7. STEM, d, is herbaceous, branched. 8. LEAVES, e, narrow, pinnatifid.* 9. FLOWERS, terminal, umbelled.† In distinguishing the genera of umbelliferous plants, the figure, margin, and angles of the seeds are much regarded. The seeds of the carrot are bristly, those of the poison hemlock marked with ridges, those of the parsnip flat. Order Trigynia. This order contains the elder, (Sambucus,) a shrub which ornaments the fields during the summer, with its clusters of delicate white flowers. From the appearance of the blossom you might suppose it to be umbelliferous; the stalks do at first radiate from one common centre, but afterward they are unequally sub-divided; this arrangement of flowers is called a cyme. The dark, rich purple berries of the elder, and the peculiarity of its pithy stem, are among its distinguishing, natural characters. The snow-ball, Viburnum, has a natural affinity with the elder: the flowers in its cymes are more thickly clustered together. Both are distinguished by their flat corollas, which resemble a circular piece of paper, with five divisions notched on the border. The only generic difference between the snow-ball and the elder is, that the former has a berry or pericarp, with one seed, the latter with three. The snow-ball which is cultivated in shrubberies is an exotic; but there is a native species of viburnum, the oxycoccus, which produces showy flowers early in the spring, and is well worth a place in pleasure-grounds. Order Tetragynia. Here we find the grass of Parnassus, (Parnassia.) This is an interesting flower; the leaves are white, and beautifully veined with yellow; the stem produces but one flower; the nectaries are remarkable for their beauty and singular appearance; they are five in number, heart-form, and hollow, surrounded with thirteen little threads, each one terminating with a round, glandular substance. The plant is said to be a native of Mount Parnassus, in Greece, so celebrated in mythology, as the dwelling of the muses. Order Pentagynia.. In the fifth order we find the flax, Linum, so called from a Celtic word, lin, a thread. It has a showy, blue flower, with an erect stem; a field of flax in blossom presents a very beautiful appearance. The cultivated species is said to be of Egyptian origin. It is from the liber or inner bark of the stem of this plant, that all linen goods, and the finest lawn and cambric, are manufactured. We owe to it, in one sense, our literature; as the paper of which our books are made, is mostly from linen rags. The fibres of the stem are not only thus important to the comfort of man, by contributing to his clothing, and to his intellectual improvement in furnishing a method of disseminating knowledge, but the seeds are highly valuable for their oil, called linseed oil. This is used in medicine. The delightful performances of the painter are executed by means of colours prepared with oil, from the seed of the flax, laid upon the canvass made from the fibres of its stems. * The leaves of Umbelliferous plants are mostly compound, and sheathing at the base. The description of this plant is given on the authority of Nuttall, who calls it the American coriander, which he says is found in the neighbourhood of the Red River. The cultivated coriander has a one-leafed involucrum. Elder-Snow-ball-Grass of Parnassus--Flax. Order Polygynia. The thirteenth order, containing plants with more than ten pistils, occurs next to the fifth; there being no plants in the class Pentandria with six, seven, eight, or nine pistils. The yellow root (Zanthoriza) is a native of the Southern States. It has 5 stamens, 13 pistils, no calyx, 5 petals, 5 nectaries, and 5 capsules; the flowers are purple, growing in panicles. It is a low shrub, with a yellow root, sometimes used by diers. Our explanation of the class Pentandria has necessarily been somewhat tedious, on account of the number and importance of the plants which it contains, few of which, in comparison with the whole we have been able to notice. We do not, however, expect to make you practical botanists by introducing to your observation a few interesting plants;-this can only be done by gathering flowers, and examining them according to those rules of analysis which we have endeavoured to explain in the most simple manner. If you study flowers, you will read about them with pleasure and profit; if not, remarks upon them will convey little instruction. Sciences may be unfolded, every facility which books and teaching can give, may be placed before the youthful mind; but that mind must itself be active, or the germs of knowledge will no more take root and expand, than the seeds of plants would vegetate if thrown upon the bare surface of a granite rock. LECTURE XXVII. CLASS HEXANDRIA, CLASS HEPTANDRIA. CLASS VI.-HEXANDRIA. Of all the artificial classes, none presents us with so great a number of splendid genera as Hexandria; most of them are distinguished by bulbous roots, monocotyledonous seeds, and endogenous stems; the palms and some other plants of this class have fibrous roots in connexion with the last two characters; these are inseparable, the nature of the stem, or the manner of its growth, depending on the structure of the seed. Order Monogynia. Liliaceous plants, or the family of the Liliacea. The most prominent group of plants in this class and order, is the lily tribe, comprehending not only the genus of the lily, but the tulip, crown-imperial, hyacinth, and many other of our most beautiful exotics, as well as many native plants. The liliaceous flowers have no calyx; the perianth is coloured, and petal-like; it is usually called the corolla. The number of stamens is generally 6, sometimes but 3; in the latter case the plant is in the class Triandria; the stamens are opposite the divisions of the corolla. The germ is triangular, 3celled, superior. The root is bulbous. The leaves have parallel veins. Zanthoriza-Remarks on closing the examination of the class PentandriaClass Hexandria-Natural characters which distinguish plants of this class-General remarks upon the Liliaceæ. You have already been made acquainted with the lily, as it was one of the first flowers you were taught to analyze. Pliny says the "lily is the next in nobility to the rose."* Linnæus called the liliaceous flowers "Nobles of the vegetable kingdom;" he also called the palm-trees "Princes of India," and the grasses Plebeians. But in our republican country, where arisFig. 129. tocratic distinctions among men are discarded, we will not attempt to introduce orders of nobility among the plants. In the lily, which has 6 stamens, there are 6 petals; 3 of these are exterior, 3 interior; the capsule is 3-sided, with 3 cells, and 3 valves; the seeds are arranged in 6 rows. This proportion of numbers seems to forbid the idea that this plant was produced without the agency of a designing mind. We are not always, however, to expect the same symmetry in plants, as has been here remarked. It is in the natural, as in the moral world, that, although we see around us such proofs of order and system, as manifest the superintending care of one Almighty Being, yet we meet with irregularities which we cannot comprehend; but, although we may admire the order, we are not to say that even what seems disorder, is formed without a plan. "Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce The tulip has no style, but its three-parted stigma is attached to a three-cornered germ. The corolla of the tulip is more expanded at the base than that of the lily. The stem of the tulip is never more than one-flowered, while that of the lily usually has a number of flowers. In no plant is the variation made by culture, greater than in the tulip; it is said, that of one single species, (TULIPA gesneriana,) eleven hundred varieties are cultivated in Holland. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the rage for tulips was so great that some were sold for four thousand dollars, and one variety, called the Viceroi, for ten thousand dollars; but this extraordinary traffic was checked by a law, that no tulip or other flower should be sold for a sum exceeding one hundred and seventy-five dollars. The amateurs of this flower may truly be said to have had the tulip-mania, to have rendered such a law necessary. The Crown-imperial† is a majestic flower, and presents, in the regularity of its parts, the curious_appearance of its nectaries, and the liquid secretion which takes place in them, facts of great interest both in the departments of botanical classification and physiology. But we find in the fetid odour of this splendid flower, a circumstance which leads us to prefer, as an ornament for our parlours, or as a gift to a friend, the humble mignionette, or the lowly violet. * Lilium nobilitate proximum est." A French poet, in the following lines, gives the lily a rank above the rose. "Noble fils du soleil, le lys majesteur. Vers l'astre paternal dont il brave les feux Il est roi des йeurs, la rose est la reine." This plant is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 4, of the Appendix; the Yucca aloifolia, which belongs to the same natural family, is represented at Plate ii. Fig. 1. The Narcissus is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 7. The Agave, of the Narcissi family, is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 2. The Pine-apple, belonging to this class and order, is represented at Plate v. Fig. 3. What is said of the lily ?-Tulip-Tulip mania-Crown-imperial. This simple fact might suggest to the young, that in order to be desirable to others, they must be agreeable; the mere circumstance of a fine person, cannot long render tolerable, the society of one who possesses neither useful nor amiable qualities. The Family of Palms The palms have mostly a liliaceous corolla with 6 stainens; but some are monœcious, and others, dicecious; while a part have their stamens and pistils within the same corolla and belong to the class Hexandria. Fig. 130 represents a young palm tree, (Chamaerops humilis ;)* at a, is the fibrous root; bc, represents the oldest part of the stipe, showing, by the lines and dots, the place of insertion of the first leaves; c b, represents the upper part of the stipe, still covered with the sheathing bases of the petioles; d, represents the crowning, terminal leaves-these are petioled, fan-shaped, and plaited when young; the petioles are armed with prickles. Palms live to a great age; they are the product of tropical regions, and afford the date, cocoa-nut, and other valuable fruits. Miscellaneous Examples of Plants in the 6th Class and 1st Order. In this class and order is the Spiderwort, (Tradescantia.) It has 6 stamens, 3 petals, 3 sepals, and the capsule is 3-celled. The leaves are ensiform and very long. It remains in blossom nearly the whole summer, and is well worth cultivation, both for its cheerful appearance, and constant botanical characters. The Snow-drop is of the same natural, as well as artificial order, as the Spiderwort. You may be surprised to find, in company with so many elegant flowers, the onion and bulrush; but you must recollect that the title to admission into this class and order is 6 stamens and 1 pistil; and no plant, however humble, with these characteristics, is excluded Although we have described this plant under the class Hexandria, in conformity with the classification of some writers, it is questionable whether it does not rather belong to Diœcia. In the Appendix, at Plate i. Fig. 1, is a representation of the Are ca, which belongs to the Palm-tribe, and at Plate iii. Fig. 3, is a representation of the same palm-tree as seen at Fig. 130. Palms-Describe Fig. 130-Spiderwort-Humble plants placed with those which are beautiful. from a place beside the proud tulip and the noble lily. The onion belongs to the natural order of Jussieu, Asphodeli.* The Asphodel, which gives name to the family, was, among the ancients, a funereal plant; it was made to grow around the tombs, and a belief prevailed that the manes of the departed were nourished by its roots. An inscription upon a very ancient tomb commences thus, "I am nourished by the Asphodel." This plant was supposed by the ancient poets, to grow in abundance upon the borders of the infernal regions. Fig. 129 represents a flower of the Asphodel family, (Eucomis.) The genus Scilla is an exotic, containing the squill, a medicinal plant, and the hare-bell of English poets; the latter is SCILLA nutans, or nodding; it abounds in the woods and glens of Scotland, and has a very slender scape. Thus Scott, in the "Lady of the Lake," says of Eilen Douglas, "E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head The flower which we call hare-bell, is the Campanula rotundifolia; this is very common near waterfalls, and upon rocks in other situations. The barberry (Berberis) is common in New-England; its stamens possess an unusual degree of irritability; they recline upon the petals, but when the bases of the filaments are touched by any substance, they instantly spring towards the pistil. You may have observed, that although we have remarked upon the beauty of some flowers to be found in this class, nothing has been said of their utility; the truth is, that the former, as is too often the case with external beauty, constitutes their chief merit: when we compare the advantages which the world derives from the costly race of showy tulips, with the utility of the humble flax, we feel that though we may admire the one, reason would teach us to prefer the other. May you from this derive a moral lesson, which shall suggest to your minds some truths applicable to our own race as well as the plants. The genus Convallaria contains the lily of the valley, and many other delicate and interesting species. Among these are Solomon's seal. This name is supposed to have been taken from certain marks on its roots, resembling the impressions made by a seal. It was formerly much celebrated for medicinal properties.† Order Digynia. We here find the Rice (Oryza;) this belongs to the family of grasses, which you have already met with in the class Triandria; out this plant having six stamens, is separated by the artificial system from the tribe to which it is allied by natural characters. No plant in the world appears of such general utility as an article of food. It is the prevailing grain of Asia, Africa, the southern parts of America, and is exported into every part of North America and Europe. Order Trigynia. We here find the genus Rumex, which contains the dock and sorrel; The Dracana draco, belonging to this family. is represented in Plate i. Fig. 3, of the Appendix. "The root + Gerard, a very ancient botanist, has the following curious passage. of Solomon's seal stamped, while it is fresh and greene, and applied, taketh away in one night, or two at the most, any bruse, black or blew spots gotten by fals, or woman's wilfulness, in stumbling upon their hasty husband's fists, or such like." Asphodeli-Scilla-Hare-bell-Barberry-Flowers of this class more remarkable for beauty than utility-Convallaria-Rice-Rumex. |