Botany for Ladies / or, A Popular Introduction to the Natural System of Plants, According to the Classification of De Candolle.

CHAPTER I. (2)

PHANEROGAMOUS PLANTS—DICOTYLEDONÆ—I. DICHLAMYDEÆ.

§ I.—THALAMIFLORÆ.

In all the plants contained in this chapter the receptacle is a fleshy substance called the thalamus, or disk, which is surrounded by the calyx, and out of which the carpels or seed-vessels, the stamens, and the petals, all grow separately from each other. Sixty-five orders are included in this division, but I shall only describe those which contain plants which have been introduced into Britain, except where the orders chance to contain plants well known in commerce.

ORDER I.—RANUNCULACEÆ.

The plants belonging to this order are known by their numerous stamens, the anthers of which burst outwardly; by their carpels growing close together without adhering, except in one or two instances; and by the stem-clasping petioles of their leaves, which are generally deeply cut. The flowers when regular have five petals and five sepals, but they differ widely in shape, and the calyx of several of them is coloured so as to resemble a corolla. The seeds are fre quently cariopsides; and the plants abound in a watery juice which is acrid, and in most cases poisonous.

ORDER II.—DILLENIACEÆ.

This order resembles RaminculaceÆ in having five petals, five sepals, and numerous stamens; but the anthers burst inwardly instead of outwardly, and there are never more than five carpels, and seldom more than two, which often grow into a berry-like fruit, as in the genus Dillenia from which the order takes its name. One species of this genus is occasionally seen in English hothouses, Dillenia speciosa. It has yellow flowers with the five petals apart at the base, and the sepals edged with white. The fruit consists of five carpels growing together with a sort of crown formed by the spreading stigmas. Another genus, some of the species of which are found in British greenhouses, is Hibbertia. The species are generally climbing plants, with flowers like those of Dillenia, but smaller, though H. dentata has the petals close together. The difference between the genera consists principally in the carpels, which in Hibbertia are distinct with long filiform styles curving inwards. All the plants contained in this order are evergreen exotic shrubs and trees with simple alternate leaves, and, with only two or three exceptions, the flowers are yellow.

ORDER III.—MAGNOLIACEÆ.

This order was divided by De Candolle into two tribes: viz. IllicieÆ, the Aniseed tribe; and MagnolieÆ, the Magnolia tribe. The first, which is now made a distinct order, under the name of WinteraceÆ, contains three genera, only one of which, Illicium, is common in this country. The only hardy species of this genus, I. floridanum, the Florida Aniseed tree, has very dark purple flowers, which appear to be double from the great number of the petals, which are from twenty to thirty. The carpels are also numerous, and arranged so as to form a star. All the plants in this tribe are highly aromatic, and one species, Drimys Winteri, which has white fragrant flowers, produces an aromatic bark that is used in medicine.

The tribe MagnolieÆ is distinguished by the fruit consisting of a number of carpels arranged so as to form a cone. There are six genera in this order, the most remarkable of which are Magnolia, Liriodendron, Talauma, and Michelia, the last genus consisting of stove trees, with very fragrant flowers, which are generally of a pale yellow, and only one species of which, M. Champaca, has been introduced.

Of these genera Magnolia is undoubtedly the best known; as nearly all the species are common in British gardens. This genus is divided into two sections, one containing the American Magnolias, and the other those from Asia, which are principally from China and Japan.

Fig.104.—Flower of Magnolia conspicua opened to show the stamens and pistil.

The latter may be illustrated by Magnolia conspicua, sometimes called M. Yulan. The flower-buds are inclosed in a brown hairy case formed of two short bracts which become loose at the base, and are pushed off by the expanding flower. The flower itself (see fig. 104) is cup -shaped, and it is divided into six white fleshy Fig.105.—The flower-bud of the Evergreen Magnolia. petals. The calyx consists of three sepals,—which fall off soon after the petals expand. In the centre of the flower is the receptacle, drawn up into a fleshy cone, with a great number of carpels attached to it, each of which has one cell containing two ovules, and a curved stigma. Around this cone grow the stamens, with very long anthers standing up like palisades, and very short thick filaments. The fruit is oval, with the ovaries somewhat distant from each other. The flowers appear before the leaves. The other Asiatic species are M. gracilis or Kobus, M. discolor, obovata, or purpurea, and M. fuscata; the former two forming handsome shrubs in the open ground, and having cup-shaped flowers which are white within and purplish on the outside, and the latter being a greenhouse plant, with brown very fragrant flowers.

The American species of Magnolia differ in having their flower- buds enveloped in one long spathe-like bract, as shown in fig. 105. The ovaries grow close together; and, when ripe, the carpels, which look like the scales of a fir-cone (see fig. 106), burst by a slit down the back; and the seeds, which are covered with a red juicy pulp, burst out, and hang down by a long white thread, which in the course of a few days withers away. The principal species of American Magnolias are the evergreen Magnolia, or Big Laurel (M. grandiflora); the Umbrella Tree (M. Fig.106.—The ripe fruit and seeds of the Evergreen Magnolia. tripetala), which grows like a shrub with several stems rising from the ground; the Cucumber-tree (M. acuminata), the flowers of which are bluish and the leaves pointed; Beaver wood (M. glauca), the flowers of which are small, and the leaves covered with a glaucous bloom; M. auriculata, M. pyramidata and M. macrophylla, which are nearly allied to the Cucumber-tree; and M. cordata, the flowers of which are yellowish. All these Magnolias produce their leaves before their flowers; and in this also they differ from M. conspicua, the flowers of which appear before the leaves.

The genus Liriodendron contains only two species differing slightly in the leaves. Both are lofty trees, with cup-shaped flowers of six petals curiously stained with red and yellow, and bent back at the tip. The calyx consists of three sepals, which remain on as long as the petals. The fruit is cone-shaped, but the carpels, which are each furnished with a kind of wing, instead of opening when ripe, fall with the seed enclosed.

The genus Talauma differs from Magnolia principally in the carpels, which open irregularly by valves; and in the number of petals, which vary from six to twelve. Only two species are common in British hothouses, T. Candolli, commonly called Magnolia odoratissima; and T. pumila, sometimes called M. pumila and sometimes Liriodendron lilifera: both are natives of Java, and both have cream-coloured, or yellowish flowers, which are remarkably fragrant at night.

ORDER IV. ANONACEÆ.—THE CUSTARD-APPLE TRIBE.

The hardy plants belonging to this order, that are well known in Britain, were formerly included in the genus Anona; but now the only species retained in that genus are stove plants, natives of the West Indies, with yellowish brown or dark purple flowers, the calyx of which is in three sepals, and the corolla in three or six thick fleshy petals, and which have numerous stamens with large angular anthers, and very short filaments. The carpels are numerous, but they grow altogether into a fleshy eatable fruit, divided into many cells, each containing one seed. This fruit is called the custard apple or sour sop in the West Indies; and it differs in flavour in the different species, but the most delicious kind is produced by A. Cherimolia, a native of Peru. The hardy species included in Anona by LinnÆus have been separated from that genus, and formed into another under the name of Asimina, the principal distinction between them being in the fruit; which in the genus Asimina consists of two or three berry-like carpels growing together, not eatable, and each containing many seeds. A. triloba, the hardiest species, is a large shrub, with dark brownish purple flowers. The plants in this order are all aromatic.

ORDER V.—MENISPERMACEÆ.—THE COCCULUS TRIBE.

All the plants contained in this order are climbing exotic shrubs, generally with drooping racemes of small delicate flowers, the male and female flowers being on different plants. The number of sepals and petals varies in the different genera, and sometimes the petals are wanting. The stamens frequently grow together into a central column; and the fruit is a drupe or one-seeded berry, generally scarlet, but sometimes black. The principal plants in this order which are known in England, are, Menispermum canadensis (the Canadian Moon Seed), a very ornamental hardy, climbing, shrub; Cocculus palmatus, the root of which is a tonic drug, called Columba root; Anamirta Cocculus, which produces the berries called Cocculus indicus in the shops, which are said to be used in porter to give it an intoxicating property; Schizandra coccinea, a greenhouse climber with scarlet flowers; and Kadsura japonica, a climbing shrub with white flowers and red berries, which proves quite hardy in the open air. Kadsura, Schizandra, and three other genera, little known in this country, have been formed into a new order under the name of SchizandriaceÆ. The qualities of all these plants are tonic.

ORDER VI. BERBERIDEÆ.—THE BERBERRY TRIBE.

Fig.107.—Details of the flower and fruit of the common Berberry, partly magnified.

Each flower of the common Berberry (Berberis vulgaris) has on the outside three little bracteal scales, which are reddish on the back, and soon fall off. The flower itself consists of a corolla of six petals, and a calyx of six sepals, though as these divisions are all of the same size and shape, and of the same colour and texture, it is not very easy to distinguish the calyx from the corolla. The petals will however be found on examination to have each two little glands at the base, as shown at a in fig. 107, which the sepals are without. The sepals are placed exactly behind the petals, so that the one appears a lining of the other; and, being concave, the petals serve as a kind of cradle to the stamens, as shown at b. There are six stamens, which have broad filaments; and instead of anthers the filaments are widened at the tip, and each contains two cases for the pollen (c); these cases are each furnished with a valve-like lid (d), which opens and curls back when the pollen is ripe. The pistil (e) is pitcher-shaped, with a very thick style, and a flat stigma. It stands erect, while the stamens are spread out so as to be a long way from it, but they are so irritable that the slightest touch makes them spring forward and discharge their pollen on the stigma, afterwards falling back into their former places. The flowers are yellow, and they are produced in long drooping racemes; and they are succeeded by red oblong berries (f), each of which contains two seeds (g). The receptacle, with the stamens growing out of it from beneath the pistil, is shown at i. The common Berberries are all deciduous shrubs, with simple leaves, which are produced in tufts, as shown in fig. 108, each leaf being delicately fringed with hair-like teeth. Each tuft of leaves has two or three sharply-pointed stipules, which are easily distinguished from the leaves, by their margins being without teeth; and below these are three spines, which, when young, are soft and look like folded leaves, but which, when older, be come hard, and sharply pointed. These spines are considered by some botanists to be abortive branches. There are many different kinds of Berberry, which differ principally in the size of the flowers and in the colour of the fruit; but which also vary in the size and shape of the leaves, and in the manner in which they are toothed.

Fig.108.—Flowers of the Berberry, natural size.

The Ash-leaved Berberries were formed into a separate genus called Mahonia by Nuttall; and this genus has been adopted by Professor de Candolle, and other botanists. Dr. Lindley, however, includes all the species in the genus Berberis, and he has been followed by Mr. George Don in his new edition of Sweet’s Hortus Britannicus. Whether the genus Mahonia be a good one or not, the plants composing it are very distinct from the true Berberries. The leaves of the Mahonias are evergreen, and pinnate; and the leaflets instead of being fringed with fine hairs, are broadly serrated, the points being tipped by a sharp prickle or mucro (see a in fig. 109); and the petiole is articulated, and somewhat stem-clasping at the base (b). The flowers are in erect racemes, and smaller than those of the Berberry; they are also more globular, being less widely opened, and the petals are without any glands. The filaments of the stamens have two hair-like teeth just below the lobes of the anthers; and the fruit has from three to nine seeds in each berry; while the Berberries have only one or two. There are many kinds of Magnolia, but the handsomest is M. Aquifolium, a hardy shrub, with dark green shining leaves, like the holly. All the species both of Berberis and Mahonia have yellow flowers; and the Mahonias all flower very abundantly, and very early in spring.

Fig.109.—A compound leaf, being that of Mahonia aquifolium.

The principal other plants belonging to this order are, Nandina domestica, a very pretty shrub with white flowers, from China, which requires a greenhouse in England; several species of Epimedium, some of which are from Japan, with purple and white flowers; a few species of Leontice, pretty plants with yellow flowers; and a plant called Diphylleia cymosa, with white flowers and blue berries, a native of North America. All these plants are easily recognised by their broad stamens, and the curling back of the valves of their anthers.

ORDER VII. PODOPHYLLACEÆ.—THE MAY-APPLE TRIBE.

This order contains only two genera; viz., Podophyllum and Jeffersonia; both of which have a calyx of three or four sepals, and a white corolla of from six to nine petals. Podophyllum has numerous stamens, and a fleshy berry with only one cell, which does not open when ripe; and Jeffersonia has eight or nine stamens, and a capsule which opens all round the apex. Podophyllum peltatum is the May-apple, and its fruit is eatable when ripe, though very acid; the leaves are very large, and peltate, that is, with the footstalk attached to the centre; and Jeffersonia diphylla is a little plant, without any stem but that which supports the flower. Both are natives of America, where they are found in moist shady places.

ORDER VIII. HYDROPELTIDEÆ.

This order, which many botanists combine with the preceding one, also consists of only two genera; viz., Cabomba and Hydropeltis; and of these Cabomba aquatica is a stove aquatic, and Hydropeltis purpurea is a hardy water plant, with peltate leaves, and dull purple flowers.

ORDER IX. NYMPHÆACEÆ.—THE WATER-LILY TRIBE.

Fig.110.—The flower, leaf, and seed-vessel of the White Water-lily, greatly reduced in size.

The principal genera in this order are NymphÆa, Euryale, Victoria, Nuphar, and Nelumbium. The flowers of the common White Water-lily (NymphÆa alba) consist of numerous sepals, petals, and stamens, all of which might be mistaken for petals, being principally distinguished by their colour. The sepals, (a in fig. 110,) are green on the outside, but they are white within, and of the same fleshy substance as the petals (b). The stamens (c) look like narrow yellow petals; they are pointed, and bear the pollen in two lobes near the point, which open longitudinally when ripe. The inner row of stamens are without anthers, and form a kind of vandyke edging to the pistil, as shown at e. The pistil consists generally of sixteen carpels, growing together into a vase-like, many-celled berry, as shown at d; the spreading stigmas, which have also grown together, forming a kind of lid. The carpels are completely enclosed by the receptacle which rises up round them, and forms a thick fleshy covering, as shown at f. The seeds are numerous, and they are covered with a thick leathery skin. The embryo is small, and it is surrounded by a great mass of floury albumen. The leaves (g) are large and nearly round; and the main root, which is called a rhizoma, is thick and fleshy, and is, indeed, an underground stem. There are several kinds of NymphÆa, the most remarkable of which is the Egyptian Lotos (N. Lotos), the flowers of which are white tinged with pink; and both the roots and seeds of which are eaten. Euryale is a genus of South American Water-lilies, generally with small flowers, and large rough leaves; and Victoria regina, also a native of South America, is perhaps the most magnificent Water-lily in the world; the leaf, which is peltate and turned up at the brim, being of a deep crimson on its lower surface, is upwards of six feet in diameter; and the flowers are more than a foot in diameter, with a corolla of more than a hundred large white petals tinged with pink.

The genus Nuphar consists of only three or four species, the most common of which is N. lutea, the common yellow Water-lily, a native of Britain. The flower has a cup-shaped calyx of five large yellow sepals, the tips of which curve inwards. The petals are small, truncate, and flat, with a small pore on the back of each; and the stamens, which are very numerous, have broad petal-like filaments. They differ, however, very much in appearance from those of the genus NymphÆa, and they are differently placed, springing from the base of the vase-like pistil, and not from the upper part. There are from sixteen to twenty carpels enclosed in the dilated receptacle, to which the stigmas form a ray-like cover; and each carpel contains several seeds. The leaves are somewhat cordate, and rise rather above the surface of the water, and the rhizoma, or root-stem, is very thick. The common yellow Water-lily, or Brandy-bottle, as it is sometimes called from the smell of its flowers, is common in every part of England, and it is generally found in small ponds or ditches. The other species are mostly natives of North America.

The Indian Lotos (Nelumbium speciosum) differs so much from both the preceding genera, as to be considered by some botanists to form a different natural order. The sepals and petals are so intermingled in the flower as to be scarcely distinguishable; but the filaments of the stamens are less broad and petal-like. The disk is still elevated, but it has lost the vase-like form, and it appears as though the top had been abruptly cut off; while the carpels are no longer joined together, but are plunged each separately in the fleshy receptacle, or torus, with their stigmas quite distinct. As the carpels are only half immersed in the torus, and thus show their styles and stigmas, they have a very singular and bottle-like appearance; and the torus, when they are taken out of it, looks like a piece of honey-comb. The rhizoma is white and fleshy. The stalks of the flowers and leaves rise considerably above the water; and thus the flowers have not the graceful appearance of those of the NymphÆa, which seem to repose on the surface. The leaf is very large, being sometimes one or two feet in diameter; and it is always peltate, with the stalk exactly in the centre. There is only one seed in each carpel of the Nelumbium; and this seed, which has no thick leathery skin, is of about the size and shape of an acorn. It is very good to eat, having a sweet milky flavour, and in botanical construction it resembles the common bean, having no albumen, but a very large embryo. This is probably the reason why it has been supposed to be the bean of Pythagoras, and why it is called the Sacred Bean of India. One of the Hindoo fables represents the god Bramah as first appearing in the form of a child, cradled on a Lotos leaf, and floating on the waste of waters.

There are several kinds of Nelumbium, one of which, a native of America, has double yellow flowers; and they all require a stove in England.

ORDER X. SARRACENIEÆ.—THE SIDE-SADDLE PLANT.

There is only one genus in this order, which can never be mistaken for any other, from the pitcher-shaped petioles of its leaves, and its singular flowers. It is a native of Canada, but it rarely flowers without a stove in England. It is a dwarf plant, and it is thus easily distinguished from the Chinese Pitcher plant, which grows eight or ten feet high, and which belongs to quite a different order.

ORDER XI. PAPAVERACEÆ.—THE POPPY TRIBE.

This tribe contains several genera, all of which have a thick glutinous juice when broken, which poisons by stupifying. The genera most common in British gardens are Papaver, the Poppy; Argemone, the Prickly Poppy; Meconopsis, the Welsh Poppy; Sanguinaria, Blood-root; Eschscholtzia; Hunnemania; Roemeria; Glaucium, Horned Poppy; Chelidonium, Greater Celandine or Swallow-wort; Hypecoum; Platystemon, and Platystigma. Most of these plants are either annual, or last only two or three years, and they have all very handsome flowers, which are generally large and of showy colours.

The common Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhoeas) has a showy flower, the corolla of which consists of Fig.111.—Flower, leaf, and seed-vessel of the common Poppy. four very large scarlet petals, the outer two much exceeding the others in size (see a in fig. 111). The calyx is green, and it is divided into only two sepals, (see b,) which fall off soon after the expansion of the flower. The petals are all curiously crumpled in the bud, and they present quite a wrinkled appearance when the flowers are first opened. The stamens are very numerous, and the anthers, which are black, are of the kind called innate; that is, the filament is only attached to them at the lower part (c). The seed-vessel of the Corn Poppy is, when ripe, a dry leathery capsule (d) with numerous angles, each angle indicating a carpel; for the capsule of the Poppy, though one-celled when ripe, consists, in fact, of a number of carpels grown together. The remains of these imperfect carpels are perceptible in the little valves shown at f, which open at the top of each to discharge the seed when it is ripe; and in the slightly-peaked cover (e), which consists of as many stigmas grown together as there appear to have been carpels. When the capsule is cut open (as shown in the capsule at g, from which the fourth part has been removed), remains of the carpels will be found in several projections from the sides, which partially divide the inside of the capsule into several imperfect cells, in which the young seeds are formed; though none of these portions reach the centre. The ovules, when first formed in the ovary, are attached to these projections, which are called parietal placentÆ; but as the seeds ripen they become loose, and if a dry Poppy-head be shaken, they will be found to rattle. The leaves of the Corn Poppy are what is called pinnatifid, (see h in fig. 111,) that is, they are so deeply cut as to appear almost in separate leaflets; and the whole plant (except the petals and the capsule) is covered with short bristly hairs (i), which stand out horizontally.

The Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) differs from the Corn Poppy in several respects. First, the whole plant is glabrous, that is, devoid of either hairs or bristles; the capsule also is much larger and more fleshy in an unripe state, and the crown-like lid is smoother, and curved over like a plume of feathers, (see a in fig. 112.)

Fig.112.—The flower, bud, leaves, and capsule of the Opium Poppy, much smaller than the natural size.

The fleshiness of the unripe seed-vessel of the Poppy puzzled me extremely at first, as I knew that the ripe capsule of this Poppy is always dry and leathery; but it was soon explained to me, that this fleshy substance is, in fact, an elongation of the receptacle or disk, which rises up round the carpels, and envelops them, in the same way as the disk of the Water-lily grows round the pistil and carpels of that plant, but which dries up as the fruit ripens. The leaves of the Opium Poppy (b) differ from those of the Corn Poppy, in being much broader, and only slightly cut or notched; they are also glaucous, that is, of a bluish or sea-green, and they are clasped round the stem at their base (as shown at c). All the PapaveraceÆ abound in a thick glutinous juice, which in the Poppies has the colour and appearance of milk, and which possesses stupifying properties; but in the Opium Poppy this juice is particularly abundant. Opium is, in fact, procured by wounding the fleshy capsule with a sharp knife, and suffering the milky juice which exudes to dry in the sun; after which it is scraped off with a blunt instrument, and pressed into cakes for sale. The opium of commerce is produced in hot countries; but even in England, any one who chooses may procure a small quantity of opium, by wounding the fleshy capsule of the common White Poppy when it is about half ripe. A milky juice will issue from the wound, which when dry becomes opium, and would be poisonous if taken in excess. The capsule of the White or Opium Poppy has, when ripe, a little window-like opening under each stigma for the discharge of the seeds, which contain abundance of oil, and may be safely eaten, though the rest of the plant is poisonous.

There are many different kinds of Poppy; but they all agree in the corolla of their flowers being in four petals, or in some number divisible by four; and in the calyx, which is generally in two sepals, dropping off as soon as the flowers expand. All the species abound in a milky juice, which poisons by stupifying; and they all agree in the general construction of the capsule, with its fleshy envelop and its stigma-formed lid. The petals are always crumpled in the bud, and they fall very soon, so that the beauty of the flowers is very short-lived. The flower-buds droop; but when the flowers expand, the stalk becomes erect, and remains so while the capsule containing the seeds is ripening; a wise provision, common to many plants, to prevent the seeds from falling too soon. The calyx of most of the Poppies is in only two sepals; but in the two showy perennial species, called P. orientale and P. bracteatum, the calyx is in three sepals.

Among the other plants belonging to the order PapaveraceÆ, may be mentioned the Horned Poppy (Glaucium luteum), which, instead of an obovate capsule, has a long horn-like pod, divided into two cells, the valves opening from the top to the bottom. The whole plant is glaucous; and the leaves, which are broad and notched, clasp the stem at their base, like those of the Opium Poppy. The Prickly Poppy (Argemone mexicana) has the whole plant covered with strong prickles; the leaves are wrinkled and curved up at the margin; the calyx has three sepals; and the capsules are in four or five valves, the stigmas forming a kind of cross at the top. The stem and leaves when bruised give out a thick glutinous juice, which, instead of being white like that of the Poppy, is yellow.

The Eschscholtzia is the last genus of the order PapaveraceÆ that I shall mention here, and it deserves a particular description, both from its popularity and the beauty of its flowers, and from the singularity of its botanical construction. The bud when it first appears is enfolded in a calyx, which is pointed at its upper extremity, and appears to have a kind of rim near its base. When the flower is ready to expand, the calyx detaches itself all round from the projecting rim, and rises gradually without opening, till the flower actually pushes it off. The detached calyx resembles an extinguisher, and hence it is called calyptrate, which has that signification. The flower is cup-shaped; there are four petals and four stigmas, two of which are much longer than the others. The capsules are elongated like those of the Horned Poppy, but they are distinguished by the projection of the flat fleshy disk at their base; they are two-valved and two-celled. The leaves are glaucous, and finely cut. There are three species, or perhaps varieties, which differ principally in the degree of enlargement of the receptacle or disk. They have all large fleshy roots, which bleed copiously if wounded, and for this reason the plants are difficult to remove unless when quite young.

ORDER XII. FUMARIACEÆ.—THE FUMITORY TRIBE.

The flowers of plants of this order are so peculiar in their shape, as when once seen to be easily remembered. There are two small sepals, which soon fall off, and four petals of an irregular shape, two of them being drawn out into a kind of spur. There are six stamens, and the fruit is silique-formed. The plants have somewhat of a smoky smell, and when broken yield a watery juice. The principal genera are Fumaria, Corydalis, and Diclytra.

ORDER XIII. CRUCIFERÆ.—CRUCIFEROUS PLANTS.

The Cruciferous plants form so natural an order, that when one of them has been described the others may be easily recognised. They have all a separate calyx and corolla, each in four divisions; the four sepals being placed Fig.113.—The flower and stamens and pistil of the Sea-kale, to illustrate the CruciferÆ. alternately with the four petals, the latter forming a cross (as shown at a in fig. 113), whence the name of Cruciferous, which signifies cross-bearing. There are six stamens (b), two of which are much shorter than the others; and two carpels with one style, and a capitate or divided stigma. The seed-vessel is a kind of pod, either short and broad, like that of the Shepherd’s Purse (fig. 114), where it is called a sillicle; or long and narrow, Fig.114.—A Sillicle. like that of the Cabbage, which is called a silique. The two valves of the silique open naturally when ripe, from the bottom curving upwards, (see fig. 115,) and the seeds are deposited on a thin membrane between the cells, which is the dissepiment. All the CruciferÆ, from abounding in nitrogen, have an unpleasant smell when decaying, like putrid flesh; and when cultivated, they even in a wild state require abundance of animal manure; hence, they are generally found near human habitations, or where cattle are kept. When wild, they have generally acrid properties; and though these are in most cases softened by cultivation, yet they are still perceptible in the Fig.115.—A Silique. roots of the Horse-Radish, and the common Radish, and in the leaves and seeds of Mustard, and the different kinds of Cress, &c. This acridity, however, is never so great as to be injurious; and Cruciferous plants, particularly if their texture be succulent and watery, may always be eaten with perfect safety. Even those which, in a wild state, are tough and stringy, such as the wild Cabbage and the root of the wild Turnip, become excellent by cultivation; and all Cruciferous plants are so extremely nourishing as to be considered next in this quality to animal food.

Among the many garden flowers which belong to this order, few are more popular than the common Wallflower (Cheiranthus Cheiri). Its hardiness, and the facility with which it is raised and cultivated—the gaiety of its flowers, their profusion, and their delightful fragrance, combine to make it a general favourite; and I think I cannot take a flower to illustrate the order which is more generally known and liked. The flowers of the Wallflower (see fig. 116, a) consist of four petals, each of which is furnished with a long tapering point, called the claw (b), and a broad flat part called the limb (c). The claws of the petals are buried in a calyx of four sepals, placed alternately to the petals, and somewhat swelled out at the base, (see d). The stigma (e) is two-lobed, and forms a kind of notched head. There are six stamens, which appear at first to be all nearly of the same height, but on examination it will be found that two are somewhat shorter than the others. The seed-vessel is of course the lower part of the pistil; which, after the petals drop, becomes elongated into a somewhat cylindrical silique, which contains several flattish seeds.

Fig.116.—Flowers of the Wallflower.

The Brompton Stock (Mathiola incana), and the Ten-week Stock (M. annua), differ from the Fig.117.—Flower of the Brompton Stock. Wallflower principally in the shape of the stigma (see fig. 117, a). The petals have also rather longer claws, and hang looser, as shown at b. The Virginian Stock (Malcomia maritima) has a roundish silique, and only one stigma, which ends in a long tapering point. The Candytuft (Iberis umbellata) has a short pod or sillicle, which has the appearance of being cut off at the point, and which contains only one seed in each cell; and the outer two petals of the flower are somewhat larger than the inner ones. Many other Cruciferous plants might be described, but I think my readers will have pleasure in seeking them out themselves, and examining them, to discover their points of agreement and of difference; particularly as, though the order is such a very large one, the flowers of all the plants are so much alike, that no one can be in doubt respecting their alliance.

ORDER XIV.—RESEDACEÆ.—THE MIGNONETTE.

The common Mignonette (Reseda odorata) was once included in the order CapparideÆ; but it is now made into a little order by itself, called ResedaceÆ. The flower, as is well known, is by no means remarkable for its beauty, though it is for its fragrance; but when examined botanically, it will be found well deserving of attention, from the singularity of its construction. It has a green calyx of six sepals, which are only remarkable for being what botanists call linear; that is, long and narrow, and of equal width throughout—a very unusual form for sepals. Within the calyx are the petals, six fleshy, green, heart-shaped bodies; with a hair-like fringe round the lower part, and with the upper part cut into a tuft of segments so different in colour and texture from the lower part, that it is scarcely possible to believe that they are one. This upper part of the petal is called the crest, and it is pure white; the segments into which it is divided appearing to be a great number of delicate little petals growing out of a fleshy heart-shaped disk.

It is worth gathering a flower of Mignonette, and taking off one of the petals to look at it in a microscope; and one of moderate size, which may be bought for 12s. at the Bazaars, will be quite sufficient for the purpose. It will then be found that the fleshy part of the petal is as easily detached from the rest of the flower as petals usually are, but that it is so firmly fixed to the crest as to be inseparable without cutting. The disk is, however, dilated and curiously drawn out between the stamens which are inserted in its base, and the petals, as though to form a barrier between them. It will be quite visible when the petals are removed, as it is as firmly attached to the stalk of the flower as the petals are to their crests. Between this elevated part of the disk and the calyx is a green substance which looks like a part of the stalk, but which belongs to the disk. There are twelve stamens, with large orange-coloured anthers, which are at first erect, but afterwards bend forward horizontally; and in the middle of the stamens is the ovary, an oblong hollow cell, with a three-lobed stigma, forming three erect points. Inside the ovary from each stigma runs the kind of nerve called the placenta, and to each nerve are attached three rows of seeds. The substance of the ovary is always soft and leaf-like, even when it becomes a ripe capsule; and though it is greatly swelled out and bladdery, it retains the same leaf-like and somewhat wrinkled appearance to the last. When the capsule is ripe, each of the pointed lobes, which formed its upper extremity, opens down the middle, thus forming a curious three-cornered mouth for the discharge of the seed. The flowers form what is called an upright raceme, springing from a succulent main stem, which is, however, somewhat woody at the base. The plant indeed, though treated in England as an annual, is a shrub in the plains of Barbary, of which it is a native; and even in this country it may be made to assume the character of a small tree, by keeping it during winter in a hothouse or greenhouse. I was very much surprised to find that Mignonette has been introduced barely a century; and it seems difficult to imagine how those of our ancestors who were fond of flower-gardens contrived to do without it. I have only to add that there are several species of Reseda, one of which (R. luteola) is a British plant used in dyeing, and is called Dyer’s Weed, or Weld.

ORDER XV.—DATISCEÆ.

There is only one genus of three species, which are coarse hardy perennials, having the appearance of hemp; and only grown in England in botanic gardens.

ORDER XVI.—CAPPARIDEÆ.—THE CAPER TRIBE.

This order is divided into two sections, viz., the true Capers, and the Cleomes; both of which have very long and conspicuous stamens. The common Caper (Capparis spinosa) has a large and handsome flower, with a distinct calyx and corolla, both in four parts. The petals are white, and so delicate in their texture as to fade in a few hours if exposed to the sun; and the stamens, which are very numerous, have rich purple filaments. In the centre is the pistil, with a very long stalk, and the ovary at the point, instead of at the base, with no style, and a very small stigma. In consequence of this curious construction, the seed-pod, which is fleshy, and hangs downwards, appears to be on a much longer stalk than the flower. The shrub is spiny, and in its natural habitat it grows among stones and rocks. It is the unopened flower-buds that are pickled. The genus Cleome consists principally of annuals, with very handsome flowers, which have very long stamens, and a pistil of the same construction as in Capparis, but the fruit is a dry capsule. The anthers of the stamens are often enfolded in the flowers before they are fully expanded, so that the filaments appear bent, till at last they open fully and hang down. There are a few other genera in the order, but they are little known in England.

ORDER XVII.—FLACOURTIANEÆ.

The plants belonging to this order are mostly Indian plants, little known in Europe.

ORDER XVIII.—BIXINEÆ.—THE ARNOTTA TRIBE.

Bixa Orellana is a shrub, a native of South America, which requires a bark stove in England. It has pink flowers with five petals, and a green calyx of as many sepals. The stamens are numerous; but they are on rather short filaments. The leaves are very large and heart-shaped. The fruit is a berry, and the pulp in which the seeds are immersed, when dry, is the Arnotta used in colouring cheese.

ORDER XIX.—CISTINEÆ.—THE CISTUS TRIBE.

There are only four genera in this order, viz., Cistus, Helianthemum, Hudsonia, and Lechea; and though there are almost innumerable plants comprised in it, they nearly all belong to the first two.

All the plants belonging to the genera Cistus, the Rock-rose, and Helianthemum, the Sun-rose, have showy flowers, each having five petals, which are crumpled in the bud like those of the Poppy; they also resemble the petals of the Poppy tribe in falling almost as soon as they have expanded, as every one must have observed who has noticed the flowers of a Gum-Cistus. The calyx in both Cistus and Helianthemum generally consists of five sepals, two of which are larger and of a paler green than the others, and grow a little below them; and this calyx remains on after the petals have fallen, and, indeed, till the seed is ripe. In the Gum-Cistus, however, and some other species, the two outer sepals are wanting. There are a great many stamens, which are rather short, and form a tuft in the centre of the flower, surrounding the pistil, which has a round flat-headed stigma, a rather long style, and an ovary divided into five cells. The seeds are numerous, and each has a separate footstalk, by which it is attached to the placentas, which, in the Cistus tribe, are in the centre of the ovary, and not proceeding from its sides, as in the Mignonette. The capsule, which remains covered with the calyx till it is quite ripe, divides into five or ten concave valves, each having a placenta, to which the seeds were attached, in its centre. The seed of any plant belonging to the order CistaceÆ, is remarkable when cut open for the great size of the embryo enclosed in it, and the curious manner in which it is curled up. The embryo is the germ of the future plant, and it is usually buried in a great mass of albumen, or floury matter intended for the nourishment of the young plant, till its roots are in a fit state to supply it with nourishment. In the seed of the Cistus, there is scarcely any albumen; but in its stead a long narrow embryo, coiled up like a sleeping snake.

The Gum-Cistus is generally called, in the nurseries, Cistus ladaniferus; but it differs materially from the plant so named by LinnÆus, as that has a ten-celled capsule, while the capsule of the common Gum-Cistus (which botanists call C. Cyperius) has only five cells. The leaves also differ, the under surface of those of the one kind being woolly, and of the other smooth; the one is also a native of Spain and Portugal, and the other, as the specific name imports, of Cyprus. Both species, and also C. Ledon, exude from their stems and leaves, a kind of gum or resin called Ladanum or Labdanum, which is used in medicine. It is from this gum having been formerly always mixed with opium when that drug was dissolved in spirits of wine, that the name of laudanum is given to the tincture of opium.

The two genera, Cistus and Helianthemum, differ chiefly in the capsule, which in the latter genus is triangular and one-celled, opening into three valves, each of which has a narrow dissepiment down its centre. To prevent any confusion arising from the use of these terms, I may here observe that when a capsule is divided into several cells, having no communication with each other, the membranes that separate them are called dissepiments; while the nerve-like part of it to which the seeds are attached is named the placenta. Sometimes the placenta is merely a nerve running down the side of the capsule, when the capsule is one-celled, without any dissepiment or division; and sometimes the dissepiment does not spread across the capsule so as to divide it into different cells, but only projects a little way from the side towards the centre, as in the one-celled capsule of the Poppy, (see p. 260,) and in that of the Helianthemum, when the seed-vessel opens naturally into different parts, as in the Gum Cistus, these parts are called valves, as are also the parts of pods, as shown in the curled-up valves of the silique, fig. 115, in p. 268.

To return to the Helianthemum, the species of this genus are generally used for rockwork, as they are all dwarf plants, though many of the genus Cistus are large shrubs four or five feet high. The English name of the Helian themum, Sun-rose, is very appropriate, as the flowers will only expand in sunshine, and will even decay in the bud without opening at all, when gloomy weather lasts for several days.

ORDER XX. VIOLACEÆ—THE VIOLET TRIBE.

The order ViolaceÆ, though not a large one, contains several genera, but the most interesting is the genus Viola, which includes among many other species the Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), and the Heartsease (V. tricolor). The flowers of both species have many claims to admiration, but they do not add the charm of regularity in construction to their other attractions, as, in fact, few flowers are less symmetrical. The flowers of both are nearly alike in their details; but to avoid confusion, I will describe them separately. The calyx of the Heartsease consists of five pointed distinct sepals, two of them rather smaller than the others. These sepals are not attached, as in most other plants, at their base; but so as to leave nearly a quarter of their length standing up, far beyond the place where they are fixed to the receptacle, so as to form a sort of border or cup round the stem, and between it and the flower. The sepals are green, but they are edged with a delicate whitish membrane at the margin, scarcely to be seen without a microscope. There are five petals which are also irregular in their construction, two of them being much larger than the others, and generally of a different colour; and one even of the other three being quite different in form to its companions. The two large petals at the back of the flower, which in the common Heartsease are generally dark purple, are laid over each other, and behind the two below them. These two side-petals, which form the centre of the flower, are both furred at the base; and the lower petal, which is placed between them, has its claw drawn out behind into a spur, which passes between two of the sepals; and which, when the flower is looked at from behind, appears to be part of the calyx. The furred part of the two side-petals forms a triangular, roof-like opening, peeping out of which, is seen a small pale-green ball-like substance, which a fanciful imagination might liken to a head looking through a dormer window; and this is all that is to be seen in place of the usual apparatus of stamens and pistils. As all seed-producing flowers must have stamens and pistils, and as it is well known that Heartseases and Violets do produce seed in abundance, it is clear that these important organs are not wanting; but where are they? It is easy to guess, after being so far initiated in the mysteries of botany, that the little globular body is a part of the pistil; but where are the stamens? It is necessary to pull the flower to pieces to discover them. Commencing this work of destruction, which I always feel remorse at perpetrating, for I love flowers too well not to feel pain at destroying them; commencing this work, I repeat, the petals and the sepals must be carefully removed from the stem; a task of some little difficulty, as both sepals and petals are firmly attached to the receptacle, and the lower petal must have its spur opened with a pin to avoid hurting the delicate organs it contains. When the outer coverings of calyx and corolla are thus both removed, the seed-producing organs will be discovered, and it will be found that they consist of five very curiously-formed stamens, with as singular a pistil, in their centre. The stamens have no apparent filaments, and the anthers, which seem to be inserted in the receptacle, look like seeds, each tipped with a bit of brown skin, and having what appears to be a white rib in front. This rib is the anther; and the broader part is the dilated filament, which is drawn out beyond it, on both sides, and above, so as to form the brown tip above the anther already mentioned. Two of the anthers have each, in addition to these peculiarities, a long tail, which the spur of the lower petal concealed, when the flower was in a perfect state. The pistil consists of a large ovary, full of ovules, with a narrow style, which is drawn out into the hollow globular termination which is seen through the triangular opening in the flower. The globe has an opening in front, under which is a kind of lip, which looks like a shutter let down to show the opening; and though, from its thick fleshy nature, it looks like a stigma, it is only the outer covering of that organ, for the stigma lies within the opening. In this manner the stigma and anthers are completely concealed; and thus it will be seen, that nothing can be more complex and intricate than the construction of the flowers of the Heartsease.

Who could suppose that all these elaborate details would be necessary to illustrate so simple a flower as that of the Violet? And yet the construction of the flowers of the Violet and those of the Heartsease are essentially the same. The sepals of the Violet are extended at the base, like those of the Heartsease, and the corolla consists of the same number of petals, which are equally irregular in their form, though not in their colour; the lower petal is drawn out, in the same manner, into a spur, which is much longer than that of the Heartsease, though the rest of the flower is smaller. The stamens are formed with the same regular irregularity, only the tails of the two irregular ones are larger and stronger, in the same proportion as the spur is larger which is intended to conceal them. The pistil is of the same shape, with the same curiously constructed and perforated style, which is bent in its narrow part and swelled out into a hollow globe at the tip; and in both species, the ovary is one-celled with three parietal placentas, that is, with three nerve-like projections from the sides of the capsule, having four rows of seeds attached to each. The capsule looks like a smooth shining berry, and it remains partially shrouded by the calyx, till the seeds are ripe; when it bursts open with an elastic spring, and divides into three valves, each of which has the placenta bearing the seeds in its centre.

In all these points the Heartsease and the Violet are alike; but they differ materially in the leaves, which in the Violet are broad and heart-shaped, without stipules; but in the Heartsease are small and ovate, with such very large and deeply-cut stipules, that they are by most persons mistaken for the leaves. I may here be asked what are stipules, and in what do they differ from leaves? In answer to the first question, I can only inform my readers that stipules are generally little leaf-like bodies, which seem to act as attendants upon leaves, as bracts seem to wait upon flowers; but in what they differ from leaves, except in size and shape, I have not been able to learn. Even Dr. Lindley in the last edition of his Introduction to Botany, says, “What stipules really are is not well made out.”

The Heartsease and the Violet differ also in their habit of growth. The Violet is a creeping plant with no stalks but those supporting the flowers, while the Heartsease stands erect, with a thick square stem, so strong, that, notwithstanding its succulent nature, it may be trained like a little tree.

ORDER XXI. DROSERACEÆ—THE SUN-DEW TRIBE.

There are three genera in this tribe that are well known: Drosera, the Sun-dew; DionÆa muscipula, Venus’s Fly-trap; and Parnassia palustris, the Grass of Parnassus; all bog plants. The species of the genus Drosera are remarkable for the curious manner in which the leaves and peduncles are coiled up when they first appear, and in which they slowly unroll themselves as they grow. They are also beautifully edged with a sort of fringe of glandular red hairs, and a fluid exudes from these glands which makes them always appear as though covered with dew. The common Sun-dew (D. rotundifolia) is a British plant, with short roundish leaves; but other species are natives of New Holland and North America; and several of them have long slender leaves like threads. Venus’s Fly-trap (DionÆa muscipula) is a native of Carolina, in North America; the leaves are curiously formed of two lobes, which close and open as if hinged, and they are furnished with glandular hairs, which are so extremely irritable as to make the leaves close at the slightest touch, and thus to imprison any unfortunate insect that may be within the lobes. The petiole is so much dilated as to look like a leaf, but the real leaf consists of only the two roundish lobes edged with teeth that form the Fly-trap. The flowers are white, and they are produced in corymbs. The corolla has five petals, which do not fall off when they wither, but roll up so as to look like the cocoon of an insect.

ORDER XXII. POLYGALEÆ—THE MILKWORT TRIBE.

The genus Polygala is well known from the very handsome greenhouse plants which it contains. The flowers at first sight appear to resemble those of the Sweet Pea, having two wings like a standard, and a sort of keel; their construction is, however, very curious, and so complicated, as to be very difficult either to describe or to understand. The calyx is said by modern botanists to consist of five sepals, three of which are green and two lilac, these last being the part that resembles the standard of the Sweet Pea. The corolla is also said to consist of five petals, two of which stand erect, and the other three grow together to form the keel. The latter have their upper part cut into a kind of crest, like that of the Mignonette. Below the crest, the united petals form a kind of hood, under which are arranged the eight stamens, four on each side. The stamens themselves are as remarkable as the other parts of the flower; the filaments grow together into a thin kind of leaf, and each anther has but one cell, and opens by a pore at the apex. The pistil is also very curiously formed, as the style and stigma have the appearance of a gaping monopetalous corolla. The fruit is a flat two-celled capsule, which, when ripe, opens by two lips, separating from each other, and showing a seed within each cell. Even the seeds are not like other seeds, for each has a large white protuberance at one end, called a corancula.

ORDER XXIII. TREMANDREÆ.

Slender New Holland shrubs, with the habit of Heaths, rarely met with in British gardens.

ORDER XXIV. PITTOSPOREÆ.—THE PITTOSPORUM TRIBE.

The principal genera included in this order are Pittosporum, Billardiera and Sollya, all resinous shrubs, with alternate leaves without stipules, and the sepals and petals, each five in number, and laid over each other like scales in the bud. The seeds are numerous, and immersed in fibrous pulp. The commonest species of Pittosporum is P. Tobira, a native of China, easily known by its thick leathery leaves, the midribs of which are strongly marked, and whitish. The flowers are erect, and produced in cymes or heads; and the petals are united into a tube with a spreading limb. The capsule is one-celled, and two or three valved, with an imperfect dissepiment in the centre of each valve; and the seeds are numerous, and buried in a resinous fibrous pulp. The Billardieras are generally climbing shrubs, with pale greenish bell-shaped, and almost erect flowers, which are produced singly or in pairs, and which have the tips of their petals turned back. The fruit is a fleshy berry, with a shining skin of a deep blue, and it is called the Apple Berry in Australia, of which country the species are natives. This fruit is said to be eaten in Australia, but it seems difficult to imagine how this can be the case; as though the outer part of the berry is of a soft spongy nature, it is dry and insipid; and there is no internal pulp, for the seeds lie loose in the cells. In Sollya heterophylla the flowers are drooping, on long and very slender pedicels, and they are produced in cymes. The corolla is campanulate, with the tips of the petals not recurved, and the anthers are much shorter than in Billardiera. The fruit is a soft fleshy berry, divided into two cells, each containing two rows of seeds immersed in pulp, and when cut open, it smells strongly of turpentine. The plant generally called Sollya linearis has a dry and leathery pericardium; and for this reason and on account of the spreading of its anthers, it was placed by Mr. Cunningham in a new genus, which he called Cheiranthera.

ORDER XXV. FRANKENIACEÆ.—THE FRANKENIA TRIBE.

The genus Frankenia consists principally of the British weeds called Sea Heath; and the other genera included in the order are seldom seen in British gardens, from the seeds which have been imported seldom arriving in a state fit for vegetation.

ORDER XXVI.—CARYOPHYLLACEÆ—THE CARNATION TRIBE.

The plants belonging to this order have so strong a family likeness to each other as to be easily recognised; and they are all distinguished botanically by the swollen joints of their stems, and their opposite undivided leaves, which are generally connate, that is united, and sheathing the stem. The order is divided into two sections, viz.: SileneÆ, in which the sepals are united into a tube, and which section includes the genera Silene, Dianthus, Saponaria, Lychnis, and Agrostemma; and AlsineÆ, in which the sepals are either quite distinct, or only slightly cohering at the base, and which includes Stellaria, Arenaria, Cerastium, Spergula, and several other British weeds. The Chickweed was called by LinnÆus Alsine media, but the genus Alsine is now united to Stellaria.

Fig.118.—The Carnation.

The Wild or Clove Carnation (Dianthus Caryophyllus), which may be considered the type of the order, has an erect stem, swollen at the joints, with connate leaves, (see a in fig. 118). The flower, when single, consists of five petals, each with a very long narrow claw (b), and a rather broad limb or blade (c) serrated at the edge. The calyx (f) is tubular, with five vandyked teeth, which are in fact the tips of five sepals, into which the tube of the calyx may be easily divided with a pin. The tubular form of the calyx is admirably contrived to support the long claws of the petals, and to keep them in their proper places; particularly when the flowers are double, as the weight of the petals in that case frequently bursts the tube of the calyx. Every one fond of pinks and carnations must have observed the miserable appearance of the flower when thus deprived of its natural support; and to prevent the premature destruction of prize-flowers by this misfortune, professed florists sometimes slip a curiously-cut piece of card-board over the bud, which remains on after the expansion of the flower, and prevents the petals from falling out of place. Some florists tie the calyx round with thread, instead of using a pasteboard ring, which answers the same purpose. At the base of the calyx are two, four, or six leafy appendages (g), resembling bracts, which are called the calycine scales. These imbricated scales are, however, only found in the genus Dianthus. There are ten stamens (d) unequal in height, but none of them longer than the ovary round which they are placed. The ovary and the stamens are concealed in the cup of the flower, but the former is furnished with two styles, terminating in two long stigmas (e), which project beyond the flower, and which, when magnified, appear delicately fringed.

The genus Dianthus includes the Carnation, the Pink (Dianthus plumarius), the Chinese Pink (D. sinensis), the Sweet William (D. barbatus), and many ornamental flowers. Of these the Sweet William has the claws of its petals bearded; the flowers are produced in bundles or fascicles; and the calycine scales are so numerous and awl-shaped, that they give a bristly appearance to the flowers. The different species of Soap-wort (Saponaria) differ from Dianthus, in having no calycine scales; and this is also the case with the berry-bearing Campion (Cucubalus baccifer), the fruit of which is a fleshy capsule or berry, which finally becomes black, and has a singular appearance in the centre of the cup-like calyx, which remains on till the fruit is ripe. The flower of this plant is white, and the petals have a two-cleft limb. All the numerous species of Catchfly (Silene) are also without calycine scales, and the petals are generally deeply two-cleft; but they are distinguished by having a crown of petal-like scales in the throat of the corolla. There are also three styles instead of two; and the capsules are three-celled at the base, ending in six teeth at the top. The species have frequently a glutinous frothy moisture on the stem, in which flies sometimes become entangled, and hence the English name of the genus. One species, the Bladder Campion (S. inflata), has been used as food, and its young shoots, when boiled and sent to table like Asparagus, are said to have the flavour of green peas. The different species of Lychnis and Agrostemma resemble Silene closely in every respect, except in the styles, which are five, instead of three; these two genera, Viscaria, and Githago, differ very slightly from each other; and several of the species are known by different names: thus Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos cuculi) is made by some botanists an Agrostemma; the Corn-cockle is sometimes called Githago segetum, and sometimes Agrostemma Githago; the common Rose Campion is called sometimes Lychnis, and sometimes Agrostemma; and the Rock Lychnis, or Red German Catchfly, sometimes Lychnis Viscaria, and sometimes Viscaria vulgaris.

ORDER XXVII.—LINACEÆ.—THE FLAX TRIBE.

The order LinaceÆ is a very small one; and, indeed, it consists principally of the genus Linum. The Flax was formerly included in the CaryophyllaceÆ, which it resembles in having five petals, five sepals, and five stamens; but it also resembles the Mallow in its capsules, and in its stamens growing together at the base; and the Cistus in its persistent calyx, and the disposition of its sepals. These links, which connect one order with another, and make them appear alike but not the same, form, I think, one of the most interesting parts of the Natural System. We are led on from one gradation to another, by scarcely perceptible shades of difference through the vegetable kingdom; and, indeed, through the whole system of creation: the beautiful harmony, and unity of design, visible throughout, bearing the strong impress of the Divinity whose power has made the whole.

The common Flax (Linum usitatissimum), though in its appearance only an insignificant weed, is a plant of great benefit to man. The fibres of the stem are used to make linen, and the seeds (linseed) are crushed for oil. The flowers are blue, and have five regularly-shaped petals, which are twisted in the bud; and a distinct calyx of five pointed sepals, two of which grow from a little below the others, as in the Gum Cistus; and, as in that plant, the calyx remains on till the seeds are ripe. There are five stamens, the filaments of which grow together slightly at the base, and there are five little points like filaments without anthers, rising between the stamens. The petals are connected with the ring formed by the united filaments, and sometimes the petals themselves grow slightly together at the base. The capsule consists of five two-celled carpels, grown together; each cell containing one seed, and each carpel terminating in a rather slender style, tipped with a ball-like stigma. When ripe, the capsule opens naturally, by dividing into ten valves, to discharge the seeds; which are flat and shining, with a large embryo. These seeds are called Linseed in the shops, from Linum, the botanical name of the plant; and, as is well known, they are not only used for various purposes, but oil is expressed from them. The stem of the common Flax, though it is only an annual, consists of woody fibre, like that of a tree in its young state; and it is this fibrous part that makes the yarn for thread, after it has been separated from the fleshy part, by steeping the stems for a long time in water. The perennial Flax (Linum perenne), which, as its name imports, lasts several years, differs in little else from the common kind, except that its sepals are obtuse, and its leaves are much smaller and narrower. Both these are natives of Britain. There are many other species, some of which have yellow flowers.

ORDER XXVIII.—MALVACEÆ.—THE MALLOW TRIBE.

All the plants belonging to MalvaceÆ bear so much resemblance to each other, that this order may be considered a very natural one; and it is one very remarkable for the botanical construction of its flowers. In some respects it resembles LinaceÆ, quite enough indeed to show clearly the chain by which they are so beautifully linked together; but in others, it differs so decidedly as to show how completely they are distinct. Fig. 119, which represents the Fig.119.—The flower, stamens, and pistils of the AlthÆa frutex. flower and seed-vessel of the AlthÆa frutex (Hibiscus syriacus), will serve to show the chief peculiarities of this order. The calyx consists of five sepals, below which is an involucrum of six or seven leaflets, which have the appearance of a second calyx. The corolla is cup-shaped, and consists of five petals, which are close together at the base, and this is peculiar to the genus Hibiscus. The capsule is round and somewhat convex, being nearly in the shape of what is called a batch-cake, as shown at c; it consists of five carpels grown together, each containing many seeds; and when ripe, it bursts naturally into five valves, each of which has a dissepiment down the centre. The filaments grow together very curiously, inclosing the styles, and forming a column in the centre of the flower, which is the distinguishing mark of the MalvaceÆ. Some of the stamens are shorter than others, and as part of each filament is detached, the anthers form the fringe-like border to the column, shown at d. The anthers are kidney-shaped and one-celled, and this is another of the characteristics of the order; but the styles are terminated by five ball-shaped stigmas, like those of the Linum. There are many kinds of Hibiscus; but perhaps the best known are: H. rosa sinensis, the species which is so often represented in Chinese drawings, and the petals of which are so astringent, that they are said to be used in China by the men to black their shoes, and by the women to dye their hair; and the Bladder Ketmia (H. Trionum), which takes its English name from its inflated capsule. All the plants belonging to the order MalvaceÆ have a central column, round which are placed numerous carpels, which grow together and form a many-celled capsule; and they all have kidney-shaped, one-celled anthers. They have also always an involucrum below the calyx, but this involucrum differs in the different genera. In the genus Malva, the involucrum consists of three leaflets, which in the common Mallow (Malva sylvestris) are oblong. The petals are wedge-shaped, and they are what botanists call auricled; that is, they are set so far apart at the base that light can be seen through them. The stamens are all of nearly the same height, and they form a kind of bunch round the styles, which are pointed. The capsule consists of a circle of woolly-looking carpels growing close together, but so as to be easily detached with a pin, and each fitting into a little groove in the receptacle, in which they are placed. As the seeds ripen, the involucrum falls off, but the large loose-looking calyx remains on. There is only one seed in each carpel; but as there are generally eleven carpels in each capsule, each seed-vessel contains this number of seeds. The leaves are lobed and toothed; and the whole plant is covered with long hairs, which are disposed in little star-like tufts.

The genus Malope closely resembles the Mallow; except that the petals are not wedge-shaped, and that it has a still larger calyx, the long sepals of which shroud the capsule as the involucre of the filbert does the nut. The involucrum is composed of three broad, heart-shaped leaflets, which remain on till the seed is ripe. The petals are also not so even along the margin; and the carpels are so disposed as to form a cone-shaped capsule, instead of a flat one.

The genus Lavatera has the leaflets of the involucre joined to the middle, so as to form a kind of three-cornered saucer below the capsule; and the capsule itself is completely covered with a part of the receptacle, which is dilated, and curved down over it. Lastly, the genus AlthÆa, the Marsh Mallow, has the involucrum cleft into six or nine divisions, and the carpels united into a globular capsule. The Hollyhock (A. rosea) belongs to this genus. Many other genera might be mentioned, but these will suffice to give my readers a general idea of the order, and of the points of difference which distinguish one genus from another. Among the exotic plants belonging to the order is the cotton tree (Gossypium herbaceum), the cotton being the woolly matter which envelops the seeds in the capsule. All the MalvaceÆ abound in mucilage, and they all have woody fibre in their stems.

ORDER XXIX.—BOMBACEÆ.—THE SILK COTTON TREE TRIBE.

This order is closely allied to MalvaceÆ, and it differs principally in the tube formed by the stamens being divided into five bundles near the top. It includes the Baobab, or Monkey-bread (Adansonia digitata), said to be the largest tree in the world; the Screw tree (Helicteres Isora), so named from its curiously-twisted fruit; Carolinia princeps; the Silk Cotton tree (Bombax Ceiba); and the Hand-plant (Cheirostemon platanoides),—this is the Hand-plant so named from the lobes of its leaves resembling fingers,—all stove plants in Britain.

ORDER XXX.—BYTTNERIACEÆ.—THE BYTTNERIA TRIBE.

This order is divided into five sections, which some botanists make distinct orders. It is very nearly allied to MalvaceÆ, but the anthers are two-celled. The principal genus in the first section (SterculieÆ) is Sterculia, which has several carpels distinct and arranged like a star: the species are trees with large handsome leaves which are articulated at the base, and axillary panicles or racemes of flowers. The second section (ByttnerieÆ) contains among other plants Theobroma Cacao, from the fruit and seeds of which Cocoa and Chocolate are prepared. The third section (LasiopetaleÆ) is well known in England, by the pretty Australian shrubs included in the genera Thomasia and Lasiopetalum, the leaves of which have their under surface downy, and generally brown. The fourth section (HermannieÆ), and the sixth (WallichieÆ), contain no plant common in English gardens; and the fifth (DombeyaceÆ) is best known by AstrapÆa Wallichii. The qualities of all the plants in this order are mucilaginous.

ORDER XXXI.—TILIACEÆ.—THE LINDEN TRIBE.

The only genus belonging to the natural order TiliaceÆ which is easily to be procured in Britain is that of Tilia, the Lime trees. The common Lime (Tilia europÆa) is generally a tall, well-formed tree, with rather broad leaves, which are heart-shaped at the base, tapering at the point, and serrated at the margin: they are also smooth on the outer surface, thin, and of a light and delicate texture; below there is a little tuft of hair at the angle of the veins. The flowers are produced in cymes or compound Fig.120.—The flowers and seed-vessel of the common Lime tree. umbels (see fig. 120); and their main pedicel appears to spring from one long entire bract (a). The calyx is in five sepals, and it falls off before the corolla, which is composed of five pale yellow petals, which are very sweet-scented.

The stamens are numerous, and the filaments separate, bearing two-celled anthers, which burst by long slits. The ovary has only one style, the tip of which is cleft into five small stigmas; and it is divided into five cells, each containing one or two ovules. The fruit or capsule (b) is round, and has a leathery skin, covered with a soft down; and when ripe, the cells often become united so as to form one, with only one or two perfect seeds in the whole capsule, the other ovules proving abortive. The whole plant abounds in mucilage, and the sap when boiled affords sugar. The inner bark is so tough and fibrous, that it is used for making what are called bast mats: it being first rendered flexible by steeping it for a long time in water. The wood is of very fine texture, but soft and white, and it is thus admirably adapted for carving. The American Limes have a small scale at the base of each petal of the flower; but the other differences between the species are very slight.

ORDER XXXII.—ELÆOCARPÆ.—THE ELÆOCARPUS TRIBE.

East India shrubs and trees, little known in Britain. “The hard and wrinkled seeds of ElÆocarpus are made into necklaces in the East Indies, and, set in gold, are sold in our shops.”—(Hook.)

ORDER XXXII*.—DIPTEROCARPÆ.—THE CAMPHOR TREE TRIBE.

There are two kinds of Camphor, one produced by boiling the branches of a kind of laurel, and the other (the Camphor of Sumatra) is found in large pieces in the hollow parts of the branches of Dryobalanops Camphora, one of the species included in this order. None of these trees have been introduced into Britain.

ORDER XXXIII.—CHELONACEÆ, OR HUGONIACEÆ.

Small trees and shrubs, natives of the East Indies and Madagascar; only the genus Hugonia is known in Britain.

ORDER XXXIV.—TERNSTRŒMIACEÆ.—THE TERNSTRŒMIA TRIBE.

The principal plants in this order common in England are Gordonia, Stuartia, and Malachodendron. Gordonia Lasianthus, the Loblolly Bay, is a small evergreen tree, with white flowers, about the size of a rose. It is a native of America; and Stuartia and Malachodendron are beautiful low trees or shrubs, with large white flowers from the same country. The flowers have five large petals; the stamens are numerous, with the filaments growing together at the base, and attached to the petals; and there are five carpels more or less connected. Gordonia has its five sepals leathery, and covered with a silky down; its stamens almost in five distinct bundles, a five-celled capsule, and its seeds each furnished with a wing. Stuartia has a permanent calyx, five-cleft, but not parted into distinct sepals, with two bracts at the base, and a woody five-celled capsule, with seeds without wings; and Malachodendron (which was formerly called Stuartia pentagynia) has a calyx similar to that of Stuartia, but the edges of the petals are curiously crenulated, and there are five distinct carpels, each containing only one seed. Some botanists include the Camellia and the Tea in the order TernstroemiaceÆ.

ORDER XXXV.—CAMELLIACEÆ.—THE CAMELLIA TRIBE.

There are two genera in this order, the Camellia and the Tea. The flower-bud of the Camellia is inclosed in a calyx of five, seven, or nine concave sepals, on the outside of which are several bracts, which remain on till the flower has expanded, but which are distinguished from the sepals by their dark brown colour. The sepals and the bracts are laid over one another like scales, and thus the flower lies encased in a complete coat of mail. The single flower is cup-shaped, with five, seven, or nine petals, which are sometimes joined together at the base. The stamens have long slender filaments, which either grow together at the base, or are separated into several bundles. The anthers are elliptical and versatile; that is, they are poised so lightly on the filament as to quiver with the slightest breeze. The ovary is of a conical shape, and it has three or five slender styles, ending in as many pointed stigmas, and growing together at the base. The capsule is three or five-celled; and when ripe it bursts into three or five valves, in the middle of each of which is a dissepiment, which, before the capsule opened, was attached to an axis or column in the centre. The seeds are large and few, and they are fixed to the central placenta. There is no albumen, but the embryo has two large, thick, oily cotyledons, which look as if they were jointed at the base. The leaves are leathery, dark-green and shining, and they are ovate in form, ending in a long point, and sharply serrated. The flowers spring from the axils of the leaves, and grow close to the stem without any footstalk; and the leaf-bud for the ensuing shoot grows beside the flower-bud.

I have above described the Camellia japonica, from which nearly all the Camellias in British gardens have sprung; but there are some other species. The finest of these is C. reticulata, which has very large, loose, widely-spreading flowers, of a remarkably rich crimson. The leaves are oblong, flat, and reticulately veined, being of a much finer texture than those of C. japonica. The ovary is two or four-celled, and it is covered with fine silky hairs. C. maliflora is a very beautiful species with small semi-double flowers, coloured like an apple blossom. This Camellia is by some botanists thought to be a variety of C. Sasanqua, an elegant species with white fragrant flowers; but the ovary of the first is smooth, and that of the second covered with hairs, which most botanists consider a specific difference.

The Tea tree (Thea viridis) is very nearly allied to the Camellia; but there are many points of difference. The flower of the Tea tree has a footstalk; the calyx has only five sepals; the filaments of the stamens do not grow together; the capsules are three-seeded; and the dissepiments are formed by the edges of the valves being bent inwards, instead of being attached to a central axis. The leaves are also much longer than they are broad, and they are of a thinner texture and pale green; and the outside of the capsule, which is furrowed in the Camellia, is quite smooth in the Tea tree. It is said that both the green and the black Tea are made from the leaves of Thea viridis; but there is another species called Thea Bohea, which has smaller leaves, and is a more tender, and less vigorous-growing plant. The young leaves of Camellia Sasanqua, and some of the other Camellias, are also dried, and mixed with the tea. All these plants are natives of Japan and China, and require a slight protection in England during winter.

ORDER XXXVI.—OLACINEÆ.—THE OLAX TRIBE.

Exotic trees from the East and West Indies, little known in Britain. Heistria coccinea, a native of Martinique, is said to be the Partridge wood of the cabinet-makers.

ORDER XXXVII.—AURANTIACEÆ.—THE ORANGE TRIBE.

Fig.121.—Flower and seed of the Orange.

The natural order AurantiaceÆ contains fourteen genera; but the only one I think my readers will feel an interest in is the genus Citrus. This genus comprises, among several other species, C. medica, the Citron; C. Limetta, the sweet Lime; C. Limonum, the Lemon; C. Paradisi, the Forbidden fruit; C. decumana, the Shaddock; C. Aurantium, the Sweet Orange; and C. vulgaris, the Bitter or Seville Orange. to these may be added C. nobilis the Mandarin Orange, the fruit of which is reddish, and which parts naturally from its rind, which is sweet, and may be eaten. All the species agree in having a tube-like calyx, scalloped into five short teeth, and a flower of generally five fleshy petals, (see a in fig. 121), though the number occasionally varies from four to nine. These petals are elliptic in shape, concave, and always widely opened. In the centre of the flower are the stamens, varying from twenty (which is the ordinary number) to sixty; the anthers are two-lobed, and oblong, and the filaments are somewhat thickened at the base, and united there into several small bundles (b), but free above. The pistil has a somewhat globular ovary, with a cylindrical style, termi nating in a stigma, which is slightly raised in the centre. The disk in which the stamens are inserted, forms a ring round the ovary. The fruit (fig. 122), which is considered by botanists to be a kind of berry, is in fact a seed-vessel with numerous cells, divided by dissepiments and a central placenta (a); the cells being the quarters of the Orange, the dissepiments the divisions between them, and the placenta the central pith. When the flower first expands, the ovary, if cut open and examined, will be found to be divided into several cells, each containing two rows of ovules. As in the preceding genera, however, many of these ovules become abortive; and as the cells fill gradually with cellular pulp, the seeds become detached from the placenta, and buried in it. The seeds themselves are very interesting; they are covered with a thick wrinkled skin, and they show distinctly the hilum (c in fig. 121), the chalaza (d) and the raphe or connecting cord between them, parts which are seldom to be distinguished in seeds with the naked eye.

Fig.122.—Leaf and fruit of the Orange.

The leaves, calyx, and petals of the Orange, if held up to the light, appear covered with little dots. These dots are cells, covered with a transparent membrane, and filled with a kind of oil, which is exceedingly fragrant. The rind of the fruit is covered with similar cells, filled with a pungent oily liquid. The leaves are smooth and shining; and they are articulated; that is, they can be separated from the petiole or footstalk without lacerating them. In most of the species, the petioles are winged; that is, they are dilated into little leaves on each side (see d in fig. 122). The different species vary chiefly in the number of stamens, the thickness of the rind, the shape of the fruit, and in the wings of the petioles. In the Citron these wings are wanting entirely, and instead of them there are spines in the axils of the leaves; there are generally forty stamens, and the rind of the fruit is very thick. In the sweet Lime, the petioles are slightly winged, and there are about thirty stamens; the fruit is small and round, with a slight protuberance at one end like that of the Lemon, and the pulp is sweet. In the Lemon the petioles are somewhat winged, the flowers have about thirty stamens; the fruit is oblong, with an acid pulp, and a thin rind. The Sweet Orange has winged petioles, about twenty stamens, and a fruit with a thin rind and sweet pulp; and the Seville Orange differs principally in having a thicker rind and bitter pulp. The China, St. Michael, and Malta Oranges, with many others, are all varieties of the Sweet Orange (Citrus Aurantium); and there are many other species, which I have not thought it necessary to describe.—All the species above-mentioned are natives of Asia, and most of them of China, but they have been so long cultivated in Europe and America, as to have become almost naturalised.

ORDER XXXVIII.—HYPERICINEÆ.—THE HYPERICUM TRIBE.

The genus Hypericum, or St. John’s Wort, agrees with the orange in having its leaves full of transparent cells; but these cells are filled with a yellow, resinous juice, resembling gamboge in its medicinal properties, and having a very disagreeable smell. There are five petals in the corolla; and the calyx consists of five sepals, which are unequal in size and shape, and joined together for only a short distance. Like the orange the filaments grow together at the base, in separate clusters or bundles; but in the Hypericum these clusters are so perfectly distinct, that the stamens may be readily separated into three or five bundles (according to the species), by slightly pulling them. The capsule is dry, and of a membrane-like texture, and it consists of three or five carpels, containing many seeds, and each having a separate style, and a pointed stigma. The flowers are very showy, from their large golden yellow petals and numerous stamens. The genus AndrosÆmum, the Tutsan, or Park-leaves, has been separated from Hypericum on account of its fruit being one-celled and one-seeded, with a fleshy covering, which yields a red juice when pressed. H. calycinum, with large yellow flowers and five tufts of stamens, is the handsomest species; but H. perforatum is the true St. John’s Wort, which the country people used formerly to gather on midsummer eve, as a preservative against witchcraft.

ORDER XXXIX.—GUTTIFERÆ.—THE MANGOSTEEN TRIBE.

The only genus in this order that contains plants interesting to the English reader is Garcinia; and the most remarkable species are G. Mangostana, the Mangosteen, said to be the most delicious fruit in the world, and G. Cambogia, the tree producing the gamboge, which is a kind of gum that oozes out from the stem. Both are natives of the East Indies.

ORDER XL.—MARCGRAAVIACEÆ.

Exotic shrubs, mostly natives of the West Indies, with spiked, or umbellate flowers, and alternate leaves. Very seldom seen in Britain.

ORDER XLI.—HIPPOCRATACEÆ.

Exotic arborescent, or climbing shrubs, generally with inconspicuous flowers. Natives of the East and West Indies.

ORDER XLII.—ERYTHROXYLEÆ.—THE RED WOOD TRIBE.

Exotic shrubs, and low trees, remarkable from the redness of their wood, but with small greenish flowers. The leaves of Erythroxylon Coca possess an intoxicating quality, and are chewed by the Peruvians, in the same manner as the Turks take opium.

ORDER XLIII.—MALPIGHIACEÆ.—THE BARBADOES CHERRY TRIBE.

Several species of Malpighia, the Barbadoes Cherry, are found occasionally in our stoves. The corolla of these plants, when closed, bears considerable resemblance to that of a Kalmia; but the flower when expanded is more like that of a Clarkia, from the long claws of the five petals, and the distance they are placed apart. Several of the species have their leaves and stems beset with stinging bristles, which adhere to the hands when touched. The fruit, which is eatable, but insipid, is a berry-like drupe, containing three one-seeded nuts. The species are natives of the West Indies, and they require a stove in England. The flowers are generally rose-coloured or purplish; but they are sometimes yellow. The common Barbadoes Cherry is called M. glabra, and its leaves are without stings. In Hiptage, another genus of this order, four of the petals of the flowers are white, and one yellow; and in Banisteria, the species are generally climbing shrubs, always with yellow flowers. Some of the species of Banisteria are occasionally found in stoves in this country, where their beautiful feathery yellow flowers have very much the appearance of those of the Canary bird flower (TropÆolum peregrinum).

ORDER XLIV.—ACERINEÆ.—THE MAPLE TRIBE.

Fig.123.—Flower and Samara of the Sycamore.
(Acer Pseudo-Platanus.)

The common Maple (Acer campestre) and the Sycamore (A. Pseudo-Platanus) are the only plants belonging to this order, that are natives of Britain; though so many kinds of ornamental Acers are now found in our parks and pleasure-grounds. Few trees are indeed more deserving of culture than the American Maples, both for their beauty in early spring, and for the rich shades of yellow and brown which their leaves assume in autumn. The Maple tribe is a very small one; it consists indeed of only the genera Acer and Negundo, and an obscure Nepal genus, of which there are no plants in Britain. Of all the Acers, one of the handsomest is the Sycamore tree (A. Pseudo-Platanus); the flower of this species (see e in fig. 123) is of a yellowish green; and as in early spring, when it appears, we are delighted at the sight of any thing in the way of flowers, it really looks very beautiful. Before I began to study botany, I had never noticed the blossoms of the forest trees, and when I was shown the light-feathery flowers of the Lime, and the gracefully-drooping ones of the Sycamore, I was quite astonished. The flowers of the Sycamore grow in a drooping raceme; the calyx is divided into five parts, but as it is scarcely distinguishable from the petals, which are five in number, and placed alternately with the sepals, it appears to be in ten divisions (see a). These flowers are partly male and female (see b and c), and partly perfect. In the perfect flowers there are eight stamens, and two stigmas; and the ovary when ripe expands into a curiously winged pod, called a samara (d), but differently shaped to the samara of the Ash, the thickened parts at the base of which contain the seeds. There is no albumen in the seed, which, when put into the ground, expands into two long thin cotyledons, (a in fig. 124) which, if once pointed out, will always be known again instantly. If a ripe seed be opened when quite fresh, the cotyledons or seed leaves will be found within it, fresh, green, and succulent; and these leaves (a in fig. 124), which rise above the ground as soon as the seed begins to germinate, differ widely in shape from the true leaves (b) which are serrated, and of a much thicker texture. The bracts of the Sycamore (f in fig. 123) are thick and leathery, and of a rich dark brown. The leaves are serrated at the margin; and the lower ones are cut into five lobes; but those near the flowers have generally only three lobes (e), and in all the leaves, two of the lobes are not so deeply cut as the others.

Fig.124.—Young Sycamore.

There are many species of Acer, most of which are tall trees; and they are chiefly distinguished from each other by the shape of the leaves and of the samaras, or keys, the wings of which, in some species, are near together, as shown at d in fig. 123, and in others widely apart, as in the common hedge Maple (A. campestris), and in the Norway Maples, as shown at a in fig. 125. This figure represents the flowers of the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), which are in what botanists call a corymb, and stand erect, instead of drooping like those of the sycamore. The leaves are deeply five-lobed, and the lobes are so coarsely toothed, that the teeth have almost the appearance of lobules. The buds of this plant in winter are large and red, and when they open in spring, the bracts (b) curl back over the scales (c). The leaves become of a clear yellowish red in autumn, and the whole plant is very ornamental. When a leaf of this tree is broken off, a milky sap issues from the broken petiole or leaf-stalk, which is of an acrid nature; differing in this respect, materially from the sap of the trunk, which is very sweet. Sugar indeed may be made from the sap of the trunk of almost all the Maples; but particularly in America, from that of the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharinum). The flowers of the red American Maple (Acer rubrum) are red, and as from their colour, and their appearing a fortnight before the leaves, they are very conspicuous, I have given a magnified representation of them in fig. 126, that my readers may have an opportunity of examining the male and female flowers from a living tree. In fig. 126, a a are male flowers, having no stigmas; and b b are female ones, having no stamens.

Fig.125.—Flowers and Samara of the Norway Maple.

Fig.126.—Flowers of the Red Maple (Acer rubrum).

The leaves of Acer rubrum become red in autumn. The Tatarian Maple differs from the other species in having entire leaves, and the samaras are red when young; but all the other kinds of Acer common in British gardens bear a strong family likeness to each other. The Ash-leaved Maple is now made into a separate genus, and is called Negundo fraxinifolia. This tree is easily distinguished from the Maples by its compound leaves, which resemble those of the Ash, and its long pea-green shoots, which have very few buds. The male and female flowers of the Negundo are on different trees, and they are so small as to be seldom seen, though the racemes of samaras or keys which succeed the flowers are very conspicuous. The Negundo is a native of America, and its leaves turn yellow in autumn.

ORDER XLV.—HIPPOCASTANEÆ, OR ÆSCULACEÆ. THE HORSE-CHESTNUT TRIBE.

Fig.127.—Flowers of the Horse-chestnut.

Fig.128.—Horse-chestnut.

This order contains only two genera; viz., Æsculus, the Horse-chestnut, and Pavia, the Buckeye; both of which are generally called Horse-chestnuts, though the genera are easily distinguished by their fruit, the husk of which is smooth in the Pavias, but rough in the true Horse-chestnuts. The buds of all the species of both genera are covered with bracted scales, most of which fall off when the leaves and flowers expand; and those of the common Horse-chestnut (Æsculus Hippocastanum) are very large, and covered with a kind of gum. Four large compound leaves, each consisting of five or seven leaflets, and a raceme of sixty-eight flowers, have Fig.129.—Young plant of Horse-chestnut. been unfolded on dissecting one of these buds, before the leaves unfold in spring. The flowers of this species are produced in large, upright panicled racemes (see a in fig. 127); and the leaves (b) are compound, consisting of five or seven leaflets, disposed in a palmate manner. Two of the inner bracts, which remain after the outer scales (which are very numerous) have fallen, are shown at c. I mention this particularly, as these remaining bracts have very much the appearance of stipules, and it is one of the characters of the Horse-chestnuts that their leaves are without stipules. The flowers consist of five petals, two of which (d in fig. 128) are somewhat smaller than the others. Each petal consists of a broad blade or limb (e), and a very narrow claw (f). There are seven stamens, three of which (g) are shorter than the others. The filaments are inserted in the receptacle (h), and surround the pistil, which is hairy, and has a long style and a curved stigma (i). The ovary is two-celled, and each cell contains two ovules, but seldom more than one seed ripens. The nut (k) is large, and covered with a shining brown skin, which is strongly marked with the hilum. When put into the ground, the cotyledons do not appear in the shape of seed-leaves, but remain in the ground, and the plumule and radicle are protruded as shown in fig. 129. The Acorn germinates in a similar manner, as already shown in fig. 86 in p. 192.

The flowers of the different species of Æsculus Fig.130.—Scarlet Horse-chestnut. Fig.131.—Yellow Horse-chestnut. Fig.132.—Nut of the Buckeye. vary considerably; as, for example, in the Scarlet Horse-chestnut (Æ. rubicunda), the calyx is tubular (see a in fig. 130), and there are but four petals, the upper two of which (b) are narrower than the lower ones (c), and have bearded claws. This species has sometimes eight stamens. In the Yellow Horse-chestnut, or yellow flowered American Buckeye, the upper petals (a in fig. 131) are very much smaller than the lower ones (b), and both have very long claws. There are four petals, which conceal the stamens, of which there are frequently only six. The seed of Pavia has only a small hilum, which resembles the pupil of an eye (see fig. 132); and hence the genus has received its American name of Buckeye. In one species (P. macrostachya), the nut is eatable, and very much resembles that of a Sweet Chestnut when boiled in milk. The stamens in this species are much longer than the petals, and they give a peculiarly light and elegant appearance to the flowers; which, unlike those of the other species, do not appear till the latter end of summer or autumn.

ORDER XLVI.—RHIZOBOLEÆ—THE CARYOCAR TRIBE.

Trees of large size, natives of tropical America. Caryocar nuciferum produces the Suwarrow, or Butter-nut of the fruiterers’ shops.

ORDER XLVII.—SAPINDACEÆ.—SOAP-TREE TRIBE.

The only plant in this order which will grow in the open air in England is KÖlreuteria paniculata, a beautiful tree, with very elegant leaves, and panicles of yellow flowers, which are succeeded by a bladdery capsule, which is divided into three cells in its lower part, though it is only one-celled above. The rind and pulp of the fruit of Sapindus Saponaria are used as soap in those countries of which it is a native. The nuts of this plant are round and hard, and of such a shining black that they are made into buttons and beads by the inhabitants of Spanish America. The whole plant, if thrown into ponds containing fish, will intoxicate, and sometimes kill them. Another interesting plant belonging to this order is the Chinese fruit called Litchi (Euphoria or Nephelium Litchi); which has its sweet eatable pulp enclosed in a kind of nut, much wrinkled on the outside; so that the fruit lies within the stone, instead of being on the outside of it. These hard, stone-like berries grow in loose racemes.

ORDER XLVIII.—MELIACEÆ.—THE BEAD-TREE TRIBE.

Melia Azederach, the Pride of India, or Indian Lilac, or Bead-tree, for it is known by all these names, is a native of Syria, which has become almost naturalised in the South of Europe, particularly near the Mediterranean. The leaves are bi-pinnate, the flowers are violet-coloured, and the fruit, which resembles that of the cherry, is of a pale yellow when ripe. The pulp is poisonous, and the stones are used for making rosaries in the Roman Catholic countries.

ORDER XLVIII*.—CEDRELEÆ.—THE MAHOGANY TRIBE.

This order was at first united to MeliaceÆ by De Candolle, but it has been separated on account of its winged seeds. It contains, among other genera, the Mahogany tree (Swietenia Mahagoni), and the West Indian Cedar (Cedrela). The leaves of these trees are alternate and pinnate, with unequal-sided leaflets; and the flowers are in large spreading panicles composed of numerous little cymes. The fruit is capsular, and the seeds are winged. The genera contained in this order, all require a stove in Great Britain.

ORDER XLIX.—AMPELIDEÆ.—THE VINE TRIBE.

The natural order AmpelideÆ contains several genera, but of these only the Vine and the five-leaved Ivy are common in British gardens. It seems almost ridiculous to talk of the flowers of the Vine, as the bunches, even when they first appear, seem to consist of only very small grapes, which gradually become large ones. The flowers, however, though small and insignificant, are perfect, and they have each a distinct and regularly formed calyx and corolla. The calyx of the common Grape (Vitis vinifera) is very small, and remains on till the fruit is ripe; there are five petals (a in fig. 133), which never expand, but remain fastened together at the tip, detaching themselves at the base, when Fig.133.—Flowers of the Vine. it is necessary that they should give room to the ripening stamens (b). The petals, which form a kind of extinguisher, when they are raised by the five stamens, fall off (c), and occasion the chaffy appearance observable in clusters of Vine-flowers. The ovary is, when young, in two cells, each containing two seeds; and it is crowned with a nearly flat, round stigma, without any style. When the fruit begins to swell, the ovary becomes filled with a pulp, which is solid, and not contained in bags like that of the Orange; and the dissepiment that divided the two cells gradually wastes away. Two, and sometimes three of the seeds also frequently disappear, so that four seeds are rarely found in the ripe grape. The seeds themselves are bony, and covered with a jelly-like matter; and when they are cut open, they are found to consist of a large quantity of hard albumen, with a very small embryo at the tip. The Vine is a climbing shrub, with lobed leaves, which are frequently deeply cut; the bunches in which the grapes are disposed are called branched or thyrsoid racemes (see 137), and the tendrils, by which the plant climbs, are supposed to be abortive peduncles, drawn out into these long, flexible, curling bodies, instead of producing bunches of grapes. The footstalks of the leaves are articulated, and will separate from the branch without tearing them. The different species of vines differ from each other chiefly in their leaves; but in the American grapes the calyx is sometimes entire, and sometimes the stamens and pistils are in different flowers.

The five-leaved Ivy, or Virginian Creeper (Ampelopsis hederacea), differs very little from the Vine in the botanical construction of its flowers. The calyx is, however, almost entire, and the five petals separate in the same way as those of other flowers; but in other respects they closely resemble those of the Vines. The berries are small, and not palatable, though they might be eaten with perfect safety. The leaves are palmate, and they are divided into three or five stalked leaflets. The stems are climbing and rooting; and the leaves take a beautiful deep red in autumn. The genus Cissus also belongs to this order.

ORDER L.—GERANIACEÆ.—THE GERANIUM TRIBE.

The order GeraniaceÆ contains several genera of well-known plants, the most popular of which are Pelargonium, Erodium, and Geranium, signifying Stork’s-bill, Heron’s-bill, and Crane’s-bill, which differ very slightly from each other. The greenhouse Geraniums, which are all either natives of the Cape of Good Hope, or hybrids raised in Europe from the species originally imported, were, till lately, all included in the genus Pelargonium; but what were sections of that genus have, by some botanists, been now made separate genera. As probably, however, this rage for giving new and different names to divisions and subdivisions will not be generally adopted, I will not trouble my readers with any other distinctions than those between the three leading genera; and even these, I think they will allow, appear very trifling. The calyx of the Pelargonium is in five sepals, and two of them end in a kind of spur; which is, however, not very perceptible, as it runs down the peduncle or footstalk of the flower, and grows to it, so as to seem only a part accidentally enlarged. The corolla is in five petals, the upper two of which are generally larger, and differently marked to the others. Sometimes there are only four, and sometimes there are six petals; but these are exceptions to the general rule. The perfect stamens vary in number from four to seven; but there are always ten filaments, which are dilated, and grow together at the base; and I was quite delighted with the sparkling gem-like appearance of the membrane which they form when thus united, when I looked at it through my little microscope. In the plant now before me (a hybrid called the Duke of Sussex), the upper parts of some of the stamens have turned into little petals, retaining the white membrane-like part at the base, and thus curiously exemplifying the manner in which double flowers are formed, which is always by the metamorphosis of the stamens, or of the stamens and pistil, into petals. The pistil of the Pelargonium appears, when young, to consist of a five-celled ovary, with a long slender style, the tip of which is divided into five slender curved stigmas. The cells of the ovary are, however, five one-seeded carpels, each having a separate style; and though both the carpels and styles appear firmly grown together when young, yet, in fact, they only adhere to an elongation of the receptacle (see a in fig. 134), which is here called the central axis, and from which, when ripe, they part with elasticity, and curl up, as shown at b; the styles, or awns, as they are sometimes called, being hairy inside.

The shape of the unripe seed-vessel, with its persistent calyx, is shown at c, and a detached Fig.134.—Seed-vessel of a Pelargonium. seed at d. No plant hybridises more freely than the Pelargonium; and thus, the number of new kinds raised every year defies all description, and they have been so mixed and intermixed with each other, that it is not easy to say to what species the most splendid hybrids are allied. A few species, however, remain nearly unchanged, and the best known of these are P. zonale, the Horseshoe Geranium; P. inquinans, the common scarlet, the juice of the leaves of which is said to stain the fingers brown; P. graveolens, and P. capitatum, the rose-scented Geraniums, and P. tricolor. All the Pelargoniums have their flowers in heads or umbels; and the calyx in all of them remains on till the seeds are ripe. The seed-vessel, or fruit, as it is called by botanists, is long and pointed, forming some resemblance to the head of a stork; the ovary shrouded in the persistent calyx, representing the head of the bird, and the long styles the beak. The leaves vary in shape in the different kinds: sometimes they are roundish, as in the Horseshoe Geranium, and marked with a dark band or zone, whence the specific name zonale; and sometimes they are deeply cut, as in the rose-scented kinds: some are shrubby, and some herbaceous; and the stems of some species are warted, and the roots of others tuberous.

The genus Erodium consists principally of European plants, three of which are natives of England. The commonest of these (Erodium cicutarium) is called in many parts of England the Wild Geranium; and nearly allied to it, but less common, is E. moschatum. The principal points in which this genus differs from Pelargonium are, that the filaments of the stamens are very little united at the base; that there are always five filaments which bear anthers, and five that are sterile, and that the latter have each a gland at the base. The calyx is also without the spur, and the seed-pod is thought to resemble a heron’s head more than that of a stork. When it bursts, also, the styles, which are hairy inside like those of the Pelargonium, do not curl up in the same manner as in that genus, but spirally.

The genus Geranium differs from Erodium principally in having the stamens all perfect; but the alternate ones are longer than the others, and have a gland at the base of each. The seed-pod is said to resemble the head of a crane, and when it bursts, the styles, which are smooth inside, curl up round and round like the coil of a rope. The seeds of many of the kinds are beautifully netted. Many of the species are British weeds, and among the commonest of these may be mentioned Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum), and the Meadow Crane’s-bill (G. pratense). Dr. Lindley, in his Ladies’ Botany, mentions a curious and beautiful experiment which may be performed by pressing the petals of a Geranium between two pieces of glass which have been previously wetted. He says, that by pressing the two glasses firmly together, all the air may be squeezed out of the petal, and it will become transparent. “You may then,” he adds, “with a pretty good magnifying power, observe all the air-vessels of the veins distinctly, looking like fine threads of silver-wire twisted up like a spiral spring. It is on account of this appearance that the air-vessels are called, technically, spiral vessels.” The experiment appeared to me so easy, and at the same time so interesting, that I tried it, but unfortunately without success; probably owing to the want of power in my microscope.

ORDER LI.—LIMNANTHEÆ.

This little order contains only one plant, Limnanthes Douglassi, a pretty Californian annual, with yellow and white flowers. It resembles GeraniaceÆ in its botanical construction, but it does not discharge its seeds with elasticity.

ORDER LI.—TROPÆOLACEÆ.—THE NASTURTIUM TRIBE.

The well-known flowers called Nasturtium, or Indian Cress, give their name to this order; which, in fact, consists only of the genus TropÆolum, and an obscure genus not yet introduced. In the flowers of the Nasturtium, the calyx and corolla are of nearly the same colour, but they may be easily distinguished from each other. The calyx is drawn out into a spur behind, and the petals, which are unguiculate, or claw-shaped, are fringed at the base. The leaves and stem are succulent, and have the taste of cress, and hence the plant has received its popular name,—Nasturtium being the botanic name of the water-cress. The TropÆolum has five petals, eight stamens, and three carpels, which are joined together into a trigonal fruit, each carpel containing one seed, which adheres to it. The embryo is large, and fills the whole seed, which is without albumen. The unripe carpels are sometimes pickled, and used as a substitute for capers. The whole plant has not only the taste, but the properties, of cruciferous plants; and even the caterpillars of the cabbage-butterflies feed upon it.

ORDER LII.—BALSAMINEÆ.—BALSAM TRIBE.

Nearly allied to the Geraniums, and resembling them, in the opening of the seed-pods, are the beautiful plants contained in the order BalsamineÆ. The two genera best known in British gardens are Balsamina and Impatiens. The common Balsam (Balsamina hortensis), has a small green calyx of two sepals; there are four petals, one of which is drawn out into a short spur at the base. There are five stamens, each bearing a two-celled anther. The ovary is one-celled, but it separates into five valves, when the seeds are ripe, bursting with elasticity, and the valves curling inwardly from the apex to the base. There are five stigmas, quite distinct from each other, and appearing just above the ovary, without any style; and the peduncles are simple and one-flowered.

The genus Impatiens, which contains the common Noli-me-tangere, or Touch-me-Not, and other similar plants, though it agrees with Balsamina in having five anthers, has only three of them with two cells, the others having one cell each. The stigmas also are joined together at the base, and the capsule bursts at the slightest touch, the valves coiling up spirally from the base to the apex, and detaching themselves from the plant at the same time that they expel the seeds. The peduncles grow from the axils of the leaves, and they are branched and many-flowered. A separate order, called HydrocereÆ, has been made of one of the species of Impatiens (I. natans). It is an aquatic plant, a native of the East Indies.

ORDER LIII.—OXALIDEÆ.—THE WOOD-SORREL TRIBE.

The flowers of all the species of Oxalis, the Wood-sorrel, are very pretty. The flowers have five regular petals, each furnished with a claw; and the petals are spirally twisted in the bud. There are ten stamens, and five styles. The capsule is five-celled, and five or ten valved, the valves opening lengthways. Most of the species are natives of South America, and greenhouse plants in England.

ORDER LIV.—ZYGOPHYLLEÆ.—THE BEAN-CAPER TRIBE.

The flowers of the Bean-caper are usually yellow; and the five petals are long, narrow, and placed widely apart. The botanic name of Zygophyllum signifies “with the leaves in pairs,” and this is the case to a remarkable degree. Fagonia cretica is a very pretty plant, with purple flowers very much like those of Clarkia; and Guiacum, the Lignum VitÆ, is remarkable for the hardness of its wood and the gum it produces. Melianthus belongs to this order.

ORDER LV.—RUTACEÆ.—THE RUE TRIBE.

This order has been divided into four sections; three of which contain well-known plants, and have been divided into three orders by many botanists. The Rue (Ruta graveolens) is well known from its strong and disagreeable smell, which is produced by the oil secreted in transparent cells in the leaves, which have the appearance of dots, when the leaves are held up to the light. The leaves are of a bluish green, and the flowers of a greenish yellow; the latter growing in cymes at the end of the branches. There are four sepals, four petals, and eight stamens. There are four carpels, seated on an elevated receptacle, and each containing one cell, which grow into a four-celled fruit. In Fraxinella (Dictamnus) the petals are unequal; there are ten stamens, one style, and the carpels are two-seeded. In Diosma there are only five stamens, the style is arched, and the capsule consists of five-horned carpels. In CorrÆa the leaves are opposite; there are eight stamens, and the four petals grow together into a tube at the base; and in Crowea there are five sepals, five petals, and ten stamens; the leaves are also alternate. The Diosmas have as strong a scent as the Rue, and a perfume is made from them called Bucku at the Cape of Good Hope, of which country they are natives.

The section ZanthoxyleÆ contains the Zanthoxylum, also called the Toothache Tree, or Prickly Ash, a native of North America, the bark of which is very fragrant, and is said to be a cure for toothache and rheumatism; Ptelea or Shrubby Trefoil; and Ailantus glandulosa. Zanthoxylum fraxineum has very pretty pinnate leaves, and small purple flowers; Ptelea trifoliata has curiously winged fruit, which resemble those of the elm; and the Ailantus has remarkably long compound leaves, one leaf having been known to have fourteen pairs of leaflets, and to be upwards of three feet long. The two following orders are included in RutaceÆ by some botanists.

ORDER LVI.—SIMARUBACEÆ.

Quassia amara, the bark of which is sometimes used as a substitute for hops, is perhaps the best known plant belonging to this order. All the species are trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America, with bitter bark, milky juice, and pinnated leaves.

ORDER LVII.—OCHNACEÆ.

Tropical shrubs with yellow flowers and shining leaves; seldom seen in British hothouses.

ORDER LVIII.—CORIAREÆ.

Only one species of this order is common in British gardens, viz. Coriaria myrtifolia; the leaves of which are astringent, and used in dyeing black, and the berries are poisonous.

§ II.—CalyciflorÆ.

The plants comprised in this division have their petals and stamens inserted in the calyx, or in a lining of it formed by the dilated receptacle.

ORDER LIX.—CELASTRINEÆ.

Fig.135.—The Holly.

This order is divided into three sections, each containing well-known plants. The first of these takes its name from StaphylÆa pinnata, the Bladder-nut. In the flowers of this plant the calyx is in five divisions, and white tinged with pink, so as to be scarcely distinguishable from the corolla. There are two or three carpels, which are surrounded by the receptacle, and the styles of which adhere slightly together. The capsule is bladdery, and consists of two or three cells, each containing one smooth, brownish, bony seed, which looks as though one end had been cut off at the hilum. The leaves are compound, each having five leaflets. The second section contains, among other plants, the Spindle-tree (Euonymus europÆus), Cassine, and the Staff tree (Celastrus scandens). The Euonymus has small whitish-green inconspicuous flowers; but it is remarkable for the beauty of its capsules, which are fleshy, and of a bright rose-colour, while the seeds, which are of a bright orange, are enwrapped in a covering called an aril, by which they remain attached to the capsule after the valves have opened. Each capsule has five cells and five seeds, and each seed has a little white stalk attached to its aril, like the funicle of a pea. There are several species. The Celastrus is a climbing shrub, remarkable for its clusters of flowers, but which has nothing else to recommend it. The third section, AquifoliaceÆ, is made a separate order, under the name of IlicineÆ, or AquifoliaceÆ, by many botanists; some of whom place it in the sub-class CorollÆflorÆ, because the petals are connected at the base. The most common plants that it contains are included in the genera Ilex and Prinos. In Ilex aquifolium, the Holly, the corolla (a in fig. 135), is in four or five petals connected at the base; there are four stamens, the cells of the anthers of which adhere to the sides of the filament (b). The berry (c) is four -celled, each cell containing a one-seeded nut. The leaves (d) are simple, and smooth, shining and prickly at the edges, which are curved upwards. Prinos, the Winter-berry, is a little evergreen shrub, with red berries.

ORDER LX.—RHAMNACEÆ.

The most interesting genera in this order are Paliurus, Zizyphus, Rhamnus, and Ceanothus. Christ’s Thorn (Paliurus aculeatus) is easily known by its crooked prickly stem, and its singular fruit, which, from its resembling a head with a broad flat hat on, the French call, Porte-chapeau. The flowers are yellow, but they are too small to be ornamental. Zizyphus Jujuba differs from Paliurus chiefly in its fruit, which resembles a small plum, and from the fruit of which the Jujube lozenges are made. There are numerous species of Rhamnus, some of which are trailing-shrubs, and others low trees. Some of the species, such as R. Alaternus, are evergreen shrubs, very useful in town-gardens, as they are not injured by smoke; others, such as the Purging Buckthorn (R. catharticus), have deciduous, rough, feather-nerved leaves, and the branchlets terminating in a thorn. The berries of the plants in this division are sold for dyeing yellow, under the name of French or Avignon berries. Another division includes the species which are without thorns. All these plants have their male and female flowers distinct. The last division of Rhamnus has perfect flowers, and dark-purple berries, as for example, the Berry-bearing Alder (R. frangula). The genus Ceanothus is well known from the beautiful C. azureus. The other species have generally the same kind of terminal, upright panicles of feathery flowers, but they are very inferior in beauty. C. americanus, which has white flowers, is sometimes called American Red-root, or New Jersey Tea.

ORDER LXI.—BRUNIACEÆ.

Small heath-like shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope.

ORDER LXII.—SAMYDEÆ.

Tropical shrubs or trees with dotted leaves, and inconspicuous flowers.

ORDER LXIII.—HOMALINEÆ.

This order contains the handsome evergreen half-hardy shrub, Aristotelia Macqui; the flowers are insignificant, but the berries are black, acid, and eatable, and the leaves are smooth, shining, and so abundant as to render the plant an excellent screen.

ORDER LXIV.—CHAILLETIACEÆ.

African plants, with panicles of small white flowers, and simple leaves.

ORDER LXV.—AQUILARINEÆ.

Trees, natives of Asia, little known in England.

ORDER LXVI.—TEREBINTHACEÆ.—THE TURPENTINE TRIBE.

This order is divided by De Candolle into seven sections; viz., 1. AnacardiaceÆ, including the Cashew-nut (Anacardium), the Mango (Mangifera), and the Turpentine trees (Pistacia); 2. SumachineÆ, which contains Rhus, Schinus, and Duvaua: 3, SpondiaceÆ, containing the Hog-plum (Spondias); 4. BurseraceÆ, including the Jamaica Birch (Bursera), and the Balm of Gilead tree (Balsamodendron); 5. AmyrideÆ, the West Indian Balsam tree (Amyris); 6. SpatheliaceÆ, the West Indian Sumach (Spathelia); and 7. ConnaraceÆ, containing Omphalobium, and other exotic genera. Of these modern botanists make five distinct orders, viz., AnacardiaceÆ, including the first, second, and fifth sections; AmyrideÆ, SpondiaceÆ, BurseraceÆ, and ConnaraceÆ. Ptelea, which was originally included in this order, is now generally placed in XanthoxylaceÆ.

The plants contained in this order have in some cases perfect flowers, and in others, the male and female flowers on different plants. They all abound in a resinous gum; that from the Mastic tree (Pistacia Lentiscum), and several of the species of Rhus, is used for making varnish; the gum of the Turpentine tree (P. Terebinthus) is the Chian or Cyprus turpentine. The flowers are small, and generally produced in panicles, the petals are sometimes wanting. The leaves are alternate, without stipules, and often compound. The flowers have generally five petals, and five or ten stamens; and the fruit is drupaceous, or capsular, varying in the different genera. In Anacardium, the peduncle which supports the Cashew-nut is fleshy and pear-shaped, so as to resemble a fruit more than the nut itself. The Mango has a fleshy drupe, with a woody, fibrous stone or nut. In Pistacia, the fruit is a dry drupe inclosing a nut, which is eatable in P. vera. Both the male and female flowers in this genus are handsome, though without petals, from the anthers being yellow, and the stigmas crimson. The different species of Sumach, or Rhus, are all poisonous; and the Venetian Sumach (Rhus cotinus) is remarkable from the appearance presented by its flower-stalks in autumn; as all the flower-stalks which do not bear fruit dilate, after the flowers have dropped, and become covered with a great quantity of white cottony hair, which makes each panicle resemble a powdered wig; and hence, the French call the tree Arbre À perruque.

ORDER LXVII.—LEGUMINOSÆ.—(See Chap. II. in P. 35.)

The plants belonging to this order have alternate leaves, which are generally compound, and frequently have the common petiole tumid; they have also two stipules at the base of the petiole, and frequently two others to each leaflet. The pedicels are usually articulated, and the flowers are furnished with small bracts. The flowers have a five-parted calyx, and a corolla, sometimes papilionaceous, and sometimes spreading, which has never more than five petals, though it has frequently less. The fruit is a legume, though sometimes, when there is only one seed, it has the appearance of a drupe. There are eleven sections given in De Candolle’s Prodromus, viz., 1. SophoreÆ, the Sophora tribe; 2. LoteÆ, the Lotus tribe; 3. HedysareÆ, the Sainfoin tribe; 4. VicieÆ, the Vetch tribe, (including the Pea and Bean); 5. PhaseoleÆ, the Kidney-bean tribe; 6. Dalbergia, the Gum-dragon tribe; 7. Swartzia; 8, MimoseÆ, the Mimosa tribe; 9. Geoffrea, the Earth-nut tribe, (including the Earth-nut Arachis, and the Tonquin Bean, Dipterix); 10. CassieÆ, the Cassia tribe; and 11. DetarieÆ. Some botanists include Moringa, the Horse-radish tree, in LeguminosÆ, but others make it a separate order under the name of MoringeÆ.

ORDER LXVIII.—ROSACEÆ.—(See Chap. III. in P. 50.)

The flowers have five sepals, combined in their lower part into a tube, but divided above into five lobes; and the corolla has generally five petals. There are numerous carpels, which are usually inclosed in the fleshy tube of the calyx. The ovary is one-celled, and there is seldom more than one seed, and scarcely ever more than two. The leaves are alternate, generally compound, and always furnished with stipules. De Candolle divides the order into eight tribes, viz., 1. ChrysobalaneÆ; 2. Amygda lineÆ; 3. SpiraceÆ; 4. NeuradeÆ; 5. DryadÆ, or PotentilleÆ; 6. SanguisorbeÆ; 7. RoseÆ; and 8. PomaceÆ. Of these, the first, second, third, and eight, are made separate orders; the fifth, sixth, and seventh are retained in RosaceÆ. NeuradeÆ was first removed to FicoideaceÆ, and afterwards made a separate order; and another order has been made, called QuillageÆ, including only the genera Kageneckia and Quillaja.

ORDER LXIX.—CALYCANTHACEÆ.

There are only two genera in this order, both of which are remarkable for the fragrance of their flowers. The American Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) is a shrub, with very dark blackish purple flowers, which botanists consider to be all calyx, the plants in this order having no petals. The lobes of the calyx are somewhat leathery in texture, and lanceolate in form; they are very numerous, and they are disposed in several rows, like scales. The stamens are numerous, but only the outer twelve are fertile, and they soon fall off. The peduncle is thickened below the flower; and the receptacle is dilated, and drawn out over the carpels, which are arranged in it like those of the rose, which they closely resemble, but are much larger. The leaves are opposite and feather-nerved. Chimonanthus fragrans, so well-known for its beautiful yellowish flowers, which are produced about Christmas, belongs to this order. In this plant the lobes of the calyx are oval, and not nearly so numerous as in Calycanthus; the outer lobes look like bracts. The stamens are less numerous, and not deciduous; and only five are fertile, which are united at the base. This plant was formerly called Calycanthus prÆcox.

ORDER LXX.—GRANATEÆ.

This order has only one genus and two species. The Pomegranate (Punica Granatum) has a tubular calyx, with a limb in five or seven divisions, and the same number of petals as there are segments to the calyx. The calyx and corolla are both of the same colour. When the petals fall, the tube of the calyx swells, and becomes a many-celled berry, the limb of the calyx remaining on, and forming a kind of crown to the fruit. The cells are divided into two parts, and they contain a great number of seeds which are plunged in a juicy pulp. The other species, P. nana, only differs in being a dwarf plant, and in the leaves being narrower. The Pomegranate was formerly included in MyrtaceÆ.

ORDER LXXI.—MEMECYLEÆ.

Tropical trees and shrubs, with white or purplish flowers, and eatable fruit.

ORDER LXXII.-COMBRETACEÆ.

This order is well-known from the two beautiful climbing stove-plants, Combretum purpureum, and Quisqualis indica. The flowers of the former are disposed in racemes, which have a peculiarly light and graceful appearance, from the great length of their stamens; and as they are of a brilliant scarlet, the name of Purpureum is very ill applied to the species. The flowers of Quisqualis indica have a very long slender tube to the calyx, and five velvet-like petals, which vary in colour from a yellowish white to red, changing in the course of one day.

ORDER LXXIII.—VOCHYSIEÆ.

Brazilian trees and shrubs, with yellow flowers, and stipulate, feather-nerved leaves.

ORDER LXXIV.—RHIZOPHOREÆ.

The Mangroves (Rhizophora) are tropical trees, growing in the soft mud of rivers, particu larly in that of the Niger, so that, when the rivers are full, they appear to grow out of the water. The seeds have the singular property of germinating in the capsule, and sending down long roots while yet hanging on the tree, the branches of which thus appear, at a little distance, as if covered with long white strings. All the genera belonging to this order require a stove in England.

ORDER LXXV.—LOPHIREÆ.

The only plant contained in this order is a beautiful shrub from Sierra Leone, with terminal corymbs of white flowers, and coriaceous leaves.

ORDER LXXVI.—ONAGRARIÆ.—(See Chap. IV. in P. 75.)

The tube of the calyx generally adheres to the ovary, and its limb is usually two or four lobed, the lobes frequently adhering together. The petals are either four, or equal in number to the lobes of the calyx; they are inserted in the mouth of the tube, and are twisted in the bud. The fruit is generally a capsule, or a berry, with two or four cells; and there are numerous seeds. The leaves vary consider ably, and are sometimes alternate, and sometimes opposite, but never compound. De Candolle divides this order into six sections: viz. 1. MontinieÆ; 2. FuchsieÆ; 3. OnagreÆ, containing the Evening Primrose (Œnothera), and the French Willow Herb (Epilobium); 4. JussieuÆ; 5. CircÆÆ, including the Enchanter’s Nightshade (CircÆa), and Lopezia; and 6. Hydrocaryes, containing the Water-caltrops (Trapa natans). This last section is sometimes made a separate order.

ORDER LXXVII.—HALORAGEÆ, OR CERCODIANÆ.

Most of the plants in this order are British weeds; as for example, the Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum), Water Starwort (Callitriche), and Mare’s-tail (Hippuris); but some are natives of North America, China, &c., and one genus has lately been discovered in Australia, which Dr. Lindley has named Loudonia aurea, and which is a large shrub, with corymbs of golden yellow flowers.

ORDER LXXVIII.—CERATOPHYLLEÆ.

British weeds called Hornwort.

ORDER LXXIX.—LYTHRARIEÆ, OR SALICARIÆ.

The principal plants in this order that are interesting to amateurs, are included in the genera Lythrum, Cuphea, Heimia, Lawsonia, and Lagerstroemia. The genus Lythrum contains all those showy British plants which are called the Willow Herbs. The flowers are purple, and the petals, which are four or six in number, are crumpled in the bud. The stamens are either the same number as the petals, or twice the number, and the capsule is two-celled. The calyx, as in all the plants included in this order, is tubular, with numerous lobes; and the petals soon fall off. Cuphea is a genus principally of annual plants, with six or seven dark purple petals, unequal in size, and curiously inserted in the calyx. Heimia is a genus of South American shrubs, with yellow flowers. Lawsonia inermis produces the Henna, which the ladies of the East use to dye the palms of their hands pink; and Lagerstroemia is a beautiful conservatory tree, with handsome flowers. This plant is sometimes called the pride of India.

ORDER LXXX.—TAMARISCINEÆ.—THE TAMARISK TRIBE.

There are very few plants in this order, and the only ones common in British gardens are the French Tamarisk (Tamarix Gallica), and the German Tamarisk (Tamarix, or Myriacaria Germanica); both of which are easily recognized by their light airy branches, (which when young are covered with closely imbricated leaves, though the leaves drop off as the wood ripens,) and their terminal erect spikes of whitish or pink flowers. The seeds are large, and are each furnished with a tuft of hairs at the end of a kind of stalk. These plants are very suitable for planting near the sea, as they are uninjured by the sea-breeze.

ORDER LXXXI.—MELASTOMACEÆ.

This order consists of showy exotic plants, most of which require a stove in Britain, and which are easily known by their leaves being marked with two or more deep lines running parallel to the midrib. They are all free-growing plants, with very handsome flowers, which are generally purple or white.

ORDER LXXXII.—ALANGIEÆ.

There are two genera, Alangium and Marlea, both handsome shrubs, natives of India.

ORDER LXXXIII.—PHILADELPHEÆ.—THE MOCK-ORANGE TRIBE.

There are three genera in this order: viz., Philadelphus, the Mock-Orange or Syringa; Decumaria and Deutzia, all which have white flowers. There are many species of Philadelphus, all of which are easily known by their large white flowers, and large coarse-looking leaves. The flowers of the common species (P. coronarius) smell like those of the Orange, and the leaves taste like cucumber. There is only one species of Decumaria (D. barbara), which is a native of Virginia and Carolina, and is a climbing shrub, with terminal corymbs of white, sweet-scented flowers. Deutzia scabra, though only introduced in 1833, is already common in gardens; and it is a general favourite from the great abundance of its flowers. Though it said to be not a true climber, its stems are too weak to stand without support. It is a native of Japan, and though generally kept in pots, it is supposed to be quite hardy.

ORDER LXXXIV.—MYRTACEÆ.—THE MYRTLE TRIBE.

No plants are more easily recognized than those belonging to this tribe; as they are easily distinguished by their entire leaves, which have no stipules, and which, when held up to the light, appear to be not only full of transparent dots, but to have a transparent line round the margin. The flowers have also abundance of stamens on long slender filaments which look like tufts of silk, and only four or five petals. The whole of the plants are fragrant, and every part of them seems full of an aromatic oil, which is particularly visible in the flower-buds of Caryophyllus aromaticus, which when dried form what are commonly called cloves; and in the leaves of some of the kinds of Eucalyptus. The genera may be divided into two sections, viz., those with a dry capsule for the fruit; in which are included Melaleuca and its allied genera, Eucalyptus, Callistemon, Metrosideros and Leptospermum; and those with berry-like fruit, the most interesting of which are Psidium, the Guava; Myrtus, the Myrtle; Caryophyllus, the Clove; Eugenia or Myrtus pimenta, Jamaica Allspice; and Jambosa Vulgaris or Eugenia Jambosa, the Rose Apple. In some of the genera, as for example in Eucalyptus, the sepals of the calyx become detached at the base, and being united above form a sort of cap or calyptra, which is pushed off by the stamens when the flower begins to expand. Besides the plants already enumerated, some botanists add another section to MyrtaceÆ, which others consider a separate order; under the name of LecythideÆ. This section contains three genera, the most remarkable plants in which are the Cannon Ball-tree (Lecythis Ollaria), and the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa). The fruit of this last plant is fleshy, and as large as a child’s head, opening with a lid, and containing sixteen or twenty triangular seeds, laid over each other in a regular manner, which are the Brazil-nuts sold in the shops.

ORDER LXXXV.—CUCURBITACEÆ.—THE GOURD TRIBE.

The plants included in this order have generally the male and female flowers distinct. The calyx is tubular, and generally five-toothed; there are five petals usually connected at the base, and which have strongly marked reticulated veins. There are five stamens, four of which are united so as to form two pairs, with the fifth one free. The anthers are two-celled, and generally very long. There are three or five two-lobed stigmas, which are thick and velvety. The fruit is fleshy, with numerous flat seeds. The leaves are palmate, and very rough; and the plants have succulent stems, and climb by means of their tendrils. The principal genera are, Cucumis, which includes the Melon (C. melo), the Cucumber (C. sativus), the Mandrake (C. Dudaim), the Water Melon (C. citrullus), and the Colocynth (C. colocynthis); Bryonia, best known by the White Bryony (B. dioica); Momordica, including the Balsam Apple (M. balsamea), and the Squirting Cucumber (M. elaterium); and Cucurbita, including all the kinds of Pumpkin (C. pepo), and Vegetable Marrow (C. ovifera). To these may be added Lagenaria, the Bottle Gourd; and Trichosanthes, the Snake Gourd, plants far more curious than useful. Some botanists include the Papaw-tree (Carica Papaya) in CucurbitaceÆ, but others make it into a separate order under the name of PapayaceÆ.

ORDER LXXXVI.—PASSIFLOREÆ.—THE PASSION-FLOWER TRIBE.

The plants belonging to this order may be instantly recognized by the very singular arrangement of the pistil and stamens. The receptacle is raised in the centre of the flower so as to form a long cylindrical stipe, on which is placed the ovary, with its three styles, each ending in a fleshy stigma; a little lower are five stamens, with their filaments growing together round the stipe, and with large anthers which are attached by the back. At the base of the stipe are two or more rows of filaments without anthers, which are called the rays. There are five petals and five sepals; but some botanists consider the whole to be sepals, and that the petals are wanting. The fruit of some of the species is eatable. It is about the size of a large egg, and contains numerous seeds, which are enveloped in a kind of pulp.

ORDER LXXXVI.*—MALESHERBIACEÆ.

This order consists entirely of the plants belonging to the genus Malesherbia; which are mostly annuals, or biennials, with very showy blue or white flowers, introduced from Chili in 1832. The genus was formerly included in PassifloraceÆ.

ORDER LXXXVII.—LOASEÆ.

All the species contained in this genus are natives of North America, and most of them are annuals, with very showy flowers. The genera Loasa and Caiophora are covered with glandular hairs or bristles, which sting much worse than those of the nettle. Bartonia aurea is one of the most splendid annuals in cultivation, from its golden yellow flowers; Blumenbachia has the fruit roundish and spirally twisted, and Caiophora has the fruit horn-shaped, and twisted in a similar manner. This curious construction of the fruit may be seen in C. punicea, the well known showy climber, generally called Loasa aurantiaca, or lateritia. The fruit of the true kinds of Loasa is plain and not twisted, as may be seen in L. nitida, L. Placei, and in short in all the other species of the genus. The flowers of most of the plants in this order are very curiously constructed, there being two sets of petals quite distinct in form and colour, and two sets of stamens. The five outer petals are large and hooded, and in each is cradled a bundle of four or more stamens. These petals and stamens are turned back; but there is a second set of five petals which are generally blotched with red, which stand erect, and enclose a second set of stamens also erect, which surround the style.

ORDER LXXXVIII.—TURNERIACEÆ.

The only genus in British gardens is Turnera, and the species are hothouse and greenhouse herbaceous plants, with flowers very like those of the Bladder Ketmia. On examination, however, it will be immediately seen that they do not belong to the Mallow tribe, as their stamens are distinct, whereas those of all the MalvaceÆ are united into a central column.

ORDER LXXXIX.—PORTULACEÆ.—THE PURSLANE TRIBE.

The ornamental plants belonging to this order, are all included in the genera Calandrinia, Portulaca, Talinum, and Claytonia; and those belonging to the first two of these genera have very showy flowers. In all the species the flowers have a distinct calyx, generally of only two sepals, which remains on till the seeds are ripe; and a corolla of five regular petals, which close in the absence of the sun. Each flower has numerous stamens, and a single style with a broad-lobed stigma which, is succeeded by a dry, one-celled capsule, with a central placenta, to which are attached numerous seeds. The capsule opens naturally when ripe by splitting into three or four valves. But the most distinctive mark by which plants belonging to this order can be distinguished from others with similarly shaped flowers, is their remarkably thick fleshy leaves, an example of which may be seen in the leaves of Calandrinia discolor; and these succulent leaves render all the ornamental plants belonging to the order peculiarly liable to be destroyed by frost or damp. Some botanists make a second order out of the plants usually included in PortulaceÆ, to which they give the name of FouquieraceÆ.

ORDER XC.—PARONYCHIEÆ.

Weedy plants, containing among other genera, Knot-grass (Illecebrum), and Strapwort (Corrigiola). The new order ScleranthaceÆ has been separated from this; and it takes its name from the British weed, Knawel (Scleranthus).

ORDER XCI.—CRASSULACEÆ.—THE HOUSELEEK TRIBE.

The common House-leek (Sempervivum tectorum) grows, as is well known, on the tiles of houses, or on walls, where there does not appear a single particle of earth to nourish its roots. The leaves are, however, so contrived as to form a cluster of flat scaly circles, and thus to shade and keep moist the roots beneath them. The flowers, which are produced on a tall flower-stem rising from the leaves, are pink, and usually consist of a green calyx, cut into twelve segments, and a corolla of twelve petals, with twelve stamens and twelve carpels, which spread out like a star in the middle of the flower. The number of petals, &c., is by no means constant, as it varies from six to twenty; but the other parts of the flower vary in the same manner, and always agree with each other, except as regards the stamens, which are sometimes twice the number of the petals, and arranged in two series, those in one series being abortive. At the base of each carpel is a kind of scale or gland, and this is the case with most of the genera included in the order. There are several species of Sempervivum, natives of the Canary Isles, which are very ornamental, and which have yellow flowers; but this genus, and that of Sedum, the Stone-crop, have been lately remodelled by Mr. Philip Barker Webb, and some new genera formed out of them. The principal other genera in the order are Crassula and Kalosanthes; the latter having been formed out of the former, and including those species of Crassula which have a tube-shaped corolla, with a spreading limb, divided into five segments, while the flowers of those species which have been left in Crassula have five distinct petals. All the plants belonging to the order have succulent leaves; and in all of them the number of the petals, sepals, and carpels, is the same, and of stamens either the same, or twice as many. In the common House-leek, the anthers sometimes produce seeds instead of pollen.

ORDER XCII.—FICOIDEÆ.—THE FIG-MARIGOLD TRIBE.

The principal genus in this order is that of Mesembryanthemum, the Fig-marigold. In the species of this genus, the leaves are always thick and fleshy, and sometimes in very singular shapes; and sometimes they are covered with a sort of blistery skin, which makes them look as though covered with ice, as in the Ice-plant (M. crystallinum). The leaves, when this is the case, are said to be papulose. Some of the species are annuals, others shrubby, and others perennials; and they are all natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The flowers, which are generally showy, have a green, fleshy, tubular calyx, with a four or five cleft limb, the tubular part of which encloses the ovary; and a corolla of numerous very narrow petals, which are arranged in two or more series. The stamens are very numerous; and the capsule has four or more cells, each of which contains numerous seeds. The valves of the capsule open when the seeds are ripe, if the weather should be dry; but remain firmly closed, so long as the weather continues wet.

The genera Reaumuria and Nitraria, which were formerly included in this order, have been removed from it, and made into separate orders, the latter of which is introduced here; and the genus Grielum, which was formerly included in RosaceÆ was first removed to FicoideÆ, and afterwards made into a separate order, under the name of NeuradiaceÆ, which precedes NitrariaceÆ.

ORDER XCIII.—CACTACEÆ.—THE CACTUS TRIBE.

There is perhaps no order in the vegetable kingdom which embraces plants so singular in their forms as those comprehended in this tribe. All the genera, with the exception of Pereskia, are destitute of leaves, but they have all succulent stems which answer the purposes of leaves. The flowers of all the genera are extremely showy; the calyx and corolla are coloured alike, and confounded together; the stamens are numerous, with versatile anthers and very long filaments; the style is generally long and slender, and the stigmas are numerous, and either spreading or collected into a head. The ovary is in the tube of the calyx, and it becomes an eatable fruit, very similar to that of the gooseberry. The genera are all natives of tropical America. The principal kinds are the following: viz. Mammillaria, the stems of which are subcylindrical, and covered with tubercles, which are disposed in a spiral manner; and each of which is crowned with a little tuft of radiating spines mixed with down. The flowers are without stalks, and they are disposed in a kind of zone round the plant. The Melon Thistle or Turk’s-cap (Melocactus communis) has a globose stem with deep furrows, the projecting ribs having tubercles bearing tufts of spines. The stem is crowned with a woolly head, from which the flowers are protruded, the flowers themselves resembling those of Mammillaria, but being larger. The Hedgehog Thistles (Echinocactus) have stems resembling those of the different species of Melocactus, but they have not the woolly head; and the flowers rise from the fascicles or tufts of spines on the projecting ribs. The Torch-Thistle (Cereus) has generally an angular stem with a woody axis, and it has tufts of spines on the projecting angles. It has not a woolly head, and the flowers, which are very large and showy, either arise from the tufts of spines, or from indentations in the angles. The limits of this genus are very uncertain; and several plants which are included in it by some botanists, are placed in other genera by others. The Old-man Cactus was once called Cereus senilis, but it is found to have a woolly head of great size, which has very much the appearance of a sable muff, and as, consequently, it cannot belong to that genus, it has been called Pilocereus. This plant is covered with long white hairs, and, when of small size, it looks very much like an old man’s head. In its native country, however, it grows to a great height, and specimens have been imported fifteen feet long, and not more than a foot in circumference. The Peruvian Torch-Thistles (C. hexagonus and peruvianus), in their native country, are upwards of forty feet high, though not thicker than a man’s arm. They grow close together without a single branch, and form a singular sort of prickly crest on the summit of some of the mountains in South America. The creeping Cereus (C. flagelliformis) has slender cylindrical trailing stems, which hang down on every side when the plant is grown in a pot. The flowers, which are very numerous, are pink. The night-flowering Cereus (C. grandiflorus) only opens during the night, and fades before morning; the rays of the calyx are of a bright yellow when open, and the petals are snow-white. The stem is angular, branched, and climbing, throwing out roots at every joint. The common Torch-thistle (C. speciosissimus) is an erect plant, with a three or four angled stem, and very large bright crimson flowers, which are purplish inside; and C. speciosa, sometimes called Epi phyllum phylanthoides, has thin leaf-like stems with beautiful pale rose-coloured flowers. C. Jenkinsonii is a hybrid between the last two species. C. truncatus is another well-known species. Opuntia has stems consisting of round, flat, leaf-like bodies, united together by joints, and generally covered with tufts of spines. The most remarkable species are O. communis, the Prickly Pear, grown to a great extent in the South of Europe, and also in Brazil, as hedges, the fruit of which is very good to eat; O. Tuna, the Indian Fig, common in South America, and much cultivated there, both as a hedge plant and for its fruit; and O. cochinillifera, the Nopal-tree, very much cultivated in Mexico and South America, for the cochineal insect, which feeds upon it. Rhipsalis has slender cylindrical jointed stems, which look like samphire. All these genera have only leaves when quite young, and as soon as the plants begin to grow, the leaves fall off. Pereskia, however, is a genus belonging to this order which has leaves like ordinary plants, which it retains during the whole period of its existence. The principal species are P. aculeata, the Barbadoes Gooseberry, and P. Bleo, which has beautiful rose-coloured flowers.

ORDER XCIV.—GROSSULARIEÆ.—THE GOOSEBERRY TRIBE.

Fig.136.—The Gooseberry. (Ribes Grossularia).

This order consists of only one genus (Ribes), which includes all the Gooseberries and Currants; the two kinds forming two distinct sections. The first section, which embraces all the Gooseberries, has prickly stems, and the flowers are produced singly, or in clusters of not more than two or three together. The flower of the common Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia) consists principally of the calyx (a in fig. 136), the five segments of the limb of which are turned back, and coloured of a reddish-brown. The petals (b) are white and erect, and bearded at the throat; but they are so small and inconspicuous, that few people would notice them if they were not pointed out. The stamens (c) are five in number, and erect, and the anthers burst lengthways on the inside. The ovary (d) is below the cup of the calyx, and the style, which is cloven to the base (e), is always covered with hairs in the common Gooseberry (R. Grossularia), and is more or less hairy in the other species. There are two little bracteoles (f) on the pedicel; and a large bract, deeply cut, at the point from which the pedicel springs (g). The leaves, which are omitted in the engraving, also grow from the same bud, and are three or five lobed, and hairy; and there are three spines just below them. The fruit is a many-seeded berry, with the seeds immersed in pulp; and on cutting open an unripe fruit, it will be found that the seeds are each inclosed in an aril, with a separate footstalk, by which they are attached to a membrane lining the sides of the berry, and which is called a parietal placenta. The segments of the calyx remain on the ripe fruit. Several of the ornamental species of Ribes belong to this division, as, for example, R. triflorum, which has white flowers; and R. speciosum, which has crimson flowers, with the segments of the calyx not reflexed, and long projecting stamens like those of the Fuchsia. The fruit and the whole of the stems and branches of this species are covered with spines, and thus the plant is easily distinguished from the common gooseberry, the stem of which has no spines, except three just below each bud.

Fig.137.—The Red Currant.

The Currants are distinguished by the stems being entirely without spines, and the flowers being produced in racemes. The leaves are cordate, and bluntly three or five lobed, a little downy beneath, but smooth above. The flowers of the Red Currant (Ribes rubrum) are numerous, and they are produced in drooping racemes, with a little bracteole at the base of each footstalk (see a in fig. 137). The calyx is flattish, with the segments (b), which are of a pale greenish colour, spreading widely, and not recurved. The anthers (c) are loosely attached to the filaments, and they burst sideways and across. The style (d) is short, and divided into two spreading stigmas at the apex. The fruit is smooth and transparent, with many seeds, and it retains the remains of the calyx (e) when ripe. The white, and the striped or flesh -coloured Currants, are varieties of R. rubrum. The Black Currant (R. nigrum) has a more compact, and campanulate flower (see a in fig. 138), with the segments of the calyx reflexed; the anthers (b) are more firmly attached to the filament; the style (c) is not cleft, and the stigma is two-lobed and capitate. The fruit (d) has a thick opaque skin, and the eye of the calyx is larger; the leaves are also covered on the under surface with glands or cells, filled with a fragrant oil formed by the limb, as shown at (e), which represents the appearance of the leaf when held up to the light. There is often a solitary flower on a separate pedicel, at the foot of the raceme; and there are frequently ten stamens instead of five, and no petals, the petals having been changed into stamens—a metamorphose the reverse of that which generally takes place.

Fig.138.—The Black Currant.

The most ornamental kinds of Currant are R. multiflorum, with very long drooping racemes of greenish flowers; R. sanguineum, the flowers of which are crimson, and somewhat tubular; R. aureum, which has the flowers of a golden yellow, and quite tubular; and R. cereum, which has roundish leaves covered with white waxy dots on their upper surface, and racemes with few flowers, which are rather large, and of a pure white. A few species, such as R. saxatile and R. Diacantha, appear to be intermediate between the Currant and the Gooseberry, as they have the racemes of fruit common to the one, with the spines and habit of growth of the other. There is said to be another species nearly allied to R. sanguineum, with dark-purple flowers, which has not yet been introduced.

ORDER XCV.—ESCALLONIACEÆ.

Of the genera included in this order (which were formerly included in SaxifragaceÆ), Escallonia is the most important, as it contains several species of ornamental South American shrubs. The flowers of the different species vary considerably: in E. rubra, they are produced singly, and the corolla, which is pink, is tubular, with a short, five-cleft limb; but in E. montevidensis the flowers, which are white, are produced in panicles, and have spread petals. The flowers of both species have five stamens, and two carpels, the styles of which are combined. The leaves are simple, alternate, and without stipules. Of the other plants contained in the order, I may mention that Itea virginica is a North American shrub, with white flowers; and Anopteris glandulosa, which is also a shrub with white flowers, is a native of Van Diemen’s Land.

ORDER XCVI.—SAXIFRAGACEÆ.

The genus Saxifraga of LinnÆus has been divided so as to form several genera; but they do not appear to be generally adopted. The flowers of all the species are rather small, and they are generally racemose, or panicled; and the corolla consists of five spreading petals with short claws, and there are twice that number of stamens. Among the most common species may be mentioned London Pride (Saxifraga or Robertsonia umbrosa), and the Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga or Leiogyne granulata), the flowers of the latter being large, and produced singly. In the genus Hydrangea the flowers are disposed in corymbs, and they have five petals, ten stamens, and from two to five styles; but in the outer flowers of the corymb the stamens and pistil are often wanting.

The genera Galax and Francoa, which were first included in CrassulaceÆ, and afterwards in SaxifragaceÆ, are now made into a new order called GalacineÆ, or FrancoaceÆ, which is introduced here.

ORDER XCVII.—CUNONIACEÆ.

This order, which was separated from SaxifragaceÆ by Dr. Brown, contains principally hothouse plants with erect spicate racemes or panicles of small flowers. Weinmannia, Bauera, and Cunonia are the principal genera.

ORDER XCVIII.—UMBELLIFERÆ—UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS OR THE PARSLEY TRIBE.

This is a very large order, but it is so natural that no person who has seen Parsley in flower can ever be in any doubt as to an umbelliferous plant. Most of the species are either culinary plants, such as the Parsnep and Carrot, Celery, Parsley, Fennel, &c., or poisonous weeds, such as Hemlock, and the Water Parsnep; and there are very few ornamental plants included in the order: among these few may, however, be mentioned Didiscus or Trachymena cÆrulea, Eryngium, and Bupleurum or Tenoria fruticosum, Angelica, and Heracleum. Some of the species of the latter, particularly the Gigantic Siberian Cow Parsnep (H. asperum), are perfectly magnificent objects. Notwithstanding the ease with which these plants may generally be recognised, as in some of the allied orders the flowers grow in umbels or cymes, it may be necessary to remark that Dr. Lindley defines umbelliferous plants to consist of those which have their “flowers growing in umbels, with inferior fruit, which, when ripe, separates, or may be separated, into two grains.” Thus the common Dogwood is not an umbelliferous plant, though its flowers grow in umbels, because its fruit is a berry.

ORDER XCIX.—ARALIACEÆ.

The most interesting plant in this order is Hedera Helix, the common Ivy; a well-known climbing evergreen shrub, which throws out roots from its branches at intervals, which it strikes into any substance to which it can adhere. The flowers have all their parts in five or ten divisions; even the lower leaves, which are smooth and leathery, are five-lobed. The leaves on the flowering branches, which are always in the upper part of the plant, are entire. The flowers are produced in umbels, and they are succeeded by berries, which, in correspondence with the parts of the flowers, are five or ten celled. The large-leaved variety, called the Irish Ivy, is a native of the Canary Isles; and the gold and silver leaved, and golden berried, are all varieties of the common kind. There are, however, many exotic species, most of which have not yet been introduced. The genus Aralia, known by its two garden species, A. spinosa and A. japonica, belongs to this order. The first of these is called the Angelica Tree, and is an old inhabitant of our gardens; but A. japonica is of quite recent introduction.

ORDER XCIX.*—HAMAMELIDEÆ.

The most interesting plants in this order are the Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginica), and Fothergilla alnifolia. In the first of these plants, there are four long narrow petals, and the calyx is four-lobed; and there are eight stamens, of which four are fertile, and four barren. There are two styles, and the capsules are leathery and two-celled, and two-valved, with one seed inclosed in an aril in each cell. The Witch Hazel has the peculiarity of coming into flower when it drops its leaves in autumn, remaining in flower all winter, and forming its fruit in spring, just as it is opening its new leaves. The flowers are yellow, and very pretty from their great abundance, and the light feathery effect produced by the great length and narrowness of the petals. The leaves are rough and feather-nerved, like those of the Hazel. Fothergilla is a pretty little shrub with terminal spikes of white flowers with yellow anthers, which are sweet-scented and appear before the leaves.

ORDER C.—CAPRIFOLIACEÆ, OR THE HONEYSUCKLE TRIBE.

This order, as originally constituted, may be divided into three tribes, viz., CorneÆ, containing Cornus, Benthamia, and, according to some, Aucuba; SambuceÆ, containing Sambucus and Viburnum; and LonicereÆ, containing Symphoria, Caprifolium, Lonicera, Leycesteria, LinnÆa, &c. Cornus, Benthamia, and some other genera, among which Dr. Lindley places Aucuba, are now formed into a separate order, under the name of CornaceÆ. The different species of Dogwood (Cornus) are known by the smooth bark of their stems and branches, which is frequently red, or reddish brown; by their white flowers, which are produced either in heads, or umbels, or in corymbose panicles; by their red or blackish berries; and by their coarse feather-nerved leaves. The principal species of Cornus are the wild or female Cornel (C. sanguinea); the common Dogwood (C. alba); the male Cornel, or Cornelian Cherry (C. mas); and American Dogwood (C. florida). All these plants have a very small four-toothed calyx, and a corolla of four petals. There are four stamens and one style. The fruit is a berry-like drupe. Some of the species, as for example C. florida, have a large involucre of four leaves, having the appearance of petals. Benthamia fragifera, called by Dr. Wallich C. capitata, has an involucre of four leaves of yellow, tinged with red, surrounding a head of small greenish inconspicuous flowers. The fruit consists of a number of drupes, grown together like a Mulberry, with six, eight, or more seeds, surrounded with a viscid pulp. The leaves are long and tapering, of a fine texture, and of a light green above, and silvery white below.

The genus Sambucus, the Elder, is characterised by its pinnate leaves and terminal cymes of flowers, which have a small five-lobed calyx, a rotate corolla also five-lobed, five stamens about the length of the corolla, no style, and three obtuse stigmas. The berries are globular, pulpy, and one-celled; each containing three or five seeds, which are convex on the outside, and angular within. The berries differ in colour in the different species, those of the common kind being a deep purplish black, and those of S. racemosa being red. The stems and branches are of a soft wood, having a white spongy pith. The white-berried Elder is a variety of the common kind.

The genus Viburnum contains several well-known plants, among which may be mentioned the Laurestinus (V. Tinus), the Guelder Rose (V. Opulus), and the Wayfaring Tree (V. Lantana). This genus is very nearly allied to Sambucus in the flowers, but it is easily distinguished, on examination, by its leaves, which are not pinnate, and by its wood, which is hard and not spongy. The berries have also only one seed, and they are not eatable,—those of the Laurestinus are, indeed, injurious. The Laurestinus and some other species are evergreen; but by far the greater number of species are deciduous.

The genus Lonicera formerly included all the kinds of Honeysuckle; but now only the upright species, or what are called the Fly Honeysuckles, are comprised in it, and the climbing kinds are called Caprifolium. One of the upright kinds, most common in gardens, is the Tartarian Honeysuckle (L. tartarica), the flowers of which are in twins. The corolla is tubular and funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft limb. There are five stamens, a filiform style, and a capitate stigma. The berries are distinct when young, but they afterwards grow together at the base. The leaves are always distinct. The genus Caprifolium embraces all the climbing species, the flowers of which are disposed in whorls, and the upper leaves are connate, that is, growing together at the base, so that two appear only one leaf, with the stem passing through it. A single leaf of this kind is called perfoliate. The flowers spring from the axils of the leaves, and are what are called ringent, that is, they are composed of five petals, four of which grow together, almost to the tip, while the fifth is only attached to the others about half its length, and has the loose part hanging down. Flowers of this kind, with their lower part forming a tube, and their upper part widely open, are said to be gaping. In the Trumpet Honeysuckle (C. sempervirens) the tube of the corolla is very long, and the lobes of the limb nearly equal; and the flowers, instead of springing from the axils of the leaves, form terminal spikes, each consisting of three or more whorls of flowers.

The Snowberry (Symphoria racemosa) bears considerable resemblance to the upright Honeysuckles. The flowers are funnel-shaped, and four or five lobed. The berry has four cells, but two of the cells are empty, and the others have only one seed in each. The leaves are oval, quite entire, and not connate.

Leycesteria is a very handsome shrub, with white flowers, and very large and showy purple and reddish bracts. The berries are of a very dark purple, and they are nearly as large as a gooseberry. L. formosa is a native of Nepaul, but it appears tolerably hardy in British gardens, and it stands the sea-breeze without injury.

LinnÆa borealis is a little for insignificant trailing plant, which is included in this order, and which is only worth mentioning on account of its being named in honour of LinnÆus. It is a half-shrubby evergreen, with small bell-shaped flesh-coloured flowers, which are said to be fragrant at night.

ORDER CI.—LORANTHEÆ.

Four genera are included in this order, all remarkable in different ways. The first of these is the common Mistletoe (Viscum album), a most remarkable parasite, a native of Britain, and generally found on old apple-trees; and the second is Loranthus europÆus, a native of Germany, closely resembling the Mistletoe, but found generally on the oak, where the true Mistletoe rarely grows. This plant is said to have been introduced in 1824, but it is not now in the country. There are other species of the genera, one a native of New Holland. Nuytsia floribunda, also a native of New Holland, a very curious plant, is also included in this order. It is a shrub about three feet high, so covered with orange-coloured blossoms that the colonists call it the Fire-tree. When the seed of this plant germinates, it is said to have three cotyledons. The last plant generally included in this order is Aucuba japonica, though it is probable this plant belongs to CornaceÆ. Of this species we have probably only a variety, from the variegation of the leaves; and it has never produced seeds, as only the female plant has been introduced.

ORDER CII.—CHLORANTHEÆ.

Inconspicuous plants with greenish flowers, which require a hothouse in Britain.

ORDER CIII.—RUBIACEÆ. (See Chap. V. P. 85.)

This order is divided into thirteen sections, most of which have been already described. In all the species the tube of the calyx adheres to the ovary, which is crowned with a fleshy cup, from which arises the single style; and the petals are united at the base, and attached to the upper part of the tube of the calyx.

ORDER CIV.—OPERCULARIEÆ.

Exotic weeds, formerly included in RubiaceÆ.

ORDER CV.—VALERIANEÆ.—THE VALERIAN TRIBE.

No person can ever have been in the neighbourhood of Greenhithe, in Kent, without having observed the red Valerian, which grows in such abundance on the steep banks of the chalk-pits in that neighbourhood; and probably still more of my readers will be familiar with the common wild Valerian, or All-heal, which is found in moist places, generally among sedges, in every part of England. Another species of the same genus is common in Scotland, so that the name of Valerian is familiar to all persons who know anything of British plants. Common as these plants are, however, probably most of my readers are unaware of the very curious construction of their flowers; or of the very great variety exhibited by the different species. The genus Valeriana is, indeed, one which presents a remarkable instance of variety of construction, united with a similarity of form which makes all the species recognisable at a single glance. In all the species, the corolla is funnel-shaped, with a long tube, and a five-lobed limb. In the red Valerian (V. rubra), the lower part of the tube is drawn out into a spur; and on this account the plant is sometimes called the spurred Valerian, and it has been placed by De Candolle in a new genus, which he called Centranthus. The other species of Valerian have the tube of the flower gibbous, that is, much larger on one side than on the other. In all the calyx is tubular, with the limb curiously rolled, so as to form a rim or crown to the fruit, like that on the heads of basket-women. When the flowers drop, the fruit, which is one-celled and one-seeded, and which adheres closely to the tube of the calyx, begins to swell, and as it does so the limb of the calyx gradually unrolls, till at last, when the fruit is ripe, it forms a sort of feathery tuft to waft it away. The leaves of plants of this genus vary exceedingly, even on the same plant; but generally those of the red Valerian are lanceolate; those of V. dioica are pinnatifid; those of the wild Valerian (V. officinalis), pinnate; and those of the garden Valerian, the kind found in Scotland, (V. pyrenaica,) are cordate. The flowers of V. dioica are male and female, and are found on different plants. The principal other genera in this order are Valerianella, the Corn Salad or Lamb’s Lettuce; and Fedia, the Horn of Plenty.

ORDER CVI.—DIPSACEÆ.—THE TEASEL TRIBE.

The principal genera belonging to this order are Dipsacus, the Teasel, and Scabiosa, the Scabious; to which may be added a pretty little annual called Knautia. The plants belonging to this order bear considerable resemblance to those included in CompositÆ, as they consist of a head of florets seated on a common receptacle, which is chaffy, and surrounded by an involucre. The florets are also furnished with what may be called a double calyx, the limb of the inner part being cut into long teeth, and resembling the pappus of the CompositÆ. In the genus Dipsacus, the most important plant is the Fuller’s Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), in which the receptacle is raised in the form of a cone, and the chaffy scales are hooked, and so strong, that the flower-heads when dry are used for preparing broad-cloth. The leaves of this plant are opposite, and united at the base. The florets have a four-cleft corolla, and four distinct stamens; differing in this respect decidedly from the CompositÆ, which have five stamens, the anthers of which are always united into a tube. Dipsacus sylvestris might be easily mistaken for a kind of Thistle; but the difference will be seen at once by examining the anthers of the florets. The Devil’s-bit Scabious, which is so called from the root looking as though a part had been bitten off, has the same kind of flower-head as the Dipsacus, but the receptacle is flat, and the involucre much smaller. In some of the species of Scabious, the florets of the outer ring resemble those of the ray in flowers of the CompositÆ. The leaves of the genus Scabious are as variable as those of the genus Valeriana, scarcely two species being alike.

ORDER CVII.—CALYCEREÆ.

Obscure American plants, nearly allied to CompositÆ.

ORDER CVIII.—COMPOSITÆ. (See Chap. VI. P. 98.)

Plants with heads of florets on a common receptacle, surrounded by an involucre. The florets are of three kinds, viz., ligulate, tubular, and bilabiate; the heads consisting sometimes entirely of florets of one kind, and sometimes with ligulate florets forming the outer ring, called the ray, and tubular flowers forming the centre, called the disk. The calyx continues on the ripe fruit, and its limb is frequently cut into a kind of fringe called the pappus. The fruit is of the kind called an achenium, that is, dry and bony, and continuing enveloped in the persistent calyx, but without adhering to it.

ORDER CIX.—LOBELIACEÆ.

The genus Lobelia is well known from the pretty little blue-and-white flowering plants that are so common in pots for windows and balconies, and that continue flowering so freely all the summer. There are two or three species which are grown for this purpose, viz. Lobelia Erinus, L. bicolor, and L. gracilis, all annuals, which require to be raised on a hotbed by sowing in February, and which will then flower all the summer, with no other care than regular watering. All these flowers have the tube of the calyx united to the ovary, with a five-parted limb. The corolla is irregular and tubular, with the tube cleft on the upper side, and thickened at the base. The limb of the corolla is divided into two parts; one of which, called the upper lip, is cut into two narrow sharp-pointed segments, which stand erect; while the lower lip, which is much the longer, and hangs down, is cut into three rounded segments. There are five stamens, the anthers of which grow together, and at least two of them are bearded. The capsule is oval, two-celled, two-valved, and many-seeded, opening naturally at the top when ripe. These general characters will be found in all the numerous species of Lobelia, as the genus at present stands, as they all have the two horn-like segments of the upper lip, and the rounded lobes in the pendulous under lip; and many of the plants formerly called Lobelia which differ in these particulars have been placed in other genera. Thus Tupa, which contains several of the large scarlet-flowered species, has the segments of the limb of the corolla united at the tip; the filaments of the stamens cohering as well as the anthers, and the stigma protruding. Siphocampylos has the tube of the corolla ventricose in the middle, the segments of the upper lip long and curving over each other, and the lower lip very slightly lobed, with both the filaments and the anthers combined. In Dortmannia the filaments are free, and only the anthers combined; in Parastronthus (L. unidentata), there is scarcely any tube to the corolla, and in Isotoma, the corolla is salver-shaped. The beautiful little Clintonia pulchella belongs to this order, and it differs from Lobelia in its corolla having scarcely any tube, and also, but more decidedly, in the very long tube of its calyx. This is so long and slender as to look like a part of the flower-stalk; as does the capsule, which, when ripe, is triangular, and is as long as the silique of a cabbage or wall-flower, to which it bears considerable resemblance. All the LobeliaceÆ have an acrid milky juice, which is poisonous.

ORDER CX.—STYLIDEÆ.

This order contains three genera of New Holland plants, only one of which has been introduced. The flowers are tubular, with a five-cleft limb, and they are covered with hairs, terminating in capitate glands; the stamens are united into a column, which is bent towards the fifth or lower segment of the limb, which is much larger than the others. The united stamens are so irritable as to start forward when touched with a pin.

ORDER CXI.—GOODENOVIÆ.

All the plants in this order are natives of New Holland, and they bear considerable resemblance to those included in LobeliaceÆ, but they have not a milky juice, and the stigma, which is very small, and without any style, is surrounded by a curious cup called an indusium, which is generally found full of pollen. This very remarkable organ is probably rendered necessary by the very small size of the stigma, which can only absorb the pollen very slowly. The most interesting genera contained in this order are Lechenaultia and Euthales.

ORDER CXII.—CAMPANULACEÆ.—THE CAMPANULA TRIBE.

The plants in this order have a bell-shaped regular corolla, consisting of five petals, usually grown together so as to form a monopetalous corolla with five lobes, each lobe having a conspicuous central nerve or vein. There are five or more stamens, which are generally distinct, and which have broad bearded filaments bending over the ovary. The style is at first short, but it gradually elongates itself, and both it and the stigmas are furnished with tufts of stiff hairs, which, as the style pushes itself through the stamens, brush off the pollen, and retain it till the stigma is in a proper state to receive it. The anthers burst as soon as the corolla opens. The capsules have generally two, three, or five cells, and each cell contains many seeds.

In the genus Campanula, the capsule opens by little valves, which look as though cut with scissors. The juice of the plants is milky, but not poisonous. The principal genera are Campanula, Prismatocarpus (Venus’s Looking-glass), Roellia, Phyteuma (the petals of which are distinct), Trachelium, Wahlenbergia, and Adenophora. LobeliaceÆ and GoodenoviaceÆ were formerly included in this order.

ORDER CXIII.—GESNERIEÆ.

The corolla is tubular and sub-bilabiate, with a five-cleft limb. There are four stamens, two longer than the others, with the rudiments of a fifth. The anthers generally adhere in pairs; the fruit is one-celled and many-seeded; the leaves are thick and covered with a soft down; and the roots are frequently tuberous. The qualities are excellent. The species of the genus Gesneria are usually hothouse plants, with bright scarlet flowers; and those of Gloxinia have generally purple flowers; and of Sinningia the flowers are greenish.

ORDER CXIV.—VACCINIEÆ. (See Chap. VII. P. 130.)

This order includes the Whortle-berries, Bilberries, and Cranberries, and it is very nearly allied to EricaceÆ, from which it is distinguished by the disk, which lines the calyx, entirely surrounding the ovary, which is thus placed below the rest of the flower, and is called inferior. The fruit is a berry.

ORDER CXV.—ERICACEÆ. (See Chap. VII. P. 109.)

All the Heath tribe, including the Arbutus, Rhododendron, Azaleas, &c., are distinguished by their anthers, which have a little hole or pore at the apex of each cell; each cell being also generally furnished with a kind of spur at its base. The stamens in all these genera grow from beneath the ovary, and the filaments are thick and fleshy. The fruit is a dry capsule, or follicle.

ORDER CXVI.—PENEACEÆ.

Beautiful shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope, with the habit of Pimelea, and corymbs of pale pink flowers. The calyx is in two sepals, the stigma four lobed, and the fruit four-valved, with two seeds in each cell.

§ III.—COROLLIFLORÆ.

The plants comprised in this division are called monopetalous, as they have their petals joined together, so as to form a cup for the stamens and pistils quite distinct from the calyx; and the stamens are attached to the corolla.

ORDER CXVII.—EPACRIDEÆ.

This order stands on debateable ground, being by many botanists included in the last division; but it seems properly placed in this, as the stamens are attached to the petals, which adhere together; and if a flower of any species of Epacris be examined, it will be found that the corolla, with the stamens attached to the lining of the tube, parts readily from the calyx without losing its natural form. The flowers are tubular or campanulate, with a five-cleft limb, and will divide readily into five petals, each of which has the filament of a stamen attached to it, leaving only the anthers free. The anthers are one-celled and awnless, and this is the principal distinction between this order and EricaceÆ. The calyx is five-cleft, coloured like the corolla; and there are five scale-like bracts below it, which look like a calyx. The capsule is dry, with the seeds attached to a central column. The leaves are dry, hard, and prickly. The species are natives of Australia, where they supply the place which the Heaths hold in Europe and Africa; no Heath having been yet found in any part of Australia.

ORDER CXVIII.—SYMPLOCINEÆ.

This order contains one genus, Symplocos, of greenhouse and stove shrubs, from South America, with small white flowers, and serrated leaves, which turn yellow in drying.

ORDER CXIX.—STYRACINEÆ.

The plants in this order best known in English gardens are Styrax officinale, the Storax, and Halesia tetraptera, the Snowdrop-tree. The flowers of both are white; those of Storax are funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft limb; there are ten stamens, growing together at the base, with short filaments, and very long anthers. The fruit is a drupe which is nearly dry, containing a one-celled nut, enclosing from one Fig.139.—Snowdrop tree (Halesia tetraptera).to three seeds. The seeds have two skins, the inner one like a cobweb, and the outer one spongy. The bark, when wounded, affords the gum called storax. Halesia has drooping bell-shaped white flowers, something like those of the Snowdrop, (see a in fig. 139,) with four petals and twelve or sixteen stamens combined into a tube at the base. The fruit is a dry, winged drupe, which has four angles in H. tetraptera (b), and two in H. diptera; and which contains a stone or putamen (c), which has two or four cells, and as many seeds. Some botanists make HalesiaceÆ a separate order.

ORDER CXX.—MYRSINEÆ.

Showy shrubs, with evergreen leaves, and cymes of white or red flowers, which require a stove or greenhouse in England. The plants belonging to this order may be easily known on cutting open their flowers, as they are the only monopetalous flowers among the stove plants that have the stamens opposite the lobes of the corolla; the general position of the stamens being between the lobes. The principal genera in this order are Myrsine, the species of which are greenhouse shrubs; and Ardisia, the latter being well-known stove shrubs, with white flowers and red berries. Theophrasta, Clavija, and Jacquinia, were included in this order; but they are now formed into a new one, under the name of TheophrasteÆ.

ORDER CXXI.—SAPOTEÆ.

This order is best known by the genera Argania, Sideroxylon, Chrysophyllum, and Bumelia, all of which are stove or greenhouse plants. The seeds of Achras Sapota contain abundance of oil, which is so concrete as to have the appearance of butter; and hence the tree is called the Butter-tree. Sideroxylon has such hard wood as to be called the Iron-tree. The juice of all these plants is milky, and the milk is wholesome as food.

ORDER CXXII.—EBENACEÆ.

The principal genus is Diospyros; which contains the Ebony-tree (D. Ebenum), the Date-plum or Lotus-tree (D. Lotos), both natives of the East Indies; and the Persimon (D. virginiana), a native of North America. The species are trees with hard dark wood; that of Ebony is quite black when old, and remarkably heavy. The flowers are white and inconspicuous, and the fruit, which is eatable, but insipid, is a berry, placed in the centre of the calyx, which spreads round it like a saucer. It is very harsh when first gathered, and must be kept till it is half decayed, like the Medlar, before it is eaten.

ORDER CXXIII.—BREXIEÆ.

Large stove trees, with axillary branches of white flowers.

ORDER CXXIV.—OLEINÆ.—(See Chap. VIII. P. 136.)

This order comprises the common Ash, the Manna Ash, the Olive, the Privet, the Fringe-tree, the Phillyrea, and the Lilac. The flowers of all have only two stamens, and a roundish two-celled ovary, without any disk. The flowers of the Ash have no corolla, and the fruit is a samara. In the other genera, the flowers are more or less funnel-shaped, and the fruit is a capsule. The leaves are generally pinnate, and always opposite. The seeds have a dense albumen.

ORDER CXXV.—JASMINEÆ.—(See Chap. VIII., P. 134.)

This order has been separated from the last, chiefly on account of the seeds having no albumen. The principal genus is the Jasmine, which has a funnel-shaped corolla, and pinnate leaves. Some botanists insert, between OleaceÆ and JasmineÆ, the new order ColumellieÆ, which contains only one plant, Bolivaria trifida.

ORDER CXXVI.—STRYCHNEÆ.

Tropical trees. The principal genus Strychnos, the fruit of which is the well-known poisonous nut, Nux vomica. The genera Theophrasta and FagrÆa were formerly included in this order; but the first is now placed in the new order, TheophrasteÆ (see p. 399); and the second is placed in another new order introduced here, and called PotaliaceÆ.

ORDER CXXVII.—APOCYNEÆ.

Very showy plants from various parts of the world, some of which require a stove in Britain, while others are quite hardy. They also vary in some of them being trees, others erect shrubs or climbers, and others perennial; but they are all easily recognised by the twisted direction of the segments of the corolla, which has been compared to the rays of St. Catharine’s-wheel. The corolla is generally salver-shaped as in the periwinkle (Vinca major), or funnel-shaped, as in Taberna montana, and Allamanda cathartica, or divided into equal segments as in Nerium Oleander. The flowers are often bearded in the throat, and furnished with hypogynous scales; with the stamens inclosed in the flower, and the anthers lying close together. The seed is contained in two follicles, which are slender, and have their seeds disposed in two rows. The species all abound in an injurious milky juice; and two of the genera, Cerbera and Tanghina, are virulent poisons.

ORDER CXXVIII.—ASCLEPIADEÆ.

These plants are very nearly allied to the last, and they differ chiefly in having the segments of their corollas straight, in their stamens being united into a sort of crown, and in their pollen being found in masses of a waxy substance. The seeds are also each furnished with a tuft of fine long silky hair. The principal plants are Periploca grÆca, a hardy, climbing, shrub, with rich, dark, velvet-looking flowers, which are said to be poisonous to flies, and Hoya carnosa, a stove or greenhouse climber, with waxen-looking, clustered, odoriferous flowers, distilling honey; to these may be added Pergularia, a stove climber, remarkable for its fragrance, Physianthus, Gonolobus, Ceropegia, and Asclepias, all singular-looking climbing plants; and besides these, I may mention Stapelia, the species of which are dwarf plants, with their flowers hanging down below the pots in which they grow, and the odour of which is so like that of carrion, as to induce flesh-flies to lay their eggs upon them.

ORDER CXXIX.—GENTIANEÆ.—THE GENTIAN TRIBE.

The best known genera are Gentiana, (the Gentian), Lisianthus, and Menyanthes (the Buckbean). The flowers have a tubular calyx and corolla, the latter plaited in the tube, and with an equally-parted limb, which is generally five cleft; and an equal number of stamens with broad filaments, and arrow-shaped anthers. The seeds are numerous, and are usually in two follicles.

The orders SpigeliaceÆ, LoganiaceÆ, and MenyanthaceÆ, have been separated from GentianeÆ, and are adopted by some botanists.

ORDER CXXX.—BIGNONIACEÆ.

The most interesting genera are—Bignonia; from which Tecoma has been divided by some botanists, on account of a slight difference in the seed-pod; Jacaranda, said to produce the rosewood of commerce; Eccremocarpus, and Catalpa. All the plants included in this order have winged seeds, and generally very long horn-like seed-pods. The different species of Bignonia or Tecoma have trumpet-shaped flowers with a five-toothed calyx, and four stamens of unequal length, with the rudiments of a fifth. The capsule is very long and narrow, resembling a silique in shape, but broad on the outside, and the leaves are pinnate. Eccremocarpus, or Calampelis scabra, is a well-known climber, with orange-coloured, bag-like flowers, which are produced in secund racemes; large, roundish warted fruit, with winged seeds; and pinnate leaves, with tendrils. In Catalpa the corolla has a very short tube, and an unequal, five-lobed limb. There are five stamens (only two of which are fertile); and an exceeding long, cylindrical, silique-shaped seed-pod, which is sometimes two feet or more in length. The leaves of the Catalpa are heart-shaped. In Jacaranda, the capsule is above two feet long, and quite flat. Crescentia cujÈte, the calabash-tree, belongs to this order.

ORDER CXXXI.—COBÆACEÆ.

This order is restricted to one genus CobÆa, of which one species (C. scandens) is common in British gardens. This plant is an annual climber, with showy bell-shaped flowers, which are first green, and afterwards become purple. This plant has remarkably long tendrils, which twist themselves round any thing that comes in their way.

ORDERS CXXXII. AND CXXXIII.—PEDALINEÆ AND SESAMEÆ.

These orders are now united into one, under the name of PedalineÆ; and the most interesting genus is Martynia, consisting of half hardy annual plants with bell-shaped flowers, and very curious seed-pods.

ORDER CXXXIV.—POLEMONIACEÆ.

This is a very interesting order to the lovers of ornamental flowers, from the beauty of those of some of the genera. The genus Polemonium, the Greek Valerian, has one species (P. coeruleum) which is found wild in many parts of England, and is known by the names of Charity and Jacob’s Ladder. The corolla, which is of a deep blue, softening into white in the centre, is rotate, with the stamens, which are bearded at the base, inserted in the throat. The capsule is three-celled, and many-seeded, as is generally the case with plants in this order, and the leaves are pinnate. The Phloxes are well-known; all the species are very handsome, but none are more so than the beautiful annual (P. Drummondi). The corolla of these plants is salver-shaped, with an elongated tube, the limb twisted in the bud, and wedge-shaped segments. The stamens are inserted above the middle of the tube, and the cells of the capsule are one-seeded. Leptosiphon has the corolla funnel-shaped, with a very long slender tube, and a campanulate limb with oval lobes; the corolla is covered with a great number of fine glandular hairs, and the limb is twisted in the bud. The stamens, which have very short filaments, are inserted in the throat of the corolla. The calyx consists of five sharply-pointed hairy lobes, connected by a very fine membrane. The flowers are surrounded by a great number of sharply-pointed bracts. Similar bracts are very conspicuous in the genus Collomia. Gilia and Ipomopsis, so well known for their splendid flowers, also belong to this order.

ORDER CXXXV.—HYDROLEACEÆ.

Elegant little plants, distinguished from the preceding order by the flowers having two styles, and a two-valved capsule. RetziaceÆ, an order containing only one Cape plant, is inserted here by some botanists, who have separated it from ConvolvulaceÆ.

ORDER CXXXVI.—CONVOLVULACEÆ.

The principal genera are Convolvulus, Ipomoea and their allies. The genus Convolvulus formerly included all the beautiful monopetalous flowers with a folded limb, which are so common in gardens, but it is now restricted to those which have a two-celled capsule, with the cells two-seeded; the stamens are inclosed in the corolla, and the stigma is divided into two narrow thread-like lobes. Ipomoea only differs in having the lobes of the stigma capitate. In Quamoclit, the little scarlet Ipomoea, the capsule is four-celled, and the cells one-seeded; the corolla is tubular, and the stamens project beyond the throat. Batatas, the Sweet-potato, resembles Quamoclit, but the corolla is campanulate, and the stamens are inclosed. In Pharbitis (in which genus the common Convolvulus major, and the beautiful Ipomoea Learii, are both now included), the capsule is three-celled, and the cells are three-seeded; and in Calystigia, in which is now placed the common bindweed of the hedges, the capsule is one-celled and four-seeded; and the flower, which in other respects agrees with that of the genus Convolvulus, has two bracts which serve as a sort of involucre. All these flowers have the lobes of the corolla marked with a decided fold or plait, and they are climbing plants, generally annuals. Cuscuta is a parasite belonging to ConvolvulaceÆ, which though it springs from the ground, withers just above the root as soon as it has twined itself round any plant within its reach; drawing its entire nourishment from the unfortunate plant it has attacked, and which it soon kills. The plants in this order produce an acrid milk; and the roots of a kind of Convolvulus yield the drug called Jalap, which takes that name from the Mexican city Xalapa, near which it is grown.

ORDER CXXXVII.—BORAGINEÆ.

The fruit of the plants included in this order consists of four distinct carpels, each containing a bony nut. These nuts frequently appear as though a hole had been bored in them at the base, and they are frequently striped or twisted. The flowers are generally secund, or rather they are produced in spikes which appear to have flowers only on one side, from the spikes being curiously rolled up before the flowers expand, and uncoiling gradually as they open. The corolla is generally salver or funnel shaped, with a five-lobed limb, and five little scales just within the throat, which appear to be placed there to close up the orifice. There are five anthers, which seem attached to the corolla, without any stamens, and a slender style terminating in a two-lobed stigma. The calyx is tubular, and remains on the fruit till ripe; the teeth of the calyx contracting at the point, so as to cover the ripe carpels. The principal genera are Pulmonaria (Lungwort), Symphytum (Comfrey), Cerinthe (Honeywort), Lithospermum (Gromwell), Echium (Viper’s Bugloss), Anchusa (Bugloss); Myosotis (Scorpion-grass or Mouse-ear), one species of which, M. palustris, is the Forget-me-not; Omphalodes (Venus’ Navelwort), Cynoglossum (Hound’s-tongue), and Heliotropium (the Heliotrope).

ORDER CXXXVIII.—CORDIACEÆ.

East India trees and shrubs of which Ehretia is, perhaps, the best known. Nearly allied to BoragineÆ.

ORDER CXXXIX.—HYDROPHYLLEÆ.

This order is interesting from its containing Phacelia, Eutoca, and Nemophila, all well known Californian annuals.

ORDER CXL.—SOLANACEÆ (see Chap. IX. P. 141).

The genera Verbascum and Celsia have been removed from this order, and formed by some botanists into another called VerbascinÆ, though by Dr. Lindley they are included in ScrophularinÆ. The plants left in the order SolanaceÆ have all a tubular calyx, which remains on the fruit till it is ripe; and the fruit itself is generally round and fleshy, with two or four cells and numerous seeds. In some of the genera, the permanent calyx looks like a capsule, but on opening it, the little berry-like fruit will be found inside. There are five stamens, the anthers of which are two-celled like those of most other plants, and the filaments are inserted in the corolla, which is generally partly tubular with a spreading limb, the segments of which are plaited, that is, each bears the crease of a fold in the middle, as may be seen in the Petunia. In the order VerbascinÆ, the corolla is rotate, and the segments are not plaited; the anthers also are only one-celled. Most of the plants belonging to SolanaceÆ are poisonous in a raw state; but they lose their deleterious qualities when cooked.

ORDER CXLI.—SCROPHULARINÆ.

The Foxglove is generally taken as the type of this order, and it has a tubular corolla (see a in fig. 140) with a short limb (b), and a spreading calyx (c). There are four stamens of unequal length inserted on the base of the corolla Fig.140.—Foxglove (Digitalis).and hidden in its tube; and an oblong ovary (d), with a long style, and a two-lobed stigma (e). The fruit is a dry capsule with two cells, and numerous seeds. The flowers of the other genera are very irregular. In the Snapdragon, the corolla is what is called personate; and in the Calceolaria the lower lip is curiously inflated. The stamens also differ. In most of the genera there are four, but in Pentstemon there is a fifth, long and slender, and hairy at the point, but without any anther; and in Calceolaria and Veronica there are only two. Among the genera included in this order may be mentioned Buddlea, the flowers of which grow in ball-like heads; Paulownia, Maurandya, Mimulus, Alonsoa, and Collinsia. The Toadflax (Linaria), and several other British plants belong to it; but the Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus), and some other allied plants, have been formed into a new order called RhinanthaceÆ; Chelone and Pentstemon have been formed into an order called ChelonaceÆ; and Sibthorpia, Disandra, &c., into one called SibthorpiaceÆ. Trevirana or Achimenes, and Columnea, are removed to GesneriaceÆ.

The new order CyrtandraceÆ, including Æschynanthus, Streptocarpus or Didymocarpus, Fieldia, and Amphicoma, is introduced here: the first and last of these genera are new, and the others were formerly included in BignoniaceÆ.

ORDER CXLII.—LABIATÆ.

Fig.141.—A Labiate Flower.

Fig.142.—Black Horehound (Ballota nigra).

The plants belonging to this order include Mint, Sage, Thyme, and other kitchen aromatic plants, and several well-known British weeds. They are all distinguished by a tubular, bilabiate corolla with a projecting under lip (see a in fig. 141). In some plants the corolla is ringent, as shown in fig. 142, taken from Dr. Lindley’s Ladies’ Botany, in which a is the galea or helmet, and b the lower lip, which is three-lobed. There are four stamens, two of which are longer than the others, and the cells of the anthers differ from those of most other plants in spreading widely apart from each other, each being joined to the filament only at the tip. The pistil consists of four distinct carpels (c), a very long style lobed at the tip, and furnished with a very small stigma at the tip of each lobe (d). The flowers of some of the plants belonging to this order are disposed in a whorl round the stem; as, for example, those of the Dead Nettle (Lamium). Among the other plants belonging to the order may be mentioned the Bugle (Ajuga), and the Ground Ivy (Glechoma), both common but very pretty British weeds.

ORDER CXLIII.—VERBENACEÆ.—THE VERVAIN TRIBE.

The genus Verbena is well known, from the many beautiful species now common in every greenhouse. The fruit is two or four celled, and a drupe or a berry, and the calyx of the flowers is tubular, and persistent round it; but the corolla is deciduous, and falls off long before the fruit is ripe. In the genus Verbena the calyx is tubular, with five distinct angles, ending in five teeth. The corolla has a cylindrical tube nearly double the length of the calyx, and a flat limb divided into five unequal segments, which are wedge-shaped and notched, the central one of the lower three appearing to have been slightly pinched; the throat of the corolla is hairy. There are four stamens, two longer than the others, the anthers having two widely-spreading lobes, as in the LabiatÆ. The style is slender below, and thickest in the upper part; and the stigma is two-lobed. The leaves are opposite, and furnished with stipules The flowers form a corymb in the Scarlet Verbena, and a spike in some of the other kinds, which elongates gradually as the flowers expand. The principal other genera are Clerodendron, or Volkameria, Vitex (the Chaste-tree), Lantana, Aloysia (the Lemon-scented Verbena), and Tectona (the Teak) which is so much used in the East Indies for ship-building.

ORDER CXLIV.—MYOPORINÆ.

Australian and Polynesian plants, nearly allied to VerbenaceÆ. The principal genera are Myoporum and Avicennia, the White Mangrove of Brazil.

ORDER CXLV.—ACANTHACEÆ.

These plants are known by the elastic opening of the capsules, which are two-celled, and the hooked points of the seeds by which they are attached to the placenta. The calyx remains on the ripe fruit, but in most of the plants it is so extremely small as to be inconspicuous, and its place is supplied by three large leafy bracts. The corolla varies considerably, being sometimes two-lipped as in Justicia, sometimes funnel-shaped as in Ruellia, and sometimes campanulate, with a spreading five-cleft limb, as in Thunbergia. There are only two stamens in Justicia and some of the other genera, but in Thunbergia, Acanthus, and Ruellia, there are four of unequal length, inclosed within the throat of the corolla. The ovary is imbedded in the disk, and it is two or many seeded; the style is simple, and the stigma one or two lobed.

ORDER CXLVI.—OROBANCHEÆ.

Leafless parasites, with brown or colourless scaly stems and flowers. The genera are LathrÆa and Orobanche.

ORDER CXLVII.—LENTIBULARIÆ.

Pretty little marsh plants, natives of Europe and North America. Pinguicula has very much the appearance of a violet, and the Utricularias are floating plants.

ORDER CXLVIII.—PRIMULACEÆ, THE PRIMROSE TRIBE.

The plants belonging to this order are easily known by the stamens, or rather anthers, for they have scarcely any filaments, being affixed to the corolla in the centre of the lobes, instead of being alternate to them, and by the capsule, though five or ten ribbed, being only one-celled, with a central placenta, to which the seeds are attached. The calyx remains on the ripe fruit. In the genus Primula (the Primrose), the calyx is tubular, and strongly marked with five distinct angles, which end in as many teeth; and the corolla is salver-shaped, with a contraction in the tube, at the insertion of the stamens, the five segments of the limb being wedge-shaped and notched. The style is slender, and the stigma capitate. The capsule opens naturally by ten teeth, which curl back. The Cyclamen, or Sow-bread, one of the genera belonging to this order, has the lobes of the corolla bent back; and when the flower falls, the peduncle coils up in a most curious manner, so as to bury the seed-vessel in the earth. These plants have tuberous roots, which are so acrid as only to be eaten by the wild-boars. The seed-vessel of the Pimpernel (Anagallis) resembles a round case with a lid, which may be taken off, when it displays a great number of seeds, so closely packed, that no room is lost. The principal other genera are the American Cowslip (Dodecatheon), Bear’s-ear Sanicle (Cortusa), Soldanella, the Water Violet (Hootonia), and Loosestrife (Lysimachia).

ORDER CXLIX.—GLOBULARIÆ.

Pretty alpine plants, with blue flowers.

ORDER CL.—PLUMBAGINEÆ.

This order probably belongs to MonochlamydeÆ. The principal genera are Sea Lavender (Statice), remarkable for the coloured footstalks of the flowers; Thrift (Armeria); and Leadwort (Plumbago). The corolla in these plants is either monopetalous, with the stamens free from the corolla and growing from beneath the pistil, or with five petals, to which the stamens are attached. There are five styles and five stigmas, but only a one-celled and one-seeded ovary. The fruit is thin and dry. The pedicels of all the species of the Sea Lavender, particularly of Statice arborea, are often mistaken for the flowers.

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