the western coast of America, we find in latitude 50° a similar climate to the 43d degree of latitude on the eastern coast. Thus, the wine-grape may grow in 50° of latitude near the lakes, the Mississippi, and Pacific Ocean; while, in the eastern part of New York and New England, it would not thrive beyond the 43d degree of latitude.

We find, on the eastern side of the Atlantic, the region of the winegrape, including France, and the southern countries of Europe, extending as high as latitude 50°.

The southern limit of the wine-grape is traced from Raleigh, in the United States, in latitude 35°, to Europe, where it passes between Rome and Florence, in latitude 44°; this line is the boundary between the grape region and that of the olive and fig, which require a warmer climate.

The banks of the Rhine produce excellent grapes, which are brought down the river in great quantities to the seaports. The festival of the Vintage, or the gathering of the grapes, which, like our Thanksgiving season, is intended as a manifestation of gratitude for the fruits of the earth, was celebrated with much joy by the ancient Romans, and is still observed by the people of Italy; it occurs with them about the beginning of September; in France and the south of Germany, it is later.

The Falernian wine was the most celebrated among the Romans; some of the Latin poets spoke of it oftener than we should expect from those whose intellectual taste might seem to elevate them above any very great attention to the gratification of the external senses. The variety of wines in the days of Virgil was so great, that he said he might as well attempt to count the sand on the shore, or the billows of the ocean in a storm, as to make a catalogue of them.

The vines of Italy are often trained upon trees, particularly upon the lofty elm. In France, the vine is supported by short saplings, about the length of bean-poles. The appearance exhibited by a luxuriant vineyard is truly rich and beautiful; of those of France and Italy, it may well be said,

"The vine her curling tendrils shoots,

Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south.
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky."

It is said the Persian vine-dressers conduct the vines up the walls of their vineyards, and curl them over on the other side; this they do, by tying small stones to the extremity of the tendrils. This practice may illustrate a passage in Genesis: "Joseph is a fruitful bough; even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall." "The vine, particularly in Turkey and Greece, is frequently made to intwine on trellises around a well, where, in the heat of the day, families collect and sit under their shade."

In this class and order is the violet, a genus which contains many native species. The garden-violet is the Viola tri-colour. It has a variety of common names, as pansy, heart's-ease, &c. Pansy is a corruption of the French pensée, a thought; thus Shakspeare, in the character of Ophelia, says:

"There's rosemary-that's for remembrance;
And these are pansies-
That's for thought."

How does the climate of the western coast of America correspond to that of the eastern coast?-Crossing the Atlantic, where do we find the northern and southern limits of the wine-grape-Vintage-Wines-Vineyards-Illustration of a passage Genesis-Violet.

Shakspeare also calls the same flower, "Love in idleness." You will find the blue violet (Viola cœrulia) among the first flowers of spring. Our meadows present a great variety of beautiful and fragrant violets.

The genus Capsicum affords the Cayenne pepper and the red pepper of our gardens. The pericarps, when ripe, are of a bright red ; the seeds, which are attached to a central column, are heating and stimulating. A draught of hot cider and molasses, with a pod or two of red pepper steeped in it, was long held in high repute, in New England, as a remedy for colds. The green peppers are used for pickles. We might enumerate many other interesting plants which belong to this order, but our limits will not permit. The family of the Convolvuli, or the morning-glory tribe, and of the Caprifoliæ, or bush-honeysuckle tribe, are composed of genera of pentandrous plants.

LECTURE XXVI.

CLASS PENTANDRIA- -Continued.

Order Digynia.

In this order of the fifth class, is the family Gentiane, which affords some delicate flowers, as well as medicinal articles. The fringed gentian is a beautiful plant with a blue flower. This genus sometimes presents an irregularity in the number of stamens. In the natural family, called Atriplices, from the genus Atriplex, (seaorache,) is the pig-weed, Chenopodium; this plant, notwithstanding its humble appearance, is dignified with a high-sounding name. is grouped by natural characters with the beet and dock, flowers which are destitute of beauty. According to the late arrangement of natural orders by De Candolle and Lindley, we find the order Chenopodia, in which is the pig-weed, water-hemp, and several other plants, placed by Jussieu in his order Atriplices.

Umbelliferous Plants.

It

We meet, in this order of the class Pentandria, with a family of plants closely allied by natural characters; these are called umbelliferous from the Latin umbella, an umbrella, on account of the manner in which the peduncles grow out from the main stem.* Among the plants of this family, which are used for food, are the carrot, parsnip, celery, and parsley; the aromatics are dill, fennel, caraway, coriander, and sweet cicely. Poison hemlock, (Conium,) water parsnip, (Sium,) water cow-bane, are among the poisonous plants of this tribe. The water cow-bane (CICUTA virosa) grows in ponds and marshes. Cows are often killed in the spring by eating it, but as the summer advances, the smell becomes stronger, and they carefully avoid it. Linnæus relates, that in a tour made into Lapland, for scientific purposes, he was told of a disease among the cattle of Torneo, which killed a great many in the spring, when they first began to feed in pastures. The inhabitants were unable to account for this circumstance; but the Swedish botanist examining the pastures, discovered a marsh where the CICUTA virosa grew in abundance; he ac

* See Plate ii. Fig. 3, for a plant of this family.

Capsicum-Gentianæ-Family Atriplices-Chenopodia-What is the origin of the word umbelliferous?-What are some of the plants of this family ?-What is said of the water cow-bane?

quainted the people with the poisonous qualities of the plant, and thus enabled them to provide against the danger by fencing in the marsh. The poison hemlock (CONIUM maculatum) has a peculiarly unpleasant, nauseous smell; its stalk is large and spotted, from whence its specific name maculatum, which signifies spotted. This plant is supposed to be the poison so fatally administered by the Athenians to Socrates and Phocion.

The umbellate plants which grow on dry ground are aromatic; as dill, and fennel; those which grow in wet places, or the aquatic species, are among the most deadly poisons; as water parsnip, &c. Plants of this family are not in general so beautiful to the sight, nor so interesting, as objects of botanical analysis, as many others.*

In order to assist you in analyzing plants of this family, we will illustrate their botanical characters by a sketch of the coriander.

1. CALYX, a; this is of that kind called an involucrum; the leaves which you see at the foot of the universal umbel, form what is called the general involucrum; the leaves which are at the foot of the partial umbel, form a partial involucrum. Both of these involucrums are pinnatifid, or have the leaves divided.

2. COROLLA, b; this is represented as magnified; you can see that it has five petals, inflected or bent inwards.

3. STAMENS, five, anthers somewhat divided.

4. PISTILS, two, reflexed or bent back, as may be seen on the seed c, where the stigmas are permanent.

5. PERICARP, is wanting in all umbellate plants.

6. SEED, c, is round, with its two styles at the summit; it consists of two carpels.

Botanists in general shrink from the study of the Umbelliferæ; nor have these plants much beauty in the eyes of amateurs; but they will repay the trouble of a careful observation. The late M. Cusson of Montpelier bestowed more pains upon them than any other botanist has ever done; but the world has, as yet, been favoured with only a part of his remarks. His labours met with a most ungrateful check, in the unkindness and mortifying stupidity of his wife, who, in his absence from home, is recorded to have destroyed his whole herbarium, scraping off the dried specimens for the sake of the paper on which they were pasted!" Sir James Edward Smith's Introduction to Botany."

What is said of the poison hemlock ?-Describe Fig. 128.

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.

This is an

Here we find the grass of Parnassus, (Parnassia.) 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.

Or 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 Pentandria— Class Hexandria--Natural characters which distinguish plants of this class-Gener al remarks upon the Liliaceæ.