
tenth class. Nor are exceptions wanting in other
parts of this artificial class, for in Corydalis cucullaria
there are G distinct filaments. In very few of the
genera is there any thing like an equal proportion in
the 2 bodies of filaments. In the whole order of the
Lecuminos-k, there are only about 3 examples of the
stamina arranged in equal sets of 5 each ; these are
the genera Smithia, Sesbania, and JEschynomene. In
all the rest of this great natural order, the stamina
are either wholly combined into one body or cylinder
of ingrafted filaments, or with but one thread sepa-
rated from the other 9, which are combined in the
second body.

The orders, as in Monadelphia, are founded on
the number of the stamina, the classical or principal
arrangement having regard only to the peculiar and
remarkable disposition, of the binary ingraftment of
the staminiferous filaments. The only orders yet
discovered are 4 ; namely, Pentandria, Hexandria,
Octandria, and Decandria.

The only plant comprised in the first of these
orders, Pentandria, is a very curious and highly orna-
mental genus, peculiar to the prairies or savannahs oi
the western and southern states and territories of the
United States, formerly included in Dalea, but very
properly separated by Michaux, and now known as
Petalostemon, expressive of its most remarkable trait,
that of producing its petals, 5 in number, and uni-
form, from the same tube of combined filaments,
whose other threads produce anthers. Indeed, no
other petals are produced but these, which thus hold
the place of sterile anthers. The 5-cleft calyx, which,
like Clover, nearly covers the very small, 1-seeded
legume, is characteristic also of Dalea ; but in Dalea

CLASS DIADEU'HIA.

149

there are 10 perfect anthers, and a papilionaceous, 5-
petaUed corolla. The Petalostemons are perennials,
with clustered, and commonly simple, low, herbaceous
stems, terminating in cylindric dense heads of white,
reddish purple, or pink (lowers, which retain their
color in the herbarium in a very extraordinary de-
gree, particularly the P. violaceum, which, after years
of drying and death, seems still as bright as when the
living ornament of its native plains.

In FTexandria, of this class, you will find the 2
genera, Corydalis and Funutria, formerly united, and
now making part of a natural order, named, from the
better known genus, Fumariace;e. They have both
a 2-leaved calyx, and a corolla of 4 petals, with 1 or
2 gibbous cavities at its base. In the Fumitory, how-
ever, the silicle is nearly round, containing but a single
seed, and never spontaneously opening. This is a
coiuiuon annual weed in gardens, having a weak and
diffuse stem, and compound leaves dividing in a ter-
nary manner.

In Corydalis the silique is 2-valved, compressed,
oblong, and many-seeded. Of this genus we have

or 7 species, with red, white, or yellow flowers, and
most of them early flowering and very elegant plants.

1 will merely quote 2 of the species, which are peren-
nial, and commonly in flower betwixt April and May.
In both these, inhabitants of our unaltered, rich, shady,
and often rocky woods, the 6 filaments present an
exception, as we have noticed above, to the character
of the class, in their entire separation to the base.
The first and best known is the C. cucullaria, ridicu-
lously called Dutchman's breeches, from the 2 straight,
acute, divaricate spurs, or projecting gibbosities at the
base of the corolla. This plant, which grows to-
gether in considerable quantities, has a small, scaly,
bulbous root ; finely twice decompounded, elegant.

150 CLASS DIADELPHIA.

narrow leaves, of a pale and delicate green ; from the
bosom of these arises a low scape, bearing a 1-sided
or secund, simple raceme of white, singular looking,
pendulous flowers. A recently discovered species,
very similar in many respects, but found in a northern
range, from the forests of Massachusetts to Canada,
and so called C. canadensis, differs essentially from
the preceding in producing spherically tuberous roots;
finer and narrower leaves ; also white flowers with
obtuse spurs, and simple racemes. This plant I have
met with in the shady woods a few miles from Bel-
lows' Falls.

In the order Octanoria is arranged the genus
Polygala, or Milk-wort, forming the type of the natur-
al family, Poeygale/E. The United States contain
nearly 20 species, all of them low and herbaceous,
having small leaves, and cylindric heads or spikes of
flowers of various colors, as red, white, and more
rarely, yellow and blue. At the Cape of Good Hope
there are several very elegant shrubby species, gener-
ally with reddish purple (lowers. All of them agree
in producing a 5-leavcd, irregular, persistent calyx,
of which 2 of the leaflets are wing-shaped and colored,
the 5th resembling the keel of the Leguminoste, and
often terminated with a villous tuft or crest. The cap-
sule is obcordate, 2-celled, and 2-valved. The seeds
few and pubescent. One of the most useful species
of the genus is the 1 J . senega, or Seneka Snakeroot,
with thickish tortuous roots, sending up a cluster of
simple smooth stems, with many alternate, ovate, lan-
ceolate leaves, and spiked racemes; the calycine
wings are white and orbicular, and the capsules ellipti-
cal. But the paucifoliu, or few-leaved, is the most
elegant and highly colored species in the United
States. It forms considerable beds or colonies in the
• vicinity of Fir woods, flowering in May and June, and

CLASS DIADELPHIA. 151

is particularly abundant in New England and Canada.
The steins are simple, and only 3 or 4 inches high,
bearing a tuft of broadish ovate leaves, from amongst
which arise 3 or 4 large and beautiful purple flowers,
with a conspicuous crest at the extremity of the lower
keeled petal, but at the root will be found, as in the
species called rubella or polygama, a few apterous
fertile (lowers. In the middle and southern states, in
the swamps of the pine barrens, may frequently be
seen, in flower from June to October, the P. lutca,
remarkable for its beautiful cylindric heads of orange
colored flowers ; in this the lower leaves are spathu-
late, the upper ones lanceolate ; the calycine wings
are ovate and mucronate, and the bractes shorter than
the flowers. Our most common species, however, is
the P. purpurea, formerly confounded with the P. san-
guined, a much rarer species. In this the stem is so
branched that the flowers all come to the same sum-
mit, so as almost to form a corymb ; the leaves are
alternate, rather numerous, and oblong-linear ; the
spikes cylindric, oblong, obtuse ; the flowers beardless;
the calycine wings, cordate-ovate, twice as long as
the capsule. But it is unnecessary to adduce any
more species, they are common in every swamp, wood,
and meadow.

The order Decandria embraces exclusively the
natural order of the Leguminosje, and is divisible in-
to 2 principal sections ; in the first are comprehended
the monadelphous genera, or those, in which the fila-
ments are all connected into a tube ; and the first ge-
nus which presents itself in this division, is one of
great singularity, called Amorpha, from its remarkable
defect of petals, the corolla consisting of nothing more
than an ovate, concave vexillum ; the wings and keel
being entirely wanting. The calyx is partly campan-
ulate, and 5-cleft. The legume 1 or 2-seeded, fal-

152 CLASS DIADELPHIA.

cate or sickle-shaped. The genus has been called
abroad., I believe, Bastard Indigo, it is peculiar to the
United States ; but confined exclusively either to the
southern or western states, and consists, at present, of
about 6 species, all shrubs, or woody rooted peren-
nials, growing eithei in prairies or by •■ b ks of
rivers. 1 hey have el< . id th

or hoary leaves ; eormuonlj due, are

collected into clui ; ig, terminal, rather .iense

spikes- The pods or I es are covered with resi-

nous, aromatic, but rather foetid glands. Our com-
monest species, often in gardens, where it is cultivated
for ornament, is a smooth shrub about 6 feet high, with
dark blue flowers, and with only one of the teeth of
the calyx acuminated, and the rest obtuse.

The Lupin (Lupinus), which you meet in every
garden, has all its filaments likewise united ; but its
generic mark is to have anthers of 2 forms ; 5 of them
oblong, and 5 round. The calyx is also bilabiate or
2 lipped, and the legume coriaceous, or of a leathery
or cartilaginous texture, and torulose, having protuber-
ances which mark the lodgement of each of the seeds.
The species are mostly annuals, 2 of the American
kinds only being perennial ; namely, L. pcrennis and
L. nootkatensis from the North-west Coast. With 2
or 3 exceptions of simple leaved species, they have
digitated or fingered leaves, with the leaflets nearly
arranged in a circle. The flowers are in spikes, of
various colours ; as white, yellow, blue, and variegated.
The white Lupin is cultivated in the South of Europe
for food. After being made acquainted with the genus,
it is unnecessary here to describe the specific charac-
ter of our rather common and beautiful blue perennial,
digitate leaved Lupin, as you cannot confound it with
any other native species, when you have, from appear-
ances, such as its copiously running roots, ascertained

CLASS DIADELPHIA. 153

it to be of perennial duration. You will meet with it
in flower from May to June, and it always prefers
sandy woods. In the southern states there are 2 very
remarkable biennial species, L. villosus, and L. diffusus,
with entirely simple, oblong, silky, or villous leaves ;
and producing long showy spikes of variegated purple
flowers.

Stamens Diadelphous.

In this section we shall commence with the Pea
(Pisum), which is not very readily distinguished in
generic character from the Lathyrus or Vetchling.
It differs, however, in the calyx ; having the segments
all equal, and leaf-like ; the vexillum has also 2 pro-
truding plaits. The style is compressed and carinate,
with the upper side villous ; the suture of the legume
is likewise naked. The native country of the cultivat-
ed pea (Pisum sativum) is said to be Alsace and other
parts of Europe ; yet it is now difficult to ascertain
whether it be really indigenous, or only naturalized in
such places.

The Lathyrus, Vetchling or Sweet Pea, has a calyx
with the 2 upper segments shortest. A flat style, vil-
lous on its upper side and widening above. All the
species have a strong resemblance to the Pea. One
of the most beautiful, as well as fragrant annual spe-
cies, is the commonly cultivated Sweet Pea (Lathyrus
odoratus). The Everlasting Pea (L. latifolius) is a
very common denizen of old gardens, being a large and
diffuse perennial, attaching and supporting itself, like
all scandent plants, by means of the branching ten-
drils terminating its single pair of broad leaflets, and
which twining economical processes are, in fact, rea-
soning from strict analogy, the abortive rudiments of
other sets of leaves, though never developed. Indeed,
tendrils generally, of which there are abundance in

154 CLASS DIADELPHIA.

this family of plants, form no absolutely distinct class
of organs, their function, on the contrary, is divided, or
distributed among various other organs ; sometimes
they are elongated stipules, processes which appertain
to the system of the leaves, such are the tendrils of
the Smilax, or Green Briar. In the Gloriosa svperba,
the points of the leaves themselves are lengthened out
into tendrils. In the Cucumber, and Pumpkin, on a
careful comparison, it will be seen that the tendrils
correspond in divisions with the number of the princi-
pal vessels in the opposite perfect leaf, and, that they
are only imperfect leaves, and merely lack the con-
necting cellular tissue. So in many aquatic plants,
the submersed leaves often present numerous capil-
lary divisions, while the emerging leaves are entire, or
merely notched, serrated, or lobed. In the Grape
Vine (Vitis) the abortive peduncle forms the tendril,
and may not unfrequently be found bearing a small
portion of fruit. In the Calytrix of New Holland, the
petals themselves terminate in long hairs or filaments,
not very dissimilar to tendrils. In Clematis virgin-
iana, one of our commonest climbers, the petiole, pro-
ducing perfect leaves, entwines itself like an ordinary
tendril. In the volubulous plants, such as many spe-
cies of Convolvulus, &,c. the stem itself partakes of
the clasping character of the tendril. This means of
attachment, puts on the nature of the root, in some
measure, in the Cissus hederacea or 5-leaved Ivy, as
its extremities, like the radicant fibres of the Ivy, ob-
tain a firm attachment to the trunks of trees and the
sides of walls ; and, like roots, these radicant tendrils
avoid the light, and seek opaque and cool bodies. We
see in all this secondary contrivance of nature, in the
character of the tendril, as in many other subjects of
the vegetable kingdom, an admirable, yet variable ap-
plication, according to circumstances, of economy to

CLASS DIADELPHIA. 155

the support and protection of trailing plants. No
means of attaining the proposed end are neglected ;
a resource ever fruitful, ingenious, and simple, presents
itself to our admiration, every instant we reflect and
observe the structure of plants.

But to return to our immediate subject. There is
a second genus, that of the Vetch (Viccia) hardly to
be distinguished from Lathy rus, and approaching
about as near to that genus, as it does to Pisum
or the Pea. The following is its generic character.
A calyx with the 3 inferior segments straight and
longer. The vexillum notched or einarginate. Tho
style transversely bearded beneath the stigma. Of
this genus, so abundant in Europe, we have very few
species, and some of them alike common to both
continents ; such is V. cracca, chiefly of the northern
states, bearing dense spikes of downwardly inclined,
blue flowers of considerable beauty, with numerous
pubescent, lanceolate leaflets ; and half-arrow shaped
stipules, or foliaceous processes, mostly entire. It is
found commonly in meadows and thickets, in flower
about midsummer.

The genus Ervum (Tare and Lentile) is hardly
to be known from Viccia, except by its capitate stig-
ma, which is in every direction pubescent. For the
rest, they have the general look of diminutive vetches.
The Lentile (E. lens), used in soups, and other ways
in Europe, is one of the few redeeming pledges of
utility in this mean looking genus. The lentile is of
the form of a flattened spheroid, or lens of a teles-
cope, and hence the term now introduced into the arts
from the name of the seeds of this plant.

In the genus Astragalus, which abounds in Siberia
and the western territories, the legume is always more
or less 2-celled, with the inferior suture reflexed.
They are herbaceous, and, in some species, almost

156 CLASS D1ADELPHIA.

shrubby plants, with pinnated, rarely trifoliate leaves',
devoid of tendrils or weak stems, being erect or dif-
fuse ; the flowers are red, or yellow, more rarely
blue. In A. trag acanthus, which affords the gum of
that name, and a few others with suffruticose stems,
the costa or mid-rib of the old leaves remain, and
become transformed into long and crowded spines.

In the Clover {Trifolhm), the flowers are quite
small, and crowded together in roundish or oblong
heads ; and the legume is so diminutive as to be con-
cealed within the calyx, without valves, and each
containing 2 to 4 seeds. In the ordinary Red Clover,
T. pratense, the flower by the natural engraftment of
the petals presents the anomally of a monopetalous
corolla.

The genus Lespedeza, separated from Hedysarum
or Sainffoin, is distinguished by its lenticular, 1-seed-
ed, unarmed, loment, or unopening legume. The
5-parted calyx has also its segments nearly equal.
Of this rather elegant flowered genus there are a
considerable number of species ; they are either tall
or diffuse herbaceous plants, with purplish flowers,
and trifoliate leaves subtended by minute bristly
stipules.

Hedysarum bears a loment, commonly hispid, of
several I -seeded, truncated, flattened joints. These,
which abound in all parts of the United States, have
nearly the habit of the preceding genus, but that the
plants and their leaves are often larger ; and in Eu-
rope, including the Saintfoin, there exists a section
with more showy flowers, bearing pinnated leaves ; of
these, the H. alpinum is also a native of the northern
regions of the United States and Canada.

In JEschynomene, principally a tropical genus, but
of which one species occurs on the banks of the
Delaware, the stamens partake of the extraordinary

CX.AS3 DIADELPHIA. 157

character of dividing themselves into 2 equal setts.
The calyx is also bilabiate ; the lornent compressed,
having one of its sutures straight and the other lobed ;
the joints truncated, and each 1-seeded.

The Kidney-bean (Phaseolus) has the keel of the
corolla with the stamens and style spirally twisted.
The legume is likewise compressed and falcate,
with the seeds consequently somewhat flattened, and
reniform or kidney-shaped. By the first and most
important of these generic characters you will readily
perceive a difference betwixt the flowers of this ge-
nus, as in the Scarlet-runner (P. multiflorus), for ex-
ample, and the Lima-bean, with others now cultivated,
which belong to the genus Dolichos, where none of
this twisting of the stamens and keel is to be found ;
and, in addition, 2 callosities at the base of the vexil-
lum compressing the sides of the keel. We have,
however, another genus almost intermediate between
these two, and which, in turn, has been referred to
both ; but it appears to constitute a distinct genus, now
termed Strophostyles, in reference to the twisted
character of the keel and its included organs, a char-
acter possessed in common with Phaseolus, but the
legume is cylindric, as well as the seeds, which are,
nevertheless, portly reniform. This little kindred tribe
are all trifoliate plants, with showy flowers, and weak,
twining, or prostrate stems. Many of their seeds
and unripe legumes form important articles of diet,
and continue longer in season than any other pulse.

In shady thickets, and on river banks, where the
soil is black and fertile, may often be found another
twining plant of free growth, peculiar to the United
States, and forming of itself a particular genus, called
Apios. Its roots are strings of oblong cylindric
tubers, called, sometimes, Pig-potatoes, and Indian
potatoes, as when roasted or boiled they have partly
14 J

158 CLASS DIADELPHIA,

the mellowness and flavor of ordinary potatoes ; and,
as the roots of the Lathyrus tuber osus are eaten in
Holland, so these, very similar tubers, made also an
ordinary part of the vegetable food of the aborigines.
The leaves are pinnated, each consisting of 5 or 7
broadish leaflets, from the axils of which, about July
and August, come out abundance of short and dense
clusters or racemes of purplish brown, slightly fra-
grant flowers. The calyx is partly 2-lipped, truncated,
and 1 -toothed; the keel falcate, reflecting back and
impressing the summit of the vexillum. The germ
is sheathed at its base ; the legume coriaceous and
many-seeded.

The Colutea, or Bladder Senna, is a beautiful genus
of exotic shrubs, well known by their inflated, thin,
bladder-like, many-seeded legumes ; and having yel-
low or reddish flowers.

The genus Robinia, or Locust-tree, is one of the
prevalent ornaments of our forests and mountain tops,
in the milder latitudes ; they are also as commonly
cultivated, more particularly the R. Pseudacacia, or
common Locust-tree, so valuable for its timber. They
have all pinnated leaves, and pendulous racemes of
beautiful red, or white, and sometimes fragrant flowers.
These consist of a campanulate, 4-cleft calyx, with
its upper segment bifid. The vexillum is roundish,
expanded, and reflexed ; the legume flat and long,
containing many small, compressed seeds.

In Medicago, of which Lucerne is a species, the
keel of the corolla is bent from the vexillum ; and
the legume is compressed and spiral, so as to resem-
ble the shell of a snail.

To this family also belongs the Indigo-plant (lndi-
gofera), having falcated, unopening, angular, small
legumes; and also the Liquorice (Glicyrrhiza),
whose root is employed in commerce and medicine.

CLASS 9YNGENESIA.

159

The largest flowered plants of the Leguminosje, in
the United States-, are the Clitorias, of which the
vexillum is so large as to cover the wings of the co-
rolla. These have a few blue flowers, and ternated
leaves ; with narrow, many-seeded pods.

The genera formerly referred to, the now abolished
class, Polyadelphia will be found indiscriminately
arrarfged, according to their characters, in Polyan-
dria ; such are Hypericum, and a few others.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE CLASS SYNGENES1A.*

The character of this class and its orders have al-
ready been explained in the 8th and 9th chapters of
this work ; to which I would refer you, on this, as on
other occasions, when you entertain any doubts on
the arrangement of your plants, and the respective
place they may occupy in the present system. The
principal character of Syngenesia, as its Greek
name implies, is, the union of the anthers ; but as
there are examples in the Violet, Balsam, and many
of the Cucumber tribe, of a somewhat similar union
of anthers, though they do not now form part of this
class, nor bear any natural relation with it, another, or
second character must be present also in connexion
with the ingrafted anthers ; and this is the compound
character of the flower, which well entitles it, in the
natural method of arrangement, to the name of Com-
posite, or CoRYMBiFERiE. A Sunflower or Dan-
delion, for example, is not a simple individual, like a
Lily or a Pink ; but a crowded cluster, or condensed
corymb, made up of a considerable number of florets,

* From <rwv, together, and yimri;, generation.

160 CLASS SYNGENESIA.

or little flowers, individually, as perfect as those of a
larger kind, each having its distinct, flat, or tubular.
5-toothed corolla ; a set of stamens with 5 distinct
filaments, terminating in a hollow tube of 5 connected
anthers, through which passes a style, either single, or
divided into 2 stigmas ; and at the base of the whole
an adhering germ with one seed ; its summit often
crowned with a calycle, or small calyx, termed the
pappus or down ; as such it often becomes with the
maturity of the seed, though it also not unfrequently
presents itself in the less equivocal character of a de-
finite number (properly 5 or 10) of minute scales, or
chafT-like leaves. Of this gradual evolution of the
calyx, commonly the preceding part of the perianth,
we are not in want of examples in other families of
plants ; the same thing takes place in Valerian^ the
flowers appearing to come and go without the protec-
tion of the calyx, which at length becomes obvious
enough on the summit of the seed, in the form like-
wise of a plumose radiated crown or pappus, now
only calculated to waft abroad the seed. The seed
in the Composite, though often probably mistaken
as such, is not in reality naked. It is a species of
caryops or chartaceous pericarp, on maceration in
water sometimes divisible, though imperfectly, into 5
or more little valves, and includes always a single
seed possessed of the usual integuments. Two seeds,
at least might be expected as succeeding to the deep-
ly bifid style, or 2 stigmas of these florets. We may
then again, as in so many other instances in the veget-
able kingdom, presume an hereditary abortion, of
great constancy, as prevalent in this very natural
class. We have a stronger example of this abridg-
ment of vegetable resource in the Pqlygoneje (as
in the Dock, Rhubarb, and Buck-wheat plant), where
the 3-sided pericarp, preceded by 3 styles, only af-

ORDER JEQUALIS. 161

fords 1 seed ; and in Statice, or Sea-Lavender, 5 dis-
tinct styles are succeeded by only a simple seed, in
a valveless capsule. Yet in the order necessaria
of our present class, the maximum of all possible abor-
tion is attained in the discal florets ; for though to all
appearance as well formed as usual, they never
produce any perfect seed, and have indeed only the
rudiments of the caryops itself. The want of suffi-
cient space and nourishment appears here to be the
operative cause of this abortion, for the radial or ex-
ternal florets possessing room, and merely styles and
corollas, are amply fertile, and receive their pollen or
its influence from the discal abortive florets, whose
pistils perfect nothing. Abortion of a less obvious
and constant kind is prevalent in many of the peren-
nial plants of this class ; for amongst thousands of
Aster, Solidago, and Gnaphalium flowers, and many
others, scarcely any seed is ever perfected. The sap,
immediately after the late period of flowering, ceasing
sufficiently to ascend the stem, appears principally
engaged and retained in the warmer bosom of the
earth to circulate in the root and numerous shoots
which it now produces.

THE ORDER iEQ,UALIS.

In the first order, termed jequalis, the flowers are
all equally perfect, or possessed of both stamens and
style ; but they are obviously divisible into 2 sections
from the form of the florets. In the first they are all
flat, ligulate, or strap-shaped ; in the second section
ihe florets are all tubular or uncloven, for the flat flo-
rets are certainly nothing more than florets laid open,
and thus putting on the unusual appearance of single
petals, or half florets. We shall, as usual, commence
with the ligulate flowers of the order jequajlis.
14*

162- ORDER iEQLALIS.

No more familiar example first offers itself for om
examination than the common Dandelion, of the very
small genus Leontodon ; the common calyx of which
is quite peculiar and remarkable, being formed of 2
series of leaves, one of them erect and equal, the
other row situated near the base of the former, and
somewhat flaccidly reflected. The common recepta-
cle, or plane of insertion for the florets, which consti-
tute the compound ligulate flower, is naked of hairs.
or chaffy processes, and merely exhibits slight im-
pressions on which the seeds were seated, somewhat
resembling the top of a honey-comb. The second
essential character of the genus, after the calyx, is
the nature of the pappus or down, the hairs of which,
unlike some other genera, are simple, and the whole
crown of them stipitate, or attached to a pedicle above
the seed. With the rest of the plant you are already
too well acquainted to require any further remarks.

The genus Prenanthes is by no means an uncom-
mon one in our woods, and most of the species flower
in autumn. Unlike the Dandelion, they are furnished
with stems of from one, to four feet in height ; and
leaves, either entire, or intricately lobed, and sinuat-
ed. The flowers, generally small, are in panicles or
clusters, frequently nodding or inclining downwards,
and of a yellowish white, or pale purple. The gene-
ric character is, to have the calyx surrounded at its
base with leafy scales; the florets few, (5 to 20) ;
the receptacle naked ; the pappus simple, and
nearly sessile, or without the intervening stipe of the
Dandelion. That they are milky juiced plants is a
circumstance of physical structure common to all
plants with ligulate florets. The milky sap, with
which some of the species of this genus particularly
abounds, as in P. alba, and its polymorphous or pro-
tean varieties, has been occasionally employed with

ORDER JEQUALIS. 163

considerable effect for the bite of the Rattlesnake, if
we are to credit Mr. P ursh, the well known botanist.

In the genus Lactuca, or Lettuce, the calyx is im-
bricated and cylindrical ; the receptacle naked ; and
the pappus or down simple, and stipitate. From this
character Sonchus, or the Sow-thistle, only differs, in
having the calyx wider at the base ; and the simple
threaded pappus sessile, or without the stipe. The
aspect of the 2 genera is quite similar, and they both
produce small yellow or blue flowers.

Throughout Massachusetts and other parts of New
England, the meadows and way sides are, in the
autumn, commonly enlivened with a yellow flowered
humble plant, very similar to the Dandelion, but
smaller, the Apargia autumtialis, distinguished from
the other genera by having a simple imbricated calyx ;
a naked, punctate receptacle ; and a plumose (or
compound threaded) sessile, unequal pappus.

About the month of May and June may not unfre-
quently be observed a very small, but elegant orange
yellow flowered annual, opening only to the morn-
ing sun, called by the celebrated Willdenow, Krigia
virginica. It is smooth and glaucous, or pale green ;
with entire, or lyrate leaves ; sending out 1 -flowered
scapes, like a diminutive Dandelion. The calyx
consists of a simple row of leaves ; the receptacle is
naked ; the pappus double ; the exterior one 5 to 8-
leaved, the interior (according to the size of the spe-
cies) consists also of 5 to 8, or as many as 24 scabrous
bristles in the much larger flowered perennial species
K. amplexicaulis of the middle states.

Our next section is the flosculosje, the florets of
which are all tubular.

The first genus which we shall examine in this
section is the Arctium, or Burdock ; a large weed,
but too common in wastes and by way-sides, pioduc-

164 ORDER ^QUALIS.

ing, at first, large, and somewhat downy heart-shaped
leaves ; and afterwards branching stems terminating
in a profusion of purplish flowers, inclosed in a globu-
lar calyx, covered with scales imbricated or tiled
over each other, and ending in hooked bristles, which
readily adhere to the hair of most animals, and prove
very troublesome. The receptacle is chaffy ; and
the pappus of a consistence betwixt bristles and
chaff.

The Thistle ( Carduus), as to its general appear-
ance, is too well known to need description here ; but
its generic character is, to have a ventricose calyx,
formed of many imbricated scales ending in spines.
The receptacle is simply hairy. The pappus decidu-
ous (or easily separable from the seed), and either
hairy or plumose. From these the

Onopordon, or Cotton Thistle, now naturalized in
wastes, in the northern states, differs principally, by
its pitted receptacle, which resembles a honey-comb.
The species, thus naturalized, is O. acanthium, which
may be known by its broad, ovate-oblong, decurrent,
sinuated, spiny leaves, woolly on either side.

The Artichoke (Cynara) differs chiefly from the
Thistle in the structure of the calyx, the scales being
filmy and ragged on the edges, but fleshy, and termi-
nated by a channelled, emarginate, and pointed ap-
pendage. In this, and the 2 preceding genera, the
great size of the florets affords plain examples of the
structure of these compound flowers, but they differ
from most others in the undivided stigma.

Related to the Thistle, through the medium of the
very proximate genus Serratula, is that of Vcrnonia,
peculiarly American. Most of the species, alike in
habit, are tall, coarse, and common plants, growing in
moist places, and by the banks of rivers, flowering in
autumn, and extending from the western parts of

ORDER JEQ.VA1AS. 165

Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico, the number of
species slowly increasing to the south and west, to
the number, now, of about 6. The leaves in all are
long, and mostly lanceolate, with their margins ser-
rated, and the flowers, resembling those of minute
purple thistles, form a considerable compounded co-
rymb. The species are best distinguished by the
calyx, which varying in size, is either ovate, or more
rarely, hemispherical, formed of imbricated scales,
either merely acute and closely laid over each other,
or else ending, as in V . noveboracensis, in filiform
points. These points are carried to an unusual length
in a yet undescribed species of Arkansa territory, in
which the flowers are large and hemispherical, and
the calyx so appendaged and squarrose as to form,
almost, a Medusa's head ; in this, the leaves are like-
wise very long, and narrow. Besides the generic
character derived from the calyx (which is that of
SerratuJa), the stigma, as in the following genus, is
bifid ; but the most decided trait of Vernonia is in
the existence of a double pappus, the exterior short
and chaffy in some degree, and the interior capil-
lary.

JLiatris, allied to Vernonia, is one of the most ele-
gant genera of the class, peculiar to the United
States, and of which there are known 12 or 13 spe-
cies. The genus is very naturally divisible into 2
sections ; namely, those with round tuberous roots,
and undivided or simple stems ; and those with fibrous
roots, and flowers in corymbs. Those of the first
section, whose species extend the farthest north, are
remarkable for the grass-like narrowness of their
leaves, elegantly contrasted with the showy magnitude,
and beautiful pink purple of their autumnal flowers.
To this section belong those which have been esteem-
ed for the bites of poisonous reptiles ; and hence

166 ORDER JEQUALIS.

some of their species are known by the imposing
name of Rattlesnake's-master. In the second sec-
tion, with corymbose flowers, the root-leaves are
rather broad, and nerved, or veined in 3 or 5 promi-
nent leading lines. The L. odoratissima of the
Carolinas is quite remarkable for its long persisting;
and powerful Vanilla odor, possessed by none of the
other species ; and this property is so obvious as to
have long obtained for the species the name of
' Vanilla-plant.' The character of the genus is, to
have an oblong or hemispherical imbricated calyx ;
a naked receptacle ; the pappus (elegantly) plumose,
persistent, (and commonly colored somewhat purple).
The seed is also obconic, striated, and pubescent.
The most northern species is the L. scariosa, having
a large hemispherical calyx, composed of obovate,
nearly smooth scales, with scariose (or chaffy) mar-
gins, and the lower ones spreading ; the lower leaves
are lanceolate, but, as is the manner of the genus,
they diminish in size as they ascend the stem, until
they become little more than narrow oblong scales.

Another very prevalent genus of the flosculous
flowered kind is Eupatorium, known in Europe by
the name of Hemp Agrimony ; with us by several
variable names, according to the species. They are
generally conspicuous for size, grow in rich, moist
grounds, and bear a profusion of small flowers, in
large, flat-topped clusters. The genus is described
as having an imbricate, oblong, loose calyx ; a long,
deeply-cleft, conspicuous style ; the receptacle naked ;
the pappus scabrous ; the seed angular, or with 5
striatures. In wet grounds, and near waters, in the
autumn, throughout the United States, you will fre-
quently meet with 4 tall species, or rather varieties,
of this genus, with the broad lanceolate, and serrated
leaver, verticillated, or growing by 3 to 5 at each

ORDER SUPERFLUA. 1G7

joint of the purple stem, and terminated above by
numerous clusters of small, shining purplish flowers.
These, all formerly included in the tall E. verticilla-
tum, have leaves and flowers of a bitterish taste,
arising from the dispersion of numerous minute, and
superficial resinous, yellow glands or scales, and have
been employed as useful tonics. The most remark-
able, however, of these medicinal species is the
American Thoroughwort, or E. perfoliatum, having
pubescent, rugose (or wrinkled) leaves, growing so
together at the base, as to appear but one, perforated
by the stem. In this, the flowers are white. But
the most beautiful species in existence, is the E. cce-
lestinum, growing wild by river banks, from the Po-
tomac to the Mississippi. Its flowers, produced very
late in autumn, are of a beautiful smalt or sky blue,
with the leaves cordate-ovate, and toothed.

Scarcely distinct from Eupatorium is the Milcania
of Willdenow ; all the species of which, American,
and some of them tropical, are twining-stemmed pe-
rennials, mostly with cordate, acuminated leaves ;
and copious, axillary corymbs of purplish flowers, so
small, taken singly, as to have a calyx of only 4 to G
leaves, with 4 to G flowers on a naked receptacle, anil
a hairy pappus.

SUPERFLUA.

In this order, characterized by producing 2 kinds
of florets in the same common calyx, those in the
ray stylifcrous only, and those in the disk tubular and
perfect ; there are likewise 2 sections, but much less
obvious than those of the preceding order JEqualis.
In the first the

* Florets of the ray are obsolete.
Such are the flowers of the Tansey (Tanacetum),

168 ORDER SUPERFLUA.

which bears an imbricated, hemispherical calyx, with
pointed scales. The rays of the corolla indistinct,
and trifid ; the receptacle naked, and the pappus an
indistinct, and mere margin.

In the Conyza, or Marsh Fleabane, so common in
all our saline meadows, known by its strong and
somewhat disagreeable odor, and its shining terminal
clusters of purplish flowers, the calyx, is imbricated,
with the scales often chaffy and dry ; the receptacle
naked ; and the marginal fertile florets 3-cleft. The
pappus is simple and capillary.

Gnaphalium, or Flower Everlasting, also appertains
to this ambiguous section, having an imbricated calyx,
with the scales scariose (or chaffy), and mostly color-
ed ; the receptacle naked ; the florets of the ray (so
minute and imperfect as to appear) subulate (or awl-
shaped) ; the fertile ones are entire ; and the pappus
scabrous, or not quite simple. One of the most remark-
able species, in some respects, is the very early flow-
ering G. plantagineum, which produces hoary, radical,
ovate, 3-nervecl, mucronated leaves, sending out pro-
cumbent, infertile shoots, and many low, simple stems,
with small flat clusters of whitish flowers, which are
dioicous, or of 2 different sexes, on 2 different plants.
The G. margaritaceum, or common Everlasting, is
one of the most showy American species, producing
very narrow, tomentose leaves ; and corymbs of glo-
bose, silvery white, shining flowers, which, as in the
rest of the genus, abounding in Europe, and at the
Cape of Good Hope, in Africa, owe all their beauty to
the fine color of the spreading, and dry scales or
leaves of the calyx.

** Florets of the ray Hgulate.

In all the plants of this section the flowers are pro-
vided with rays, as in the Daisy, resembling a ring of

ORDER SUPERFLUA. 109

marginal petals. These rays are flattened, or ligulate
florets, furnished only with styles, and are commonly
white, blue, or purple, while the perfect tubular florets
of the disk are generally yellow.

We shall commence the examples of this section
by one of the commonest weeds of North America,
in flower throughout the autumn, in every sterile fal-
low field and neglected garden, spreading itself with
such facility by its innumerable winged seeds, as to
have now become also equally common throughout
Europe and northern Asia, having, probably, com-
pleted in its migration the whole circle of the globe
in which it had originated. To this inelegant and
obscure flowered weed, long known as the Canadian
Fleabane (Erigeron canadense), differing so materially
from the true Erigerons, I some years ago gave the
name of Canotns (in allusion to the commonness of
the plant), forming of it then only a subgenus, though
it probably merits separation as a perfect genus,
including about 3 species, formerly Erigerons. Hav-
ing very many minute radial florets, they are closely
allied to the preceding section of flowers with incon-
spicuous or anomalous rays. They have, also, an
oblong calyx ; and a simple pappus. The common
species alluded to, is either annual or biennial, and
of every size, from a few inches to 5 feet, accord-
ing to the nature of the soil on which it grows.
The stem is hairy or hispid, and paniculated ; the
leaves narrow, and lanceolate, the lower ones pardy
serrated ; the rays are crowded, very short, and yel-
lowish white, in common with the rest of the flower.
There is also a second species, with all the leaves
entire, in other respects very similar, but always small.
A third very distinct species, is Michaux's Erigeron
divaricatum, indigenous to the banks of the Ohio and
Mississippi near their junction. This is a low grow-
15

170 ORDER SUPERFLUA.

ing, extremely branched, biennial plant, with entire*
narrow, pubescent leaves.

The true Erigerons are Daisy-like looking plants
of common occurrence, having an imbricated, nearly
hemispherical calyx, with the florets of the ray very
numerous, narrow, and rather long. The receptacle
is naked ; and the pappus double (when examined
through a lens) ; the exterior minute ; the interior
hairy, and of few rays. One of our handsomest
common vernal flowering species is the E. bellidifoli-
um, in some places known by the name of Poor
Robin's Plantain, and the leaves chewed as a substi-
tute for Tobacco. It is of low growth, each stem
producing only from 3 to 5 large, bluish, Daisy-like
flowers, with the rays nearly twice as long as the
hemispherical calyx ; the radical leaves are obovate,
hairy, and coarsely serrated ; the stem leaves remote,
clasping, and entire. The other species are taller,
and produce many flowers, either white, or pale blue
in the ray.

The genus Aster, or Starflower, of which the
United States present more than 60 species, profusely
decorating with their copious flowers our autumnal
scenery, is nearly allied to Erigeron ; but the rays
are fewer, and somewhat broader, generally more
than 1 0, never yellow, as in most of the lnulas, being
either white, bluish, or purple. The calyx is imbri-
cate, with the lower scales often spreading (showing
their near relation to the minute leaves, which com-
monly clothe the flower branch). The receptacle is
naked ; and the pappus simple, and many -haired.
The Asters are large plants, and grow in almost all
situations where the soil is good, and often in the
shade of bushes and trees.

So nearly related to Aster is the American species
of Inula, which I have termed Chrysopsis, that several

ORDER SUPERFLUA. 171

of the former Asters, with corymbose flowers, form,
in fact, a part of that division, though they have not
the characteristic yellow flowers. In these the calyx
is closely imbricated, and no part of it spreading ;
the receptacle naked ; the pappus scabrous (or some-
what subdivided) ; and, in nearly all the native species
of our subgenus, furnished with a short, exterior chaffy
pappus.

The smallness of the flowers at once distinguish
the Solidago's, or Golden-rods, from the Inulas ;
these have also small imbricated calyces, with the
scales very generally connivent. The florets of the
ray are only about 5, and yellow. The receptacle
naked ; and the pappus simple and scabrous. The
genus is naturally divisible into 2 sections ; in one of
which the flowers are disposed in terminal, secund
(or 1 -sided) racemes ; in the other, they form irregu-
lar, and smaller clusters.

One of our too common weeds in dry pastures, is
the White- weed, or Ox-eye Daisy, of the genus
Chrysanthemum. This plant has an hemispherical,
imbricated calyx, the close scales of which have
membranaceous margins. The receptacle is naked ;
and there is no pappus. Our only species wild, is
the C. leucanthemum, which, for a great part of the
year, continues to send up simple stems, clothed with
amplexicaule, lanceolate, serrated leaves, more deeply
cleft at the base, and terminating in large, Daisy-like,
white rayed flowers. Of the same genus are those
beautiful and numerous varieties of the C. Indicum,
so commonly cultivated, and so grateful in appearance,
blooming to the very approach of winter, when all
other flowers have disappeared ; but these, of so many
fine colors, introduced from China, are always double,
or rather monstrous, having the perfect discal florets
all transformed into ligulate or radial ones, and pro-

172 ORDER SUPERFLUA.

duce no seed. In what, however, are called the
quill-flowered varieties the florets are only partially
slit open, the remaining part being narrow and tubular.

In Achillea, or Millfoil, the common species so well
known for its compoundly and finely divided leaves,
somewhat resembling Tansey, and producing corymbs
of white flowers, the calyx is ovate, imbricate and un-
equal ; the rays 5 to 10, are roundish, and short.
The receptacle chaffy (or leafy), and the seeds without
either pappus or border.

The curious American genus Helenium, of which
one tall growing species (H. autumnale) is quite com-
mon in wet places, flowering from August to Septem-
ber, having decurrent, lanceolate, serrated leaves, and
corymbose, showy yellow flowers, is characterized by
having a simple, many-parted, spreading calyx. The
i ays 3-cleft ; the receptacle naked, globose, bearing
chaffy scales near its margin. The seed villous ; and
the pappus of 5-awned scales (or chaffy leaflets).

The African Mary gold, or Tagetes, a Mexican
genus, 2 of whose species we have in common cultiva-
tion, are curiously distinguished by having a tubular
calyx of one piece, 5-toothed at its summit ; and
about 5 permanent florets to the ray. The recepta-
cle is naked j and the seeds are crowned with about
5 unequal chaffy scales. The leaves are very finely
subdivided, and the whole plant, at least the common
kinds, gives out, on touching, a strong odor, similar to
Rue.

Another very showy ornament to our flower gardens
are the species of the genus Zinnia, also originally
from Mexico, and chiefly annuals. They have a
look of Tagetes, but have an imbricated, round scaled
calyx ; and 5, or more, remarkably persisting broad
rays. The receptacle is chaffy ; and the pappus con-
sists of 2 awns. Besides those, now well known in

ORDER FRUSTRANEA. 173

every garden, 3 or 4 remarkable and beautiful species,
some of them perennial, not yet published, have been
discovered near the Rocky Mountains. In one of
these the flowers are yellow.

FRUSTRANEA.

This order likewise consists of radiated flowers re-
sembling the last section pf the preceding, and merely
differ in the condition of the rays, which are neutral ;
mere ligulate florets, almost petals, without either style
or stamens, though provided with the rudiments of
the seed at their base.

The fust and most obvious genus, with these con-
ditions, is the Hclianthus, or Sunflower, also, an ex-
clusive American genus. The II. animus becoming
of such gigantic dimensions as to afford in its enor-
mous flowers, not only, a good example of its order,
but also of the characters of the class. The calyx is
imbricate, somewhat squarrose and leafy. The re-
ceptacle chaffy, and flat. The pappus 2 caducous
(or quickly shed) chaffy leaves.

In Rudoeckia, a genus also exclusively American,
the leaves of the calyx are nearly equal, and common-
ly arranged in a double series. The receptacle is
conic, and provided with chaff. The pappus a 4-
toothed margin, or nearly indistinct. The common
species, in gardens, and wild in the southern states,
has purple flowers, and long pendulous rays, with the
receptacular chaff colored and pungently rigid. In
those with yellow flowers it is often blunt ; one of
these, the R. laciniata, is the giant of our swamps and
wet places, having pinnately-divided, 3-lobed leaflets,
and produces yellow flowers, somewhat resembling
those of HcUanthus.

But one of the most elegant genera in the United
15*

174 ORDER FRUSTRANEA.

States is that of Coreopsis, or Tick-seed Sunflower,
which has a double calyx ; each of many leaves, the
exterior shorter and green, the interior equal, partly
coriaceous, and coloured. The receptacle producing
flat, chaffy scales. The seeds compressed, emargi-
nate, and often bidentate. Some of the species are culti-
vated in gardens, and have yellow flowers. Most of
them belong to the milder latitudes, but they are all pe-
culiar to America. In the open swamps of New Jersey
there is a low, narrow leaved species with rose colored
flowers ; but the most beautiful, yet known, is the C.
tinctoria, an annual or biennial, originally from Arkansa
territory, but now common in most gardens ; its radical
leaves are bipinnately divided, those of the stem pinnated
in narrow segments ; the flowers come out in May,
and are of a fine orange yellow, with a brown centre.
It gives a reddish yellow, indellible stain to cotton,
and, as well as the C. senifolia, might be employed
for dying.

The Blue Bottle of our gardens, originally from the
corn-fields of Europe, belongs to a remarkable genus,
of great extent in species called Centaurea, of which,
as yet, but a single one, has been discovered in
either continent of America. In all, the corollas or
florets of the ray are funnel-form or tubular, longer
than those of the disc, and irregular; the pappus is
simple, and the receptacle bristly. The genus is nat-
urally divisible into sections or subgenera, principally,
from the nature of the calyx. In the Blue Bottle
( Centaurea Cyanus) the scales of the calyx are with-
out either armature or appendages ; the leaves are
linear and entire, but below often broader and divided.
The flowers, though originally blue, in gardens, pre-
sent varieties with white, brown, and particolored rays.
But the largest flowered species of the genus, is, per-
haps, the solitary one of the United States, now culti-

ORDER NECESSARIA. 175

vated as an annual, being spontaneous, in alluvial si-
tuations, near the banks of Red River and of the Ar-
kansa. This plant attains the height of 3 or 4 feet,
is nearly quite smooth, with sessile, ovate, acute, rarely
toothed leaves, the upper ones quite entire ; the
branches, few in number, are terminated each by a
large flower of a pale pink color ; the calyx is extreme-
ly curious, having all its imbricated scales terminated
by moveable, chaffy, shining processes, pinnatifidly
cleft into bristly ciliae. The pappus is hairy, and of
unequal length. The rays of Centaurea, often cleft
with more than 5 divisions, appear to be double, infer-
tile tubular florets, enlarged in size from the absence
of all other organs. A transformation of this kind,
though acting on uncombined florets, is familiar in the
double, or rather monstrous flowers of the common
Feverfew (Crysanthcmum Parthenium), where the
enlarged tubular florets of the disk are also deprived
of the style and stamens.

NECESSARIA.

In this order the rays only are fertile, for the cen-
tra 1 or discal florets, though to all appearance perfect,
are constantly sterile. These plants then are easily
known by producing seed on the marginofthe disk only.

The common Marygold (Calendula officinalis), in
almost every garden, affords one of the few examples
of this order which are known to exist. The calyx
consists of many equal leaves; the receptacle is
naked ; the seeds are without pappus, and curved ;
those of the disk are imperfect and membranous.
The flower is of an orange yellow, and frequently
double or monstrous, having all the florets ligulate.

In the southern, middle, and western states, the sa-
vannas, prairies, and mountain meadows, present us

176 ORDER SEGREGATA.

with a gigantic race of plants, the Silphhms, somewhat
resembling Sunflowers, but whose generic character is
too remarkable to allow them to be mistaken for any
thing else. They have a peculiar calyx, with spread-
ing or squarrose segments, which are broad, and end
in short leafy appendages. The receptacle is provid-
ed with chaffy leaflets. The seed is flat, obcordate
for inversely heart-shaped), emarginate, and bidentate
(or 2-toothed). The flowers are always yellow, and
the rays have remarkably long and obvious styles.
The infertile discal florets often fall out before the
disappearance of the rays.

The Polymnias, of this order, as well as the pre-
ceding, an exclusive American genus, are also gigan-
tic yellow flowered plants, growing in rich, moist,
shady, and mostly rocky woods. In these the calyx
is double ; the exterior being 4 or 5 leaved ; the in-
terior 10-leaved ; the leaflets concave by the swelling
of the large seed ; the receptacle chaffy ; the seed
without pappus.

In salt marshes is frequently to be found a shrub-
by plant with opposite, ovate, lanceolate, deeply ser-
rated, and somewhat scabrous leaves ; having depres-
sed globular flowers of a greenish color, and without
beauty, which will be found to agree with the genus
Iva, having a 5-leaved, or 5-parted calyx. The flo-
rets of the ray 5 (and small) ; the receptacle hairy ;
and the seed obovate, and naked.

SEGREGATA.

In this order there are 2 sets of calyces ; the outer,
or common involucrum, for such by analogy it really
is in the whole class ; and here an inner, or included
calyx also of the same character, containing one or
more florets, and thus producing, as it were, a doubly
compound flower'

CLASS GYNANDR1A. 177

Of native examples we have only the genus Ele-
phantopus, or Elephants'-Foot, a low growing, hairy
leaved perennial, of the middle and southern states, in
dry soils, with a few, slender, divaricate, and almost
naked branches terminating in 3-sided, 3-leaved ca-
lyces, containing other partial ones, with 4, 5-cleft,
perfect ligulate purple florets in each. In these the
receptacle is naked ; and the pappus bristly.

In gardens may sometimes be found the Globe
Thistle, or Echinops, which has only one perfect tubu-
lar (blue) floret to each partial calyx ; the seeds have
also an obscure pappus ; and the receptacle is bristly.
The leaves of the Globe Thistle (E. spharocephalus)
are sinuous and pubescent, the divisions ending in
spines ; the flowers are in globular heads.

CHAPTER XXVI.

OF THE CLASS GVNANDRIA.

The ostensible character of this class is to have
the stamens, one or more, inserted upon, or attached
to the style : but from the great dissimilarity of these
organs to those of all the other classes, except the
family of the Asclepiadeje, their total absence might
perhaps he imagined by the superficial observer, and
to render the subject more intelligible, it will be prop-
er, first to give a general view of the natural family of
the Okchideje, which forms the principal part of the
present class. Most of the genera and species are of
perennial duration, and grow in moist and shady places
where vegetable earth abounds ; indeed, some of them,
particularly in tropical climates, as the tribe of Epi-
dendrons exist only as parasites, attached to the bark
of trees by their fleshy fibred roots. The roots of
many are tuberous, and these pass by insensible grades

178 CLASS GYNANDRIA.

to the character of thick and branching fibres, all of
which are annually and laterally renewed, so that in
many of the tubers, as those of Aplectrum and Epi-
dendrum, the annually rejected, inert, and withering
tubers form concatenated links of several individuals,
possessing different degrees of vitality, and power of
reproducing plants. Nearly all the genera, however,
except those with fibrous or clasping roots, appear to
be of slow and difficult propagation, and are, there-
fore, but seldom successfully cultivated ; nor will many
of them exist at all except in the shade of the forest, and
amidst recent vegetable soil. — The leaves of the whole
tribe are invariably entire, not even so much as serrat-
ed on the edges, and commonly of an oblong or ellip-
tic form, and wholly or partially, as in grasses, embrac-
ing the stem by their base. The stems or scapes are
simple or undivided ; and the flowers arranged in
spikes or racemes. In all, the corolla, for there is no
calyx, is referrible to a division into 6 parts, as in the
Lilies ; but these are of different forms, and in several
combinations ; 5 of these parts are always external,
but frequently in 2 ranges, as in Orchis, where the
3 external resemble a calyx, and there are then 2
internal divisions like petals, conniving together beneath
one of the external segments, so as to resemble a hood
or helmet. The 6th segment or lip, for they always ap-
pear ringent flowers, possesses the most varied forms,
being a perfect vegetable Proteus. It is collocated op-
posite to the style, which is often petaloid, and seems
then to form an upper lip in accordance with the low-
er, or true petal. In Orchis this Gth petal or lip is
often trifid, more rarely simple, and sometimes divid-
ed into fringe or hairs ; its base terminates in a sac oi'
elongated nectariferous cavity, called the spur. In
the Cypripedium or Ladies'-slipper, which has mostly
2 of its petals ingrafted so as to appear but one, with

CLASS GVNANDRIA. 179

a notch at its extremity, this sac or cavity is very
large, more resembling a bladder than a slipper, and
all the rest of the lip is merged in this part of the or-
gan, of which, however, there are still vestiges, and a
sort of spur at the base of the sac, in Cypripedium
arietimtm, and even 5 perfect petals. In the genus
Ophrys, as now limited, altogether exotic, the lip puts on
the most fantastic forms and colors, so as, with the rest
of the flower, to resemble different insects, such as
the Fly, the Bee, the Wasp, and the Spider, and in
another the rude form of a man suspended by the
head. The style in this family is never central, but
so inclined to one side as to resemble an upper Up to
the corolla. This organ in Orchis presents 2 lateral
sacs, in each of which are included a stipitate, clavate
(or club-shaped) mass of pollen agglutinated together.
In many other genera the masses of pollen (2, 4, or 8)
are inserted into the under side of an articulated move-
able lid, seated near, or upon the summit of the style.
The fruit is universally a 3-sided capsule, with 3 valves,
but only one cell, and filled with very many minute
seeds, of which extremely few are ever fertile. The
only example with which I am acquainted, where these
seeds are necessarily perfect, is in the very curious
Chiloglotlis of New-Holland, which, contrary to the
whole order besides, is only of an annual duration.
The tropical genera of the natural section Epidendra,
presenting a labyrinth of generic characters, or very
small groups, are remarkable for the beauty and vivid
coloring of their flowers, and the fantastic forms of the
ever varying 6th petal, or lip. From this tribe we
derive the Vanilla of commerce, which is the pod or
capsule of the Epidendron Vanilla. Salep is obtain-
ed from the roots of some of the species of Orchis ;
but, in general, the terrestrial plants of the Orchideje
are of such a rare and scattered occurrence, and con-

180 CLASS GYNANDRIA.

nected with such uncommon and mutable circum-
stances of soil and situation, as to promise little to man,
but the rational amusement of admiring and observing
their very singular and uncommon structure.

We have already had occasion to observe a natural
tendency to abortion of parts and organs in the tribe of
ringent or irregular flowers ; we have remarked, that,
in the Labiate, instead of 5 stamens, existing in
symmetry with the perianth of quinary divisions, 4
are generally found ; and in several genera, as Monar-
da. Cunila, Salvia, and Collinsonia, only 2 perfect
stamens, in common ; but in the Sage 2 other imper-
fect anthers, and in one of the Collinsonias no less than
4 perfect anthers, constantly. The 5th stamen, of which
the rudiment is often present, is likewise suppressed,
in the flowers of the 2d order (Angiospermia) of
Didynamia, or irregular flowers. There is, also,
every reason to believe, that in this monocotyledonous
tribe, the Orchide;e, whose flowers are always irreg-
ular, there exists an hereditary abortion of organs ',
and this is rendered still more probable from the re-
markably eccentric, or even lateral position of the
style, and the absence of filaments ; the moveable disk,
on which the pollen is seated, being all the special
support which the anthers, or their substitute, the po-
linia (or masses of pollen), ever present. The 6 pe-
tals, and 3-sided capsule, would lead us to expect, as
in the Lily, a ternary number in the stamens and stig-
ma, if complete ; but from the restraint and abortion
induced or indicated by the irregularity of the corolla,
and the unconcentric position of the central organs,
we never find more than an indication of 2 lobes to
the stigma. In Orchis, and some other related genera,
there are only 2 pollinia or equal to one anther ; but
in Malaxis, Corrallorhiza (Coral-root), and some
others, 4 pollinia, or 2 anthers ; and in Bhlia,8 pollinia,

CLASS GYNANDRIA. 181

or 4 anthers ; thus making as near an approach to 6,
as the Convallaria bifolia, in which all the parts of
the flower are diminished to 4, though inseparable, in
other respects, from the rest of the Convallaria's in
which the parts are by 6's. Thus amidst aberrations
so obscure, and variations so intricate from the origin-
al plan or type of vegetable families, still the lights of
analogy, by furnishing, as it were, links of connexion,
lead, at length, to a real affinity of objects ; and we
are satisfied, that though the Orchideje form a most
distinct and natural family among themselves, they
have still an unalienable relation with the great lilia-
ceous tribe of the same monocotyledonous class.

The artificial orders of our class Gynandria, which
includes a few other genera besides the Orchideje,
are again founded on the number of the stamens, and
in Monandrin we find, first, the genus

Orchis, of which our mossy swamps and very sha-
dy woods afford no inconsiderable variety, flowering;
about midsummer and the commencement of autumn.
The corolla isringent, the upper petals forming a vault
or helmet. The lip is dilated (or widened), having
a spur beneath. The pollinia (or masses of pollen, as
there are no true anthers) are 2- in number, and will
be found concealed within the lateral sacs, or hooded
hollows of the stigma. The earliest flowering species,
not uncommon in the middle states, is the O. spectabi-
lis, which has an obovate, undivided, crenate, blunt
lip (generally purple or rather lilac), and finely con-
trasted with the other straight and white petals. The
spur is clavate (or club-shaped), and shorter than the
germ ; the bractes are longer than the flower ; and the
stem leafless ; 2 or 3 large leaves, however, are situ-
ated at the base of the stem. The O. ciliaris of our
swamps flowering in August, has an oblong, lanceolate,
pinnatelv ciliate (or fringed) lip, twice as long as the
16

182 CLASS GVNANDRIA-

petals ; and, as well as the whole raceme of flowers,
is of a bright orange inclining to white. This species
is, again, scarcely to be distinguished from the O. ble-
phariglottis, excepting by the snow white elegant
flowers, and shorter lip of the latter. The O. psyccdes
has greenish flowers with a 3-parted lip, having its
segments divided like hairs, and below a long filiform,
clavate, ascending spur. Another, rather common
species, in the northern states, flowering in July, is the
O. fimbriate, bearing racemes of fine purple flowers,
and having a 3-parted lip, scarcely longer than the
petals, with the segments cuneiform (or wedge-shaped),
and ciliately fringed ; the lateral petals are also a little
torn ; the spur filiform, clavate, and longer than the
germ. There are 2 or 3 other species very similar to
this, of which the O. grandiflora is the most beautiful
for the superior size, and often, fragrance of its flowers.
All these species, except the first, are by some refer-
red to Habenaria, but do not appear possessed of any
very obvious distinguishing trait, and are not to be
known apart by aspect or habit.

Of the genus Neottia, or its subgenus Spiranthes
of Richard, we have several species, common both in
dry sandy woods, and in wet meadows. These come
out late in the season, have all white flowers inclined
to one side, and form a twisted or spiral wreath like a
stair-case of the same construction. The genus is
characterized as follows. The corolla is ringent, with
the 2 lower petals passing beneath the lip, which is
beardless ; the interior petals are connivent. The
column (or style) apterous (or wingless) ; the pollen
farinaceous. The leaves of the species vary a little-
in form, and the stems are nearly naked. In the fol-
lowing genera the pollinia are inserted in a lid at the
summit of the stigma.

One of our most common little plants, in swamps

CLASS GYNANDRIA. 183

and wet meadows which have never been plowed, is
the Pogonia (formerly Arethusa) ophioglossoides. It
has a small fibrous root, the scape furnished with one
oval leaf, and a leaf-like bracte almost immediately
under the flower, which is rose color, or pale purple.
Its character is to have 5 distinct petals without glands,
a sessile lip, hooded (or drawn up at the sides), and
internally crested (or fringed) ; the pollen farin-
aceous.

About the month of June, in the same mossy
swamps with the preceding, may not unfrequently be
found a still more curious and elegant purple flowered
plant of the Orchideje, a true Arethusa, the species
A. bulbosa. The whole plant is scarcely a span high ;
its root is a small round tuber sending up a spathe,
sheathed by an abortive leaf, and terminated mostly
by a single large flower, though sometimes by 2 some-
what remote from each other ; after a time, a linear
radical leaf is often sent up. The flower has a very
marked character of ringency, and consists of 5 petals,
connate, (or growing together) at the base. The lip be-
neath growing to the column (or styles), cucullate (or
hooded) above, and crested internally.

But one of the most elegant of all our swamp plants
of this tribe is the Calopogon of Brown, Cymhidium of
Willdenow, which flowers about July, and is common
throughout the United States. The petals are 5,
distinct ; the lip behind (or inverted), unguiculate (or
narrower below) ; the lamina conspicuously bearded.
The column is free (or unconnected), and the pollen
angular. Almost the only species is the C. pulckel-
lus, which has a tuberous small root, sword-shaped,
almost plaited, radical leaves, and a scape with several
large purple flowers.

Another genus, of rather frequent occurrence in
dry woods, near the roots of trees, is the Mirfaxis,

184 CLASS CYNANDKIA.

particularly the M. UUifolia in the middle states, flow
ering in June. The character is to have the 5 petals
narrower than the lip, and spreading or deflected.
The lip flattened, undivided, sessile, often exterior.
The pollinia (or masses of pollen) 4, parallel with
each other, applied to the stigma by their extremities.
In J\l. liliifolia, the plants sometimes grow in clus-
ters, having bulbous roots, from each of which arise 2
elliptic leaves, and a triangular scape of many flowers,
with the interior petals, filiform and reflected ; the lip
brownish, concave, obovate, and acute at the point. A
second, and somewhat similar species, with a narrow-
er greenish lip sometimes occurs. This is the M.
Lceselii, indigenous also to Europe, and found farther
north than the preceding. A very dissimilar species
is the M. ophioglossoides, which bears only a single,
embracing ovate leaf, and a crowded raceme of mi-
nute greenish flowers. In this, of which I formed the
sub-genus Mycrostylis, the lip is sessile, concave, and
erect, with the summit truncated and bidentate (or 2
toothed) ; the column is minute. There are also 2
imperfect anthers, and three pollinia. It is in fact a
very distinct genus.

The genus Corallorhiza, or Coral-root, from its
branching, thick, fleshy coralloidal root destitute of
fibres, is remarkable as being without leaves, and pro-
ducing racemes of dusky brownish flowers, with the
following character — The petals equal and connivent ;
the lip mostly produced or gibbous at the base ; the
column free ; the pollinia 4, oblique, (or not parallel).

From the preceding genus, so different in habit, I
ventured to separate the Cymbidium hiemale of Will-
denow, under the name of ^plectrum, having no
spur or gibbosity at the base of the lip. This curious
plant is sometimes known by the name of Adam and
Eve, from the small chain of bulbs which constitute its

CLASS UYNANDRIA. 185

roots, 2, 3, or more of them being horizontally con-
nected. From each of these arises, in its germinating
period, a single ovate and striated leaf, which remains
green through the winter, and hence the specific name
of hiemale. About May this leaf is succeeded by a
scape and raceme of brownish flowers, with a 3-cleft,
unspotted lip. The character is to have the petals
equal and connivent ; the lip unguiculate, and without
any cavity or gibbosity at its base ; the anther sit-
uated below the summit of the column ; the polinia
4, oblique, and lenticular.

In Diandria you find the genus Cypripetlium or
Lady's-slipper, also of the natural family of the Orchi-
deje, and not easily confounded with any thing else,
after noticing its remarkable large, ventricose, inflated,
saccate or almost bladder-like lip. Most of the spe-
cies have also only 4 petals ; and the under one bifid,
(indicating that it is formed of 2, which are ingrafted
together nearly to their points). The column terminates
in a petaloid lobe, which varies in form in each ol the
species. They occur commonly in rich, and some-
what shady woods, and flower from May to June.
They have copiously fibrous roots, and with the excep-
tion of the C. acaule, leafy, simple stems, more or less
pubescent. The leaves are broad, sessile, and some-
what plaited or ribbed ; the flowers, about 1 to 3 on a
stem, are yellow, red, or in part white. In Europe
there is but one species. In India and in the kingdom
of Nepal there are several very curious species, some
of them with evergreen leaves. In the United States
there are 6 species.

In the order Hexandria of this class, you meet
with the genus Aristolochia or Birthwort. In these
there is no calyx ; and the corolla of one ligulate
petal with a ventricose base. The capsule is 6-
celled, many seeded, and inferior. — One of the most
16*

186 CLASS MOXffiCIA.

important species, in a medicinal view, is the A. ser-
pentaria, or Virginia Snakeroot, the fibrous root of
which is highly aromatic ; it has a short erect zigzag
stem, set with cordate, oblong, acuminated leaves ; the
peduncles radical, and the lip of the corolla lance-
olate. — The A. Sipho, or Dutchman's pipe, from the
singular form of the corolla, produces woody and pro-
fusely spreading twining stems, with large heart-shap-
ed, acute, smooth leaves; the peduncles 1 -flow-
ered, and with an ovate bracte ; the corolla ascending
(brown), and the border slightly 3-lobed, and equal.

In Dodecandria is now arranged the genus Asa-
rum, allied to the preceding. Our common species,
so similar to that of Europe (A. canadense), known
by the name of Indian-Ginger, has creeping, aromatic,
thick roots of nearly the same taste and smell with the
Snakeroot, from which arise clusters of very short
stems, each with two leaves ; in the centre of them
comes out an overshadowed brown flower, externally
hairy consisting merely of a campanulate, 3 or 4-
cleft calyx, without any corolla. The anthers have
the peculiarity of being adnate to about the middle of
the filaments. The capsule is inferior, 6-celled, and
crowned with the calyx.

CHAPTER XXVII.

OF THE CLASS MONffiCIA.

In this, and the following class, there exist two kinds
of flowers necessary to the perfection of the species.
The infertile ones are, of course, those which pro-
duce stamens only, and disappear without any suc-
ceeding fruit. We have, already, probably met with
occasional species in some of the preceding classes
whose flowers are in this condition. Such are all the

CLASS MONCECIA. IS*

native species of Vitis, or Grape-vines, some of the
plants producing staminiferous flowers only, with the
rudiments of a pistillum which is never perfected ;
other plants produce hoth stamens and fruitful germs,
though these stamens are probably imperfect. The
proper situation then of this genus would have been
in the next classs Dkecia, but this circumstance,
probably unknown to Linnaeus at first, induced him,
naturally enough, to retain them, notwithstanding, in
the same genus with the Vine of Europe, whose flow-
ers are always perfect (or each of them provided with
all the organs necessary to the perfection of the fruit).
Many other genera, also, include species which are
Monoecious or Dioecious, but are still retained in the
same class of perfect flowers to which the majority are
referrible. In our present class, the two kinds of flow-
ers constituting the same species are situated on differ-
ent parts of the same plant; and to this allusion is made
in the term Monozcia, which signifies one habitation.
Whether this circumstance of the comparative fertility
of flowers alone ought to be of any primary import-
ance in a system of classification may well be ques-
tioned. There are, however, in this and the following
classes, a considerable number of plants which differ
not merely in this respect, but likewise in the nature
and form of the perianth ; as, for example, in the nut
tribe (Corylaceje), where the staminiferous or male
flowers, in catkins or aments, bear little or no resem-
blance to the pistilliferous or female flowers, which pro-
duce the nuts or fruit. To such plants this distinction of
classification would be well applied ; and all the rest,
with flowers similar in themselves, though perfect or im-
perfect, might be referred, properly enough, to any of
the other classes by the number and disposition of their
stamens. That such plants as those of the Coryla-
ceje ought to be retained in a particular class, like

188 CLAsa MONCECIA.

that of the present and following, is likewise obvious
from the variable number of their stamina, which would
render their arrangement elsewhere not only unnatural,
but perplexing, and almost impossible, and the genera
instead of being, as they now are, brought together,
would then be dispersed, and nearly lost in the rest of
the different classes of the system.

The class being founded on the circumstance offer-
tile and infertile flowers on the same plant ; the orders
are conveniently taken from the other classes, according
to the number and accidents of the stamens.

In the order Monandria, then, we now find the
somewhat puzzling genus Euphorbia, or Spurge, form-
ing the type of the natural order Euphorbiaceje, for-
merly arranged in Dodecandria, and then considered
as a simple, in place of a compound flower. They all
contain an acrid milky juice, that of some of the suc-
culent species when inspissated forming the gum Eu-
phorbium of commerce. They are chiefly found in
Europe and Africa. Those of the latter continent, veg-
etating in arid sandy grounds and deserts, have, like
the Cactuses of America, growing in like situations,
succulent, columnar stems, mostly destitute of leaves,
but often armed with clustered and scattered spines.
The general composition of their flowers and generic
character is as follows — They present a ventricose, or
cup-shaped involucrum, resembling a calyx, of which
the alternate segments are petaloid. The sterile flow-
ers, 12 or more, are generally simple ; each of them
consisting of a mere anther with its filament, articulat-
ed to a pedicel (and proving themselves, however sim-
ple, still to be so many distinct flowers by coming to
maturity at several successive periods). The calyx
and corolla is very rarely present. The fertile flower
is solitary, central, and stipitate (or pedicellate), with-
out either calyx or corolla. The styles are 3, each

CfcASS MONffiCIA. 189

of them bifid (or cleft) ; and the capsule 3-lobed,
and 3-seeded ; the seeds at length bursting out with
an elastic spring, by means of a peculiar integument
or arillus with which they are at first surrounded.
One of the most elegant species peculiar to the
United States, is the E. corollata, a perennial, with
subdivided umbels of conspicuous white flowers, and
narrowish, oblong, obtuse leaves. This plant is not
uncommon in the sandy fields of the middle states,
and is in flower about June and July. The E. ipe-
cacuanha, so abundant in the sandy fields of New
Jersey, has been employed in medicine as a substitute
for the drug indicated by its specific appellation. Its
roots are extremely long, and rather thick ; from which
arise clusters of very low stems, clothed with reddish
green, smooth, opposite, obovate, or narrow lanceolate,
and very different looking leaves. The peduncles are
few, axillary and terminal, 1 -flowered, and rather
long. It is in flower about May and June. The
most elegant species in the United States is the
E. variegata of Missouri and Arkansa territory, an
annual now cultivated in the gardens, flowering late
in autumn, and remarkable for its abundant variegated
floral leaves.

In the order Triandria is the genus Typha, or
Reed-Mace, referred to the natural family of the
Aroide;e. The common species, T. latifolia, is a
tall, reed-like plant, growing on the edges of ponds,
with long, almost semicylindric leaves and stems,
terminating in long, brown, and dense cylindric spikes
of inconspicuous flowers ; the uppermost, distinctly
separated from the rest, are sterile, and without any
kind of perianth. The 3 stamens in each of these
minute floscules, arise from a chaffy or hairy recepta-
cle, united below into a single filament or stipe. The
fertile flowers, below the sterile, are also without

190 CLASS MONCEC1A.

perianth ; the pericarp (or seed) is pedicellated,
and surrounded with a hairy pappus at the base.
This plant is found in almost every climate, and in
nearly every quarter of the globe.

The genus Carex, or Sedge-grass, of which there
are not less than 90 species in this country, and a
still greater number in Europe, belongs to the family
of the Cyperoide^:, and, as its common name im-
plies, is nearly related to the grasses, for which they
are commonly taken by ordinary observers. They
grow in woods and marshy meadows, are perennial,
often growing in tufts, have leaves like grass, but
keeled, or sharply angled beneath in the centre, pro-
duce culms (or stems) almost universally triangular,
and solid within. — The flowers, sometimes dioecious,
as well as monoecious, are disposed in dense imbri-
cated spikes or aments. The glume is 1 -flowered ;
the corolla ventricose, 1-valved, persistent, often 2-
toothed at the summit, and including the caryopsis
(or seed). The staminiferous flowers have each but
a single scale, or more properly bracte.

The Mays, or Indian Corn (Zea Mays), belongs
to the family of the grasses, and affords a very intelli-
gible example of Moncecia. The flowering top or
panicle consists, as we all well know, of flowers which
never produce corn. These are merely staminiferous
glumes, each one including 2 flowers, which, as well
as their common calyx, are awnless. The fertile
flowers form a dense spike, inclosed in a husk or
complicated sheath of bractes. The glume both of
calyx and corolla is 2-valved and indistinct. The
styles, one to each grain, are filiform and very long ;
the whole in each ear being exserted from its sheath,
forms a silky tuft.

In Tetrandria is arranged the Alder (Jlhius) of the
order of the Willows (Salicinte) ; its sterile flowers

CLASS MONCECIA. 191

are collected into aments or catkins, made up of 3-
flowered, wedge-shaped, and truncated receptacles or
scales. The calyx is the 3-lobed scales of the ament.
The corolla is 4-parted. In the fertile floxvcr, the
scales of the ament are 2-flowered, and partly trifid.
There is no corolla. The seed is compressed and
without winged margins. The A. serrulata, with
roundish blunt leaves, and never rising above the
magnitude of a shrub, is one of our most common
plants on the borders of small water-courses.

The Mulberry tree (Morns) has its flowers in cat-
kins. The sterile ones have a 4-parted calyx, and
no corolla. The fertile flowers have also a 4-leaved
calyx, which becomes a berry, and is equally devoid
of corolla. There are 2 styles, and but one seed.
To the same genus, though perhaps not very cor-
rectly, was referred the Fustick tree of commerce,
or M. tinctoria of the West Indies. This species
has oblong ovate leaves, and axillary thorns ; the
berry is also spherical, and very sweet to the taste.
The genus belongs to the Urtice;e, or natural family
of the Nettle. Nearly related to this genus and very
similar in habit or general aspect, is the Broussonetia,
or Paper Mulberry, from the bark of which is pre-
pared the linen worn by the inhabitants of the Friendly
Islands, in the Pacific.

On the banks of Red River, and in other parts of
the Arkansa territory, is found a considerable tree
related to the Fustick, with heavy yellow wood, en-
tirely similar. It also produces ovate, acute, entire,
smooth leaves ; has axillary thorns, and sterile flow-
ers, with 4-leaved calyces, almost similar to the Mul-
berry ; but the fertile flowers have but a single style j
and the succulent calyces coalesce, or ingraft together
so as to form but a single, spherical, juicy berry, like
a large orange ; but not, as far as is yet known, eata-

192 CLASS MONCECIA.

ble. To this peculiar genus, known as the Bow-wood
and Osage Orange, I gave some years ago the name
of Madura. The junction of the germs into a single,
large berry, brings this genus in character very near
to the Jlrtocarpw, or Bread Fruit.

In the order Pentandria comes the Amaranihus,
or Princes' Feather, forming the type of the natural
group Amaranthacete. In both the fertile and ste-
rile flower, the calyx is 3 to 5 leaved, and there is
no corolla ; the stamina are 3 to 6 ; there are 3 styles,
and a 1-celled, 1-seeded capsule, opening transverse-
ly all round. They are, I believe, all annuals, and
several of them cultivated. One of the most re-
markable is the A. tricolor, whose leaves are blotched
green, yellow, red, and sometimes brown.

In Hexandria comes the Zizania, or Wild Rice,
a tall aquatic grass, common on the margins of large
ponds, lakes, and rivers of still water. — The sterile,
flower has no calyx, but a 2-valved and partly awned
corolla ; the fertile flower is also without calyx ; the
corolla of 2 valves, hooded and awned ; the style 2-
parted, and the cylindric seed, like common Rice, is
invested by the corolla. The leaves in Z. aquatica,
are rather broad, and like other grass in appearance ;
the flowers are in a large pyramidal pancicle, the fer-
tile ones uppermost, at length approximating to the
rachis, so as to form a kind of spike. The aborigines
of the north-western territories, and particularly those
of Lake Michigan, were in the habit of collecting
large quantities of this rice for food, and it is very
palatable, and swells when boiled as much as genuine
rice.

In the artifical order Polyandria you will find the
genus Sagittaria, or Arrow-head, of the natural group
Alismaceje. The common species, as well as all
the others, is aquatic, growing in muddy still waters.

CLASS MONffiCIA. 193

It derives its name from the leaves, which are of the
form of the Arrow-head. The flowers are white,
have greatly the appearance of a Ranunculus, being
produced on scapes, and grow always by 3's. In
both kinds of flowers the calyx is 3-leaved, and the
corolla of 3 petals. The stamina are numerous, but
said to be definite, or constant to a certain number.
In the fertile flowers the germs are numerous ; the
pericarps (or apparent seeds) are aggregated, 1 -seed-
ed, and do not spontaneously open. There are in
the United States 9 or 10 distinct species, and some
of them with leaves destitute of the arrow-shape ;
yet many have an occasional tendency to put on this
form, when their usual leaves are different.

The genus of the Oak, or Quercus. is arranged
here, and takes its place in the natural order of the
Corylace.k. — The sterile flowers are arranged in a
loose ament or catkin, and have a calyx, which is
mostly 5-cleft, but no corolla ; the stamina are from
5 to 10 ; the fertile flower consists of a cup-shaped
scaly involucrum ; the calyx is incorporated with the
germ, and G-lobed ; tha germ 3-celled, with 2 of the
cells abortive ; the style single, but with 3 to 5 stig-
mas ; the nut (or acorn) coriaceous, 1-celled, and
1 -seeded, surrounded at the base by the enlarged
cup-shaped involucrum. In the United States there
are about 30 species, some of them evergreens, but the
most part deciduous leaved ; some of them have annual
and others biennial fructification, or have the acorns
produced in one or two different seasons. The cork
is the spongy bark of the Q. suber ; and from the Q.
coccifera is obtained those excrescences which afford
the galls of commerce. The Quercitron, so important
and common a yellow dye, is produced by the bark
of our Q. tinctoria, often improperly called Black
Oak. It is remarkable that in all the oaks known
17

194 GLASS MONffiCIA.

there should be such a constant abortion of 2 thirds of
the germs, that no acorn is ever detected containing
more than a single seed.

The Hazlenut (Corylus), the type of the order Co-
rylace;e, so common a shrub in most of our bushy
woods, has its sterile flowers in a cylindric anient (ap-
pearing long before the leaves), with the scales 3-cleft.
There is no perianth. The stamina are about 8, with
1 -celled anthers. In the fertile flower the calyx is
obsolete (or scarcely discernible) ; the germs sev-
eral ; the stigmas 2 ; the nut ovate, and surrounded
with the enlarged coriaceous and scaly involucrum.

In the Chesnut ( Castanea), also of the natural order
Corylaceje, the sterile flowers are disposed in a long
and naked, somewhat cylindric ament for spike) ; each
of them has a 1 -leaved, 6-cleft calyx, and 10 to 12
stamens. The fertile flowers grow by 3's ; the in-
volucrum 4-lobed, and thickly muricated with bristly
prickles ; the calyx 5 to 6-lobed ; the styles 6 ; the
nut mostly 1-seeded, and invested with the enlarged
involucrum. Of this genus there is a dwarf species
( C. pumila) common in all the southern states and
known by the name of Chinquepin with the leaves
tomentose and hoary beneath.

The Walnut (Juglans) has the sterile flowers in an
imbricated ament, and the scales mostly 5-parted ;
the calyx about 5-parted. The stamina vary in num-
ber, according to individuals and species, from 12 to
30. The fertile flower has a 4-cleft, superior calyx ;
a 4-parted corolla ; 1 or 2 styles ; a partly spongy
drupe y the nut rugose, and irregularly furrowed. Of
this genus there are about 4 species, and 2 of them
peculiar to the United States. The J. nigra is one
of the largest and most valuable of the American for-
est trees, and extends from the western parts of Mas-
sachusetts to Florida. The J. cinerca, or Butternut,

CLASS MONffiCIA. 105

extends still further north, and has an oblong, acumin-
ated nut deeply and irregularly sculptured. The bark
of this species is also sometimes employed as a cathar-
tic medicine. The kernels of both species are eata-
ble, and not unpleasant.

From the genus Juglans I ventured to separate the
Hickory, or "White Walnut, by the name of Carya,
and the)' both appertain to the natural family of the
CorylacejE. — The generic character is, to have the
sterile flowers in an imbricated (trifid) ament, with
the scales 3-parted ; no calyx or corolla ; the stamina
4 to 6. The fertile flowers have a 4-cleft, superior
calyx ; no corolla ; no styles ; but a partly discoid,
4-lobed stigma ; the pericarp 4-valved ; the nut
partly quadrangular, and even on the surface. Of this
well known genus there are about S species, with the
general habits of the Walnut, but the wood tough and
white, and the nuts of several of the species are bitter
and inedible.

The genus Platanus (Plane or Button-wood) has its
flowers in globose aments. The sterile ones without
calyx ; and with a very minute corolla. The anthers
are adnate to the filaments from the base. In the fer-
tile flowers the calyx is many-parted ; there is no corolla;
are curved stigma ; the capsule somewhat club-shaped,
1-seeded, and mucronate, or pointed with the persis-
tent style, having its base surrounded with a hairy
pappus. The P. occidentalis is one of the largest and
most majestic of the American forest-trees, growing
generally by the banks of rivers, distinguishable at a
distance by its white and blotched bark, pendent, glob-
ular aments, and angularly lobed leaves. The Asiatic
Plane (P. oricntalis) not very dissimilar from the pre-
ceding, having palmated leaves, was cultivated in
Greece for its agreeable shade, often near temples
and resorts of learning ; and was] early introduced

190 CLASS MONCECIA.

to Rome, where it became the favorite tree of the Ro-
man villas.

The Arum, or Wake-robin, is the type of the natur-
al order Aroide.k. It produces a 1 -leaved, cucullate
(or hooded) spathe. There is neither calyx nor co-
rolla. The spadix (or columnar receptacle) is naked
above, bearing sessile anthers below the middle, and
the germs at the base. The berry (of which there are
many on the same spadix) is commonly scarlet, 1 -cell-
ed, and many-seeded. One of our most common
and elegant species is the A. triphyllum, or Indian
Turnip, with a round, tuberous, hot, and acrid root.
From each of these arise 2 ternated leaves ; and from
between them an ovate, acuminated spathe, with a flat
and bent summit, striped like a zebra with greenish
and brown bands. This species is also dioecious, one
spathe or plant producing fertile, and the other infer-
tile flowers.

In the order Monadelphia will be found the genus
Pinus (the Pine or Fir tree) the type of the natural
order Conifers. These are all resiniferous ever-
greens, most abundant in mild and cold climates, and
here very frequent in sandy sterile soil. Their impor-
tance for timber, resin, turpentine, and pitch are well
known. The kernels even of the Stone Pino [Pinus
Pinea), as large almost as almonds, are eaten as a de-
sert in Italy and the South of France. — The sterile
flowers are in aments, of which the scales are peltate
(or target-shaped) ; there is neither calyx nor corolla ;
but 2, sessile, 1 -celled anthers to each scale. The
fertile flowers are collected into an ovate or conical
strobile (or cone) ; with the scales closely imbricated,
and 2-flowered ; no corolla ; the pericarp a winged
nut covered by the scales of the cone. The genus
presents 3 natural sections, or subgenera. The first is
Abies, or the Fir tree, properly so called, in which the

CLASS MON0EC1A. 197

leaves are solitary, and distinct at the base. Our com-
monest species is A. canadensis, called the Hemlock
or Spruce tree, which has the leaves nearly in two
rows, flat and denticulate ; the cones ovate, terminal,
and scarcely longer than the leaves. The A. balsamea,
or Balsam Fir, has, also, flat, emarginate, or entire
leaves, glaucous (or bluish green) beneath, arranged
in several rows, recurvedly spreading ; the cones large,
purplish, cylindric, and erect. This very ornamental
tree, so common in the northern states, extends by the
Alleghany mountains as far as North Carolina, and is
also found in the Rocky mountains towards the sources
of the Missouri. It is scarcely distinct from the A.
picea of Europe, and is very nearly related to the P.
sptciosa of the Hymalaya mountains, near the sources
of the Ganges. The Canada Balsam is obtained from
resinous blisters, which are pierced, and occupy the
trunk of the tree. The leaves are remarkable for their
persistence, adhering to the branches for several years.
In the true Pines (Pinus) the leaves narrow, long,
and needle-formed, occur from 2 to 5 in a short cylin-
drical sheath ; but in most of them the primordial
leaves are solitary, and without sheathes, as in Abies.
The clustered leaves of this section may then perhaps
be considered, as they are in Larix or the Larch,
minute branchlets, each, at first, enveloped like the
larger buds with imbricated appropriate scales. All
the species germinate with more than 2 seed-leaves,
(from 3 to 8), a peculiarity unknown in any other fam-
ily of plants. The species nearest related to the pre-
ceding section is the Pinus strobus (White or Wey-
mouth Pine), readily known from every other Ameri-
can species by its slender leaves in 5's, and pendulous
cylindrical cones, longer than the leaves, with loose
scales. The Hymalaya mountains likewise afford a
species very similar to the Strobus, P. exceka. One
17*

198 CLASS MONCECIA.

of the most useful and prevalent species is the southern
states is the Pinus palustris, or Long-leaved Yellow
Pitch Pine, which occupies, in predominating abun-
dance, a vast extent of sterile maritime district, from
Norfolk, in Virginia, to an indefinite distance on the
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Its leaves grow by 2's,
and are mostly 12 to 16 inches long, chiefly growing
at the extremities of the branches ; the cones are also
proportionably large. Its timber is much used, and
it affords a great part of all the turpentine, resin, and
pitch exported from the southern states.

The third section of Pinus is that of the Larch
(Larix), principally distinguished by its deciduous
clustered leaves, which are slender as threads. The
Larches, of which there are 2 species in the United
States, and one in Europe, grow generally in swampy
grounds, and theip bark is esteemed for tanning. Like
all the other sections of the genus, their branches come
out in pyramidal stages.

The Cupressus, or Cypress, belongs also to the Coni-
fers. — Its sterile flowers are in ovate aments, with
peltate scales. There is neither calyx nor corolla ;
and 4 sessile anthers. The fertile flowers are in a
cone or strobilus with peltated scales, and are equally
destitute of calyx or corolla. The germs are 4 to 8
under each scale of the strobile, and to these succeed
angular, compressed nuts. The most celebrated and
majestic species of this useful genus is the Cedar of
Lebanon, which forms a large spreading topped tree,
and like the Larch, is clothed with clustered filiform
leaves, which are evergreen, and not deciduous as in
the latter. The funereal Cypress (Cupressus sem-
pervirens) , chosen by the ancients for its sombre verdure,
and elegant close pyramidal form, was planted near
burial grounds and dwellings. Our White Cedar (C.
thuyoides) is also evergreen, and has a somewhat sim-

CLASS MONCECIA.

199

ilar appearance, having flattened green branchlets set
with imbricated, minute leaves, in 4 rows. It bears
small and nearly spherical, angular cones. It grows
in mossy swamps in such abundance often, as to give
its name to such morasses. The C. distichn, differs
from all the other known species in having deciduous
leaves, flat and thin, arranged in 2 rows or distichous : —
its sterile florets are disposed in leafless panicles ; and
the cones large and spherical. Its character is so
different from other species, that Mirbel forms of it a
peculiar genus, called Schubertia. It grows in deep
mossy swamps, from Sussex county in Delaware to
the coasts of the Gull of Mexico, and is one of the
largest of the American forest trees. It is much used
for shingles, and has a remarkable property of sending
up branches of its roots, sometimes several feet above
the surface, in a conic form, called Cypress Knees,
which are always destitute of leaves and branchlets.

The genus Ricinus, Pahna Christi, or Castor Oil
plant, now often cultivated in the United States for the
drug it affords, and not uncommon in our gardens, has
no corolla to the flower. That which produces the
stamens has a 5-parted calyx. The filaments are di-
vided into many subordinate branches, with numerous
anthers. The fertile flower has a 3- parted calyx ; 3
bifid styles, and a bristly, 3-celled capsule, containing
3, elastically coated, spotted, or marbled seeds, a kind
of fruit common to all the other Euphorbiace^:. Our
common species (R. communis) has large peltate,
palmated leaves, toothed on the margin, of a glaucous
hue beneath, and with glands on the petioles. This
plant, with us an annual, is in the West Indies a per-
manent shrub.

Of the Cucurbitaceje, or Cucumber tribe, is our
common scandent or climbing plant Sycios angulata,
or single seeded Cucumber, peculiar to the United

200 CLASS DICECIA.

States. — Its sterile floivers have a 5-toothed calyx ; a
5-parted corolla ; and 3 filaments. The fertile floivers
are similar, but have a 3-cleft style ; and the Pepoor
bristly pericarp is small, dry, and only 1-seeded. The
plant is an annual, trailing on bushes near the banks
of rivers, in light rich soils. It has cordate. 5-angled,
toothed, and scabrous leaves. The flowers are greenish
white, and the small fruit is green, clustered, and
hispid.

The Cucurbita, or Gourd, Pumpkin, and Squash,
is chiefly distinguished from the Cucumis, or Cucum-
ber and Melon, by having a tumid margin to its seeds ;
those of Cucumis having seed with an edge. They
have nearly all a yellow, 5-cleft, monopetalous, almost
funnel-shaped corolla ; and a calyx also divided into
5 segments; with 3 filaments ; a large berry-like fruit
called a Pepo, in the Gourd and Melon very large
and ribbed ; in the Cucumber rugged and warty.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

OF THE CLASS DICECIA.

There is no difference in this class from the pre-
ceding but the circumstance, that the perfect and im-
perfect flowers occupy different individual plants of
the same species, hence the appellation of Dhecia,
or of two habitations ; and the orders are also taken,
as in Mon(ecia, from the other classes.

In Diandria you will find the Willow (Salicc), whose
staminiferous flowers are in cylindric aments (often
produced before the leaves), the scales 1-flowered,
and mutually imbricated ; with a nectariferous gland
at the base of each. There is no calyx or corolla.
The stamina also vary from 1 to 5. The fertile flow-
ers are similar, but in place of stamens have 2 stigmas,

CLASS DlffiCIA. 201

mostly bifid, succeeded by a small, 1-celled, 2-valved,
many-seeded capsule. The seeds are minute, and
furnished with a coma or tuft of down. The willow
is the type of the natural order Salicinje, and scarce-
ly differs from the Poplar in any thing more than the
inferior number of stamina. They are among the
earliest flowering shrubs and trees of northern climates,
to which they are exclusively confined. Some of the
species are alpine, and form the smallest shrubs known.
Such is the S. herbacea of the Alps of Europe, which
grows also on the summit of the White mountains of
New Hampshire. It is a creeping shrub, scarcely
ever exceeding 2 inches in height, with smooth, round-
ish, veined leaves. One of the most elegant species,
remarkable for its pendulous branches, and narrow
leaves, is the oriental or Weeping Willow (Salix Baby-
lonica).

One of the most extraordinary plants known is the
Vallisneria, a submersed aquatic plant of the natural
order Hydrocharideje. It grows in large quantities
in the still water of most of the principal rivers near
the banks, from Delaware to the Mississippi, and pre-
sents partly submerged fields of narrow, linear, 3-nerv-
ed, grass-like, olive-green leaves, of a thin and semi-
transparent substance, as is usual in all herbage grow-
ing under water. From the bosom of some of these
arise staminiferous flowers, contained in an ovate, 2-
parted spathe. The inclosed spadix is covered with mi-
nute flowers, each consisting of a 3-parted calyx, with 2
stamens. These, when mature, from the depth at
which they are submerged, and the shortness of the
peduncle of the spathe, have no other means of attain-
ing the surface of the water, but by breaking connex-
ion with the parent. As soon as it arises to the surface,
the calyx instantly springs open, and the anthers burst,
by which impulse, and the accidents of the elemem

202 CLASS DIOECIA.

on which they are launched, they, in fact, migrate
accidentally to the vicinity of the fertile flower,
furnished with a long spiral peduncle, by which it
is enabled to attain the surface of the water even at a
a variable depth. The spathe of the latter is bifid,
and 1 -flowered ; the calyx 3-parted, and superior ;
the corolla of 3-petals ; the stigma ligulate and bifid ;
the capsule valveless, 1 -celled ; and the seeds nume-
rous, attached to its sides.

In Tetrandria will be found the Wax Myrtle, Bay-
berry, and Gale (Myrica), which have ovate-oblong
aments, with lunulate (or crescent-shaped) scales.
The infertile flowers have 4 to 6 stamens ; and 4-valv-
ed anthers. In the fertile flower there is a single
germ, 2 stigmas, succeeded by a 1-celled, 1-seeded
drupe. Of the species, the most remarkable is the
Wax Myrtle {M. cerifera) having wedge-shaped, lan-
ceolate leaves, with a few serratures towards the ex-
tremity. This species, with the surface of the
leaves scattered with aromatic glands, is a rather
low and spreading shrub, abundant on the sandy
beaches and hills near the ocean ; and in the autumn
covered with sessile, crowded, small berries, covered
with a roughish coating of whitish green wax, often
separated and collected by boiling, for the purpose of
making lights or candles. This genus belongs to the
family of the Salicin^;.

The Viseum, or Misseltoe, of the natural family of
the LoR_4NTHEiE, is quite remarkable for its uniform
parasitic situation, naturally engrafting itself into the
bark and sap-wood of youngish or smooth barked trees,
where it forms an evergreen small bush, with opposite
or forked, green, and brittle branches. The calyx
consists of an entire, or but little prominent margin.
The petals 4, short and united at the base. — In the
staminiferous flower there are 4 sessile anthers adnata

CLASS DKECTA. 203

with the petals. In the fertile flowers, a germ
crowned with the margin of the calyx ; I stigma, and
a globose, 1-seeded berry. The only species indige-
nous to the United States is the V. verticillatum, which
grows as far north as the lower part of the state of
Delaware. In this the branches are opposite, the
leaves are wedge-oval, 3-nerved and obtuse; the spikes
axillary and solitary ; the sterile flowers mostly trifid,
and the berries white, adhering, when mature, to the
trunks of trees and their branches by means of the vis-
cid pulp with which they are filled.

In Pentandria is arranged the Hop (Humulus) of
the natural family of the Nettles, or Uhtice^:. But
one species is known, a twining tall plant, growing oc-
casionally in alluvial soils, with opposite, 3 to 5-lobed,
rough leaves. — The staminiferous flowers have a 5-
leaved calyx. The anthers have two pores at their
extremity. There is no corolla. The fertile flowers col-
lected into aments, have a 1 -leaved, large, persistent,
concave, entire calyx ; no corolla ; 2 styles ; and 1
seed. At the base of the calyx there is produced a
coating of diaphanous yellow glands, soluble in warm
water, and to which the Hop owes all its bitterness.
This extractive matter has been termed Lupuline.

The Hemp (Cannabis), also of the natural family
URTicEiE, has a 5-parted calyx in the staminiferous
flowers, and no corolla. The calyx of the fertile flow-
er is 1 -leaved, entire, and bursting on the side. In
this there are 2 styles ; and the seed is a bivalvular
nut within the closed calyx. There is only a single
species of the genus known ; occasionally cultivated
in the Uuited States. It is a curious fact, in the his-
tory of the sexual system of Linnaeus, that pistilliferous
plants of the hemp have been known to produce fer-
tile seeds when cut off from all access to the stamin-
iferous individual.

204 CLASS DICEC1A.

In the order Hexandria is the genus Smilax, or
Green Briar, a group of climbing thorny shrubs, with
smooth, shining, thickish, entire, cordate or elliptic,
nerved leaves ; of the natural family of the Aspara-
GEiE. — The staminiferous flowers have a 6-leaved ca-
lyx ; no corolla ; the anthers adnate to the filaments.
The fertile flowers have a minute style, and 3 stigmas ;
the berry is superior, 3-celled ; 1,2, or 3-seeded.
The most remarkable species is the &. herbacea, dy-
ing down to the ground annually ; with heart-shaped
leaves, above verticillated ; sending out long axillary
peduncles, with umbels of greenish flowers, smelling
like the most foetid carrion or Stapelia flowers. The
root of a particular species of this genus is the Sarsa-
parilla of medicine.

The Gleditscia, or Honey locust, is a genus of spiny
trees, of the natural family of the Leguminosje, and
peculiar to China and North America. They have
bipinuated leaves, consisting of many small and partly
elliptic leaflets. The flowers are small, greenish, and
inconspicuous, disposed in axillary aments. — The per-
fect ones have a 6 to 8 parted, deciduous, equal calyx,
of which, 3 or 4 of the exterior segments are smaller ;
and there is no corolla ; the stamina 5 to 6, rarely 8.
The legume is flatly compressed, containing only one,
or many seeds (often imbedded in a sweetish eatable
pulp, and hence the common name). In the sterile
flower the calyx is partly turbinate (or top-shaped), 5
to 8-parted, with 3 to 5 of the segments interior. The
stamina G to 8. Our commonly cultivated species,
indigenous to most of the western states, is the G.
tnacanthos, translated 3 thorned Acacia, from the
spines often occurring trifid. On the trunk, however,
in youngish trees, the spines, in reality abortive branch-
lets, are large and ramified, but occasionally plants
occur without any armature. In the southern states

•'LASS DKEC1A. 205

there is a lower growing species, with a 1-seeded,
elliptic legume (G. monospcrma). In the vicinity of
the Rocky mountains, towards the sources of the river
Platte, Major Long's exploring party collected speci-
mens of a very dwarf species, with entire, linear-ob-
long leaflets. The G. brachyloba of the Mississippi
is almost intermediate with G. monosperma, and the
common species, having shorter pods than the latter,
disposed commonly in clusters. This genus, and
Gymnocladas, which we shall presently describe, pre-
sents us with a remarkable anomaly in the regular
structure, and deficient number of parts in the flower,
compared with the more perfect Leguminosje. The
calyx, with its 3 or 4 internal or petaloid divisions,
sums up only 6 to 8 parts, in place of 10, and these
without any of the irregular or papilionaceous charac-
ter. The stamina are equally deficient in number,
varying from 5, G to 8, in place of 10. We may thus
perceive the small importance of the mere number of
parts, and their declension of form from regularity, as
all these structures unite here in the same very natur-
al family.

In the order Triandria (formerly in the complex
class and order Polygamia tricecia) you will find the
genus Ficus, or Fig, of the natural family of the Ur-
ticf.je, or Nettles, extremely remarkable for containing,
as it appears, the flowers within the fruit. This fruit is
then, botanically considered, only a juicy, connivent, or
ventricose receptacle, within which are concealed the
flowers and seeds of extreme minuteness, but obvious
enough through a moderate microscope Within the
top-shaped, converging, and fleshy receptacle, the Fig,
whose orifice is closed by scales, you will find a multi-
tude of little flowers of different kinds, complete and
incomplete, sometimes in the same fruit, and sometimes
on different plants. — The starmniferous floivers have
IS

206 CLASS DICECIA.

a 3-parted calyx, and 3 stamens. — The pistiliferous
flowers have a 5-parted calyx, one style, and one
roundish compressed seed ; in neither of these flowers
is there any corolla. Though there are many species
of the genus, scarcely any but the common kind and its
varieties are eatable.

In the order Octandria you will find the genus of
the Poplar (Populus), differing but little from the Wil-
low, except in habit, and referred to the same natural
family. The aments are cylindrical, with the scales
lacerated. — The sterile flowers have from 8 to 30
stamina, seated on a turbinate, oblique, entire calyx. —
The fertile flowers have also a turbinate calyx ; 4 stig-
mas ; a superior capsule of 1 cell, and 2 valves,
with many small seeds ; the seeds surrounded with long
hairs. Nearly all the species are trees, with the flow-
ers preceding the foliage. The leaves are, generally,
either broadly cordate, or triangular. The petiole in
several is compressed vertically towards its extremity,
so as to communicate a remarkable vibratory or trem-
bling motion to the leaves, for which the Aspen is well
distinguished.

The Diospyros, or Persimmon tree, placed here
in the present method, belongs to the rare natural
order of the Ebenace;e. Most of the species
are tropical. Our D. virginiana is a very leafy,
deep green, rather small tree, filled with yellow, eata-
ble and sweet, astringent, plumb-like fruit, only matur-
ed by exposure to the autumnal frosts. This tree is
indigenous to the United States, from the state of New
York to Florida. — The character of the genus is, to
have a 4 to 6-cleft calyx ; an urceolate monopetalous
(yellowish) corolla, with a 4 to 6-cleft border. The
sterile floioers have 8 to 16 stamens; each filament
often producing 2 anthers. — In the fertile flowers there
are 4 to 5 stigmas, succeeded by a berry, with 8 to
12, large, elliptic seeds.

CLASS DICECIA. 207

In the order Enneandria will be found a curious,
but inconspicuous flowered plant, which I have called
Eudora. It is the Elodea of Michaux, but not the
same plant of the same name, of former botanists, which
is related to Hypericum. It is distinctly allied to Val-
lisneria, and belongs equally to the natural family of
the Hydrocharideje. There is but one species
hitherto known in the United States. Richard speaks
of a second in Cayenne, in tropical America. Our
plant is a submerged aquatic, somewhat resembling a
moss, of a dirty olive green color, growing on the mud-
dy margins of ponds and still streams, from Canada to
Florida, if not further south. The roots are peren-
nial, the branches diffusely forked or dichotomous,
thickly set with linear, or oblong, small leaves, finely
and minutely serrulate on the margin, and growing
verticillated by 3 or 4 at a joint ; from the axils of
these arise, about midsummer, the 2 kinds of flowers,
each at first, protected in a bifid spathe. — In the ste-
rile flower (often produced at the extremity of a very
long, flaccid, slender peduncle) there is a corolla of
3 petals, and 9 stamens disposed in 2 ranges, 3 of
them being interior, or, as it were, in the relative place
of the pistillum. From the slenderness of the pedun-
cle, which is also frequently abortive, the flowers tnay
often be seen floating at large and separated from the
parent plant, like the floscules of the Vallimeria.
The instant they attain the surface, they burst open
with elasticity, as well as the cells of their anthers.
The pollen is large and granular, the particles sphe-
roidal, and adhering together by 3's or4's. — The fer-
tile flower has a 3-parted calyx, and its tube identic
with the very long apparent peduncle. The petals are 3.
There are also 3 sterile filaments. The pericarp is an
utriculus, or unopening integument, including about 3,
rather large mature seeds, the form of which is cylindric.

208 CLASS DKECIA.

In the order Decandria is the Gymnocladus or
Coffee-Bean tree, another anomalous flowered plant
of the LEGUMiNosiE. The name of this genus, giv-
en by Lamarck, alludes to the naked or stump like
appearance of the branches of this fine tree, common
in the western states, south of Ohio and on the great
alluvial forests of the Mississippi. The leaves are
very large, and compounded 2 or 3 times of broadish
elliptic leaflets. The flowers, not very conspicuous,
are disposed in short terminal racemes, having a tubu-
lar 5-cleft calyx; and 5-petalled corolla. — In the sterile
flower there are 10 stamens. — In the fertile 1 style,
succeeded by a 1 -celled legume, containing a pulpy
matter. The seeds are round, lenticular, large and
hard, and when roasted not unpleasant to eat. The
pulp of the pod is strongly cathartic. This genus af-
fords us another example of a leguminous plant with
a regular corolla and uncombined stamens.

To the order Monadelphia, of the present class, is
referred the Yew and Juniper. The appearance of the
latter evergreen is too familiar to require description. —
The sterile flowers are in ovate aments, with the scales
verticillate and peltate. The anthers are 4 to 8 and
1 -celled. — In the fertile flowers the aments are glo-
bose, the scales 3, growing together ; the stigma gaping;
the berry containing 3 bony or hard seeds, surround-
ed with the united and fleshy scales of the anient
which forms the berry. Our Red Cedar is a Juniper,
bearing much smaller fruit than the common kind.
Of the J. communis, New England affords a peculiar
variety, or rather a distinct species, called J. commu-
nis, /?. depressa, remarkable for its spreading prostrate
sterns and branches, which rise only at the extremities.

The Yew (Taxus), belonging also to the natural
family of the Coniferje, has no proper perianth, the
flowers only surrounded with imbricated scales. — In

CLASS CRVPTOGAMIA.

20 ( J

the sterile flower there nre 8 to 10 stamens with pel-
tate anthers. — In the fertile no style. A concave stig-
ma, succeeded by a fleshy drupe, like a cup, open at
the extremity ; the nut is 1 -seeded. Of the genus,
our northern dark Fir-woods afford a single native
species (T. canadensis) only 2 or 3 feet high, running
at the root, so as to grow in quantities together. Like
the other species, it is an evergreen with linear, dis-
tichous leaves, revolute on the margin, and bearing,
like the Yew-Tree of Europe, red cup-shaped, sweet-
ish berries. The leaves are said to be poisonous.

CHAPTER XXIX.

OF THE CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA.

This class presents a grand exception to all the
preceding in the Linnaean system, for here neither
stamens, pistils, nor proper seeds, are any longer re-
cognizable. A different, though obscure, economy
prevails, and hence the name of the class, already ex-
plained. The plants of Cryptogamia form, indeed, a
separate grand division of the vegetable kingdom, pre-
senting several natural, but very distinct, orders. The
first is that of

The Ferns (Fxlices).

These are conspicuous and well known plants,
found in all climates and countries, from the arctic circle
to the tropics. Some of the species in warm climates
attain the magnitude of trees ; their leaves are called
fronds, and are of one continued substance with the
branch, often beautifully and very intricately divided
and subdivided in the manner of a compound plume.
15*

210 CLASS CRYPTOGAM! A.

Their composition presents a fine lace-like net-work,
or labyrinth of veins or vessels. The fructification, with-
out any proper visible flowers, is seen commonly to
occupy the under surface of the frond, in the form of
round or oblong dots, or marginal lines, turning brown
on attaining maturity. These mere dust-like spots
and lines, when examined through a good micros-
cope, are found to consist of dense clusters (botanical-
ly termed sori), of minute, flattish, circular capsules,
at first entire, but afterwards bursting elastically and
irregularly through the contractions of the jointed ring
by which each o! them is respectively surrounded.
They contained seed or spone, as it is called, differing
from ordinary seed, is like an impalpable powder, as
light commonly as the air, and wafted abroad to any
height or distance, so that it is not surprising to per-
ceive Ferns growing high on the trunks of trees, or
on the summits of lofty and ruined buildings. That
they are not more common, may be accounted for, in
the absence of tbe great degree of requisite moisture
and shade necessary to their germination and growth.

The Ferns present two very distinct divisions of
kindred genera : namely, those which produce their
sori on the under side of the fronds, and have cap-
sules surrounded with the articulated ring ; and oth-
ers, such as the Osmunda, which have rather conspic-
uous, bivalvular capsules, like two cups edge to edge,
without the jointed ring, and collected together, either
on a separate independent frond, or on distinct parts
ef one.

The common Polypody (Polypodium vidga re) often
green throughout the winter, and growing on the shelv-
ings of moist shady rocks, will afford a familiar example,
of the true or dorsiferous Ferns ; that is, such as have
die fruit on the under side of the frond, and furnished
with the jointed ring. In this genus, the sori (or

CLASS CRYPT.0GAMIA. Jll

small clusters of capsules) are nearly round, and scat-
tered without any regard to order ; they are, likewise,
without the protecting scale or involucrum so distinct in
Aspidium, or the Shield Fern, whose sori are
likewise roundish or elliptical and scattered, but, at
first, defended by an umbilicate or centrically attach-
ed common scale or involucrum, which either opens
all round, or only partially, and then appears reni-
form or kidney-shaped. Of the genus Aspidium there
are 13 or 14 species in the United States, some of
them common to Europe, and they are generally the
most frequent Ferns we meet with.

The most common Brake, however, both in Europe
and North America, is the species of Pteris called P.
aquilina, bearing a large solitary branching frond, and
having, according to the genus, the sori forming a
continued marginal line, and with the scaly involucum
simply formed of the inflected margin of the frond,
and opening inwards.

In Adiantum (Maiden hair) the sori are likewise
marginal, but somewhat oblong, and not continuous,
merely terminating the edge of each distinct lobe ; the
involucrum is similar and likewise opens inwards.

Capsules destitute of the ring.

In this section you will find the Osmunda, or Flow-
ering Fern (O. regalis), a large and very elegant spe-
cies, common in most of our dark swamps, with twice
pinnated fronds, terminating in panicles or branches
entirely devoted to the production of the conspicuous
capsules, which are globular, pedicellated, striate, and
only half way divided into 2 valves. There is no in-
volucrum. Another very common species, in similar
situations with the preceding, is the O. interrupta (In-
terrupted flowered Osmunda). This species grows in

212 CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA.

clusters, and flowers early in the spring, before the
complete developement of the fronds, which are
smooth and simply pinnated, with the divisions pinnat-
ifid, the segments oblong and destitute of serratures;
the fruit-bearing divisions blended with those which
are infertile.

The most elegant and curious Fern in the United
States, but everywhere uncommon, is the Lygodiuni
palladium-, with a long slender twining stem, and con-
jugate or opposite fronds, which are palmated with 5
entire lobes. The summit becomes a fruit-bearing
panicle. — The capsules are arranged in 2 series on
the back of appendages to the frond, and are radiately
striated, lined, or wrinkled, opening on the inner side
frome the base to the summit. There is here a scale-
like involucrum covering each capsule. This singular
and beautiful plant is met with from the neighborhood
of Amherst in Massachusetts to the islands of the West
Indies.

The Club-moss (Lycopodium) presents distinctions
sufficient to entitle it to form the type of an order
(LycoPODiNEiE) apart from the true Ferns. We have
12 or more species, several of them not uncommon
in moist woods, beneath the shade of evergreens.
They send out creeping stems, at intervals giving off
low erect branches, clothed with evergreen, leaf-like,
minute, or moss-like fronds. The fructification com-
monly occupies a separate scaly peduncle, ending in
1, 2, or 3 club-shaped spikes. These capsules, ax-
illary, and sessile in the bosom of so many bractes
or scales, are 1 -celled ; some of them 2-valved,
and filled with a farinaceous substance ; others are
3-valved, containing from 1 to 6 globose bodies.
The pollen-like powder, or sporce, at certain seasons,
is so abundant as to appear like a shower of sulphur,
and is highly inflammable.

CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA. 213

The Shave-Rush (Equisctum), common in moist
meadows, is also the type of a distinct order (Equi-
setaceje). Their stems are leafless, striated cylin-
ders, either undivided or verticillately branched, the
joints surrounded with toothed sheathes. The vernal
or flowering stems, for the most part quickly perish,
but are succeeded by others which are barren and du-
rable. — The fructification occurs in terminal spikes
made up of peltate many-cornered scales, on the un-
der side of which are from 5 to 7 sac-like involucra,
opening lengthwise on the inner side. The sporct
included in the involucrum are numerous, green and
globular, with 4 filaments at the base of each, which
are dilated at the extremity.

The Mosses (Musci).

These are a very peculiar tribe of diminutive plants,
of an olivaceous or dark green color, presenting com-
monly large clusters of low forked branches arising
from creeping roots, and clothed with minute or mi-
croscopic leaves, often closely imbricated or crowded
in regular rows. From these arise, generally, capillary
peduncles terminated by oblong or cylindric capsules,
not preceded by flowers, having the summit at first,
protected by a deciduous veil or calyptre in the form
of an extinguisher or long cone. After the fall of the
calyptre, the summit of the capsule becomes visible ;
it is sometimes closed by a lid, but the margin or pe-
ristome is almost universally edged with a beautiful
symmetrical fringe of hairs or processes, differing in
number and form, according to the genus, and ar-
ranged either in a single or double series. These
hairs are by 4's, or multiples of that simple number,
as 4 in the Andrew and Tetraphis, in others 8, 1 6, 32,
or 64. One of our most common kinds is the Hair-

214 CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA.

moss, or Polytrichum commune, which in the northern
climates of Europe becomes long enough for brooms ;
with us it is always much shorter. In this genus the
capsule is covered by a hair-like brown calyptre ; be-
neath, the capsule presents a lid or operculum, and
finally appears a double peristome or fringe, the outer-
most consisting of 16, 32, or 64 short, flat, inflected
teeth ; the interior membranaceous and flat.

One of our most common genera is the Hypnum, a
large creeping kind of Mosses common on the ground.
The capsules come out laterally from a cluster of
scales. The peristome is double ; the outer of 16
teeth dilated below ; the inner membranaceous, va-
riously toothed and torn, but commonly in 16 proces-
ses, with smaller capillary ones interposed. The ca-
lyptre is smooth.

These characters are entirely microscopical, as,
indeed, are also the specific distinctions, and the in-
strument employed must have a considerable power to
bring them into view.

Sea-weeds (Alce), Liverworts, and Lichens.

This order of Linnaeus has been divided into the 3
above mentioned. The Sea-weeds, or proper Alg;e,
have leather-like, olivaceous fronds, with the sporse
inclosed in bubble-like, or inflated portions of the
frond. The Liverworts (Hepatic^e), containing but
few genera, are allied on one hand to the Lichens, and
on the other by Jungermannia, apparently, to the
Mosses, though somewhat obscurely. The Lichenes,
formerly the genus Lichen, includes a large group of
very natural and closely allied genera of various as-
pects. Some of them resemble foliaceous and leathery
expansions or fronds, which cling to stones or to the
bark of trees. These occasionally present roundish, wart,

CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA. 215

or shield-like bodies, of a darker or different color
from the frond on which they grow, and contain the
sporae. Many of these foliaceous Lichens give
off an abundance of viviparous progeny in the bran-like
scales with which they may often be seen covered ;
these scab s, like the shoots and buds of phenogamous
plants, are so many living germs of independent ex-
istence. Other Lichens appear intricately ramified
like trees in miniature. Such are the Rein-deer Moss
(L. rangiferinus of Linnaeus), whose fruit appears in
the form of brown tubercles. Another species of this
subgenus (Bceomyces cocciferus) presents warts of a
brilliant scarlet. This species is not uncommon on de-
cayed wooden fences in moist situations. Some of
these plants are employed in dying, and the Iceland
moss ( Cetraria Islandica) is used in medicine.

Fungi, or Mushroom tribe.

These plants have an appearance altogether differ-
ent from the rest of the vegetable kingdom. They all
agree in being destitute of verdure, often of very quick
growth, and short duration. They form various gen-
era, extremely simple in their structure, with very ob-
scure fructification, and many of them growing in dark
or even subterraneous situations. The Mushroom
genus (Agarkvs) contains the common eatable spe-
cies (A. canipes(ris), distinguished by the following-
characters ; it bears a convex, scaly, white cap or
head, supported on a stipe or stalk ; the whole at
first covered by a valve or wrapper which bursts by
the sudden growth of the stipe. In the Mushroom the
gills, or hymaneum, is almost of a flesh-colored red,
turning dark by exposure to the air, and at length
nearly black. If the Mushroom be left for a time on
a plate of glass, a powder will be found deposited of a

216 CLASS CRYPTOGAMfA.

whitish color, which is the sporae or organic germs.
That these are capable of germination, like the prolific
sporae of the Ferns, is evident to those cultivators who
now form artificial Mushroom beds by strewing the
decayed plants on prepared banks of manure.

The genus Boletus which affords the spunk or
Touch-wood, resembles the Mushroom generally, but
has the under side of the pileus or cap pierced by nu-
merous pores in place of gills.

In the genus Phallus is found the esculent Morel,
which has an ovate, cellular pileus, with the stipe nak-
ed and wrinkled. This species is not uncommon in
the shady forests of Pennsylvania, and on the banks of
the Mississippi and Missouri.

The Truffle or Esculent Puff-ball (Licoperdon Tu-
ber) of Europe, is a solid, globular, externally rough
fungus, filled with farinaceous sporae, is without root,
and grows wholly under ground. The common Puff-
ball is known to every one.

The Tuber cibarium, said to have been also found
in the United States, is collected for food in Europe
and Asia. It grows above the earth, is globose, solid,
destitute of root, and at length becomes black and
warty. In this genus, among the most simple of all
organized bodies, the substance of the fungus is mere-
ly variegated with sporiferous veins.

The subterraneous Tuber, however, of the southern
states, esteemed as an article of food, is probably
the Sclerotium Cocos of Schwartz and Schweinitz.
It is as large as a human head, exactly of the form of
a Cocoa-nut, and is covered by a ligneous, fibrously
scaly, hard, brown bark ; internally filled with a some-
what fleshy, cork-like matter, when in perfection ap-
proaching to a flesh-color. It is scarcely acted upon
by any reagent, and remains unaltered for months,
when macerated in water, having no fermentible sub-

CLASS CRYPTOGAMIA. 217

Stance. In this genus the form varies somewhat ; it is
internally solid or rilled up, and of a similar and smooth
substance within ; but in some species it becomes
wrinkled externally. Nothing, really organic can be
of a more simple structure than the subjects of this
genus, and particularly the present gigantic species.
Yet still, these almost amorphous masses are subject
to life and death, experience growth, and give origin,
as parents to a renewed progeny. No real affinity
then subsists, even here, with the mineral or inanimate
kingdom, whose respective particles have no limited
tie of existence, and remain unalterable and inert,
being alone subject to the laws of chemical relation.

19

PART II.

PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS.

CHAPTER I.

REMARKS ON THE GENERAE CHARACTER OF PLANTS.

Besides the consideration of plants as mere objects
of a system and holding a relation to each other, they
deserve a higher regard as forming an eminent part
of living and organized nature. Like animals, they
are subjects of life and death, and only differ essen-
tially from that higher order of beings in the want of
evident sensibility, for the few apparent and equivocal
exceptions to this universal rule, in the plants termed
sensitive, do not militate against its general application.
Nothing like nerves or a nervous sensorium are to be
found in the vegetable kingdom, and, consequently, no
display of that motion, energy, or irritability which be-
longs to the government of the different senses. The
propulsion of the sap, derived alone from a fluid pa-
pulum, and its elaboration in the vegetable tissue, in-
to which it immediately enters, appears at once the
simple source and cause, of all that inappreciable mo-
tion in this tribe of beings, which we term growth or
developement.

The display of vegetable vitality, is, in many in-
stances, periodical. In those plants, which we indefi-
nitely term annuals, the whole period of existence ter-

220 GENERAL CHARACTER OP PLANTS.

minates in a few months, and from the seed alone, is
then to be obtained a new generation of the species.
But in our perennial plants, trees, and shrubs, which
often die to the ground, or cast off their leaves at the
approach of winter, though the motion of the sap is ar-
rested by the influence of the cold, and the generation
of the year perishes ; yet, besides the seed, nature
has here provided an ample source of regeneration in
the innumerable buds, formed and ingrafted in the al-
burnum or sap-wood of the root or stem ; by this
means, at an early season of the year, an invariable
supply of vegetable beings are as plentifully produced
as required by nature. The buds of each tree or
plant, containing within themselves, individually, all
the rudiments of so many distinct vegetables, may be
transferred by ingraftment or growth in the earth, and
thus form as many distinct individuals, each again
subject ad infinitum to produce an additional ingrafted
progeny of buds and branches. The numerous
buds of each tree, nourished through the common
medium of the trunk and branches, perish after
developement and maturity, and are succeeded anew
by another generation of ingrafting or protruding
buds, for which they have provided by the deposition
of the alburnum. The growth of every tree, as well
as herb, is then strictly annual, and the trunk is pro-
duced by a curious junction of dead and living matter.
The rings of wood, which may be counted in the
transverse section of a tree, not merely indicates its
age, but the number of distinct generations of sponta-
neously ingrafted individuals which it has sustained.
In the animal kingdom, among the order Moluscae,
examples of this kind of aggregation are not uncom-
mon, where many animals are inseparately connected,
and nourished through a common medium. This
agamous race of plants are always similar to the pa-

GENERAL CHARACTER OF PLANTS. 221

rent from whence they have originated, as we all
know by the process of budding and ingrafting ; to
say that these buds or grafts partake of the age and
accidents of the trunk on which they were evolved,
is improbable, if not impossible, as they can, in
fact, be influenced only by the stock to which they
are last transferred.

But the most obvious display of vitality in the veg-
etable kingdom is the generation of a new race from
sexual intercourse, consequent on which the seed is
produced ; in fact, an ovum like that of the birds and
insects, containing a punctum saliens awaking to life
on the congenial addition of the requisite heat and
moisture. This progeny of the flowers, though spe-
cifically similar with the parent, is yet often subject
to considerable variation, as in the races of the animal
kingdom.

The infant plant is, for a while nourished with a
ready formed supply of nutriment contained in the
mass of the seed, or in the infant leaves (cotyfedones),
which it first produces. The vortex of vitality, influ-
enced more or less by external causes, is now destin-
ed to continue its operation as long as the plant hap-
pens to live ; (for the death in the vegetable kingdom
which we see take place in a tree or shrub, is ever
the effect of accident, as we have already remarked,
that no race of vegetable beings continue to live for
more than a year).

Plants, like animals, consist of fluids and solids.
The sap, almost similar to the veinous blood in
its functions, is commonly imbibed from the bosom
of the earth by means of the fibres of the root.
When it first enters its composition is very sim-
ple ; it is propelled upwards by a system of tubes or
vessels, but is not prepared or elaborated by any
thing like a stomach, as in animals, the fibres of the
19*

222 GENERAL CHARACTER OF PLANTS.

root perform this selective office, but so involuntarily,
that poisons to the vegetable structure, if present, are
almost as readily absorbed as matters of nourishment.
The sap, at length, conveyed into the leaves and green
twigs is there exposed to the action of the light and the
air, admitted by cortical pores, as in the lungs or gills of
animals; and herein its descending course, it becomes
prepared to supply all the solids and other peculiar
products which characterize each particular species
of vegetable.

The constitutions of plants are more variable than
those of animals, so that they are fitted, in great va-
riety, to occupy the whole surface of the earth. The
arctic regions have their particular tribes of plants, as
well as the luxurious region of the tropics, where frost
is unknown. At one extremity of the earth, or on the
snowy summits of the loftiest mountains, vegetation
only actively lives about two months in the year ; in this
short period the dwarf productions of this region of
ice, flower and perfect their seed, or prepare a new
generation of buds, and then again fall into a state of
dormancy, and commonly remain buried beneath their
congenial snows. Within the tropics, a region which
may truly be termed the paradise of plants, the utmost
variety prevails. Within the compass of a few leagues
thousands of species may be enumerated ; while the
whole Flora of Spitzbergen contains only about 30
species, and all of them dwarf herbs. In the tropics,
trees and shrubs are almost as numerous in species as
herbs. The trees attain the most gigantic magnitude,
and the forests, filled with evergreens, are nearly im-
pervious to the rays of the vertical sun ; here the vege-
tables continue throughout the year in a state of active
growth ; dormancy in many of these plants would be in-
stant death ; the stream of vitality continues without in-
terruption, and cold, before it attains the freezing tern-

GENERAL CHARACTER OF PLANTS. 223

perature, is capable of destroying the tender vegetables
of this favored region. These plants, however, by their
inherent and constitutional temperament are enabled
to resist, like animals, the destructive and drying ef-
fects of the great heats to which they are exposed.
So, also, the trees and shrubs of cold climates retain
the necessary moisture of their vitality at temperatures,
when all other liquids freeze.

The presence of organic life, inherited from pre-
ceding individuals or parents of the same species, and
only continued for a very limited period, under the
conditions of a vital movement of certain assimilating
fluids, like the circulation of the blood of animals, is a
character common to all vegetables. They have, also,
an inherent constitution varying with the climates and
the soils they occupy. They are stimulated passively
by light, heat, and the ingredients of the soil. Their
abundance appears to be infinite ; and created princi-
pally for the subsistence of animals, their destruction
as well as growth, is interminable. But, though living,
they are formed without sensibility, and without senti-
ment ; they have neither nerves nor senses, wants nor
pains, that are capable of any perceptible expression.
In the absence of nutriment they perish, with it they
thrive ; but show no more appearance of attachment to
existence, nor resistence to that which causes its des-
truction, than the crystal of salt does to the contigu-
ous agent which effects its solution or decomposition.

224 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL COMPONENTS OF THE VEGETABLE STRUC-
TURE.

Vegetables, like animals, are composed of fluids
and solids. The fluid parts produce those which are
solid ; and the only pabulum of plants being liquid, it
is necessary that there should be an organic vascular
system for its distribution, and that it should, no less,
possses the vital power of assimilation, in order to
supply the growth which takes place, and to diversify
the products which characterize every species of per-
fected plant.

The general solid components of the vegetable sys-
tem are ; the membranous, the cellular, the vascular,
and the glandular textures ; the ligneous fibre, and
the epidermis.

The general fluids are the saj) and the proper juice.

I. Of the Solid Components*

The first which we shall examine is the membra-
nous texture, consisting of an exquisitely thin trans-
parent, colorless, film-like membrane or pellicle, found
in every individual of the vegetable kingdom. The
nicest microscopical examinations are unable to throw
any light on its intimate structure, so that no appear-
ances of organization have yet been detected in it.
It is that component of the vegetable structure, which
constitutes its basis ; or which in it lax state forms the
cellular and the glandular textures and the epidermis ;
a little condensed it constitutes the vascular texture,
and perhaps still more consolidated forms the ligneous

* For the plates illustrative of this part of the subject, see the
end of the volume.

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 225

fibre ; so that it enters into the whole of the solid ma-
terials of the vegetable.

The Cellular texture is formed from the membra-
nous. It presents, in the parts of a plant where it is
not compressed, the appearance of hexagonal cells,
resembling those of a honeycomb. Mirbel discovered
that they are similar to the geometrical cells of a honey-
comb, although sometimes of a longitudinal figure,
and that the divisions of the membrane which forms
them are common to contiguous cells ; that they com-
municate with each other by means of pores and slits,
about the 300th part of a line in diameter ; and that
through those perforations, the vegetable juices they
contain are slowly transfused. He asserts, also, that
these pores are surrounded with borders ; and that
the perforations are few and scattered in the true hex-
agonal cells ; but numerous and arranged transverse-
ly in regular series in the longitudinal openings. The
membrane itself is so thin, that when examined through
a microscope, with the light thrown obliquely upon it
it appears iridescent ; but, its organization is too mi-
nute to be determined by any magnifying power with
which we are acquainted. When separated and put
into water it very quickly resolves into a kind of muci-
lage, but in the living state resists the action of water
with which it is often filled.

The cellular texture, in one form or other enters
into the composition of almost every vegetable organ.
It is dry in some parts, but in other situations it re-
ceives and slowly transmits fluids ; and in it, princi-
pally, the various secretions of the plant are deposited.
Thiis, it Is generally tilled with mucilaginous, resinous,
oily, or saccharine juices ; but sometimes the cells con-
tain air only. In the bark of plants the cellular tex-
ture is found immediately under the cuticle, filled with
a resinous juice, which is of a different color in differ-

226 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

ent species of plants, but most frequently green. In
this situation it is the seat of the color of the bark, in
the same manner as the rete mucosum, or reticulated
capillary membrane situated under the human cuticle,
is supposed to give the color to the skin. The cells
are filled with the same green juice in leaves, which
are composed of a layer of cellular substance placed
betwixt two layers of cuticle. The medulla or pith
of plants is, also, composed of these cells, filled in
young and succulent plants and branches with water,
or wat uy fluids ; but in older plants, and in the trunks
and branches of trees, not succulent, they are gener-
ally empty. In the latter the shape and structure of
the cells are most conspicuous, and easily observed.
Thus, if a transverse, or longitudinal section of a twig
of Spanish Broom, in the second year of the growth
of the twig, be placed under the microscope, or even
a common lens, the pith of it displays in the most
beautiful manner the hexagonal cells, the transparent
iridescent appearance of the membrane forming their
walls, and the situation of the communicating pores.
It is well seen also by the aid of the microscope in
the pith of many other plants. The petals of flowers
are almost entirely composed of cellular texture, the
cells of which are filled with juices fitted to refract and
reflect the rays of light, so as to produce the brilliant
and delicate tints with which the pencil of nature has
embellished these parts. In the same manner it en-
ters into the composition of the stamens, the stigma,
and even the pollen or fecundating farina of the flower.
The fleshy parts also of succulent roots, and of pulpy
fruits, are formed of this cellular texture filled with
different juices according to the nature of the roots
and the fruit.

When the cellular texture is compressed, the cells
are found forming nearly parallelograms, as in the

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 22?

leaf-stalk of the Artichoke, in which they have a some-
what tubular appearance; and by the stretching; of
the membrane, the pores, which in the hexagonal
cells are arranged without any order, are now very
regularly disposed. The cells are proportionally
more abundant in herbaceous plants than in trees ; and
in the younger than in the older branches.

Such is the nature and appearance of the cellular
texture. There is every reason for believing that it
enters as a component into almost every part of the
vegetable structure ; and anatomy confirms the opin-
ion as far as we have the means of ascertaining the
fact. There are indeed some plants, as the Fuci and
other marine vegetables which appear to be altogeth-
er composed of cellular texture.

The Vascular texture is the next of the solids enu-
merated. It consists of hollow tubes of different
forms and structure, which are capable, like the ves-
sels of the animal frame, of conveying fluids. When
a succulent stem is cut transversely fluids are seen
issuing from different points ; and, if the peculiar juices
of the plant be of a milky or colored nature, as in the
Fig tree, or in any of the species of the genus Eu-
phorbia, they are still more clearly perceived to issue
from different points ; for instance, the watery or col-
orless from one set, and the milky or the colored from
anodier. This circumstance leads us to conclude
that the sap, or watery fluid imbibed from the soil, is
carried in one set of vessels, and that the proper juices
formed from the sap by the vital powers of the plant,
are conveyed in another ; or, that there are conducting
and returning vessels, a fact which has been proved
by experiment.

The minuteness of these vessels requires the aid of
the microscope for their examination ; and even by
its assistance as they are not easily seen, owing to

228 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

their coats being in many cases transparent, and the
fluids contained in them colorless, we are obliged, in
order to render them more evident, to have recourse
to colored fluids, which are readily observed when the
cut ends of twigs or branches are immersed in them ;
and the course of the vessels through the branch is
thus marked by the color. The most eligible fluids
for this purpose are decoctions of Brazil wood, and
infusions of the skins of black grapes ; the plants like-
ly to yield the most satisfactory results to the beginner,
are the Periploca gntca, the Aristolochia Sipho, or
Dutchman's Pipe, and the young shoots of the Poke
(Phytolacca decandra). The plant or twig to be thus
injected should be cut with a very sharp knife, and
its divided end immediately placed in the colored in-
fusion in a warm temperature : after a few hours the
color, in plants favorable for the experiment, may be
traced into the leaves, the flowers, and even the fruit.
This discovers the course of the conducting or adducent
vessels ; and when the operation is reversed, the twig
being cut at its top, and inverted in the colored fluid,
we can trace that of the returning or abducent vessels.
By placing transverse and longitudinal sections of
twigs and parts of herbaceous plants thus treated un-
der the microscope, we are able to ascertain the or-
ganization of the coats of the vegetable vessels. Some
of the vessels, however, cannot be rendered more vis-
ible by this means, as they refuse to admit colored
fluids, and therefore any knowledge of their structure
can be obtained only by means of powerful micros-
copes.

The Vascular or tubular portion of the vegetable
structure composes a kind of net-work, owing to the
frequent communication or anastomosis of the vessels
with one another, which pervades almost every part of
the plant. The particular vessels vary both in form

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF TLANTS. 229

and in the diameter of their calibers. They are com-
posed of the membranous texture, are firm, compara-
tively thick, and somewhat pellucid. Mirbel describes
6 different kinds of vessels ; but the whole may be
arranged under the 3 following genera : viz. 1st. En-
tire vessels ; 2d. Perforated vessels •, 3d. Spiral ves-
sels.

1st- The Entire vessels are, as their names im-
port, simple tubes formed of imperforated membrane.
They are cylindrical ; and are generally in bundles,
regularly disposed in the cellular part of the bark.
They are found in the young shoots of almost every
kind of plant ; and in the fasciculated state may be
readily detected, and examined by the aid of mag-
nifying glasses, in the leaf-stalk of the common Fern,
in the Arrow-head (Sagittaria sagittifolia), and in the
Hemp plant. In order to examine them individually,
the bundles should be steeped in spirits of turpentine
for a few days, by which means the vessels can be
easily detached from one another.

These vessels are intended to convey the proper
juices of the plant, and are generally found filled with
oils, and resinous juices ; consequently they are more
numerous in plants, the juices of which are of a thick
resinous nature ; and these drying along with the con-
densed vessel in the bark, are the matters on which the
medicinal virtues of barks in general depend.

2d. The Perforated vessels are cylindrical
tubes, the sides of which are pierced with minute per-
forations variously distributed. They may be divided,
according to the character of the perforations, into 2
species ; viz. Cribriform vessels, the perforations of
which are simple pores, arranged in parallel series,
transversely and equidistant over the whole surface of
the tubes. Mirbel denominates them porous vessels,
and asserts, that each perforation is surrounded with
20

230 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

an elevated border ; and observes, that they must not
be regarded as continuous tubes, as they often sepa-
rate, joiu again, sometimes disappear altogether, and
always terminate in cellular texture. They are found
in the substance of roots, in the formed wood of sterns,
branches, leaf-stalks, and the central ribs of leaves ;
and are most numerous in hard woods, as of the Oak
and the Chesnut. Their pores are so extremely small,
that, in order to peceive them, a thin longitudinal slice
of the wood to be examined must be cut, and placed
in a drop of pure water under a powerful microscope.
It has not been accurately ascertained what kind of
fluid is contained in these vessels.

A modification of the perforated vessels has the
appearance of a string of beads, consisting, as it were,
of united portions of a porous tube, narrowed at the
extremities, and divided from each other by perforat-
ed diaphragms. This variety of perforated vessels
is found frequently in roots, and at the going off*
of branches, and the attachments of leaves, being,
says Mirbel, " intermediate between the large ves-
sels of the stem and those of the branches ; and it
is by their means," as he conceives, " that the sap
passes from the one set of vessels into the other."*

Another variety of the perforated vessels, called
annular, are so named from the perforations being
transverse and oblong, as if the tube were formed of
rings, of the same diameter, placed one above another,
and attached at some part of their edges, but not touch-
ing throughout the whole circumference. These are,
in fact, porous vessels, with oblong transverse perfo-
rations, resembling in every respect, except shape, the
round pores of the last described vessels. They are
also surrounded by a border, and convey resinous and

* Elem. de Phys. Veget. lere Partie, p. 31.

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 231

oily secretions. They are found in greatest numbers in
the less compact woody parts of the plant. The centre
of the majority of the species of Lycopodum, or Club-
moss, contains a thick cylinder, which is chiefly com-
posed of vessels of this kind. Ferns also inclose
many of them, in their woody threads; and several
other plants, particularly the Vine, the wood of which
is soft and porous, and contains them in great num-
bers.

Each of these species of perforated vessels is occa-
sionally seen forming different parts of the same tube ;
or one portion of it may present the cribriform charac-
ters and another the annular.

3d. The next set of vessels, the Spiral, have been
known to botanists since the time of Grew, who was
the first that gave his attention to the anatomy of
plants. They have been named vasa spiralia, and
jissurce spirales from their appearance ; and trachece,
from their resembling the tracheae of insects, and
from an unfounded opinion that they were the vegeta-
ble organs of respiration. They are the largest of the
vegetable vessels ; and in many plants their structure
is visible to the naked eye. Thus, if a leaf, or a green
twig of Elder (Sambiicus canadensis), the petiole or
peduncle of the Water Lily, or the stem of the com-
mon Lilies, or the leaves of various species of
Amaryllis, when on the decay, or the fleshy scales of
any bulb be partially cut, then cautiously broken, and
the divided portions carefully drawn asunder, the spi-
ral vessels will be seen appearing like a screw, and
their real structure become apparent. They are form-
ed of a thread, turned in a spiral manner from right
to left ; as if a fine slender and flattened wire were
w T rapped round a small cylinder of wood, so that the
successive rings touch each other, and then the cylin-
der be withdrawn ; the form thus acquired by the

232 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

wire will represent the spiral tubes. The thread of
which they are formed is elastic, opaque, silvery, shin-
ing, and flat ; and in several plants, particularly the
Banana, the Hcemanthus, and several species of Ama-
ryllis, is sufficiently strong to suspend the inferior por-
tion of the leaf or twig, if it be not very large ; but
there is no reason for believing, as Willdenow and
others have asserted, that it is hollow, and forms a
real vessel thus twisted in a spiral manner ; or, that-
the larger hollow tube is an air-vessel, while the spi-
rally twisted thread is a vessel carrying fluid. For,
if we consider the smallness of the larger tube, and
the flattened state of the thread of which it is formed,
the impossibility of any fluid entering the smaller one.
if it really existed as a vessel, may be easily conceiv-
ed. According to Hedwig's observations, made with
a microscope which magnified 290 times, he found
that the apparant diameter of these air-vessels, as he
supposes them to be, is one tenth of an inch ; their
real diameter, must therefore, be the 290th part of the
tenth of an inch, or the 2,900th, part of an inch.
What then, I would ask, must the diameter of the
supposed spiral vessel be, and what fluid could be
conducted through it ? The thread is sometimes
double ; and Mirbel asserts, that it is furnished with
a glandular border.

These vessels are found in great numbers in mono-
cotyledonous plants, as in the centre of the ligneous
threads, which exist in the stems of Grasses, and in
Palms. They are numerous also in most herbaceous
plants ; and particularly in aquatics of a lax texture.
They are seldom detected in the root, and never in
the bark ; but are situated round the medulla of the
young shoots of trees and shrubs ; whence bundles of
them are given oft, and enter the middle rib of leaves,
to be distributed through them under their upper siu>

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 233

face. They have been detected, also, in the calyx,
and other parts of the flower ; and Gaertner asserts
that they are evident even in the seed-lobes. The
spiral vessels, in their course, proceed always in straight
lines, without any deviation ; whereas all the other
vegetable vessels often take a curved direction. It is
into these vessels that colored injections most easily
enter ; and when an annual twig of the Fig is thus
injected, they are seen in a transverse section of it,
like red dots around the pith, placed within an exter-
nal circle of the vessels, which contain the proper or
milky juice of the plant.

These varieties of form in the vegetable vessels are
not such important differences essentially as the arte-
ries and veins of animals ; for in some plants, accord-
ing to Mirbel, the 3 different modifications of struc-
ture are found to take place in the same tube. In the
Butomus umbellatus, or flowering Rush of Europe,
the same author says, " I have seen long portions of
vessels present, at intervals, the appearance of an un-
rolled trachea (or spiral vessel), a transversely cleft
vessel, and a porous one.

Mirbel mentions another set of vessels, which he
denominates little tubes; but they appear rather as
tubular cells, being closed at the extremities. They
resemble stretched cellular substance, except that the
membrane composing them is less transparent, and of
a greater consistence. The solidity of plants depends
very much on the quantity and density of these cells,
which are filled with thick and colored, or diin and
colorless juices, according to the nature of the plants
in which they exist.

The structure of the internal Glandular texture of
vegetables is much more difficult of demonstration
than that of any of the general solid components which
20*

234 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

have been already noticed : but, when the impossibi-
lity of attaining an accurate knowledge of the glands
of the animal body, which are large and visible to the
naked eye, is considered, it will not appear wonder-
ful that our remarks on this subject are drawn rather
from analogy than from actual observation. When,
however, we reflect on the nature and diversity of the
vegetable secretions, and that plants possessing the most
opposite properties rise from the same soil, there ap-
pears to be no medium by which the absorbed ali-
ment can be so altered in its characters, except by
that of a glandular system. When the eye glances
over the number and variety of vegetable products,
there is much reason for supposing, that the simple
transfusion of fluids can scarcely be sufficient for the
production of these changes. We know that the laws
of chemical affinity, in the temperature in which they
take place, are inadequate to the effect ; and, besides,
many of the changes produced, particularly those
which fit the sap to be assimilated into the substance
of the plant itself, are directly contrary to the laws of
chemical affinity, which operates in destroying these
combinations, as soon as the vital principle of the plant
ceases to act. Although, therefore, we cannot by
demonstration prove the existence of internal glands
in vegetables, yet we have the strongest analogical
evidence in favor of the supposition that they do exist.
The pores and clefts of the cells and the vessels
which have been described are surrounded by opaque
regular borders ; and even the flat thread which forms
the spiral vessels is edged with a similar border.
These bodies are regarded by Mirbel as glands ; and
the opinion receives weight from the circumstance of
the mucilage, which is changed into the organized tis-
sue, being found always collected in greatest quantity
around those vessels which are most studded with these

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 235

opaque borders. If vegetable glands then do exist,
they must necessarily enter, as a general component
into the structure of every plant.

Besides these obscure internal glands, there are
also external bodies, which all Botanists have agreed
in considering as glands, and which, in general, sepa-
rate, as an excretion, some peculiar fluid. Thus honey
or a nectarious fluid is secreted at the base of the petals,
in the greater number of plants ; on the stalks of others,
(as the Catcb-fly) a viscid substance is thrown out ; and
on some, perforated hairs or bristles, emit spontaneous-
ly a mild, or eject into the punctures they make in the
skins of animals, an acrid fluid. Such are the excret-
ing glandular hairs of the Sun-dew (Drosera), and the
stings of the Nettle and the Jatropha.

Of the structure of these glands, although they are
external, very little is yet known ; and microscopes of
the greatest magnifying powers present them as masses
of cellular substance only, with vessels passing on to
their centre, without developing any other particular
organization, which might lead to explain the mode in
which they perform their functions. These, however,
are, in some degree, obvious Irom their effects ; and
afford more than pr bability to the idea that vegeta-
bles possess a glandular system.

The Ligneous fibre is a very minute, firm, elastic,
semi-opaque filament, which, by its cohesion with other
filaments of the same kind, forms the proper fibres, or
layers of longitudinal fibres, that constitute the grain
or solid part of wood. It enters, also, into the com-
position of another set of layers, that traverse the
longitudinal, named divergent. It is intended, appar-
ently, to give support and firmness to the vegetable
body, and hence is found in greater abundance in
trees and other perennial plants ; and according to the

236 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

number of the ligneous fibres in each bundle of layers
and the force of their cohesion, the wood of different
trees possesses a greater or less degree of hardness.
But, although wood is found of various degrees of
consistence, yet it is probable that the ultimate fibre
may be the same in all plants.

Whether the ligneous fibre be of original formation,
or condensed membranous or cellular texture, or an
obsolete obstructed vessel, as Hedwig reasonably sup-
poses, is yet undetermined. It is so intimately united
with the cellular texture containing the vegetable se-
cretions, that it cannot be procured pure for examina-
tion, without the separating aid of chemical agents.
If a thin shaving of well dried wood be first digested in
boiling water, then in alcohol, and lastly in ether,
every thing soluble in it will be extracted by these
liquids, and the insoluble part which remains be found
to be composed of interlaced fibres, easily subdivided
and having some degree of transparency : these are
the ligneous fibres. They have neither taste nor
odor, and remain unaltered by exposure to the at-
mosphere : but although insoluble in water, alcohol,
or ether, the fixed alkalies and mineral acids dis-
solve and decompose them. The relative quanti-
ty of this fibre in any plant may be pretty accurately
ascertained, by exposing a given quantity of the wood
to a moderate fire, in close vessels, for a number of
hours sufficient to convert it into charcoal ; for as the
wood only becomes charcoal and the other parts are
dissipated, the proportional weight of the charcoal ob-
tained shows the quantity of the ligneous fibre contain-
ed in the wood. Count Rumford thus found, that the
wood of the Poplar, Lime, Fir, Maple, Elm, and Oak,
contained each a proportion of ligneous fibre nearly
equal to 9 twentieths of their wood in its natural state.

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 237

The Epidermis is that portion of the vegetable
structure which is exterior to all the others ; at least to
those which retain their vitality in the vegetating state
of the plant : or, it is that part which is interposed be-
tween the living organs of the individual, and all ex-
traneous substances. In this respect it resembles the
cuticle of animals ; it extends over the surface of every
part of the plant ; from that of the delicate petal of
the flower, to that of the leaves, the branches, the
stem, and the root; but, except in young stems and
roots, it is not the exterior part of those organs of the
plant ; the coarse rugged surface of older roots and
stems being exterior to the real epidermis. It is com-
mon to every kind of plant, nor can any exist without
it. The vegetable epidermis may be separated from
the parts, which it covers, by raising it cautiously with
a knife ; but this is more easily effected by macera-
tion and boiling. It is more readily separated from
the cellular substance it covers in the leaf, than in any
other part of the plant ; and for this purpose I would
recommend to the student the leaf of any of the Lily
tribe, before the stem shoots up ; or of the Lettuce or
Sorrel ; but even in these, some of the cellular matter
is always detached in separating it ; and to this cir-
cumstance is perhaps to be attributed the variety of
opinions which phytologists have advanced regarding
its structure.

The epidermis appears at first of a green color on
the young stems and branches of almost all plants ;
but it changes to different hues, according to the age
of the part it covers. According to Du Hamel, it
is composed of fine, but tough fibres, which are inter-
woven together ; and everywhere interspersed with
pores, which permit the mouths of the absorbing, traus-

iratory, and air vessels to open to thp atmosphere.

Ir. Bauer, concieves its structure to be altogether

238 THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

cellular, and varying in different plants. The elder
Saussnre concieves the epidermis to be a fine, trans-
parent, unorganized pellicle. The pores, by which
the insensible perspiration escapes, are so minute, that
they are quite invisible, and with difficulty permit the
passage of air through them. Thus, if an apple be
put under the receiver of an air-pump, and the air
withdrawn, the cuticle of the apple will be lacerated
by the dilation of the air contained in the pulp of the
fruit. There are oblong pores also in the cuticle of
herbaceous plants in particular, as was first observed
by Decandolle, who named them cortical pores. The
size of these is considerably greater than that of the
former ; and varies in different plants.

The epidermis seems to be entirely destitute of
longitudinal vessels. When applied very closely to
the cellular layer below it, the greater portion of the
light is transmitted through it and reflected from the
cellular layer, and not from the transparent substance
of the cuticle ; so that the color of herbaceous stems
or twigs is that of the cellular layer, and not of the
cuticle itself; yet in trees and shrubs, which annually
renew the cuticle, as the Plane, Birch, Currant, and
others, the epidermis, when beginning to peel off, be-
comes more opaque and does not transmit the light,
but reflects it from its own surface. Thus the old cu-
ticle of the Plane (Platanus) is dark colored, while
the new is of a light green hue ; the stem of the Birch,
from which layers of epidermis are continually peeling,
is white, while the young branches are brown ; and
the old branches of the Currant are dark brown, while
the young shoots are a very light green. In some
plants, instead of being thrown off in plates, or in
layers, the old cuticle is cracked and reduced into
powder.

Although the epidermis is not cast off from all plants

THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 239

in this manner, yet it is constantly renewed ; and,
where it remains, the old cuticle cracks as the diam-
eter of the stein of the tree, or of the branch, increas-
es : it is then gradually pushed outwards, and the ac-
cumulation of successive layers, in this manner, forms
the rugged coats which characterize many trees, as
the Elm and the Oak. Various animals also annually
cast their skins, and readily renew parts of it which
have been destroyed ; but in vegetables, this occurs
on the stems and branches of perennial plants only j
for on annual plants, and on the leaf and flower, it is
not renewed after being destroyed. The vegetable
epidermis is capable of extention ; but this is less con-
siderable than has been supposed ; and as there is a
constant renewal, there must be a proportional in-
crease or growth of its parts, so that it is not simply
extended to enable it to cover a greater portion of
surface ; but a new cuticle is added to produce this
effect.

The use of the epidermis is to keep the parts be-
neath it together ; and to regulate the perspiration and
absorption of the plant. It is calculated also to defend
the parts it covers from humidity ; for which purpose,
it is covered with a waxy secretion. The powers of
the cuticle in regulating these functions is fixed accord-
ing to the nature of the plant. In succulent plants,
which require much moisture to be retained in then-
leaves, the cuticle is so constructed as not to assist ab-
sorption, but rather to prevent transpiration. Thus, if
a leaf of the Aloe be cut off, it will remain a very long
time, even when exposed to the sun's rays, before it
shrivels ; but, if in this state it be exposed to damp
air, or thrown into water, the absorption is so rapid,
that it will regain its original plumpness and size in a
few hours. Another use of the epidermis is to pre-
vent the destruction of the parts it covers : for, as it is

240 THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

in the vessels of the inner bark that the greatest activity,
irritability, and degree of vital energy reside, :f that part
be wounded to any considerable extent, so that the
external air finds access to it, exfoliation, and the death
of the part, and sometimes that of the whole plant,
follow.

Such are the principal solid components of the veg-
etable body. Other solid matters also enter into their
structure ; but, as they are not common to the vege-
table race, they cannot be ranked in the general com-
position. Perhaps, indeed, all the parts which have
been examined may be resolved into modifications of
the membranous and cellular textures ; but, although
we allow that the vessels, ligneous fibre, glands, and
epidermis most probably are composed of membra-
nous, or cellular tissue, differently modified, yet as
each of these parts possesses very distinct functions,
such a refinement could only perplex and bias the
observer in search of the truth.

II. General Fluid Components of Plants.

Vegetables, by their vital energy, develope them-
selves, increase in bulk, and augment the quantity of
solid matter they contain, consequently the principles
of the solids must be contained in the particular fluids
which they select and imbibe from the soil ; but in
what manner the fluids are changed into solids, and
whether any of the solid matters be taken up ready
formed, or whether they result from a transformation
effected solely by the action of the vegetable vessels,
are subjects of consideration upon which it would be
premature to enter. These fluids, however, after be-
ing absorbed by the roots, enter into and fill the cells
and vessels of the plant, and form a very considera-
ble portion of the bulk of the vegetable body. A?

THE FLUID COMPONENTS OP PLANTS. 241

soon as they enter the plant, they constitute its sap,
or common juice, to the nature of which, as one of
the general components of vegetables, we shall now
direct our attention.

The motion of the sap, though constant during the
continuance of the life of the vegetable, isstill mostactive
in spring and midsummer, at which periods a much
greater quantity of fluid is found in the vessels of the
plant. The sap is in the same situation for the purposes
of the plant, as the chyle of animals is, while yet in the
thoracic duct, and before it is mingled with the blood,
and exposed in the lungs to be fitted for the purposes
of life. Neither is in a proper state for yielding the
various secretions, and adding, by the process of as-
similation, to the growth of the plant, or of the animal ;
but the analogy goes no farther. In the animal, the
digestive powers of the stomach and the action of the
mesenteric glands so change the food taken into it,
that no chemical analysis of the chyle produced from
it could lead to an accurate knowledge of the food,
which had been employed by the animal ; but in
plants, the food is already prepared in the ground be-
fore it is absorbed by the roots, and, therefore, were it
possible to obtain the sap from the vessels very near
to the extremities of the roots, we should be enabled
to discover, with considerable accuracy, the real food
of plants. This, however, cannot be accomplished ;
and as the sap, in its progress, dissolves some ready-
formed vegetable matter, which had been deposited
at the close of the preceding autumn, in the upper
part of the root and at the base of the stem, its origi-
nal properties are thus altered ; and the farther the
part, which is bored in order to procure the sap, is
from the root, the more vegetable matter this fluid is
found to contain. Were it possible to obtain the sap
21

242 THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

completely free from the peculiar juice of the plant,
it would probably be found nearly the same in all veg-
etables.

When the sap is drawn from a tree early in the spring,
the time when it moves or bleeds most freely, and as
near the root as possible, it usually appears nearly as
colorless and limpid as water, has scarcely any taste,
and no particular odor. A phial containing a certain
quantity of sap weighs heavier than the same phial
containing an equal portion of distilled water ; so that
its specific gravity is greater. If it be kept for some
time in a warm place, it undergoes sometimes the
acetous, at other times the vinous, and in some instances
the putrefactive fermentation. These differences
would indicate a disparity in the composition of the
sap of different plants; but there is every reason for
thinking that they depend more on the admixture of
the proper juices. The rapid vinous fermentation of
some kinds of sap is taken advantage of in warm cli-
mates for economical purposes. From the top oi the
Cocoa-nut palm, the natives of India extract the sap
by an incision made in the evening, and receive it in
a vessel set for the purpose, this liquor, next morning
forms a pleasant, mild, and cooling beverage ; but be-
fore evening, it ferments and becomes powerfully in-
toxicating. In Ceylon, arrack is distilled from this
fluid ; and it also yields, by boiling in the same manner
as our Sugar Maple (Acer saccharinum), a coarse su-
gar. In these cases, however, the sap is evidently
mixed and combined with the proper juice of the tree.
According to Mr. Knight, sap always contains a con-
siderable portion of air. It also differs in its specific
gravity according to the distance from the root at which
it is taken, the gravity increasing with the distance, aris-
ing apparently in some degree from the solution of de-
posited matter in its progress, but perhaps more from

THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 243

the transpiration of the plant, throwing off a large pro-
portion of the watery part of the matter taken up from
the soil. Such are the sensible qualities of the sap ;
its chemical properties and composition are discover-
ed by tests, and analysis by heat.

According to Vauquelin, the sap of the Elm (Ul-
mus campestris), collected towards the end of April,
the beginning and the end of May, in 1039 parts
consisted of 1027.904 of water and volatile matter ;
9.240 of acetate of potash ; 1.060 of vegetable mat-
ter ; and 0.796 of carbonate of lime. The second
analysis of the sap collected at the beginning of May
afforded a greater proportion of vegetable matter, less
acetate of potash, and also less carbonate of lime ; and
in the third anal) sis of that collected at the end of
May, the quantity of the acetate of potash was still
more diminished, and also that of the carbonate of
lime. In all he found slight traces of sulphate and of
muriate of potash. From two different analyses of
the sap of the Beech (Fagus sy'vatka), procured also
at different periods of the same season, he obtained
water, acetate of lime, free acetic acid, gallic acid, and
tanin, with some vegetable extractive and mucous
matter. In the same manner he examined the sap of
the common Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), collect-
ed in March and April, and found in it, acetate of
of potash, acetate of lime, sugar, mucilage, vegetable
extract, and water. In the sap of the common Birch
(Betula alba), be found acetate of lime, acetate of
potash, acetate of alumina, sugar, vegetable extract,
and water. In all the specimens thus analyzed the
quantity of vegetable matter was found to be greater
in the sap drawn late in the season, than in that col-
lected at an earlier period of it.

The modifications which take place in the roots of
plants, throw considerable obstacles in the way of ob-

244 THE FLUID COMPONENTS OP PLANTS.

taining a perfect knowledge of this part of the vegeta-
ble economy ; for to obtain such a knowledge of the
nature of sap would require an examination of that
fluid in a greater number of different species of plants,
than the opportunities, and the period of any life,
would permit. All that we can aim at, therefore, in
the present state of our knowledge, is the formation of
a probable hypothesis, rather than the attainment of
truth deduced from certain experiments. In this
mode of viewing the subject, we may regard the sap
of plants as consisting of water which is its principal
component, carbonaceous matter, acetate of potash, and
carbonate of lime ; which ingredients are decomposed
by the vital powers of plants, and new combinations
of their constituents produced by the same powers, so
as to form the different parts of which a plant consists.
The large portion of vegetable matter contained in the
first sap, must have been previously deposited in the
cells of the root, and taken up by the water of the sap
in its progress upwards : and air which is also found
in sap, is either the produce of vegetation, or is taken
in by the roots dissolved in the water of the soil.

Such is the nature of the sap. In spring and at
midsummer it forms a large portion of the vegetable
body ; and is carried forward through the vessels,
with an impetus sufficient to raise it to the summits of
the highest trees, until arriving at the leaves, in which
it is exposed to the action of the air and light, the
great quantity of water it contains, being no longer ne-
cessary, is thrown off by perspiration; whilst the suc-
cus proprias, or peculiar juice of the plant, from which
all its secretions are formed, is produced by the
changes resulting chiefly from this exposure. We
have, therefore, next to proceed to examine the na-
ture of this peculiar juice, as one of the general com-
ponents of plants.

THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 245

The Proper Juice.

When a plant is cut through transversely, the prop-
er juice is seen issuing from both divided surfaces, but
in greatest quantity from the open orifices of the di-
vided vessels in the part farthest from the root ; a fact
which is ascribable to the progression of the proper
juice being inverse to that of the sap, or from the
leaves towards the roots. It is very often mixed with
sap, and cannot be distinguished from it by color ; but
in many instances it is colored or milky. Thus, if a
twig of any of the species of Spurge [Euphorbia) be
cut, the proper juice issues from the wound in the
form of a resinous milky emulsion, and may be ob-
tained in considerable quantity. This juice in the ma-
jority of plants is, as has been said, colorless ; it is,
however, yellow in some, as in Celandine (CAe-
lidonium) ; red in others, as in the Blood-root [San-
guinaria), the Bloody Dock (Rumex sanguinea), and
the Logwood tree (Hamatoxylon) ; deep oranse in
the Artichoke ( Cynara Scolymus) ; white, as in the
Spurges, the Dandelion (Leontodon Taraxacum), the
Fig, the Poppy, Sic. blue in the root of Pimpernel!
(Pimpinella nigra) ; and green in the Periwinkle
(Vinca). The color is sometimes changed by ex-
posure to the air. Thus opium, the proper juice of
the Poppy, is white and milky when it exudes from
the incision, but changes to a yellowish brown hue by
exposure to the air. The juice which exudes from
incisions in the leaves of the Soccotrine Aloe, yields,
by simple exposure, according to the statement of M.
Fabroni, a very deep and lively purple dye, so per-
manent, and resisting so completely the action of acids,
alkalies, and oxygen gas, as to offer an useful pigment
in miniature painting ; or as a dye for silk, which it
will effect without the use of any mordant.
21*

246 THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

The proper juice of plants is, that changed state of
the sap, after it has been exposed to the air and light,
in the leaf and is returning from it to form the differ-
ent secretions. The organs by which the secretion is
performed are probably glands ; and the secreted
fluids themselves are deposited in cells in different
parts of the plant, particularly in the bark, and the
roots ; these parts acquiring different medical virtues,
from the matters thus lodged in them.

It is almost as impossible to obtain the proper juice
of plants free from sap, as it is to procure the sap free
from the proper juice ; this, however, in the season
in which it can be obtained in most abundance, is not
so liable to be diluted or mixed with sap as at other
times ; and therefore it is in the warmest times in
summer, that it ought to be taken for the purpose of
examining its properties. In an accurate examina-
tion of the proper juice of plants, M. Chaptal found
that in no two kinds of plants does it agree as far as
its sensible qualities are considered ; but as it is in the
leaf that the change from sap into the proper juice oc-
curs, so its sensible qualities are modified according to
the action which takes place in that organ ; and that this
should differ is not surprising if we consider the great
difference of the structure of leaves. In one particu-
lar, however, Chaptal found that all the specimens he
examined agreed. When he poured into them oxy-
genated muriatic acid, a very considerable white pre-
cipitate fell down ; which had the appearance of fine
starch, when washed and dried, and did not change
when kept for a length of time. It was insoluble in
water, and not affected by alkalies. Two thirds of it
were dissolved in heated alkohol ; and these were
evidently resinous, as they were again precipitated
from the spirituous solvent by water. The third part,
which continued insoluble in both alkohol and water,

THE FLUID COMPONENTS OP PLANTS. 247

was found to possess all the properties of the ligneous
fibre. In the seed lohes a greater quantity ol this
woody fibre was fount! than in the proper juice of the
plant itself; a fact which accounts lor the rapid growth
and increase of parts of the young plant, before the
roots are able to take up from the earth the principles
of nutriment. The proper juices of plants, both in the
seed, and in the perfected plant, contain nourishment
already properly adapted for assimilation into the sub-
stance of the plant. But this preparation takes place,
either during the time, or alter, the sap has been ex-
posed to the action of the light and air in the leaf; as
no woody fibre is found in the ascending sap, although
the principles of it are undoubtedly contained in that
fluid. A new chemical combination of these princi-
ples takes place ; but how this is effected, or by what
means the change is produced, we know not; and it
is one of those mysteries of nature from which human
ingenuity will never perhaps be able to remove the
veil. In the same manner the blood of animals con-
tains the components of the muscular fibres already
formed; and an assimilation of it is constantly going
on, without our being able to perceive it, or even to
form the most distant conception cf the manner in
which it is performed.

The elementary principles of the proper juice
of plants and of the sap are the same ; but differ
in the relative proportions. These elements are car-
bon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The same principles,
differently modified, form all the secretions and the
solid materials of the plant itself. The extrane-
ous ingredients which some plants are found to con-
tain, as part of their substance, such as the alkaline
and neutral salts, metallic oxyds, silex, and other
earths, are often probably obtained ready formed in
the soil, in a state of division sufficiently minute

24S THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS.

to be suspended in water, and taken in by the absorb-
ent vessels of the roots. i his is in some degree
proved by the effect of change of situation on plants
which naturally grow near the sea ; for most of these,
when burnt, yield soda; but, when they are removed
from the sea-shore, and cultivated in an inland situa-
tion, potash instead of soda is procured from their
ashes. Still, the siliceous epidermis of Grasses and
Canes, and the flinty liquor sometimes found in the culms
of the latter, can scarcely be produced in any other
manner than by proper vegetable assimilation deposi-
ting silex from its unknown elements. As the sap
undergoes the same exposure to the air and light in
all plants, and one product only can be formed in each
plant by this exposure, the difference of the proper
juice in different plants, is a strong argument in favor
of the existence of vegetable glands, independent of
the undeniable proof afforded by the formation of the
very different products which are deposited in different
parts of the same plant. Unless there were glandu-
lar organs, one product only could be produced in
each plant by the function of the leaves, and the ac-
tion of light and of air on the sap. The secretions
of plants formed from the proper juice are very nume-
rous, and known under the names of gum, fecida or
starch, sugar, gluten, albumen, gelatin, caoutchouc or
Indian rubber, ivax, fixed oil, volatile oil, camphor,
resin, gum resin, balsam, extract, tannin, acids, aroma,
the bitter, the acrid, and the narcotic principles, and lig-
neous fibre. These are found in different parts of plants
without any uniformity of distribution ; and although
so numerous and different from each other in their
sensible qualities and chemical properties, yet are they
all composed of different modifications of the same
elements, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. Thus
100 parts of gum, according to the experiments of
Gay Lussac and Thenard, consist of

THE FLUID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 249

42.23 of carbon,

6.93 of hydrogen, and
50.84 of oxygen, the oxygen and hydrogen being
nearly in the same relative proportions as

100.00 contained in water.

100 parts of common resin consist of

75.944 of carbon,

1 5. 1 5o of a combination of oxygen and hydrogen in the
same proportions as they exist in water, and
8.900 of hydrogen in excess.

100.00

1 00 parts of olive oil consist of

77.213 of carbon,

10.712 oxygen and hydrogen, as in water, and

12.075 of hydrogen in excess.

100.00

The solids, also, except the earths and salts, are
formed, from the same principles. 100 parts of the
ligneous fibre of the Beech and the Oak, for exam-
ple, consist of

Beech. Oak.

Carbon 51.45 52.53

Oxygen 42.73 41 78

Hydrogen 5.82 5.69

100.00 100.00

and thus almost the whole of vegetable matter may
be resolved into these three simple elements.

Such are the general components of vegetables.

250 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

The investigation of which is yet only in its com-
mencement, and much remains to be done before
their real properties are well understood.

CHAPTER III.

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

The advocates for the natural method of classifying
plants, distinguish them into two grand divisions, name-
ly, the Monocotyledons and Dicotyledones ; each of
which displays a distinct internal system of organiza-
tion, as well as the better known and more obvious
distinctions of physical and botanical relations. In
the plants of the first class (JSionocotyledones) the stem
simply consists of bundles of woody fibres and vessels,
interspersed through a cellular substance, and decreas-
ing in solidity from the circumference to the centre ;
but in those of the second, it is composed of concentric
and divergent woody layers, decreasing in solidity in
the opposite ratio, or from the centre to the circum-
ference, and containing a pith in a central canal.

Another anatomical division, however, is requisite
for the classification of the Acotyledonous and Aga-
mous plants, such as the Ferns, Mosses, Alga?, and
Fungi ; whose sterns display internally, an apparently
homogenous mass, and when examined by the unas-
sisted eye, seem to consist simply of an epidermis
enclosing a parenchyma, composed either of cellular
substance, of different degrees of succulency, spongi-
n; ss, dryness, and density ; or of interwoven fibres,
forming a leathery, or felt-like texture, 01 me not a
little resembling that of washed animal muscle, after
maceration in spirits- When examined, however,
by the aid of a good microscope, these different ap-

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 251

pearances of the internal mass are all found to con-
sist of cellular substance, with vessels running through
it, and anastomosing in a variety of directions. Many
of these plants have no stem ; but among those which
possess it, in some it is solid, in others hollow ; and
in the latter case, the cavity is often partially lined
with a very lax, dry, cellular web. A conspicuous
root is rare ; and, when it exists, consists of a few
small radical fibres only. Scarcely any facts are yet
known respecting the developement and growth of
this description of stem.

Monocotyledonous Stems.

These are more complex in their structure than the
preceding ; being composed of two distinct parts, lig-
neous and cellular, which assuming a determinate
character, enable these stems to be readily distinguish-
ed, even by the naked eye. They are either solid
or tubular, and as there is some difference in the ar-
rangement of the parts in these varieties, we shall ex-
amine them separately.

If a solid monocotyledonous stem, that of a Palm,
for example, be cut, either longitudinally or transverse-
ly, it is seen to consist of an epidermis enclosing lig-
neous bundles or cords, more or less symmetrically
distributed in a parenchyma or medullary substance.
If the section be longitudinal, these ligneous cords are
observed to run lengthwise, and extend from the buse
to the apex of the stem ; sometimes in straight lines ;
but occasionally assuming a zigzag direction, so as to
touch each other at different distances ; closer togeth-
er and firmer towards the circumference of the stem,
and more apart and softer as they approach its centre.
It lie section be transverse, the divided extremities
of the ligneous bundles appear like spots, which are

252 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

in some instances of a dark color, and in others white,
dispersed over a white or a green ground, in the order
just described. The epidermis adheres closely to the
parenchyma beneath it ; and in some plants of this
class, the greater density of the cellular substance at
the circumference gives the appearance of a bark,
which is never, however, present in this description of
stem. Such is the general character, and the distri-
bution of the parts, in what may be termed the ligne-
ous solid monocotyledonous stems ; but when they
have more of an herbaceous character, such, for ex-
ample, as the scape of the great yellow Garlick {Allium
Moly) and other species, there are no indurated lig-
neous cords ; but the vessels run in the midst of lon-
gitudinal layers of condensed cellular matter, and in a
transverse section appear as white dots forming a rir-
cle round the central cells, which are generally much
larger than those of the circumference, and assume
in some degree the aspect of a pith ; so that in the
longitudinal section, the diameter of the stem appears
divided by two seemingly solid cords, into three nearly
equal compartments.

Such are the appearances which, to the naked eye,
or to the eye aided by a common lens, the solid mono-
cotyledonous stems present. Under the microscope,
we perceive that each ligneous cord is composed of
very narrow oblong cells, and of vessels which are
either spiral, annular, or porous, those in the centre
being always spiral : that, in the cellular substance of
the more solid stems, the cells are chiefly oblong,
whilst in that of the herbaceous they form irregular
hexagons, except towards the circumference, and in
the immediate vicinity of the vascular cords ; and that
the membrane forming them is perforated with minute
pores, surrounded by a glandular border.

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 253

The holloiv or fistular monocotyledonous stems are
composed of distinct portions, united by knots ; at each
of which the cavity is divided by a diaphragm ; or
rather, each portion may be regarded as a distinct in-
dividual, which takes its origin from one knot, and ter-
minates in another, out of which again a new indivi-
dual arises, and so on in succession. The general
structure of this description of stems is best exempli-
fied in the Grasses. Thus, in Wheat we perceive the
upper articulation rising within the knot, in which the
lower has terminated ; with the leaf which infolds it
crowning the embracing knot. The organization of
this kind of stem cannot be readily distinguished with-
out the aid of the microscope. It is seen, in a longi-
tudinal section, to consist of several layers of narrow
oblong cells, which constitute its exterior and more
solid part ; and of an interior more open cellular sub-
stance, enclosing vascular, ligneous cords, composed
of oblong cells like those on the circumference, sur-
rounding spiral and annular vessels. In the transverse
section, the divided extremities of these cords appear
as clustered vascular spots in the cellular substance.

The bark, if the surface of the stem can be so call-
ed, of the more solid monocotyledones, is formed of
the footstalks of the leaves ; but the real epidermis of
both the ligneous and herbaceous stems of this tribe,
is always, as has been already stated, so closely ap-
plied to the part which it covers, as to be inseparable
from it by any means. Owing to this circumstance
it appears of a cellular texture, and its character is
regulated by the nature of the parts it immediately
encloses. In those plants in which it can be readily
examined, it displays, under the microscope, a regu-
lar series of organic exhaling pores, each apparently
surrounded by a glandular border ; as is well demon
strated in culm of the Wheat : but in some plants, as,

254 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

for instance, the common Rush, these apertures are
perceptible in the furrows only between the stria?, the
elevations being apparently free from any exhaling
pores. In some of the Canes and Grasses, as already
remarked, silex is found deposited in, or rather imme-
diately under the epidermis.

These kinds of stems, even when of the largest
diameter, display no medullary rays, that being a char-
acter of the dicotyledonous class of plants ; nor do
such appear to be necessary, owing to the extensive
distribution of the cellular matter throughout the sub-
stance of these stems. The woody bundles, howe-
ver, become indurated by age, and the more external
being enlarged by the deposition of new ligneous mat-
ter, they at length occasionally touch each other, and
form a circle of continuous wood ; but the interior
bundles never attain this state, and so are always suf-
ficient to distinguish the stem as that of a monoco-
tyledon.

Stems of this class increase in length or height ;
but, with very few exceptions, not in diameter. The
stem is gradually formed by the evolution and ascen-
tion of the terminal leaf-bud, and by the induration of
the footstalks of the fallen leaves. The whole stem
displays the cicatrices of the successive circles of de-
tached leaves, and these, becoming hardened by ex-
posure to the air, and the ligneous bundles within them
being older, as they are nearer to the surface, the sub-
stance of the stem is necessarily softer within, and
harder as it approaches the circumference. Owing
to the mode of growth, also, which has just been des-
cribed, the stem is always naked, columnar, and termin-
ated with leaves and fruit in the form of a magnificent
crown, as exemplified in the Palms. The stipe, there-
fore, or this kind of stem, may be regarded as a fas-
ces of ligneous vascular rods imbedded in cellular

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 255

substance, and terminating in leaves ; and its vitality
being, in a great degree, dependent on the herbaceous
part, if the central bud, or cabbage, as it is common-
ly called, be cut oft, the whole plant immediately dies.
The height to which some Palms arise, without in-
creasing in diameter, is very remarkable. Thus the
Ptychosjjerma gracilis rises more than GO feet, with a
stem not 4 inches in thickness. The elevation of the
Areca oleracea (Betel-nut Palm) is often not less than
180 feet; and although its diameter is greater than
that of the Ptychosperma, yet it is certain that it nev-
er increases in thickness. In tropical climates, some
kinds of Ferns rise with a stipe resembling that of the
Palms ; but this appears to be, according to Mirbel,
a simple fasces of petioles or leaf-stalks ; although cir-
cumstances occasion these to unite in the interior of
the stipe, and form masses of compact wood. This
variety of stipe remains also of the same diameter.

The Aloes, Yucas, and the Dracaena differ in their
mode of growth from the palms, inasmuch as they
give off branches and increase in the diameter of their
stems.

Such is the structure and mode of growth in mono-
cotyledonous stems. The positive features which
chiefly characterize them in point of structure, are the
separate vascular ligneous cords, and intermixed cel-
lular parenchyma ; but they are distinguished more
remarkably by negative qualities ; as, for example,
those of having no proper bark, liber, or alburnum,
and no medullary rays ; parts which belong exclu-
sively to the dicotyledonous stems.

Dicotyledonous Stems.

Woody Dicotyledonous stems consist of 3 dis-
tinct parts, the bark, the wood, and the pith. They

256 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

are exemplified in trees and shrubs ; but as the struc-
ture of the parts differs according to the age of the
plant, it is requisite to examine them, both as they
appear in the young plant or yearly shoot, and in the
trunk and branches of older subjects.

If the young shoot of any tree or shrub, the Horse
Chesnut for example, be cut either transversely or
longitudinally, the parts which have been enumerated
are rendered evident to the naked eye. If the sec-
tion be transverse, it is seen to consist of a central
spongy or cellular portion, which is the pith, enclosed
within a ring of more solid consistence, which is
the wood, and this, again, is em r 'roned by another
circle ol an intermediate degree of firmness, which is
the bark.

The Bark. In the shoot we are now examining,
cut in the autumn, the bark when separated from the
wood is about the 16th part of an inch in thickness,
and appears to the naked eye, composed of 4 distinct
parts. 1. A dry, leathery, fawn-colored, semi-trans-
parent, tough membrane, which is the cuticle ; 2.
a cellular layer which adheres, although not very
firmly, to the cuticle, and is named the cellular integ-
ument ; 3. a vascular layer ; and 4. a whitish layer,
apparently of a fibrous texture, which is the inner
baric; and of a more complicated structure than the
other layers.

1. The Cuticle. This term is employed to dis-
tinguish it from the thin unorganized pellicle already
described under the name Epidermis, as one of the
general components of the vegetable structure ; and
which is, in fact, the exterior part of the cuticle.

The cuticle may be raised from the cellular integ-
ument by the point of a knife, and this is the best

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 257

method to obtain it for minute examination. When
thus separated and placed under the microscope, it
appears to consist of 2 layers ; the outer being the
unorganized pellicle of true epidermis, and the inner a
vascular texture, composed of minute vessels which
terminate externally at the surface of the stem, and
internally in the cellular integument. These are, ap-
parently, annular vessels with oblong pores, which
probably perform the office of exhalents or of absorb-
ents. Such is the cuticular portion of the bark of the
Horse Chesnut ; but the structure of this part is not
uniform in all the woody stems of this class. In that of
the Pear (Pyrus communis), it consists rather of trans-
verse cells than of vessels, the outer series of which is
covered by the real epidermis : this is the case also
in the lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor), in which there
are 3 series of such cells ; in the Laburnum ( Cytisus
Laburnum), it is composed of the epidermis simply
covering a layer of an irregularly cellular or spon°y
character. These and similar varieties in the struc-
ture of the cuticle account for the want of coincidence
in the descriptions of authors.

The true epidermis or exterior layer of the cuticle
is necessarily cribriform, whether it act as an exhal-
ing or an absorbing surface ; and the manner in which
the pores are arranged, does not differ less, in differ-
ent plants, than the structure of the interior layer. It
is also frequently studded with hairs, glands, and
prickles. In young and succulent shoots, the cuticle
is generally almost colorless, and semi-transparent,
transmitting the green color of the exterior part of the
cellular integument over which it lies ; but it becomes
opaque or colored by age, or rather, on losing its vi-
tality ; for, as it is annually reproduced, the old layer,
if it does not fall off, cracks and is pushed outwards by
the increase of the diameter of the stem ; and the aecu-
22*

258 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

mulation of such layers forms the rugged surfaces ol
stems, as we see in the Elm, the Oak, and the ma-
jority of trees. In the greater number of instances it
cracks vertically, and is pushed outwards with a por-
tion of the cellular integument by the new epidermis,
which can be brought into view by removing these
rugged portions. In others it splits horizontally, and
the new cuticle is formed immediately under the old,
which, after a time, detaches itself in fragments ; or,
there is a succession of cuticles, which, although one
is formed every year, do not separate annually, but
occasionally only, in multiplied layers, that can, how-
ever, be readily detached from each other, as in the
the Currant and the Paper Birch.

2. The Cellular integument. On carefully raising
the cuticle of the young shoot of the Horse Chesnut,
we find under it a cellular layer ; which, in a trans-
verse section of the stem placed under the microscope,
is seen to consist of two distinct parts, both cellular,
but nevertheless different. The exterior, or that on
which the cuticle immediately reposes, appears to be
composed of a dark green, semi-organized pulp, in
which the cells are irregular both in their dimensions
and form, and has somewhat of the aspect, as Mr.
Keith remarks, of " a distinct and separate epidermis
in an incipient state, rather than a true and proper
pulp ;" while the interior is less colored and compos-
ed of regular hexagonal cells, the sides of which are
perforated and frequently studded with small granu-
lar bodies. It is the exterior layer of the cellular in-
tegument, which is the seat of color in the young twig,
and the green hue Of which is transmitted through the
yet semi-transparent cuticle ; its appearance, and the
fact that it is annually reproduced, led Mr. Keith to
believe that it is really the next year's cuticle in an

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 259

incipient stage of organization. But the vertical di-
rection of the cells, while those of the cuticle are hor-
izontal, is sufficient to overturn this opinion. Mirbel
regards the whole of the cellular integument as a glan-
dular body serving to separate the transpirable matter
from the other fluids. The cells vary considerably
in form, according to the species of plant on which
they are found. The cellular integument is filled both
with colored and colorless secreted juices ; and it is
very probable that this part performs some changes
on the sap thrown into its cells, similar to those effect-
ed in the leaf.

The cellular integument is partially destroyed and
reproduced, a great part of the old portion being push-
ed outwards with the cuticle which is annually detach-
ed ; while new cells are added to that which remains
at the time the new cuticle is produced.

3. Vascular layer. Imbedded in the cellular integ-
ument and impinging on the internal surface of the
bark, are distinct bundles of entire vessels, each of
which is so arranged as to present, in the transverse
section of the stem under consideration, a semilunar
aspect ; and, in the longitudinal section, that of a fas-
cis of flexible cords, readily separable from each other,
and from the surrounding cellular substance ; which
is condensed where it comes in contact with these
bundles. These vessels are supposed to convey down-
wards the proper juice of the plant, elaborated from
the sap, by the action of the light and air in the leaf;
and this opinion is supported by the fact, that it is
from them the milky juice of the Fig tree and the col-
ored juices of other plants exude, when the stem is
transversely divided. In some stems, as, for exam-
ple, that of Laburnum, the vascular bundles coalesce,
and form nearly one continuous layer or circle around

260 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

the wood ; and in others, although they do not actu-
ally coalesce, yet they approach so close as almost to
assume the same character. As the stem increases,
these vascular bundles become impervious, and are
pushed outward with the cellular integument, giving
place to a new layer which is annually produced.

4. Inner bark. Immediately under the vascular
bundles, we find another layer, which constitutes the
internal boundary of the bark. In the transverse sec-
tion of the stem of the Horse Chesnut it appears, un-
der the microscope, to consist of the extremities of
longitudinal fibres closely united together ; and, in
the tangental section, these fibres are seen running in
a waving direction and touching each other at certain
points, only so as to form oblong meshes, which are
filled with cellular matter. This layer is denominat-
ed liber, a name imposed from its having been em-
ployed to write on before the invention of paper. As
the net work formed by the dividing threads of the
meshes is not readily dissolved in water, whilst the
cellular matter which fills them up is remarkably so-
luble, the liber of some plants, for example the Daph-
ne Lagetto (or Lace tree), when soaked in water and
afterwards beaten, forms a very beautiful vegetable
gauze ; which may be used as an article of dress. A
coarser specimen of this gauze, or lace, is seen in the
bark of many of our indigenous trees, particularly the
oak, when it has been long exposed to the weather,
after being separated from the trunk. This regular
arrangement, however, of the longitudinal texture of
the liber is not found in every instance ; for on the
Fir and some other trees the longitudinal threads are
seen lying nearly parallel to one another, without any
meshes or intervening cellular matter. Like the other
parts of the bark, the liber is annually reproduced.

THE ANATOMY OF STEMS. 2G1

The old layer loses its vitality, and is pushed out-
wards by the new ; the accumulation thus formed
constituting what botanical writers have called the cu-
tical layers.

The vitality of the stem of dicotyledonous plants is
more conspicuous in the liber than in any other part.
If the bark be wounded, or a portion of it be remov-
ed, layers gradually extend themselves from the liber
on each side of the wound until it is closed up ; but
as this is not effected in one year when the wound
is extensive, and as the new layers are thrown out by
the liber only, which is annually renewed, the cica-
trice, if the healed portion can be so named, always
resembles a hollow cone, the base of which is the ex-
terior of the trunk. The union of a graft, or of a bud
taken from one tree and implanted on another, suc-
ceeds only when the liber of the bud, or the graft, and
that of the stock, is placed in immediate contact ; the
union in these instances closely resembling that which
occurs when two raw surfaces of a living animal body,
or of two distinct animals, are retained for some time
in contact. Grew, Malpighi, Du Hamel, and others,
supposed that the liber annually changes, by harden-
ing, into the alburnum or young wood, an opinion al-
so maintained by Mirbel and some of the ablest phy-
tologists, but which is founded upon mistaken princi-
ples. It is through the liber, however, that the mat-
ter in which the new wood is formed, which annually
augments the diameter of the trunk and branches, is
secreted ; and hence the importance of this portion of
the bark.

Such is the structure of the bark of the stems of
woody dicotyledons ; and that of the roots does not
materially differ from it ; any difference depending,
perhaps, altogether on the medium in which these two
parts are situated. In the bark the secreted juices of

262 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

plants, and consequently their medicinal qualities, are
chieh'y deposited.

The Wood. — Pursuing our investigation in the
young stem of the Horse Chesnut ; when the whole
of the bark is removed, we find, immediately under
and slightly adhering to it, a firmer and more com-
pact substance, which, both in a longitudinal and a
transverse section, appears to constitute a cylinder,
enclosing a column of spongy cellular matter or pith.
This is the wood. It has been regarded, in reference
to the vegetable, as answering the same end as bone
in the animal body ; but, except in its property of
giving firmness and support to the plant, the analogy
does not hold good. It is at first soft and vascular,
and is then called Jilburnum ; but it afterwards be-
comes hard, and, in some trees, is of a density almost
equal to that of iron. In a transverse section of our
stem of Horse Chesnut, it appears, to the unassisted
eye, a continuous circle of a homogenous structure,
of a very light straw color exteriorly or near the bark,
and greenish interiorly, or where it is in contact with
the pith ; but in some other trees, as the Laburnum
and Elder, this circle appears traversed, at nearly
regular distances, by rays of an evidently different
structure. These are found, however, to exist also
in the stem of the Horse Chesnut, and in every other
woody dicotyledon when examined by a magnifying
glass, and they are observed in the soft wood, or al-
burnum, as well as in the hard and most perfect
wood. These two distinct parts, which constitute the
wood, may be described under the names of Concen-
tric and Divergent layers.

1. The Concentric layers, in the stem of the Horse
Chesnut of one year's growth, when seen through the

THE ANA.TOMY OF STEMS. 263

microscope, consist of longitudinal fibres apparently
not solid, but narrow tubes or oblong cells, tbe sides
of which are thick and nearly opaque, and of vessels
of different kinds. These are arranged parallel to
each other, except where they are separated by the
divergent layers, as may be seen in a thin tangental
section of any stem placed under the microscope. In
the alburnum, the walls of the concentric tubes are
tender and transparent ; but by the deposition of lig-
neous matter in the membrane of which they consist,
and in the tubes themselves, they become opaque and
firm ; and according to the degree of this, the wood
is more or less dense, hard, and tenaceous. Other
matters, also, are deposited in this part of the woody
texture ; such for example as Guiac in that of the
Guiacum officinale, coloring matter in the Logwood
(Hazmatoxylon Campechianum), and even silex, which
has been extracted from the Teak wood (Tectonia
grandis) by Dr. Wollaston. The vessels of the con-
centric layers are chiefly porous and annular, and
their sections produce the openings observed in the
transverse section of any stem ; but besides these,
in the circle of the wood of the first year's growth, a
circle of spiral vessels surrounds the pith. These
are, however, justly regarded by Mirbel not as vessels
of the wood ; but of a distinct sheath lining the wood,
which he has denominated Vetui medullaire.

2. The Divergent layers consist of flattened mas-
ses of cellular substance, which cross the concentric
layers at different parts, and, separating the bundles
of longitudinal tubes of which they consist from each
other, produce the reticulated arrangement seen in
the tangental section of any stem ; the oblong tubes
and vessels forming the tissue of the net-work, the
meshes of which are filled up by the cells of the di-

264 THE ANATOMY OF STEMS.

vergent layers. The individual cells, which are nar-
row and horizontal in their length, extend in series
from the centre to the circumference of the wood ;
and consequently form nearly right angles with the
tubes of the concentric layers. They communicate
with each other by pores ; so that fluids may readily
pass through the whole series, and of course trans-
versely through the wood ; and Mirbel remarks that,
" in many coniferous trees the divergent rays are not
cellular, but consist of horizontal tubes, which extend
from the pith to the bark." Whether they are cellu-
lar or tubular, the layers, or masses, are flat, or in
plates, with the edges placed vertically and thicker
in the centre than either above or below, appearing
therefore of a lozenge shape when vertically divided ;
whilst in their transverse section they display a slight
inclination to the wedge form. They are much more
delicate in their structure than the concentric layers ;
and readily dissolve, like the common cellular texture,
so that when a thin tangental slice of wood is macerat-
ed in water, the divergent layers are decomposed,
and leave the meshes of the concentric layers empty,
displaying the appearance of a net-work or lace simi-
lar to that formed by the macerated liber. From the
cellular texture of the divergent layers, they are re-
garded by some authors as processes of the pith; and
hence have been named medullary rays ; but many
of them cannot be traced to the pith, although the
more conspicuous of them traverse the whole of the
wood, from the pith to the bark.

Wood, while in the state of alburnum, is endowed
with nearly as much irritability as the liber, and per-
forms functions of great importance in the vegetable
system ; but when hardened, these functions cease,
and in time it loses even its vitality ; not unfrequently
decaying in the centre of the trunk of trees ; which.

ANAT0M* OF STEMS. 265

often, still flourish and put out new shoots as if no
such decay existed. To carry on, therefore, the
functions of the wood, a new circle of it is annually
formed over the old ; and thus, also, the diameter of
the trunk and branches present, by the number of
these annual zones, a pretty correct register of their
age, each zone marking one year in the life of the
part. The hardness of these zones of wood increases
with the age of the tree, being most dense in the cen-
tre, and less and less hard as they approach the cir-
cumference.

Various opinions have been entertained respecting
the origin of the wood or alburnum. Mr. Knight, how-
ever, by various experiments, has satisfactorily proved
that the alburnum is formed from the secretion deposit-
ed by the vessels of the liber, but that it is not, as had
been supposed by Du Hamel, Dr. Hope, and Mirbel,
a transmutation of the liber itself.

Mr. Knight is of opinion, that the bark deposits the
alburnous matter ; but that the leaves are the organs
in which this matter is elaborated from the sap ; or,
that the alburnum is generated from the cambium of
Grew, which is part of the proper juice of the plant,
formed by the exposure of the sap to the light and
air in the leaf, and returned from it by the vessels
that pass down from the leaf into the interior bark, by
which it is deposited, and we may add elaborated by
the action of the vital principle inherent in this part
of the plant. To determine this point, he removed
narrow circles of bark from shoots of Apple trees,
" leaving a leaf between the places where the bark
was taken off; and on examining them frequently
during the autumn," he found that the diameter of the
shoot between the insertion of the leaf-stalk and the
lower incision was as much increased as in any other
part of the tree ; but when no leaf was left " on similar
23

266 ANATOMY OF STEMS.

portions of insulated bark, on other branches of the
same age, no apparent increase in the size of the
wood was discoverab'e."*

These experiments explain the reason why trees
and shrubs having their leaves destroyed by cater-
pillars form scarcely any new wood in that season ;
and, indeed, every one who has ever pruned a tree,
or shortened a growing twig, must have observed that
the part above the last leaf always shrivels and dies,
while all below it continues to live and increase in di-
ameter.

The Medullary Sheath. If we proceed with
the examination of the shoot of the Horse Chesnut,
as before, and scoop out the pith from the ligenous
cylinder that encloses it, we shall perceive that this
is lined with a thin green layer or coating ; which, to
the unassisted eye, appears to resemble in its struc-
ture rather the cellular integument of the bark than
any part of the surrounding wood. This is the Me-
dullary Sheath of Mirbel and the French Botanists.
It is readily distinguished, in either a transverse or a
longitudinal section of many stems, by its green color,
which appears deeper as contrasted with the dead
white of the pith which it surrounds ; but it is also
easily traced in the succulent dicotyledonous stem as
soon as it is evolved from the seed, separating the
pith from its herbaceous investiture.

When viewed under the microscope, the Medulla-
ry Sheath appears to be composed of a cellular sub-
stance, in which are imbedded longitudinal layers of
spiral tubes. The cells of the Medullary Sheath are
narrow and oblong ; and, therefore, when it is not
colored, it is scarcely distinguishable from the wood,

* Philos. Transact. 1801. P. I. p. 2, p. 335.

ANATOMY OF STEMS. 207

except by the spiral vessels, which have not yet been
discovered in any layer of formed wood subsequent
to the first ; for their apparent existence in stems and
branches of several years' growth is owing to the
lignilication of the Medullary Sheath. The cells
which are between the layer of spiral vessels and the
pith, and which are the site of the coloring matter,
when this part of the stem is green, have a cribriform
structure. The variable arrangement which these
spiral vessels present in different plants, appears to be
in a great degree regulated by the disposition of the
leaves, into which the spiral vessels in every instance
direct their course, leaving for that purpose the Med-
ullary Sheath, and traversing the wood, a little below
the insertion of each leaf.

As the Medullary Sheath forms the only partition
between the bark and the pith in the tender succu-
lent shoots, before the ligneous matter is deposited,
and is in its texture lax, and incapable of affording
sufficient support to the delicate coats of vessels, such
as are found in the Alburnum, if these were distend-
ed with ascending sap, the vessels that run through it
are of a different structure from those of any other
part of the vegetable. The elastic thread of which
these spiral vessels are formed is tough, and possesses
irritability ; and being stimulated to action by the ef-
fort of the sap to dilate the diameter of the vessel,
contracts in its length in each coil alternately, and af-
ter each contraction again returns to its first state,
producing a vermicular motion, which enables these
vessels to conduct forward the sap. Thus : the con-
traction in length of the portion of the thread which
forms the first coil, lessens the diameter of that por-
tion of the tube, and hence the fluid contained within
it will be displaced and moved either upwards or
downwards ; but as the resistance opposed to its re-

268 ANATOMY OP STEMS.

turn, or movement downwards, is the greater owing to
the pressure of the ascending sap, it must necessarily
advance ; and this contraction being repeated in eve-
ry successive coil, the fluid is moved forward with a
sufficient impetus ; while the new quantity of sap
which supplies the place of that carried forward, and
which rushes into the coil at the instant of its relaxa-
tion, forming the basis of resistance to the return of
the portion before it, and at the same time exciting a
renewal of the contraction, its progression must be
uninterrupted. These appear, indeed, to be the on-
ly vegetable vessels endowed with contractility, or
which act in any manner analogous to the arteries of
animals. If this hypothesis be tenable, the spiral ves-
sels are the sap vessels of the succulent stem and the
annual shoot of dicotyledonous ligneous plants ; and
their spiral structure is essential for the performance
of their conducting function, in the spongy Medullary
Sheath, or cellular parenchyma in which they are im-
bedded.

Malpighi regarded the spiral vessels as bronchia, or
air-vessels, and the same opinion is supported by
Grew, Hales, and Du Hamel. This supposition pro-
bably originated from their always appearing empty
when examined ; and on the same account the ani-
mal arteries were regarded as air-vessels by the an-
cients and their followers, until Harvey demonstrated
them to be blood-vessels. Grew also suggested the
idea of the spiral vessels acting as sap-vessels, and Du
Hamel supposed he had detected them in the per-
formance of this function, as did also the celebrated
Hedwig. Dr. Darwin may perhaps, however, be re-
garded as actually the first who taught that the spiral
vessels convey fluids.

The Medulla or Pith. Returning to our shoot
of Horse Chesnut, we find the tube which is formed

ANATOMY OF STEMS. 269

by the wood and lined with the Medullary Sheath,
filled with a white, dry, very compressible spongy sub-
stance : — this is the Medulla or Pith. In the suc-
culent state of a stem or a twig, it is turgid with
aqueous fluid ; but before the wood is perfected, it
becomes dry and spongy ; except near the terminal
bud, or where branches are given oft', in which places
it long retains its moisture.

The form of the pith is regulated by that of ihe
cavity it fills, which in the majority of instances is
nearly circular ; but to this there are many excep-
tions. Thus in the horizontal section of a young stem
or twig of the Elder (Sambucus) and the Plane (Pla-
tanus), we find it circular, but furrowed by the bun-
dles of the spiral vessels of the Medullary Sheath.
It is oval in the Ivy, and the Ash ; irregularly oval and
furrowed in the Plane ; triangular in the Oleander
(Nerium Oleander) ; pentangular in the European
Oak ( QjLiercus Robur) ; four-sided, with the angles
obtuse, or tetragonal, in the common Lilac, and yellow
flowering Horse Chesnut (JEsculus flava) ; pentago-
nal in the Walnut (Juglans regia) ; and hexagonal
in the Red-twigged Cornel ( Cornus sanguinea). The
situation of the leaves on the stem regulates the form
of the tube which the pith fills. But besides the di-
versities of form which the pith presents, it varies in
diameter in other respects. In the young tree, of a
few inches in height, it is smallest at the basis of the
stem, largest in the middle, and smaller again at the
summit ; and in the growth of each future year, near-
ly the same variations in its diameter are observable.

The pith, in the majority of ligneous dicotyledons,
is longitudinally entire ; but in some, the Walnut, for
instance, it consists of a succession of transverse dia-
phragms intersecting the hollow cylinder of the wood,
with the intervening spaces empty. In others the
23*

270 ANATOMY OF STEMS.

continuity of the medullary column is broken by lig-
neous plates, which proceeding from the side of the
central tube, either partially intersects it, or complete-
ly partition off portions of it, as in several of the Mag-
nolias ; while in others, again, it is merely a spongy
sheath, lining the interior of the cavity, as in the stem
and branches of Woodbine (LoniceraPericlymenwn).
Where the branches are given off from a stem, a
thread of medulla, in some instances, separates from
the central column, and entering the branch, is grad-
ually augmented to a diameter proportionate to that
of the branch. In the annual shoot, the wood shuts
up the canal of the pith at its extremity, as soon as it
ceases to grow for the season, as is seen in the longi-
tudinal section of the shoot of Horse Chesnut, imme-
diately under the terminal bud ; and thus isolates it
from the shoot of the next year. In many plants this
forms a kind of woody partition, which marks the lim-
it of the growth of each year in the length of the stem ;
but in others it is absorbed, the continuity of the pith
being, apparently, uninterrupted from the root to the
apex of such stems. Those partitions are almost al-
ways present when the pith is composed of distinct
plates, as in the Walnut, or of a spongy sheathing
membrane, as in Woodbine.

The color of the pith, in the succulent shoot or in
the young plant, is green, which, as the cells empty,
changes to white ; but to this there are some excep-
tions. Thus it is yellow in the Barberry ; pale brown
in the Walnut; fawn-colored in the Sumach, (Rhus
Coriaria) ; and pale orange in the yellow flowered
Horse Chesnut ; but it is more frequently colored in
the caudex of the root than in the stem.

A vertical or horizontal section of a thin slice of
pith, under the microscope, appears to consist of hex-
agonal cells, which are larger and more regular in the

ANATOMY OF STEMS. 271

centre than near the circumference. In very young
stems and succulent shoots these cells are filled with
an aqueous fluid, and closely resemble the cellular
integument ; but, in older stems and twigs, they are
found empty, or more accurately speaking, filled with
air. The cells retain the hexagonal form in their emp-
ty state ; but in some, as in the Walnut, this is des-
troyed in the lamella?, into which the pith then sepa-
rates ; and the same occurs in the interior of the med-
ullary sheath of Woodbine, and similar hollow stems.
In the greater number of plants no vessels are per-
ceptible in the pith ; but in some, entire vessels con-
veying proper juice are present, as in the Gum-elastic
Fig tree, the proper juice of which is seen exuding
from different points of the pith in a horizontal sec-
tion of the stem : and in all plants, the cells commu-
nicate with each other by means of organized pores,
which are visible under the microscope. The insu-
lated and enclosed situation of the pith, whatever be
the analogies of its structure, entitle it to be consider-
ed as a distinct organ in every stage of its existence.

Little is yet known with certainty concerning the
functions of the pith. Dr. Darwin and Sir J. E.
Smith considered it as important to the existence of
the vegetable as the column of the spinal marrow in
animals. Linnaeus also regarded it as the seat of vi-
tal energy to the plant. But Mr. Knight found that
on abstracting the pith from a portion of the branch
of a growing Vine above and below a leaf and bud,
" the lateral shoot, annexed, continued to live, and
did not appear to suffer much inconvenience ; but
faded a litle when the sun shone strongly on them."*
Indeed Caesalpinius of the 16th. century, believed the

* Pkilos. Trans. 1801, p. S38.

JTJ ANATOMY OF STEMS.

pith to be less essential to the life and growth of a tree,
than the bark. Mr. Thompson thinks its intention is to
afford the necessary surface for the formation of the first
layer of wood ; and likewise that it is of use to give a
degree of firmness to the succulent stem and recent
shoot, which they would not otherwise possess, before
the bark and alburnum acquire sufficient consistence
for that purpose.

The original pith of the young shoot still remains in
trees whose wood is of a close texture, as may be seen
even in the centre of the oldest Oak, as it is defended
by the first cylinder of wood deposited round it, and
suffers no material compression by the successive lay-
ers. The cells, indeed, appear obliterated even when
examined by a good lens, but in a very thin slice
placed under the microscope, in a drop of pure water,
the hexagonal character of the cells is perfectly distin-
guishable if the section be transverse ; while, if longi-
tudinal, not only the difference of form between the
real pith cells and those of the medullary sheath is
perceptible, but the spiral vessels are seen filled with
a dark colored resinous matter. In such stems, there-
fore, the pith is neither compressed, obliterated, nor
converted into wood, as some phytologists have imag-
ined. But when the ligneous matter is of a loose tex-
ture, or instead of forming a continuous circle, it is in
separate columns, as in broad-leaved Birth-wort
(Aristolockia Sipho), and the divergent rays are very
large, the pith, although it is never completely obliter-
ated, yet, is considerably compressed and altered in
form, in stems even of a few years' growth. The ul-
timate state of the pith, therefore varies ; being regu-
lated by the character of the wood which encloses it.

THE ORIGIN OF BRANCHES. 273

CHAPTER III.

THE ORIGIN AND ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES.

Whether we regard branches merely as divisions
and subdivisions of the stem, or more correctly, as re-
gards their origin, as distinct individuals, its lateral
progeny, we find their structure to accord, in every
particular, with that of the stem. The description of
the structure of the trunk is consequently applicable
to the branches ; and we have now, therefore, only to
investigate the nature of the connexion between these
parts ; tracing the branch from its earliest state, or be-
fore it becomes visible to the naked eye, till it is fully
extended, and has itself become the parent of future
branches.

Every branch is formed in a bud or germ ; and every
bud, except perhaps the terminal one, and such as
appear on roots, and constilue suckers, originates in
the axil of a leaf ; to trace, therefore, the origin of
the branch, is, in fact, to trace that of the axillary bud ;
and this may be done most readily in the succulent
shoot of any tree or shrub in early spring, as, for ex-
ample, that of the common Lilac when just expanding
its leaves.

In such shoot, in the axil of about the third pair of
leaves, it is possible to perceive by the aid of the lens
a minute elevation resembling a semi-transparent ve-
sicle depressed in the centre ; which under the mi-
croscope, appears to be a lobular body, with a small
green speck in the central depression. This is the
rudiment of the bud and germ, and consequently of
the future branch. By strong magnifying powers we
discover a connexion between the cellular matter of
the lobes of this germ, and that of the pith, the. medul-

214 THE ORIGIN AND

lary sheath, the bark, and the liber, in the succulent
shoot ; while, yet, the germ itself appears a distinct
body. As the bud advances in growth, it gradually
assumes somewhat of a pyramidal form ; and the or-
ganization of the germ, or new branch and leaves
within it, commences. Towards the end of the sum-
mer, the lobes begin to appear as opposite scales,
from amidst which the apex of the germ, covered by
other scales, is observed protruding ; whilst in a lon-
gitudinal section placed under the microscope, the
rudiments of the new branch can be traced ; for it is
now obscurely marked by the deposition of alburnous
matter, which being paler and more transparent than
the rest of the bud, is seen separating the cellular sub-
stance to constitute the future pith from that which
is to form the bark. But no spiral vessels are yet
perceptible ; the alburnous circle is mere semi-trans-
parent matter ; and the pith is distinguishable from the
cellular substance in which the germ is formed only
by the paler alburnous matter surrounding it. The
progress of the organization advances a little in au-
tumn; but is not perceptible during winter, and it is
not until the following spring that the embryon branch
is very conspicuous At this period, in the Lilac, for
example, it is seen rising as it were from the medul-
lary sheath, in which the spiral vessels seem to origi-
nate ; and from whence, passing up, they distribute
bundles to each of the leaves, which appear now com-
pletely organized, although extremely small and com-
pressed within the scales of the bud. As the season
advances, the bud lengthens ; and at the moment of
its opening, the young branch is seen projecting, cloth-
ed with its leaves, which gradually unfolding them-
selves, display in their axils the rudiments of future
buds, destined to run the same course, and become
in turn the parents of another series.

ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES. 275

If the young branch he now dissected, it is found
to possess exactly the same structure as the stem in
in the early stage of its growth ; that is, to consist of
a central pith turgid with fluid, surrounded by the me-
dullary sheath, around which the spiral vessels ap-
pear in distinct longitudinal bundles ; and beyond them
a layer of semi-organized alburnum, bounded by the
liber ; the vascular fasces of the bark are imbedded in
the cellular integument, and the whole inclosed by the
epidermis, which at this period is generally covered
with excretory glands or some kind of pubescence.
But after the leaves have expanded and performed
their functions for some time, if the branch be again
examined, by carrying a longitudinal section into the
stem, we perceive its alburnum, now fully organized,
and continuous with the new layer in the stem, depos-
ited over that of the former year, which has already
become wood ; and, as the branch increases annually
by new layers, in the same manner as the stem, a si-
mitar section made at any subsequent period displays
its connexion with the stem, forming a cone, the apex
of which touches the medullary sheath of the stem,
and the base its surface whence the branch projects.

Such are the appearances which mark the origin of
the branch and its connexion with the trunk, in the
Lilac ; and the same, with some modification, are
perceptible in all ligneous dicotyledons.

We have seen that the rudiment of the bud is per-
ceptible, in the axill of the leaf, on the young branch
at the moment of its protrusion from the bud in early
spring ; and, that at this period, at least, it is an isolat-
ed body, distinct, as Gsertner has correctly asserted,
from the proper and permanent members of the plant.
The question thence occurs, — When and how are
buds formed? Du Hamel supposed that they originate
in what he terms pre-organized germs, which are de-

276 THE ORIGIN AND

posited by the proper juice in its descent from the
leaves, and pervade every part of the plant ; but al-
though it is impossible to demonstrate the fallacy of
this opinion ; yet, if it can be shown that buds, on
whatever part of the stem or branch they are found,
or at whatever period of the growth of these members
they appear, can be traced to their origin in the first
year's growth of the part on which they appear, it will
be, at least, rendered improbable. To effect this, we
have only to saw out a portion of any trunk or branch
on which a young bud appears ; and carrying the in-
cision down to the pith, and by carefully slicing the
portion horizontally, or in a right angle to the sur-
face of the stem, till we divide the bud to its centre,
we shall find a white line extending from it through
every concentric layer of the wood, till it touches the
medullary sheath. It is argued, however, that if an
Oak, or any old tree, be cut down in winter, leaving
the root in the ground, and a foot or two of the trunk,
we shall find on the margin of the stump multitudes of
buds protruding in the following spring. The fact is
admitted, but not the conclusion inferred from it, that
these buds originate on the surface where they appear ;
for, if they do not all push out on the same plane,
which is the fact, there is no doubt that each could be
traced to the centre of the trunk ; as Mr. Thompson
found to be the case in the Willow and some other
soft wooded trees, which after being cut down, dis-
played the same appearances as the Oak, and the lat-
ter can hardly be imagined as an exception to the
fact. If buds, therefore, be pre-organized germs,
they can be deposited only in the first year's growth of
the stem or branch, the admission of which would
defeat the object of Du Hamel's hypothesis.

These facts, also, render less tenable the doctrine of
Mr. Knight, that buds proceed from the alburnous ves-

ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES. 277

sels, which he supposes have the power to generate
central vessels : for, if this were the case, buds could
be traced no deeper than the alburnum of the season
in which they appear. Neither is the opinion strength-
ened by the fact, that if buds be destroyed in early
spring, others appear ; for, in this case, either the
buds are such as have not been cut or rubbed off at a
depth sufficient to extinguish their vitality, and pre-
vent them from shooting forth again laterally ; or, by
destroying the already protruded buds, those that re-
main latent (two or more germs being often present
in the same vital stream, if the expression may be al-
lowed), receive a new impulse, sufficient to call into
action their dormant powers, and enable them to pro-
trude and evolve their leaves, in the same season ;
which, had the other buds been left, might not have
happened for many years to come.

This fact is practically known to nurserymen and
gardeners, who, without any theory, but guided by
experience, act upon it in order to obtain a clean
Cherry tree stem. No tree is so apt as this to throw
out adventitious buds, but as this would deform and
injure the plant, the nurserymen cut them off close to
the bark. A second crop of shoots, very soon after-
wards make their appearance, which are also taken
away by the knife, after which no other appear ; and,
if the stem be now cut through under the existing
branches, it ceases to grow. That the buds, when
they first protrude, receive their nourishment from the
descending proper juice, is extremely probable ; but
this would also be the case did they arise from the
pre-organized germs of Du Hamel. If this reasoning
be correct, part of our question is already answered,
and we may conclude that all stem buds originate
when the young stem is evolved from the seed, and
all branch buds at the time that the young branch is
24

27S THE ORIGIN AND

formed in the axil of the leaf. They are not, how-
ever, all protruded during the succulent state of the
stem and branch, but many remain latent, performing
so much of their functions only as is requisite to or-
ganize to their proper structure a certain portion of
each successive annual layer of wood, and carry them
forward in the embryon state ; until circumstances oc-
cur favorable to the completion of their organization
and protrusion on the surface of the stem ; or until
some accident destroys them, when instead of being
carried forward they remain buried beneath the suc-
ceeding layers of the wood.

If buds be not pre-organized germs, nor formed
from the descending proper juice, how then do they
originate . p In vital points, generated, in the first period
of the growth of the stem and branch, in the axils of
the leaves : or, that they are, to use the language of
Darwin, distinct individuals, the lateral or viviparous
progeny of the parent upon whose surface they appear.
The individuality of buds must have been suspected
as early as the discovery of the art of budding ; and
it is fully proved by the dissection of plants. The vi-
tal energy, however, which commences the process
of organization in the bud, is not necessarily confined
to the germ, nor distinct from that which maintains
the growth of the entire plant ; but it is so connected
with organization, that when this has proceeded a cer-
tain length, the bud may be removed from the parent
and attached to another, where it will become a branch
the same as if it had not been removed ; or, with prop-
er care, it may be made to grow in the earth, and be-
come an entire plant, with all the properties and ex-
ternal characters of the parent.

Before organization commences in the germ, it is,
as we have seen, an insulated speck, covered by the
epidermis only, and connected with the other parts of

ATTACHiVfENT OF BRANCHES. 279

the stem or branch, in which it is seated, merely by
cellular matter. The effect of the organic power on
it is the addition of new matter, and the consequent
evolution of its parts ; till gradually extending in the
direction of its axis, it unites with and becomes a per-
manent part of the plant. The quantity of amylace-
ous granules contained in the cells surrounding the
germ, renders it probable that it receives its first nou-
rishment from this source ; and it is not less probable,
that the lobes which surrounded it, perform for it a
similar function to that of the cotyledons, as connected
with the embryon inclosed within them, or that of the
leaves in reference to the stem and branch ; which we
shall afterwards prove to be analagous to that of the
lungs in animals. But it is, also, probable that the
leaf above the bud supplies part of the pabulum which
is elaborated into the new branch ; for, until its own
leaves are expanded in spring, and capable of produc-
ing that change on the sap which converts it into pro-
per juice, no alburnous matter can be formed by them.
The descending juice, however, from the leaf above
the germ, is not conveyed to it by any vascular com-
munication, but deposited in the cellular mass or pla-
centa, if it may be so termed, on which it is seated;
and by which alone it is connected with the medul-
lary sheath of the parent shoot. In the germ or vital
speck, thus situated and supplied with nutriment, the
organization of the branch commences as from a cen-
tre. It is not probable that we shall ever be able to
trace every minute change, which occurs from this pe-
riod until the first rudiment of the new branch is con-
spicuous, even by the aid of the best microscopes ;
but the first part that can be distinctly recognised is
the pith, which, in a longitudinal section of the green
twig of the Lilac, made three weeks after its protrusion
from the bud, and the appearance of the germ on its

280 THE OBIGIN ANU

surface, resembles a more opaque spot of a greenish
hue, with lines running in a direction from the centre
of the parent branch towards the apex of the germ.
These are the first traces of the spiral vessels of the
future branch. The cellular matter, in the part of
the bud above the vital speck, displays also at this pe-
riod a more regular form, and indications of its sepa-
ration into scales are already perceptible ; but the
whole bud is still a completely insulated body. As
the organization proceeds, new scales are seen sepa-
rating from the mass of parenchyma, the medulla en-
enlarges in every direction, and in autumn the whole
presents a pyramidal appearance ; in which state the
bud remains nearly stationary until the ensuing spring.
As the cessation of the vegetative power in winter
increases in a great degree the excitability of plants
which outlive its severity, the genial influence of spring
is very early visible on their buds, in which the whole
vital energy of trees and shrubs may be supposed at
this period to reside ; and it is only by the visible
change which rapidly occurs in them, that we can
pronounce upon the life of the entire plant. If a lon-
gitudinal section of a twig be examined at this time,
although the pith he, generally speaking, a dry, spon-
gy mass, yet, a little above and below the parts where
the buds appear, it is succulent and green. This can
be explained only by supposing that the increased vi-
tal energy of the buds is extended around them to a
certain degree, maintaining the lateral communication
through the pores of the cells, while these have now
become impervious in other parts ; and by this effect
a sufficient supply of nutriment is provided for the
bud, which, enlarging in every direction as the spring
advances at length, opens its scales and pushes for-
ward, into the light and air, the young branch with its
leaves and flowers. On examining now the connex-

ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES. 2S1

ion of the shoot with the stem or branch, we find it
no longei an isolated individual, but seated closely up-
on the medullary sheath of the parent, and the al-
burnous matter which is deposited between its bark
and pith, continuous with that thrown out from the li-
ber of the old bark, alread) giving origin to a ligneous
layer, that forms both a connecting vinculum between
the tree and the new branch, and a support to the lat-
ter in its projecting position.

A very clear idea oi the origin and connexion of
branches may be obtained by the aid of the diagram
given and explained at the end of the volume.

Such are the observations which appeared neces-
sary to illustrate the origin of branches and their con-
nexion with the trunk ; and from which the following
conclusions may be drawn : 1. That every branch
originates in a bud or germ. 2. That every bud or
germ is a distinct isolated individual, the lateral prog-
eny of the plant, and generated at the first develope-
ment of the stem or branch on which it appears, but,
after some time, increasing by its own organic pow-
ers, it forms a branch, and becomes a part of the tree
or shrub which has produced it. 3. That every ad-
ventitious bud, or bud appearing at any after period,
originates in a germ generated at the developement of
the stem or branch on which it appears, although it
has hith