Order Triandria.

In the third order we find a very common plant, called cat-tail, (TYPHA;) this grows in swampy meadows, and stagnant waters, to the height of four or five feet. The long, brown spike, which grows at the summit of the stem (giving rise, from its peculiar appearance, ⚫ to the name cat-tail) is the catkin; the upper part consists of staminate flowers, having neither calyx nor corolla; the three stamens arising from a chaffy receptacle. The pistillate flowers form the lower part of the spike; each one produces a seed, supported in a kind of bristle. This plant is sometimes used by the poorer class of people for beds, but is considered by physicians as unhealthful on account of certain properties inherent in its substance. The leaves and stems of the Typha are employed for bottoming chairs and making mats; the young stalks are said to answer as a substitute for asparagus; the pollen of the flowers, which is very abundant and inflammable, is recommended by a French writer to be employed on the stage for fire.*

The sedge, or CAREX, is a genus consisting of nearly 140 known species. Though a grass-like plant, it is separated from the family of grasses, which are mostly in the 3d class, on account of the monœcious character of its flowers. A treatise upon this genus, called Caricography, has been lately published by an American botanist.* This extensive genus belongs to the natural order Cyperoideæ, so called from Cyperus, one of the most important genera of the order. This tribe of coarse grasses inhabit marshy grounds; though resembling the true grasses in their general aspect, they differ from them in having stems without joints, and often triangular. Unlike the grasses, they are of little utility; they spread rapidly, and often destroy the best pastures, by overrunning them. A species of Cyperus, the papyrus, which grows in abundance on the banks of the Nile, was used by the ancients in the manufacture of a kind of thick paper. A thin fibrous membrane beneath the bark was obtained, and several thicknesses being glued together, the whole was pressed into sheets. Fragile as it was, this parchment is still to be seen in ancient records, and offers to the observation of the curious, the autographs of Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. (See Plate 6, Fig. 5.)

The Indian corn (ZEA mays) is found in this order. The top or panicle consists of staminate flowers only, and of course never produces corn; the pistillate flowers grow in a spike enclosed in a husk; each pistil produces a seed, called corn; the pistils are very long, forming what is called silk. This genus belongs to the natural order Gramineæ.

Order Tetrandria.

We here meet with the mulberry, (Morus,) whose leaves furnish nourishment to the silk-worm. The white mulberry, MORUS alba, is the species which is chiefly used for this purpose. This plant belongs to the same natural order as the bread-fruit and fig.

Order Pentandria.

The 5th order contains the genus AMARANTHUS, in which is a very common weed, seeming to have some analogy to the pig-weed, not only in natural properties, but in being dignified with a name which

*See Plate i. Fig. 6.

† Professor Dewey.

Order Triandria-Cat-tail-Sedge, or carex-Indian corn-What is said of the mulberry ?-Amaranthus.

forms a striking contrast with its mean appearance. This genus, however, contains some elegant, foreign species; one of which, AMARANTHUS melancholicus, has received the whimsical name of Love-lies-bleeding; probably from the circumstance of its long, red flower-stalks drooping and often reclining upon the ground. Another species, called Prince's feather, is always erect. The Cock's-comb is a well known plant of this genus. The Amaranth, whether from its being a good word to fall in with poetical measure, or from some fancied intrinsic beauty, has ever been a favourite with poets. Milton says of the angels,

"To the ground,

With solemn admiration, down they cast

Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold;
Immortal amaranth, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom, but soon for man's offence,
To Heaven removed.

With flowers that never fade, the spirits elect

Bind their resplendent locks, inwreathed with beams."

In Portugal and other warm countries, the Globe Amaranth is used for adorning the churches in winter.

Order Polyandria.

This order contains many of the most useful and beautiful of our forest trees, forming the natural order, Amentacea. Fig. 147 represents a branch of the Corylus, (Hazle-nut;) at a, are the aments or catkins, formed wholly of staminate flowers; at b, is a bract or scale of the ament with adhering stamens; at c, are the pistillate flowers surrounded with scales; at d, is a pistillate flower, having two styles. The oak, beach, walnut, chestnut, birch, &c., bear their staminate flowers in nodding aments; their pistillate flowers are Fig. 148

surrounded with scales for calyxes. The stems of these plants are woody and exogenous; you will recollect that such stems increase in diameter by new wood being formed around the old, and that this new wood is formed from the cambium which flows downward between the wood and bark. Fig. 148 shows a portion of the trunk of an oak, supporting the stem of a twining plant. As the oak is a dicotyledonous tree, its trunk is annually increased by new layers which are developed between the bark and wood ;hence it will be seen, that if any foreign substance encircles the trunk, it must, in time, produce a protuberance. The cambium from which the new layers are formed, is interrupted in descending, and accumulates just above the interposing body, forming the swellings that appear there, as are represented in the cut. Walking canes are often made of stems thus knotted. The Celastris scandens is one of the most common twining plants of our woods.

This order contains the genus CALLA, of which we have some native species, and which includes the elegant exotic, CALLA ethiopica, or Egyptian lily. In this genus, the flowers having neither calyx nor corolla, grow upon that kind of receptacle which is called a spadix; the staminate and pistillate flowers are intermixed, the

Different species of the Amaranthus-Order Polyandria-What is said of the natural order Amentace ?- Explain Fig. 148-Calla-Different species.

anthers have no filaments, but are sessile; the berries are onecelled, many-seeded, and crowned with a short style. This spadix thus covered with the fructification, stands erect, surrounded by a

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spreading, ovate spatha; this, in the Egyptian lily, is of pure white, presenting a very showy appearance. Without attention to the structure of the plant, you would probably suppose the spatha to be the corolla. The leaves are sagittate, or arrow-form. The CALLA palustris,* a very common American plant, is represented at Fig. 149: at a, is the spatha, which is ovate, cuspidate, and spreading; at b, is the spadix covered with the fructification, the staminate and pistillate flowers being intermixed and uncovered; at c, is a pistil magnified, showing the style to be very short and the stigma obtuse; at d, is a stamen bearing two anthers. The Wild-turnip is nearly allied to the Calla; they belong to the same family, Aroides, distinguished by peculiar characteristics; such as the mode of infloresence, fleshy and tuberous roots, and large, sword-shaped, or arrow-shaped leaves.

Fig. 149.

с

The arrow-head (Sagittaria) is unlike most of the Monœcious plants in general appearance; it has three sepals and three white petals; it is not unlike the spider-wort in the form of its flowers. Many species, of this delicate-looking plant may be found in autumn, in ditches and stagnant waters.

Order Monadelphia.

The 15th order, or that in which the filaments are united in a column, presents us with the Cucumber tribe, (Cucurbitacea;) this includes not only the proper CUCUMIS, or cucumber, which is an exotic, but some native genera of similar plants; we find here the gourd, squash, watermelon, and pumpkin. These plants have mostly a yellow, 5-cleft corolla; calyx 5-parted, 3 filaments united into a tube; a large berry-like fruit, called a Pepo; this, in the melon, is ribbed, and in the cucumber uneven and watery. We find in the same artificial order a very different family of plants, called Coniferous, or cone-bearing plants; these have the staminate flowers in aments, each furnished with a scale or perianth supporting the stamens; the pistillate flowers are in strobilums, each furnished with a hard scale. The stems are woody, the leaves evergreen, and the juice resinous. To this natural family belong the pine and cypress.

The character of trees may be studied to advantage at four different seasons; in winter, when the forms of the ramification can be seen in the naked boughs, and the leaf and flower buds examined in their inert state; in spring, when in blossom; in summer, when the foliage is in perfection; and in autumn, when, during the first stages of decay, the mellowness and variety of teints afford beautiful subjects for the pencil of the painter, and for those who love the study of nature under all her forms.

* From paluster, signifying swampy, or growing in marshy places. Describe Fig. 149-Family Aroides-Arrow-head-Order Monadelphia-Cucumber tribe-General character-Cone-bearing plants-Best periods of studying plants.

a

Fig. 150.

CLASS DICCIA.

The class Diccia (two houses) has staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants. The distinction with regard to the orders, as in the preceding class, is derived from the number of

stamens.

There are no plants of the first order, or with

one stamen.

Order Diandria.

The 2d Order contains the willow, (SALIX,) which has long and slender aments, both of staminate and pistillate flowers, the two kinds being on separate trees.

The order TRIANDRIA contains the fig, (Ficus,) remarkable for containing the flower within the fruit; this is botanically considered as a juicy receptacle, within which are concealed the minute flowers and seeds. The fig is peculiar to warm countries.

( TETRANDRIA Contains a parasitic plant, the Mistletoe; only one species is indigenous to this country. The Druids* considered this plant as sacred to the sylvan deities. Tradition relates, that where Druidism prevailed, the houses were decked with this plant, that the sylvan spirits might repair to them.

The order PENTANDRIA contains the hemp, hop, &c. Fig. 150 represents the pistillate and staminate flowers of the hemp, (Cannabis sativa ;) at a, is the barren or staminate flower, containing five stamens, and having its calyx deeply five-parted; the corolla is wanting. At b, is a fertile or pistillate flower with its calyx opening laterally; e, shows the same flower divested of its calyx; the seed is a nut, which is crowned with two styles. The hemp belongs to the natural order Urticeæ, (from Urtica, a nettle ;) the fibres of its stems are manufactured into cloth, cordage, and thread. The hop produces its fertile flowers in large cones formed of membranous, imbricated scales; these flowers have a peculiar odour, which is said to produce a narcotic effect upon the brain. The use of the flowers of the hop to produce fermentation in beer are well known. This plant contains a small portion of the nitrate of potash, (saltpetre.) HEXANDRIA Contains the honey-locust and green-brier.

OCTANDRIA has the poplar, (POPULUS,) similar in natural character to the willow.

MONADELPHIA, or the 15th order, contains the red-cedar and the yew, which belong to the cone-bearing family, with the pine and cypress.

We have now completed our remarks upon two classes which have imperfect flowers. Our review of these has been brief, when compared to the many interesting facts which presented themselves, in association with the various important plants which we have passed in rapid succession.

* The Druids, it is supposed, derived their name from drus, a Greek word, signifying oak, as it was in groves of this tree that the priests celebrated their mysterious rites, and sacrificed human victims to their sanguinary deities.

Class Diccia-Willow-Fig-Mistletoe-Hemp-Hop-Order Hexandria-Octandria-Monadelphia.

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Fig. 151.

LECTURE XXXVII.

CLASS XXI.-CRYPTOGAMIA.

THE twenty preceding classes include the Phenogamous plants; we are now to consider the Cryptogamous class; we here find the stamens and pistils either wholly concealed from observation, or only manifest upon the strictest scrutiny. These plants constitute the first class of Jussieu's method, called acotyledonous; their seed being destitute of any cotyledon.

As we proceed in this last of the Linnæan classes, we shall find all our former principles of arrangement fail us, and it might almost seem as if we had entered upon a new science. The class Cryptogamia includes all plants which do not find a place in some of the other classes.

Ferns, mosses, lichens, and mushrooms, constitute the principal part of this class. At Fig. 151, a, is a fern, of the genus Asplenium, which bears its fruit on the back of the fronds; at b, is a moss of the genus Hypnum, showing two of its flowers borne on slender pedicels; at c, is a genus of the Lichen family; at d, is the Agaricus, one of the most common of the mushrooms.

Some writer has said, that Linnæus, having arranged the plants which would admit of classification, took the remainder and cast them all into a heap together, which he called Cryptogamous ;-he did not, however, rest satisfied in thus throwing them together, but subdivided this miscellaneous collection into orders; or we might more properly say, that he gave names to those divisions already. marked out by nature.

Of these orders, which are natural families brought together on account of general resemblances and analogies, without reference to any one principle, there are six.

Order Filices, or Ferns,

The 1st Order contains the Ferns; their plume-like leaves are