contain an agreeable acid. The flowers are white, having a 4 toothed calyx, and corolla 4 parted. It is found in swamps in various parts of North America.

The Ladies'-ear-drop (Fuschsia), (See Fig. 112), is a beautiful exotic. It has a funnel-form calyx, of a brilliant red colour; the petals are almost concealed by the calyx; they are purple, and rolled round the stamens, which are long, extending themselves beyond the coloured calyx. This plant is a native of Mexico and South America, except one species brought from the Island of New Zealand. Ten species are said by horticulturists to be cultivated, but some of them are probably rather varieties than distinct species.

The heath* (Erica), which contains many hundred species, is not known to be indigenous to this country; fifty species are Isaid to have been introduced. The common heath has bellform flowers, small and delicate, with the colour pink or varying into other colours; the flowers intermixed with the delicate green of its leaves produce a fine effect. The kind of soil necessary to the growth of the heath, is peat earth; this is very common in England and Scotland, in which countries this plant abounds. The branches are used in England for heating ovens and making brooms. In the Highlands of Scotland, the poor make use of it to thatch the roofs of their cottages, and their beds are also made of it. The field in which this plant grows is termed a heath or heather.

"The Erica here,

That o'er the Caledonian hills sublime,

Spreads its dark mantle, where the Bees delight
To seek their purest Honey, flourishes;
Sometimes with bells like Amethysts, and then
Paler, and shaded, like the maiden's cheek
With gradual blushes; other while, as white
As frost that hangs upon the wintry spray."

The Daphne is a rare plant; one species is called the Lacebark tree, from the resemblance of its inner bark or liber to net-work or lace. This bark is very beautiful, consisting of layers which may be pulled out into fine white web, three or four feet wide; this is sometimes used for ladies' dresses and may even be washed without injury. Charles I. of England, was presented by the governor of Jamaica with a cravat made of this web. The plant is a native of the West Indies.

The Nasturtion (Tropœolum), is a very commonly cultivated exotic. It has not a regularity of parts; the divisions of the corolla and calyx are not four or eight, which we might

*The term heath is said to have originated from an old Saxon word, alluding to the heat which the plant affords as fuel.

Ladies' Ear drop-Heath-Lace bark tree-Nasturtion.

expect from its eight stamens, but consists of five petals. The fruit consists of three seeds; these are used for pickles. "The generic name (Tropaeolum), signifies a trophy plant; this alludes to its use for decorating bowers, and the resemblance of its peltate leaves to shields, as well as of its flowers to golden helmets, pierced through and stained with blood."*

The Second Order of the 8th class has few plants of importance.

The Third Order contains the Buckwheat (Polygonum), which is classed in the same natural order as the dock, pigweed, &c. "having flowers destitute of beauty and gay colouring." The genus is extensive, containing many plants which are considered as common weeds; the species, fagopyrum, is the true Buckwheat, the use of which as an article of food, is too well known to need a remark. This plant is variable in its number of stamens; the fruit is one angular seed.

In the Fourth Order of this class is a very rare plant called Paris. It is said to have been named after Paris, a prince of ancient Troy, who was remarkable for his beauty. In every part of the flower there is the most perfect regularity; the numbers four and eight prevailing in every division. It has 8 stamens, 4 pistils, 4 petals, a 4 leaved calyx, a 4 sided and 4 celled pericarp, which contains 8 seeds, and 4 large spreading leaves, at a little distance below the flower. The colour of the whole is green.

Fig. 113.

CLASS IX.-ENNEANDRIA.

Monogynia.

This is also a very small class. In the First Order we find the genus laurus, which includes the cinnamon, bay, sassafras, camphor, spice bush, &c. The bay (laurus nobilis), is a native of Italy; the Romans considered it a favourite of the Muses. The emperor Tiberius wore it not only as a trium phal crown, but as a protector against thunder; as it was thought that Jupiter had a particular regard for the plant. The laurel as well as the olive was considered as an emblem of peace; it was sometimes called laurus pacifera, the peace-making laurel,

*Sir J. E. Smith.

Second Order-Third Order-Fourth Order-Class Enneandria-Different species of the genus Laurus, as the bay, camphor, cinnamon, sassafras, &c.

If its branches were carried among contending armies it was a signal for the cessation of arms. Poets crowned with laurel were called laureates. Camphor is the produce of the laurus camphora, a large tree which grows in Japan: it is said that a species of this plant has been discovered in Georgia. "The LAURUS cinnamomum is a tree which grows to the height of twenty feet; it sends out numerous branches which are crowned with a smooth bark. The leaves are of a bright green, standing in opposite pairs. The petals are six, of a greenish white colour. The fruit is a pulpy pericarp enclosing a nut. This tree is a native of Ceylon, where it grows very common in the woods and hedges. The imported cinnamon is the inner bark (liber) of the tree; it is remarkable that the leaves, fruit and root all yield oil of very different qualities. That produ ced from the leaves is called the oil of cloves; that obtained from the fruit is of a thick consistence, very fragrant, and is made into candles for the use of the king; the bark of the roots affords an aromatic oil called the oil of camphor. "The Sas

safras tree (laurus sassafras) is a native American plant; when first introduced into Europe, it sold for a great price, the oil being highly valued for medicinal uses. It grows on the borders of streams and in woods; it is often no larger than a shrub; its flowers are yellow, its fruit blue berries. The LAU

RUS benzoin has scarlet berries, and is an aromatic plant.' Fig. 113, a, represents a flower of the Butomus (flowering rush), which belongs to the class and order we are now considering.

The Second Order contains no remarkable plants.

Trigynia.

The Third Order presents us with but one genus, which of itself renders the order important; it is the Rhubarb (Rheum): in one species the RHEUM tartaricum; the leaves are acid, and on this account, when young, are used for making pies; this is a native of Tartary, but now common in our gardens. The RHEUM palmatum is the plant which produces the medicinal rhubarb; this is obtained from the roots, which are thick, fleshy and yellow. This plant is cultivated in England, and is remarkable for the rapidity of its growth. An English writer* asserts that its stem has been known to grow more than eleven feet in three months; that some of its leaves were five feet in circumference; that the root also grows to a great size; and that some had been carried to England which weighed more than seventy pounds.

* Woodville.

Order Trigynia-Different species of Rhubarb.

At Fig. 113, b, is a flower of the genus Rheum; Mirbel represents it with six styles, as seen in the cut; this would carry the plant into the order Hexagynia, but as most botanists place it in the order Trigynia, we have described it here.

We have now closed our consideration of the ninth class. You will recollect that our lecture commenced with the eighth class, which we found, though not large, to be an interesting one. The ninth, with the exception of two genera, laurus and rheum, presented few considerations of importance; the ninth, the seventh, and first, are among the smallest of the artificial classes.

1

We have dwelt somewhat at length upon exotics, because they are seldom described in botanical works in common use. If you become interested in the study of plants, you will naturally wish to know something about those which you are in the habit of using for food or medicine, or to which, as in the laurel of the ancients, allusions are often made in the books which you read.

It is important, however, for you to seek for a practical knowledge of botany from the actual observation of our own native plants; to find them in their own homes, in the clefts of rocks, by the side of the brooks, and in the shady woods; it is there you will find nature in her unvitiated simplicity. We do not go to the crowded city to find men exhibiting, without disguise, the feelings of the heart. The flower transplanted from its rural abodes, though not a moral agent, and, therefore, incapable of moral transformation; yet exhibits, in the splendid green house, a physical metamorphosis not less remarkable than the moral change which luxury too often produces upon the character of man.

LECTURE XXIX.

CLASS X.-DECANDRIA.

PLANTS of this class have ten stamens, but this circumstance alone would not distinguish them from some of the other classes; the number of stamens must not only be ten, but these must be distinct from each other; that is, neither united together by their filaments below, nor by their anthers above. Some of the classes which are to follow, viz. Monadelphia, Diadelphia, Gynandria, and the two classes with stamens and pistils on separate flowers, may also have ten stamens; but circum

Remarks upon some of the classes-Knowledge of exotics desirable-Flowers in their native situations-Class Decandria.

stances respecting the situation of these organs distinguish these classes from each other.

Fig. 114.

a

Monogynia.

In the first order of the tenth class we find some plants with papilionaceous or butterfly shaped corollas; these, because their filaments are not united, are separated from the natural family to which they belong, and which are mostly in the class Diadelphia. Among those which are thus removed from the class where, from their general ap. pearance, they might have been looked for, is the wild indigo (Baptisia), a handsome plant with yellow flowers, two or three feet in height, and very branching; the stem and leaves are of a blueish-green. This is found in dry sandy woods; it has been used as a substitute for indigo.

The wild pea (Cassia) is another genus of the papilionaceous tribe. It has several species, one of which is called the American senna (CASSIA marylandica) on account of its medicinal qualities. Another species is CASSIA nictitans, with very small yellow flowers, and beautiful pinnate leaves, which remain folded at night; it shrinks back from the touch, for which reason it is called the American sensitive plant.

A plant, called by the Indians Red-bud (CERCIS canadensis), belongs to the same natural family. It is a large tree, appearing as early as April, loaded with clusters of fine crimson flowers; the leaves, which are large and heart-shaped, do not appear as early as the blossoms. The beautiful aspect of the tree attracts to it many insects, particularly humble-bees. A botanist* says, "I have often observed hundreds of the common humble-bees lying dead under these trees while in flower.' This is not the only example of fatal consequences resulting from trusting too much to external appearances! This tree is not improperly called Judas' tree, a name by which it is often known.

The three genera of plants which we have now noticed, bear fruit in that kind of pod called a legume; this is the case, in general, with the papilionaceous flowers.

The rue (Ruta) is an exotic, which gives name to a family called Rutacea; these plants have a monophyllous calyx; five petals alternating with the lobes of the calyx; the germ is large and superior (See Fig. 114, a).

* W. P. C. Barton.

Order Monogynia-Wild Indigo-Cassia-Cercis.