The Pictorial Catechism of Botany

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THE
PICTORIAL CATE CHISM

OF
B O TA NY.
BY A N N E PR AT T.
AUthor of FlowRRs AND THEIR Associations, THE FIELD,
THE GARDEN, AND THE WOODLAND, ETC.
%.
LOND ON:
SUTTABY AND CO., STATIONERS COURT.
1842.
CHISWICK :
PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM.
PREFA C E.
HE Author of this little work has not
aimed to offer to the learner a complete

treatise on Botany. She has endeavoured
rather to lay before him the leading features
of the science, and to present them in as sim

ple and concise a form as possible. Having
more regarded the instruction than the amuse
ment of the young, she has not ventured to
dwell upon those interesting details, respect
ing plants, which the subject would have
afforded; but has sought to compress her
work into narrow limits, in order to render
it suitable for general instruction.

It is not here necessary to discuss the
relative excellencies of the Natural and Lin
naean Systems.
The simple fact, that the
system of Linnaeus affords the greater facility

to the botanist in ascertaining the names
*/
iv
PREFACE.
of flowers, and that it is upon the whole

much easier for the beginner, is, she thinks,
a sufficient reason for having adopted it, with
some slight alterations, in a work designed
for children.
By placing questions at the end of the

chapters, the Author hopes she has spared
the instructor some trouble in explanation,
and the pupil some difficulty in learning.
Botany presents a number of terms, and
these must be learned by rote; but the gene
ral remarks on the science do not require to
be committed to memory, as it is surely suf
ficient for the pupil to understand them, with
out repeating them verbatim. The close
examination on the contents of the chapters,
which is afforded by the questions, as well
as the continual reference to the explanatory
pictorial illustrations, will, she trusts, be suf
ficient to ensure the learners knowledge of
the facts which are stated by the work.
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER I.
ON the NATURE of Plants; Cellular Tissue; Vascular

Tissue; Tubes; Cuticle..................
- - - - - - -
CHAPTER II.
Roots:Various Uses of Roots; Uses of Fibrous Parts;

Tendency of Roots to the Centre; Duration of Roots;
Duration affected by Climate; Plants with small
Roots and large Leaves; Parasitic Plants; Fibrous
Roots; Spindle-shaped Root; Abrupt Root; Tuberous
Root; Bulbous Root; Similarity of Bulbs to Buds;
Changes in Form of Root; Granulated Root. .........
CHAPTER III.
Of the STEM Its Uses; Its Direction; Means of Sup

port; Substances of which Stems are composed; Bark;
Wood; New Wood; Medullary Rays; Pith; Uses
of Pith; Hollow Stems; Woody Stem of Palms;

Stems of Flowers; Culm of Grasses; The Scape; The
Stipe; Various Terms applied to Stems; Flower
stalk; Leaf stalk.............................................. 23
CHAPTER IV.
BUDs:-Season of their Formation; Leaf Buds; Flower

Buds; Mixed Buds; Means by which Buds are pre
served from Cold; Horse Chesnut Bud.
vi
CONTENTS.
Page
LEAvEs:Upper Surfaces of Leaves; Under Surfaces

of Leaves; Veins and Nerves of Leaves; Uses of
Leaves to Plants; Effect of Light on Leaves; Colour

of Leaves; Sleep of Plants; Fall of the Leaf; Ever
greens; Leaves of Tropical Climates; Leaves of Aqua
tic Plants: Effects of Insects on Leaves; Uses of
Leaves to Man; Terms applied to Leaves. ......
- - - -
39
CHAPTER W.
APPENDAGEs of Plants; Stipule; Stipules on the Plane

Tree; Bractea; Tendril; Uses of Tendril; Thorns;
Plants of Africa; Thorn Bush; Prickle; Hair; Uses
of Hairs to Plants; Shape of Hairs: Gland; Pitcher
Plant; Side Saddle Flower; Venus's Fly Trap....... 73
CHAPTER VI.
The Corolla; Its various Forms; Uses of the Corolla;

Calyx; Perianth; Involucre; Stamens; Pistils; Seed
Wessel; Various Forms of Seed Wessel; Seed;
Plume, Radicle, and Cotyledon; Great Proportion of
Seeds; Various uses of Seeds to Man and Animals;
Dispersion of Seeds; Capsules; Berries; Seeds
crowned with Feathers; Receptacle; Nectary; Uses
of Honey; Various Shapes of Nectary.............. .....
82
CHAPTER VII.
MoDE of FloweRING:Spike; Raceme; Panicle;

Whorl; Corymb; Umbel; Umbelliferous Plants;
Cyme; Head of Flowers; Sheath; Catkin; Com
pound Flowers; Ligulate Flowers; Sessile Flowers. 115
~~~~
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER VIII.
On CLAssIFICATION of Plants:System of Linnaeus;

Difference of Wild and Garden Flowers; Names
and Peculiarities of Classes and Orders................ 126
CHAPTER IX.
Further Remarks on the Classes and Orders; Ferns;

Mosses; Flags; Lichens; Sea-Weeds. .............
140
CHAPTER X.
SAP:Flowing of Sap; Ascending Sap; Descending

Sap; Principle of Life; Transpiration of Plants;
Vegetable Products; Gum; Mucilage; Resin; Oils;
Bitter Principle; Narcotic Principle; Pungent and
Acrid Principles; Acids; Sugar; Starch; Colouring
Matter; Wax; Camphor; Caoutchouc; Cork;
Ashes; Earths; Flint. ..........................
- - - -
186
CHAPTER XI.
Local ITIEs of Plants; Effect of Climate on Vegetable

Productions; Plants of Various Countries and of
different Hemispheres. .....
* * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
216
CHAPTER XII.
On the Words Genus, Species, and Variety; On Con
sulting a Flora; On Forming and Preserving a dried

Collection of Plants. ...........
* * * ** * * ** * * * * - -- -
*** * **
223
########################
THE PICTORIAL
CATECHISM OF BOTANY.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE NATURE of PLANTs; CELLULAR Tissue; WooDY
FIBRE; TUBEs; CUTICLE.
OTANY, or the study of vegetables, teaches

the nature and uses of plants, and the man
ner in which they may be arranged. Although
plants have not the same kind of life as animals,
and cannot move from the spots on which they
grow, yet they are not lifeless like a stone:they
have, what is called vegetable life. They are fed
by the soil, and are kept alive by air and moisture;
they increase in size; different juices flow through
them, and are constantly in motion, and when they
wither, we justly say they die.
The vegetable kingdom includes an immense
B
NATURE OF PLANTS.
variety of objects, of various sizes, from the tall

tree of the forest to the little moss on the old
stone. The largest, most solid and lasting kind

of plants are termed trees: those which have
woody stems, and are smaller and less durable, we
call shrubs; while herbs, or herbaceous plants, are
those which live but a short period, grow near the
ground, and are formed of soft tender substances,
like the grass and most flowers.
Botanists have discovered upwards of fifty thou
sand plants, and there are doubtless many thousands
more, which have never been seen. Foreign plants
are called exotics. Those which grow in Great
Britain are termed indigenous or wild plants. We
have in our island between three and four thousand
species of them.
If we examine a flower, or leaf, or the stem, or
root, or fruit of a plant, we find in each of them
a pulpy soft substance. In the leaf, this substance

is green; in the flower it is of some gay colour; in
the root, it is generally white, as in the potatoe; in
the plum, it is of a yellowish colour, and so on:
CELLULAR TISSUE; WooDY FIBRE.
but it is the same substance in them all.
When
examined by a microscope it is found to be full of

little cells.
It is, therefore, called the cellular tis
sue. The juice which fills these cells, gives the

green, or other colour, to the leaf or flower. There
is another tissue in plants, called the vascular tis
sue, which is as abundant as the cellular substance.
It consists of vessels or tubes, distributed over every

part of the plant. Sometimes the vessels are sin
gle, but they are often united into bundles, when
they form the fibres, properly so called, which com
pose the framework of the leaves, and give them
strength and firmness. In some of these vessels
are placed the sap, which is to plants what blood is
to us; others contain the substances which are
formed in the stem and branches, and are termed
secretions; such as the milk in the lettuce, and
the sugar in the sugar-cane. The whole mass of

vegetables is formed of cells and tubes or fibres.
There are some plants howeverthose which do
not bear flowersas the mosses and ferns, which
are formed entirely of cellular tissue.
CUTICLE.
Over every part of the plant, except the top of

the pistil, is found a skin called the cuticle. This
may easily be seen in the leaf of the houseleek,
where it may be quite separated from the pulp of
the leaf.
In leaves, as well as in the blossoms of
flowers, it is clear and easily torn; but when it is

over trunks of trees, it is often thick and coarse.
It is quite devoid of colour, and takes its tint from

the substance lying underneath it. It is full of
pores. We sometimes see it partly torn off trees,
and it will grow again on them, even if quite
stripped away, but if torn off from flowers and leaves,

the rent is never repaired. In flowers and fruits
which grow quickly, it keeps pace with them, and
accommodates itself to their growth, just as the
skin of a child enlarges every year as the child
grows. But when a plant grows suddenly very
large, or when a tree becomes hardened by age, it
often cracks. It serves to protect the parts under
neath it, and is often covered with hairs.
The
cuticle of a plum, and of some other fruits, has a

kind of powder upon it; and the cuticle of the ice
CUTICLE ; QUESTIONS.
plant has on it a number of little clear spots, which
look like ice-drops. We may frequently see the

cuticle peeling off the birch tree, or scaling off in
large flakes from the currant tree.
QUESTIONS.
WHAT does Botany teach? "

Are plants alive?
What kind of life have they?
Mention a point in which they differ from animals.
Mention something in which their life is similar
to that of animals.
What is the difference between a tree and an
herbaceous plant?
What is an exotic P
What are plants called which grow in our own

country?
Howmany species of plants have been discovered?
How many are natives of Britain?
What is the pulpy substance of plants called?
Of what is it composed?
QUESTIONS.
What is that which makes the rose red and the

violet blue?
What are the other substances called?
Is the vascular tissue abundant in plants?

What is the use of woody fibre?
What do the tubes hold?
Are there any plants without them?

What is the cuticle?
What part of the plant does it cover?

Is it always thin and delicate?
Is it of any colour?
Does it ever crack P
Mention some substances occasionally found on

the cuticle of plants, and endeavour to remember
some, besides those mentioned in the chapter.
CHAPTER II.
ROOTS:VARIous Uses of Roots; Uses of FIBRous PARTs;

TENDENCY of Roots To THE CENTRE; DURATION of
Roots; DURATION AFFECTED BY CLIMATE; PLANTs witH
SMALL Roots AND LARGE LEAVEs; PARASITIC PLANTs;
FIBRoUs Roots; SPINDLE-shAPED Root; ABRUPT Root;
TUBERoUs Root; BULBoUs Root; SIMILARITY of BULBs
To BUDs; CHANGES IN FoRM of Root; GRANULATED Root.
PERFECT plant may be said to consist of the

root, the stem, the leaves, the flower, the fruit,
and some parts called the appendages, which will be

hereafter explained. Many plants also have buds,
which enclose the young shoot or flowers in a case
formed of scales. These parts are not all necessary,
as several plants, like the ferns and mosses, have
no flowers; some have scarcely any stem, but
grow almost close upon the ground, like the stem
less thistle; others, like the dodder, which twines
about the furze bushes, have no leaves.
The root
is a part always found in vegetables, except in two

or three kinds which float upon the water. Even
USES OF ROOTS.
water, or aquatic plants, have usually roots. Some

of these are fixed to the earth at the bed of the
stream, as the water-lily. The little green duck

weed, which floats upon the stream in summer, and
is very common on ponds and ditches, has thread
like roots, hanging down in the water, several
inches in length: and some plants live for some
time with floating roots, which afterwards descend
to the bottom of the stream, and fix themselves
there.
The root is useful to the plant in two ways. It
serves to hold it firm in the earth, and it derives
food from the soil, for its mourishment. It gene

rally consists of two parts, the body and the fibre;
but the fibrous part only is absolutely necessary.
The fibres are to be found in all roots, and they
serve to suck up food for the plant from the earth.
Every fibre has little openings at its end, and these
are sometimes called vegetable mouths, because
the food enters through them. By means of these
fibres also, any juices of the plant which are too
much for it, are carried back into the soil, through
USES OF FIBROUS PARTS.
these openings. It is found that some vegetables

give out through them a kind of acid fluid, which
injures the land, and makes it necessary for the
farmer, after some seasons, to plant some other
vegetables in the field. By thus changing the
crops, the soil is often restored, because all plants
do not equally exhaust it; but sometimes land is
so exhausted, that the agriculturist is obliged to
leave it without culture for a time, when the weeds
which spring up die away, and form a new vegetable

mould; and frequently the landholder improves the
land by manuring it.
The fibres are sometimes called radicles.
In
some roots they come from all parts of the body,

in some they arise from the upper part, but in bul
bous roots they are always found springing from
the lower part.
Some radicles enter the earth in
a downward direction, but others penetrate sideways.

The roots of woody plants are increased in size, by
the addition of a layer every year to the body of
the root, and become longer, annually, by a young
shoot growing out of the fibre.
10
ROOTS TEND TO THE CENTRE.
Roots are never green. Colour indeed never

exists except in places where light can reach the
plant, and roots are generally in darkness. We
may see the effect of light and darkness in the
stems of celery, which are green if exposed to
the sun, but become white by being kept in a
dark place. Darkness, however, is not the sole
cause of the absence of green in the root; for if
we take it up from the ground, and expose it to
the light, it still remains colourless, which would
not be the case with any other part of a vege

table.
Roots always have a tendency to the centre of

the earth, or to that of the object on which they
grow. In whatever way we put a seed into the
ground, even if it be what we might call upside
down, still the root will find its way downward, and
the young shoot of the plant will rise into the air.
When a plant, like the mistletoe, grows upon a
branch, its roots strike towards the centre of that
branch, in whatever position the seed may have
been placed; and thus the root springs sideways,
DURATION OF ROOTS.
11
or even upwards if so placed. Besides the uses of

the root to the plant, various roots are valuable to
man. The carrot, the radish, the potatoe, and
many others are in daily use as food. And many,
like the dandelion root and the liquorice root, are
serviceable as medicines.
Roots are either annual, biennial, or perennial.

They are called annual when they live only one
season, as wheat and flax and many wild flowers;
and as a large number of our garden flowers, the
seeds of which require planting every spring. They
are called biennial, when they require two years for
their perfection. Thus many plants, like the car
rot, have only leaves the first year, but on the
second year produce flowers and fruit, and then
die. Roots are perennial when they live many

years in the ground, like the apple and oak, and
trees in general; and as the daisy, the primrose,
the violet, and many Summer flowers.
Some roots, which are perennial in warm climates,
become annual in our gardens. This is the case
with the nasturtium and the mignionette; while
12
PARASITIC PLANTS.
some, which are perennial with us, die away in one

season in a southern clime.
Several plants, like the moss on the garden wall,

or the houseleek on the roof of a house, are more
nourished by the air and moisture, than by the

food sucked up from the soil by their roots. Plants
formed to thrive on barren spots, have very small
roots; but instead of these they have juicy fleshy
leaves, which imbibe and retain the moisture of the
atmosphere, and serve the plant instead of a larger

root. Flowers which grow on dry sandy deserts,
like the cactus, (which we often see in the conser
vatory) are formed thus; and the carrion plant,
which is a native of deserts, is often called the
vegetable camel, because, like that animal, it is so

wondrously adapted to the arid waste for which it
is destined.
Some plants, like the mistletoe, strike their roots

into the bark of other plants, and are fed by the
juices of the vegetables on which they grow. They
are then called parasites. The parasitic plants are
very few in this country. The mistletoe is the
FIBROUS ROOT.
13
most conspicuous of them. In foreign countries,

especially in lands between the Tropics, they are
very abundant, bear many beautiful blossoms, and
their stems are often many hundred feet long. The
mosses and ferns, though they grow on the trunks
of trees, do not send their roots far enough into
their substance to derive food from them, and are
therefore not parasites.

Botanists have arranged roots into seven different
kinds, according to their forms. And as Botany
cannot be studied without a knowledge of several
terms, the learner must commit their description
to memory, and compare them with the plates till
he quite understands them.
1. The fibrous root
(Radiv fibrosa), con

sists wholly of fibres, as
mostgrasses. Sometimes
these fibres are simple,
sometimes they are
branched with a number
of other fibres.
14
SPINDLE-SHAPED, CREEPING, ABRUPT,
2. The spindle shaped root (Radic

usiformis). This root tapers down
to a point, like the carrot or radish.
The spindle-shaped part forms the
body of the root, the radicles or fibres
flowing at the end of this.
3. The creeping root
(Radiv repens). This is
often
called
the
under
ground stem, as the couch

grass or mint. It creeps
along under the ground,
and pushes up stems at
intervals.
4. The abrupt root (Radir praemorsa). This

root instead of tapering down to
a point, like a carrot or radish,
seems as if it were broken or
bitten off. The plantain which

we gather for birds has this kind
of root.
There is a common
plant-the blue scabious of the hedgeswhich has
AND TUBEROUS ROOTS.
15
the name of devil's bit scabious, because its root
ends so abruptly; and the old herbalists recorded,

that the Devil bit off the root, from a malicious
feeling, on account of the healing virtues which

were said to reside in the plant. Several roots,
like those of the primrose and cowslip, are spindle
shaped the first year, and after that season become
woody and abrupt.
5.
The tuberous
or
knobbed root (Radix tu

berosa). This consists
of a number of fleshy
knobs, joined together by

stalks, as the potatoe.
Another kind of tuberous root consists of two bulbs,
as in the bee-orchis; while some are split into a
16
BULBO US ROOT.
number of divisions like fingers, and called palmate,

as in the brown spotted orchis.
6. The bulbous root (Radiv bulbosa). This
assumes several different appearances. Thus, it
may be solid as in the crocus;

or formed of a number of
layers, like the onion, when

it is said to be tunicated; or
it may be scaly, like the lily.

The bulbous part of this
root contains the young future
plant, and as it is altogether
placed in the ground, it has
been called a root. The fibres at the lower part

of the bulb are however the true root; and some
authors have therefore called this a fibrous root,
BULBOUS AND FIBROUS ROOTS.
17
with a bulb upon it. If the root of a tulip be

cut carefully through, the young plant may be seen
wrapped up in it, and quite perfect, stamens, pistils
and all. The bulb is therefore very similar to the
buds on trees, which contain the young plant wrap
ped up in them; but there is this difference, that
the bud on the tree remains on the parent plant
and produces its young shoot; but the underground
bulb is increased by means of a little offset, like a
bulb, which grows out from them, and then sepa
rates itself, and springs up into a fresh plant.
Roots which are bulbous in dry places, often
become fibrous if planted near water. The moist
land offers no resistance to the growth of fibres,
and they increase until the root becomes wholly
formed of them. If a tree be planted by a pond,
and grow close down to the water, or partly in it,
its fibres become much more numerous; and grasses
having bulbous roots in a dry meadow, are found
totally changed in a moist one. This effect, although
produced by a natural and obvious cause, is part
of a wonderful and benevolent provision of the
C
18
GRANULATED ROOT.
Great Creator; for fibrous and creeping roots are

very useful in holding together the loose earth on
which they flourish. They are so useful in binding
the soil on the shores of Holland, that they are
planted for that purpose, and without them, the
dikes of that country would be quite swept away by
the sea.
7. The granulated root (Radix granulata).

This root consists of a
number of round knobs,
close upon each other,

forming a long string of
them. It is in fact merely
another form of tuberous
root, but is often mentioned by naturalists as a dis

tinct root. Instances may be seen in the wood sorrel,
or in the granulated saxifrage.
QUESTIONS.
OF what parts does a perfect plant consist?

Are these parts all necessary?
QUESTIONS.
19
Name some plants which have no blossoms?

Name one which has no leaves?
Are roots found on all vegetables?

Are they found on aquatic plants?
Are they always fixed to the soil?
Of what use is the root to the plant?
How many parts has the root generally?
Which part is necessary?
Of what use is the fibrous part?
What are the openings in the end of the plant
called, and why are they so called?
Do the fibres serve any other purpose besides
that of sucking up food from the soil?
Why does the farmer change the crop in his
field?
What other name have the fibres?
Are roots green in any case?

Is darkness the sole cause of their want of colour?
If we wanted to make stems or leaves white, what

should we do with them?
To what does the root tend when a seed is placed

in the ground?
20
QUESTIONS.
Does any thing rise out of a seed in an opposite

direction to the root ?
Is there any case in which a root would spring

upwards?
Of what uses are roots to man? and name some
that are useful besides those mentioned in the
lesson.
What is an annual root ?
What a biennial root?
Describe a perennial root, and in all the cases

give instances.
Say whether a root of a rose tree, a daisy, a
violet, a honeysuckle, a major convolvulus, a French
bean, be annual or perennial.
Are roots ever annual in one place and perennial
in another? mention an instance.
Are there any plants which seem more nourished

by their leaves than their roots?
In what kind of places do such plants grow?
What are those plants called which thrive on the
-
juices of others?
21
QUESTIONS.
What is the most remarkable species of this

kind in Britain P
Are they more numerous in any country than

in Britain P
Is the moss a parasitic plant? why not?

How many kinds of roots are there?
Describe the fibrous root, and give an example.
Describe the spindle-shaped root.
Which part is the body of the root?
What is the creeping root?
Describe the abrupt root, and mention the old
story connected with a plant which has this root.
Are any plants found which have sometimes an
abrupt and sometimes another shaped root? under
what circumstances? give the examples.
Describe the tuberous root.
Describe the palmated kind of tuberous root.

Describe the bulbous root in its three kinds.
What part of a bulbous root is the true root of

the plant?
What is formed inside the bulb P
22
QUESTIONS.
Is there any other part of a plant which is much

like a bulb P
In what respect is it like it?

In what respect is it unlike it?
Do bulbous roots ever change to fibrous ones,
and when P
Of what use are creeping and fibrous roots to

man?
What is the granulated root?

Of what kind of root is it merely another form?
What kinds of root are the following? parsnip,
radish, mint, wheat, barley, bee orchis, brown
orchis, potato, plantain, wood sorrel?
23
CHAPTER III.
OF THE STEM :ITs Uses; Its DIRECTION; MEANs of

SUPPORT; SUBSTANCEs of which STEMs ARE comPosED;
BARK; Wood; NEw Wood; MEDULLARY RAYs; PITH;
Uses of PITH; Hollow STEMs; WooDY STEM of PALMs;
STEMs of FloweRs; CULM of GRAssEs; THE SCAPE; THE
STIPE; WARIous TERMs APPLIED To STEMs; FloweR
sTALK ; LEAF-STALK.
E have said that when a seed bursts its
covering in the earth, and begins to sprout,

the root directs itself downwards; we shall now
consider that part of a plant which takes an up

ward course.
This is the trunk or stem, and its
different kinds will be explained. Some plants are

called stemless, because they have scarcely any
part between the root and the flower; and many
flowers are called stemless also, because they have
not what is called a true stem, which term will be
explained in this chapter. The stem is not only
24
STEMS.
useful to the
plant by bearing the flower leaves, &c.
but it conveys the food from the root to the leaves,

and other parts of the vegetable; and the sap, which
is useful to the plant as blood is to man, flows
through it to all parts. The stem is valuable to
mankind in many ways. The trunk of trees supplies
us with wood, and with bark for medicines and
manufactures. The stalk of the sugar-cane yields

us sugar; and many other trunks might be men
tioned equally serviceable.
Stems generally grow upright or nearly so, but
some bend into various forms, and are called flexible
stems. Some, like that of the French bean, hop, or

honeysuckle, twist themselves round poles, or
twine among plants, and hold themselves up by
these means; and some are provided with curls or
claspers, like the grape vine, or with little fibres,
which look like small roots, as in the ivy, by
means of which the plants support themselves,
although their main stems may not have much
strength.
Stems are either woody, like trees; or fleshy,
STEMS : . BARK,
25
like the aloe; or hollow, like

the hemlock.
We shall first
consider woody stems, and these

are of two sorts. The most com
mon kind is that like the oak.
In this kind of stem, all the substances of which
it is composed, are arranged regularly. There is

first the cuticle, or thin skin, which has been
already described. Underneath this, lies the pulpy

substance, called cellular tissue; then comes the
true bark of the tree, which holds the substances so
useful in tanning and dying, as the resin of the fir,

the aromatic oil of the cinnamon, and various other
substances.
When we remove the bark we come to the sub
stantial part of the tree, which is its wood; and it

is composed of various vessels, lying very close, and
bound together by cellular tissue. It consists of
a number of layers forming rings round the stem,
though they are not always in an exact circle, as
they are sometimes close together at one side of
the tree. They may be seen very plainly in the
26
STEMS :
FIBRES.
fir-tree, when cut down; but in almost any log of

wood from a British tree they are distinctly marked.
The outermost part of the wood is softer than the
inner, and as the vessels which convey the sap are
placed in it, it is often called sap wood. New
wood is another name for it, because a new layer
of it is formed every year, and each year it hardens
and becomes like the other wood, and again a
fresh layer is formed. In consequence of this, the
age of a tree may be told by counting the number
of rings upon it.
Besides the fibres which go down from the top
to the bottom of the stem, there are a number of
fibres crossing them from the middle to the outside

like rays. These are called medullary rays, because
they run from the pith (medulla) in the centre, to
the circumference of the trunk.
In the central
part of the stem is a spongy substance usually of

a whitish green colour. It is called the pith or
medulla, and may be very plainly seen in the elder
tree in spring. Sago is made from the pith of the
date palm, and rice paper is made from the same
WOODY AND FLOWER STEMS.
27
substance found in a Chinese plant, and pith is

often used in making children's toys. Some plants
have not any pith in their stems; and several, as
the elm and apple-tree, have very little. It is
always more abundant in a young shoot, than in
an old one, and in a full grown tree it is not found
at all, as it then turns into wood.
The other kind of woody stem is found in the

palms and other foreign trees
In this the wood, the pith and :
-
the bark, cannot be separately

distinguished, but seem all min
gled together in one mass. In
stead of the central part being the hardest and
-
firmest in this kind of stem, it is the softest; and
the outermost parts are the most compact.

Some stems are hollow, like the grasses and the
hemlock. In these, the pith is not a firm spongy
substance, but is merely a fine delicate lining.
The soft fleshy stems or stalks of flowers, are
composed chiefly of a mass of pulp, with fibres
interspersed to give them strength. If these fibres
28
STEMS :
CAULIS.
are examined under a microscope, they are often

found arranged in regular order; sometimes in
circles, sometimes in little bundles: the sap ascends
through them.
In the common weed called the dog's mercury,
the fibres may be seen arranged round the stem in
a circle. In a full grown plant if the stem be
broken, they are clearly perceptible without the aid
of a microscope. Botanists divide the stems or
stalks of vegetables into four kinds.
I. Caulis.
The true stem, is one which bears
both leaves and blossoms, as the trunks and branches
of trees in general, and of a great many flowers,

as the white dead nettle, the large white convolvulus,
the common groundsel and many others. The
stem is said to be simple when no branches spring
from it, as in the white garden lily; and branched
when branches arise from it, as in the common
yellow St. John's wort of the meadows. When

branches are placed on the main stem, in opposite
pairs, it is said to be dichotomous as in the mis
tletoe.
sTEMS : CULMUS, SCAPUs.
29
MISTLETOE.
II. Culmus.
The culm is the stalk of wheat and
of grasses in general. It is a kind of straw in the
grass plants, often knotted or jointed, and hollow.

The term culm is however applied to the stems of
some plants much like grasses, as the rushes, bul
rushes, &c. and in these it is spongy, or, as in the
rushes, quite full of pith. The culm of the bamboo,
which is a grass plant of tropical countries, is
often forty feet in height, and it adds much to the
beauty of the landscape, besides being useful in the
building of houses, and in supplying the chief ma
terial for household furniture.
III. Scapus. The scape is that kind of stalk

which bears the flowers only, and not the leaves.
30
STEMS : SCAPUS, STIPES.
This sort of stalk is very common. The primrose,

violet, daisy, hyacinth and cowslip, are familiar
instances of it. Sometimes a scape branches out
into a number of little stalks at the top, as in the
cowslip or polyanthus. These little stalks are called
pedicels. In describing flowers it is common for
botanists to say they are stemless, when their stalk
is a scape: meaning that they have not the true
stem, which supports leaves as well as flowers.
IV. Stipes. The stipe. This is the stalk of the
palms, ferns, and the fungus or mushroom tribe.
If we examine a fern, we find it to consist of a
green leaf-like substance, which seems merely a

widening of the stalk which holds it, and which
runs up the middle. On this leaf are little ridges,
which bear the seed of the plant. The whole of
this leaf-like piece, including the stipe or stalk, is
called a frond. The stipe in the mushroom is
merely the stalk which supports the cap, or dome
at the top; the stipe in a frond is the stalk of the
leaf-like part. There are terms applied to the
stem with reference to its mode of growth, and the
TERMS APPLIED TO STEMS.
nature of its surface.
31
Some of these must be com
mitted to memory, and plants should be examined

and compared with the plates. These terms are
very numerous. The most common are here given,
and will be sufficient for the young botanist.
Erect (erectus). As in the white lily.
Procumbent (procumbens), lying along the
ground, but not sending
out fibres from the joints;
as in the common pink
field convolvulus.
Creeping (repens), lying along the ground and

sending forth roots, as in the creeping buttercup.
Climbing (scandens), holding itself up by its

tendrils, as the sweet pea or passion-flower.
32
Twining (volubilis), twining round a pole, as

the French bean and the hop. <>
Some twining stems turn to the
right, and some to the left; but
the same kind of plant always
turns the same way. Thus the
black bryony, a plant with
glossy heart-shaped leaves, and small greenish

flowers, often seen winding about the trees, and
bushes of the hedge, always twines from left to right.

And if we were to set it in a garden and endeavour
to train it another way, it would regain its natural
position, directly its growth was unrestrained. The
French bean too, and the large white wild convol
vulus, always turn in the opposite directionfrom
right to left, and are equally true to their natural bias.

Clinging (radicans), when, like the ivy, it clings
for support to a wall or tree, by means of a number
of fibres, which do not derive food for the plant, and
are only serviceable to it by holding it up.
Branched (ramosus), when several branches come
from the main stem; as in the gooseberry bush.
33
Round (teres), as in the tulip.

Two-edged (anceps), as in sweet pea.
Triangular (triangularis), as in one kind of

cactus.
Square (quadrangularis), as in white dead

nettle, and nettle-leaved bell flower.
Articulated (articulatus), as
in the samphire, which grows on
the sea coast, and is used as a
pickle.
It is easy to see that stems vary
much in the roughness or smoothness of their sur
faces, some being velvety or hairy, or hard and
shining. The terms most commonly used to ex
press these differences are here given, and must be
committed to memory.
34
TERMS; FLOWER STALKS.
Smooth (glabrous), without hairs, prickles, or

any roughness whatever; as the stalk of the tulip.
Prickled (aculeatus), as in the rose or bramble.
Hairy (hirtus), as in the wild sage.
Papillose (papillosus), covered with tubercles,
like the ice plant.
Viscid (viscidus), covered with a clammy juice,
as in the avens; a yellow wild flower sometimes
called herb bennet.
Bristly (hispidus), with stiff bristles, as the

common borage and the viper's bugloss.
Glaucous (glaucus), covered with a mealy sub
stance, something resembling the bloom on the
peach, but of a sea green colour. Plants which
grow by the sea side, often have their stems co
vered with this sea green mealiness: as the sea
side poppy. It easily rubs off the plant.
The stalks which issue from the main stem of a
plant, and bear the flowers, are called flower stalks

or peduncles. The flower stalk is said to be axil
lary, when it proceeds from the point formed by
the angle of the leaf and stem.
It must be remem
FLOWER STALK.
35
bered, that this point is called the axil: a term
continually in use in botany. When a flower stalk

is opposite to a leaf, it is termed opposite: when,
as in the tulip, it is at the top of the stalk, it is
called terminal.
sometimes
Flowers are
seated
close to
the main stem, without any

flower stalk at all, in which
case they are termed sessile.

It must be remembered that
the word sessile means seated.
A curious instance occurs in
36
STALKS : QUESTIONS.
a very common shrub, of a blossom being sessile

on a leaf.
This is the butchers' broom, in which
the flower grows on the front of the leaf.

The stalk which bears the leaf is called leaf stalk,
or petiole.
QUESTIONS.
What is that part of a plant called which springs

out of the seed, opposite to the root?
Of what use is the stem to the plant? and to
man?
Do all stems grow upright?

Mention some means by which they are kept up.
Mention the kinds of stem.
What part comes next to the cuticle in the oak

tree?
What next, and what does it contain P
What is the part of the tree next the bark? and

describe it.
What do we mean by sapwood? and has it any

other name?
QUESTIONS.
37
Are there any fibres crossing the fibres which

go from top to bottom of the stem? what are they
called?
Point out all these parts on the plate.

What is the pith? and give its scientific name.
Mention some trees in which there is little pith.
Are there any trees in which it is not found
at all?
Is there any pith in hollow stems?

Describe the stem of the palm tree?
Describe the stem of flowers?
What appearance has the woody fibre in the

plants called dog's mercury?
Describe what is meant by the term a true
stem, and give several examples besides those
named.
Describe a culm.
Describe a scape, and give instances.

What is a pedicel?
Mention whether the following flowers have a
scape or a stem ? nightshade, dandelion, wood
anemone, polyanthus, buttercup, briar-rose, honey
38
QUESTIONS.
suckle, foxglove, white garden lily, major convol

vulus, apple-blossom.
Describe a frond.
What is a stipe?
Repeat the various terms applied to stems.

Do all twining plants turn the same way?
When a number of little fibres grow on a stem,
what kind of stem is it called?
What kind of stem has the tulip?

What is the mealy substance found on plants?
What is meant by a flower stalkand what
other name has it?
What is the axil?
When is a flower-stalk said to be terminal?
When is it opposite?
When is it sessile? and what is the meaning of
sessile?
Give an instance in which a flower is sessile on

a leaf.
What is the stalk called which holds the leaf P
39
CHAPTER IV.
BUDS:SEAsoN of THEIR FoRMATION; LEAF BUDs; FloweR
BUDs; MIxED BUDs; MEANS BY which BUDs ARE PRE
SERVED FROM Cold; HoRSE CHESNUT BUD.
LEAVES :UPPER SURFACEs of LEAvEs; UNDER SURFACEs

of LEAvEs; WEINS AND NERVEs of LEAVEs; USEs of LEAVEs
To PLANTs; EFFECT of LIGHT on LEAVEs; CoLouR of
LEAvEs; SLEEP of PLANTs; FALL of THE LEAF; EveR
GREENs; LEAvEs of TRoPICAL CLIMATEs; LEAvEs of
AquaTIC PLANTs; EFFECTs of INSECTs on LEAvEs; USEs
of LEAVES To MAN ; TERMs APPLIED To LEAVEs.
F we walk in the country or in the garden dur

ing Spring time, we cannot fail to see the
young buds on the trees. Quite early in February,
the buds of the elder tree are opening in the
hedges, and a little later, the apple
and hawthorn or May trees, show a
number of small green knots upon
them.
Now these buds were formed
upon the trees and bushes during the

last Summer. They came then in
the point between the stem and the
40
FLOWER BUDs; LEAF BUDs.
leafstalk (a vil), or at the ends of the branches; but

as they were very small, and continued so during
Winter, they may not have been noticed by us, till
they became so much larger in Spring. When
once the Spring has commenced, they swell, and
daily become larger, till they open fully. In some
trees, indeed, the buds are seated at first so deeply
in the bark, that even if searched for, during
Autumn and Winter, they cannot be perceived;
but this is not generally the case.
As the season advances, the buds burst open,
and a young shoot rises out of them. Leaves or
flowers, soon make their appearance. Those buds
which contain nothing but leaves, like the bud
which grows at the end of the twig of the garden

mezereon, are called leaf-buds: those which hold
the young blossoms are termed flower-buds. Leaf

buds are always longer, and more slender, than
those which enfold the flowers, as we may see by
remarking the little roundish bud on the apple tree,
which contains the pink apple blossom, and com
paring it with the bud which is to supply the tree
BUDs; HoRSECHESNUT BUD.
41
with a shoot bearing leaves. Some buds, as those

on the lilac tree, bear both flowers and leaves, and
are called mixed buds.
Shrubs and annual plants have no buds.

If we take a bud from the tree and examine it,
we find it formed of a number of coats or scales,
folding over each other, and thus protecting the

innermost part from the cold of Winter. In hot
climates, where there is no severe Winter, the young
shoots do not need this protection; so that the
Almighty hand which formed the plants according to
their several needs, has not furnished the trees of
the Torrid Zone with buds, but the young shoot

comes out directly from the bark of the plant. In
our climate, buds are often covered with hair, or
with a clammy resinous sub

stance, on the outer part, and .
clothed within, with down, and
thus they resist both the damp

and cold. The large bud of
the horse chesnuttree is formed
early in Spring, and is a good
42
HORSECHESNUT BUD; LEAVES.
instance for the learner to examine, as he may

there see the various contrivances for the protec
tion of the young shoot, and mark the wisdom of
the Great Creator. This bud not only has on its
outer covering, a thick clammy coat, in substance
and colour resembling melted Indian rubber; but,
if the bud be cut through, it will be seen to be
covered with a cottony down, which is so thick, that

we may pick pieces off from it.
The buds are so necessary to plants in those
countries which have a cold season, that those trees,
which, from having been reared in a hot-house,

are without buds, are sure to die, if exposed to the
least cold.
The buds of some trees are not formed of scales,
but of a number of green pieces, which open nearly

all at once. Buds are rarely found on the stem, but
are chiefly situated on the branches of a tree.
When the leaf buds have burst open, the leaves
gradually cover the branches of the plant. Leaves
may be situated on the stem or branch, as in the
apple tree; or they may grow only about the root
LEAVES; THEIR SURFACES AND VEINs.
43
of the flower stalk, as in dandelion, violet and

many more.
The upper surface of a leaf, or that
part which turns towards the heavens, is generally

smoother, greener and more glossy, than the under
surface, as we may see in a rose leaf. On the
upper part, the veins seem sunken into the leaf;
while on the under surface, they seem to stand out
above the green flat portion. The lower part is

also often covered with hair or down, and has a
number of small pores, which are the openings of
the vessels contained in the leaf. Some leaves,
like those of the iris or flag, have not an upper or

an under surface, as they grow quite erect and
even with the stem; both sides are therefore of the

same colour: others, of a fleshy pulpy nature, are
alike at all parts of their surface, as the leaf of the
common houseleek.
There is, in the middle of most leaves, a line of
woody fibre, well known by the name of a vein,

and this is often branched into a number of smaller
veins, as in the rose leaf, where the woody fibres

form a kind of network.
In Autumn, portions of
44
NERVED LEAVES ; USE OF LEAVES.
this network often lie about the path of the garden

or shrubbery, or hang on the plants, and present
the skeleton of the leaf; the pulpy part having
decayed away from the fibre. The green cup which
supports the flower of the common red garden
mallow, often presents a beautiful framework of this
kind, at the latter end of Summer; and the leaves
of the poplar and other plants, are sometimes found

in this state.
In the leaves of some plants, as in that of the

lily of the valley, the portions of woody fibre, instead
of running across the leaf, all go from its base to
the top, in a number of lines, even
with each other. In this case, leaves
are said to be nerved; and some
times their nerves are easily counted,

when they are said to be three
nerved, five nerved, seven nerved,
and so on.
Leaves are useful to the plant much in the same

way that lungs are to the animal. They draw in
and give out air, they also imbibe moisture from
USE OF LEAVES.
45
the atmosphere, and give out the fluids which are

more than would be necessary for the plant. Leaves
of trees imbibe this moisture by their upper sur
faces chiefly, but the leaves of flowers, and plants
near the ground, receive it mostly through their
lower surfaces. Some plants, especially those of hot

countries, perspire a great quantity of fluid. When
the Summer air of our own country is warm and
dry, we may see this moisture resting on the leaves
of many vegetables. The cabbage leaf often has,
on a dry day, early in the morning, a number of
clear large drops upon it, which we might sup
pose to be dew, but which are, in fact, the watery
fluid given out by the leaf: and drops of clear
water often trickle down from the poplar trees, at
early day, when the morning is warm, and the
atmosphere quite dry.
The air which is given out by the leaves of plants
is, in the day time, of a healthful nature; and trees
scattered about a landscape purify the atmosphere
very much: but in darkness or shade, the air is of
a noxious quality, so that plants in a sleeping room
46
USE OF LEAVES.
are not wholesome : besides that fragrant odours

generally, render the air of a close place sickly.
Leaves serve also to convey food to those parts
of the plant which are above and beneath them.
As we mentioned in treating of the root, they are
almost the only means of nutrition which some
plants have: the natives of arid barren soils being
fed much more by their succulent leaves, than by
their small roots. So important are leaves gene
rally, to the welfare of a plant, that if the foliage
be stripped from a tree before the fruit becomes
ripe, it will soon drop, while green, from the bough.
We may often see this in a gooseberry bush, which,
in early Spring, has been stripped of its leaves by
insects.
It is very interesting to remark how much leaves

are affected by the influence of light. Thus if
placed in a room, their boughs always turn towards
the window, and as twilight commences many leaves,
as those of the lupins and clover, fold themselves
together, and hang down till the daylight comes to
them again. This folding up is called the sleep of
COLOUR OF LEAVES.
47
plants. Most leaves are affected by it more or

less, but some very remarkably so. This is the
case with the pea tribe; and the learner may see
this folding up of leaves on any Summer evening,
in the garden or the meadow.
When trees are nailed against the wall, they

immediately begin to turn the upper surfaces of
their leaves towards the light; and if the gardener
happen to bind one with its surface against the
wall, the string is no sooner released, than it turns
round to present its upper part, so as that the sun
may shine upon it. This is the case with all those
leaves which have an upper and under part, unlike
each other; but in plants in which, like the iris
and mistletoe, both surfaces are similar, the influence
of light is not perceptible in this manner.

Leaves and stems lose their colour, and become
pale, if kept in darkness; like the celery and

endive, which are blanched by being kept from the
light. The colours of flowers, also, become pale,
and the plants less vigorous, unless the rays of light
have free access to them.
48
HABITS OF LEAVES.
Some plants close up both leaves and flowers at

a certain hour of the day. Thus the scarlet pim
pernel shuts up about twelve o'clock; and the
garden pheasant's eye at four in the afternoon.
The former flower is called the poor man's weather
glass, because it closes also on the approach of rain,
as do several other blossoms. If we see this flower,
or the wild pink convolvulus, folded together in the

morning, we may feel quite sure rain will soon be
coming, unless the flowers are decaying, when
these signs are not to be depended upon.
As Autumn approaches, the foliage of trees
begins to change its colour, and to become yellow
or crimson. These changes are succeeded by the
fall of the leaf, which leaves us but the naked
branches of the Winter trees.
The fall of the leaf
is caused by its becoming withered when it has

lived its appointed time, and by some action of the
living portion of the tree, by which it casts it off;
for if, at another season, a leaf decays, we often see
it hang for a long time on its parent plant: and if
a tree is killed by frost, or any other cause, we
FALL OF THE LEAF ; EVERGREENS.
49
may see its brown foliage hanging on its decayed

branches, because these have not the vital power,
by which they could throw it off. All trees do not
cast off their foliage at the same time; and it is
generally observed, that those which are soonest
covered in Spring with their green dress are
earliest deprived of it on the approach of Winter.
Thus the horse chesnut tree is among the earliest
to deck the park with its green beauty, but before
the Summer is quite gone it begins to turn brown;
and while many trees are yet green, it stands with
out a leaf on its branches.
There are some trees which remain green through

the Winter, and are termed Evergreens. These
are chiefly trees which contain a resinous sub
stance, like the pines and firs: or they are those
which have a stiff leathery kind of leaves, as the
holly, the laurel, and myrtle. The privet, and ivy,

and butcher's broom of the hedges, are common
examples of evergreens; and a few plants, like the
bramble and the young oak tree, have a few fresh
looking leaves on them during Winter, that
E
50
LEAVES OF TROPICAL CLIMATES.
mingle with the brown ones, with which they are

covered.
In the warm climates of the Tropics, the trees

are mostly evergreen, for although they change
their leaves, these have not an annual season for
falling, but drop in small numbers at a time, and

never leave the boughs naked. Shade is so much
needed by those who live under a burning sun, that
this is a bountiful provision of the Great Creator,
for the inhabitants of such climates. The large size
of the leaves of Tropical trees, is on the same
account a great benefit. In the Torrid Zone, leaves
are sometimes fourteen or fifteen feet in length;
while in the cold climates at the north of our
globe, as in Sweden and Norway, there are forests

of pine trees, the leaves of which are very small
and slender; and the birch and alder, and the few
other trees which grow there, have small leaves,
which are not overpowered by the snows, as larger

foliage would be.
Leaves are generally all of the same shape on

the same plant, and in the same kind of plant.
SHAPE OF LEAVES.
51
This is of great assistance to botanists in acquiring

a knowledge of vegetation. Thus a primrose, a
rose, and a violet, have each differently shaped
leaves, and these never change, wherever the
plant may grow. There are however many com
mon instances of plants which have leaves of one
shape at the root, and of a different shape on the
stem, like the harebell, which has round leaves at
the foot of its stem, and small slender ones all the
way up, upon it. The musk mallow has leaves

cut into slender divisions on its stem, while they
gradually become less divided lower down, and are,
at the root, merely a lobed piece. Plants which
grow on mountains have usually their upper leaves
divided, and their lower ones entire; and plants
which grow in the water have commonly their
upper leaves large and flat, and their lower ones
divided almost into fibres.
This is the case with
the water ranunculus, a white flower, which grows

on streams, in shape like a buttercup, but looking
so like a strawberry blossom, that country children
call it the water strawberry.
A plant called the
52
EFFECTS OF INSECTS ON LEAVES.
Chinese mulberry, is so singular, as to have every

leaf upon it differently shaped.
Some plants, like those of the mushroom tribe,
have no leaves at all; while the sea weeds may be
said to consist entirely of leaves or fronds. Leaves,
as well as young buds, are sometimes disfigured by
little balls or knots upon them. Thus on the oak
or willow leaf, and especially on the leaves of the
common maple, we may often see little balls, some
times as large as a pea, sometimes scarcely larger
than a pin's point. If we open them we find insects
in them. These balls are formed by the puncture
of an insect, which deposits its eggs within, and
when the egg is hatched, it becomes a fly and
makes its way out. The shaggy mossy balls which
we see on rose trees, and which children call
robin's cushions, are formed in the same way; and

if cut open in August, will be found to contain
insects. The galls used in manufactures are other
instances of vegetable balls, formed by this process.
Besides the beauty given to the landscape by the
foliage of trees, and the pleasure which we derive
SIMPLE AND COMPOUND LEAVES.
53
from their shadow in Summer time, leaves are
useful both as pasture for cattle, and food for man.

Many, as the lettuce, spinach, cabbage, sorrel, &c.
are cultivated for the table; and many, like the
mallow, the dandelion, the hemlock, and senna, are
of great service as medicines.

Leaves, with regard to form, are either simple or
compound. They are said to be simple, when the
leaf is formed of only one piece, as in the primrose
leaf; though this piece may be deeply cut or lobed,
as in the ivy or dandelion. The leaf is compound
when it is formed of a number of distinct pieces or
leaflets on one leaf stalk, as in the parsley. There
are some simple leaves which are so deeply cut,
that they might perplex the learner to tell whether
they were simple or compound. It must be re
membered, as a
general rule,
that if the divisions
do not reach the middle vein of the leaf, they are

simple, however much they may be divided.
The terms most frequently in use, as applied to
simple leaves, are the following:
Orbicular (orbiculatum), a circular leaf.
54
TERMS APPLIED TO LEAVES.
Ovate (ovatum), the shape of an egg. A very

common shape of leaves, as in the periwinkle.
ORBICULAR.
OVATE.
OBOWATE.
Obovate (obovatum), the same shape as the

last, only that the broad part, instead of being at
the lower end, is at the top, as in
the daisy.
Elliptical, or oval (ellipticum),

very similar to the last, but the same
width at both ends, as in the lily of
the valley.
Spatulate (spatulatum), roundish
at one part, and narrowing off.
Wedge shaped(cuneiforme), broad
and abrupt at the upper end, and
narrowing downwards; as in one species of saxi
frage.
55
Lanceolate (lanceolatum), a narrow leaf nar

rowing at each end, as in the peach and willow.
This is a very common form of leaf.
\\
WEDGE SHAPED.
LANCEOLATE.
LINEAR.
Linear (lineare), a leaf similar to the last, but

much more slender, so as to resemble a line, as in
the wheat and meadow grass.

Needle shaped (acerosum), a stiff sharp pointed
leaf, common to some evergreens, as
in the yew and the pine. The trees

having acerose leaves, are natives of
cold climates, and if their leaves were
not very small and slender, the weight

of the snow, and the fury of the winds, would quite
overpower them.
Triangular (triangularum), with
three distinct angles, as in some leaves
56
of the ivy.
Some leaves have four angles, and
these are then quadrangular.

Trowel shaped (deltoides), from
N
P.
the Greek letter delta A, as in the
plant called good king Henry.

Rhomboid or diamond shaped
(rhombeum), approaching to a square figure.
RHOMBOID.
KIDNEY SHAPED.
ARROW SHAPED.
Kidney shaped (reniforme), as in ground ivy.

Arrow shaped (sagittatum), triangular, and much
hollowed out at the lower end, as in the water
arrow head of the streams.
Heart shaped (cordatum), a very

common form of leaves, similar in
figure to what is commonly called a
heart. In the black bryony of the woods, the glossy

heart shaped leaves are very beautiful.
57
Halberd shaped (hastatum), tri

angular, with spreading lobes at the
base, as in the small field sorrel,
and the upper leaves of the hedge

nightshade.
2:
Fiddle shaped (panduriforme), as in the fiddle

dock.
FIDDLE SHAPED.
LION TOOTHED.
Lion toothed (runcinatum), cut into several

sharp divisions, pointing backwards, as in the com
mon dandelion.
Lyrate (lyratum), cut into several

divisions, which are gradually larger
--
2
St.%
at the upper end of the leaf, which is >

rounded, as in the yellow avens of the
hedge.
Lobed (lobatum), when the margins of the lobes
58
(Wi
are not pointed, but rounded; as
in the Spring garden hepatica.

They may be three, five, or seven
lobed.
V
} 7~
(22
... Y
Palmate (palmatum), cut

into several segments about
half way, but leaving a space
like the palm of the hand,
as in the common passion
flower.
Pinnatifid (pinnatifidum), cut

across in a number of oblong seg
called swine's cress.
Bipinnatifid (bipinnatifidum), when these seg

ments are each divided; as in some kinds of poppy.
sy
*\ //
BIPINNATIFID.
SA->
PECTINATE.
59
Pectinate (pectinatum), cut into slender divi

sions, like the tooth of a comb; as in some leaves
of the water violet.
Unequal (inequale), when one

side of the leaf is larger than the
other; as in the pink flowered
begonia.
Acuminate (acuminatum), with an awl shaped

point; as in some reeds.
ACUMINATE.
MUCRONATE.
TOOTHED.
Mucronate (mucronatum), with a sharp spine,

at the top of the leaf, or at the top of each divi
sion; as in the thistles.
Toothed (dentatum), deeply notched, with teeth

across the leaf, as in the common groundsel.
Ciliated (ciliatum), fringed with delicate hairs.
60
Serrated (serratum), notched with sharp pointed

teeth, like a saw, as in the rose leaf.
SERRATED.
CRENATED.
PLAITED.
Crenated (crenatum), notched with roundish

notches, as in the ground ivy and the scarlet pot
geranium.
Plaited (plicatum), when the leaves seem folded

up and down, as in the common mallows.
Dotted (punctatum), as in the St. John's wort,
and on the back of the leaves of the scarlet pim
pernel.
Keeled (carinatum), when the back stands out
above the rest of the leaf, as in the twin flowered
narcissus.
Sword shaped (ensiforme), when both sides are

alike, and the leaf is pointed, as in the iris.
61
When leaves remain all the Winter on the tree,
they are said to be evergreen; but when they fall

in Winter, they are termed deciduous. The term
entire is applied to those leaves whose edges are
free from notches of any kind, as in the garden
lily; and leaves which, like the nettle and many
others, are sharply pointed at the end are called
acute.
The following are the chief terms applied to

compound leaves.
Digitate (digitatum), when the leaflets come
from the common leaf stalk
like rays, leaving no space in

the middle like a palmate leaf,
but each leaflet perfectly dis

tinct. A digitate leaf may be
composed of various numbers
of leaflets. Thus in the lupins it has seven or nine,
and sometimes more; and in the horse chesnut it
has seven. When a digitate or fingered leaf has

only two leaflets, it is called binate (binatum), and
the term yoked is often applied to it. When it has
62
three leaflets, it is called ternate (ternatum), as
BINATE.
in
TERNATE.
the clover, the wood sorrel, and some kinds of

potentilla.
Pinnate (pinnatum), this leaf might be thought
by the learner to be a spray of
leaves, but he will see by ex
amining it, that it has a main
leaf stalk, with leaflets growing
out of it. The rose leaf, and the
leaves of the mountain ash and vetches, are pinnate

leaves. Sometimes the pinnate leaves have a sin
gle leaflet on the top of the spray or leaf, as in the
rose; sometimes the pinnate leaf ends in a tendril
or curl; and sometimes it terminates without any
thing at the top of the main leaf stalk. When be.
tween each leaflet there is a smaller one down the
63
leaf stalk, the leaf is said to be interruptedly pin

nate, as in the yellow flow
ered field agrimony.
Bipinnate (bipinnatum),
when the leaflets themselves
have leaflets at each side of

them.
Tripinmate (tripinnatum), when they are thrice

pinnated. In the former case the leaf stalk has
pinnate leaves on it, in this it has bipinnate leaves
on it.
S >{/
#2
%:
QIf
47)->
# =\
TRIPINNATE.
\\la t,
64
Whorled (verticillato), when the leaflets grow all

round the leaf stalk, and form a
'. ///
|
whorl, as in the sweet woodruff.
Leaves with regard to situa

tion are said to be radical, when
they grow from the root; and

cauline, when they grow on the stem. They are
also termed
Opposite (oppositifolia), when opposite to each

other.
OPPOSITE.
SECUND.
Secund (secunda), when all hang one way; as in

Solomon's seal.
Imbricated (imbricata), close together, like the
65
tiles on a house; as in the common yellow stonecrop

of the wall.
IMBRICATED.
UPRIGHT.
Upright (erecta), all growing with their points

upwards.
Spreading (patentia), forming a moderate angle

with the stem.
SPREADING.
PELTATE.
Peltate (peltatum), when the footstalk is fastened

into the middle of the leaf; as in the masturtium.
F
66
Clasping (amplexicaule), clasping the stem with

the base; as in the common flea-bane.
PERFOLIATE.
CONNATUM.
CLASPING.
Connate (connatum), united at the base, as in

some leaves of the honeysuckle.
Perfoliate (perfoliatum), when the stalk runs
through the leaf.
Decurrent (decurrens), running
down the stem, so as to form a
kind of leafy wing; as in the thistles

and the great mullein.
Folium is the Latin word for leaf: thus we say

folium simplicium, a simple leaf; folium composi
tum, a compound leaf; folia is the Latin word for
leaves.
QUESTIONS.
AT what season are the buds of trees formed?
Why do we not observe them till Spring?

At what parts of a branch are they formed?
What is a leaf bud?
What is a flower bud?
Is there any difference in the appearance of a

leaf bud and a flower bud?
What is a mixed bud?
What plants have no buds?

Of what are buds formed?
Have the trees of hot climates any buds?

Of what use are buds?
What have buds often on their outer partand

what inside?
Describe the manner in which the young leaves

of the horsechesnut are protected from the cold of
early Spring.
Are buds necessary to plants in cold climates?
68
QUESTIONS.
and mention some circumstance which would lead
you to think them unnecessary?

On what parts of a tree are the buds generally
situated ?
On what parts of a plant are the leaves found?

Describe the upper and under surface of a leaf.
What are those pores seen on the under surface
of a leaf.
Describe the kinds of leaf which have not upper

and under surfaces.
What is the vein of a leaf P
and is it ever
branched?
Describe a nerved leaf.
What do we mean by a seven-nerved leaf?

Mention the different ways in which leaves are
useful to plants.
Do leaves of trees and flowers imbibe moisture
chiefly by their upper or under surfaces?

Which perspire most, the plants of cold or of hot
climates?
Mention what is said of the cabbage and poplar

leaves.
QUESTIONS.
69
What is the difference in the nature of the air
given out by plants in the day, and in the night?

Mention another use of leaves, beside those for
merly named.
Are there any plants which are nourished more
by their leaves than their roots? what kind are
they?
Mention the ways in which leaves are affected by
light.
What is meant by the term sleep of plants? and

name a tribe in which it is seen very plainly.
If a leaf were nailed against a wall by its upper
surface what would it do?
Is the leaf of the mistletoe influenced in this way

by light? why?
How is a stem or leaf deprived of its green
colour?
Mention some flowers which shut up at a regular
hour of the day.

If we were in a meadow how could we tell that
rain was coming on ?
When do trees change colour?
70
QUESTIONS.
What happens next?

Explain the fall of the leaf.
If we killed a tree by pouring hot water over it,
would the leaves fall? why not?
Do all trees lose their leaves at the same time?
Mention a general rule as to the period at which

the leaves of a tree fall.
What is an evergreen tree?

What kind of leaves have evergreen trees gene
rally? and mention several instances of garden and
wild evergreen plants.
In what countries are all the trees evergreen?
Do the leaves of these trees never drop off?

Mention the uses of leaves to the natives of the
Torrid Zone.
There are some evergreen trees at the north of

the globe, have these large leaves? why?
Are leaves generally all of one form on a plant?
Give some common instances.
How do the leaves often differ at different parts

of the plant?
Describe the leaves of the harebell and musk
maow.
QUESTIONS.
71
How do the leaves of mountainous plants differ

from each other?
In what way do the leaves of aquatic plants differ

from each other?
What is singular in the foliage of the Chinese

mulberry tree?
Mention some plants without leaves, and some
all leaf.
Mention some of the disfigurements on buds and

leaves, and describe the cause.
Explain the manner in which the robin's cushions

are produced.
Are these galls made by insects of any use?
Mention the various uses of leaves to mankind.
Describe a simple leaf.

Describe a compound leaf.
If a leaf is divided very deeply, how shall we
know if it is simple or compound?

Repeat thoroughly the terms applied to simple
and compound leaves, and compare them with the
plates.
When we say leaves are deciduous what do we

mean?
72
QUESTIONS.
What is the difference between a palmate and a

digitate leaf?
Has a digitate leaf always the same number of
leaflets?
When is it binate?
When is it ternate P
Describe the different ways in which a pinnate

leaf may terminate at the top.
What is meant by an interruptedly pinnate leaf?
Describe the modes in which leaves are placed
on their stems.
What are leaves called which grow from the

root ?
What are they called when they grow on the

stem?
What is the Latin name for a simple leaf P for

a compound leaf?
What is the plural of leaf in Latin *
73
CHAPTER V.
APPENDAGES of PLANTs: STIPULE; STIPULEs on THE

PLANE TREE, BRACTEA; TENDRIL; Uses oF TENDRIL;
THoRNs; PLANTs of AFRICA; THoRN BUSH; PRICKLE ;
HAIR; USEs of HAIRs To PLANTs; SHAPE of HAIRs;
GLAND; PITCHER PLANT; SIDE SADDLE FLow ER: VENUs's
FLY TRAP.
E shall now consider the appendages of plants.

This is a comprehensive term, and includes a
number of different organs. They were by Lin
neus called the props of plants, a term sufficiently
applicable to some of them, as the tendril; but not
very appropriate to others, as in the case of the
thorn. They are now generally all included in the
word Appendages. No plant possesses all these
organs, and some vegetables have not any of
them.
Stipule (stipula). We often see at the under

part of a leaf, just where the leaf stalk proceeds
from the stem, a small green scale or piece, some
74
STIPULE; BRACT.
thing similar to a small leaf. In some cases it is

merely a small scale or a chaffy substance; in the
sweet pea it is a small arrow shaped leaf. This is
the stipule. Its use is to protect the young leaves.
In some plants the stipule falls off at an early
stage, but in most plants it remains as long as the
leaves. In the plane tree we may see in Spring
a number of stipules forming little ruffs round the
branches of leaves.
As soon as the leaves become
expanded, the stipules fall off, and are strewn in

numbers about the pathway. The
stipule is also very plainly seen
at the foot of the leaf stalk of
the rose, when it is often tinged

with a pink or brownish hue. It
is generally double, one being
on each side of the leaf stalk.
Bract (bractea). This is a flower leaf, perform

ing the same office to the blossom which the stipule
performs to the leaf, and often growing so closely
under the flower, as to appear a calyx. It does not
fall off however, as the calyx does, when the blossom
BRACT; TENDRIL.
75
is changed into fruit. In some plants, as in some

species of sage, the floral leaf is tinged with the
same colour as the blossom.
The flower of the
lime tree has a large distinct bractea, quite dif

ferent from its other leaves, and is usually pointed
out to learners as an example, because of this dis
tinctness.
Tendril (cirrhus). This is that curling clasper

which we so often see on plants, and it is useful to
support them when their stems are weak, by cling
ing to some stronger object, either to palings, or to
76
USES OF TENDRIL; THORN.
sticks placed for them, or to plants growing near

them. Plants with stems too slender to support
either their leaves, or flowers and fruit, are pro
vided with them, as the sweet pea and the grape

vine. In the forests of the Torrid Zone, climbing
plants are very abundant and magnificent, and by
means of these tendrils, or by their stems winding
into a curl, they entwine the trees, and are saved
from being broken by the winds. The passion
flower, which is a native of these regions, has very
strong claspers on its stem. The tendril is most
commonly placed on the stem and branches; some
times it is on the leaf of a plant, and often on the
flower stalk.
Thorn (spina). The thorn is that sharp pointed

organ which we find on the
May bush and many other
plants. If we strip off the
bark of the tree, the thorns
do not come away with it, as

they are part of the wood of the stem. When
plants are cultivated, they become less thorny. The
PRICKLE ; HAIR.
77
plants of Africa are many of them remarkable for
their hard sharp thorns. One species called the

thorn bush, is covered with thick, firm thorns,
placed two together, and four or six inches in length.

We sometimes find thorns on leaves, as in the
holly.
Prickle (aculeus). This is like the thorn, a sharp
pointed organ; but as the prickle
only arises from the bark, it may
A
easily be stripped off. It is found
*
on the rose, the bramble, and many
d
other plants, and is not done away
by culture. In the thistles, prickly pear, and some
other plants, prickles are on the leaves.
Hair (pilus). Hairs are commonly found on
the stems and leaves of plants, but they are occa
sionally found on every part. The hairy or downy
covering is useful to the plant, to protect it from
o:
the excess of cold and heat, and is also a defence
against insects. The downy covering on some

leaves is picked off by country children to make
tinder, and in South Africa the downy leaves of a
78
HAIRS; GLAND.
bush are made by the natives into several articles

of clothing. When a plant is covered with hair, it
is said to be pubescent. The hairiness of vegetables
differs in various situations, and if a wild plant
whose leaves are downy, be removed into a garden,
the leaves will often become quite smooth. When
hairs are examined by a microscope, they are seen
to be generally simple, but are, in some cases,
branched, hooked, or jointed.
Gland (glandula). This is a little substance
raised above the surface of the leaf or leaf stalk, on
which parts they are generally found. They often

contain a clammy sweet matter, as in the glands
on the cup and stem of the moss rose.
The little
black dots which cover the leaves, stems, and yellow

flowers, of the meadow St. John's wort, are glands.
Besides the appendages mentioned as common
to many vegetables, there are some curious ones,
which belong only to a few. Thus the pitcher

plant, which is a native of Ceylon and Amboyna,
and is often reared in the hothouses of this country,
has a hollow appendage, shaped like a pitcher,
GLAND.
79
placed at the end of its slender stalk. This pitcher

contains a clear liquid,
and has a lid at the
summit, which opens
by a valve. This
water is not caught
by the rain, but is a
juice of the plant itself.
The liquid is a clear
water, very pleasant and refreshing to the palate,
and is from a quarter to a half pint in quantity.
The people of Ceylon call this plant the monkey
cup, and say that when the monkeys are thirsty
they drink of its contents. An American plant
called the side-saddle flower, has also tubular leaves,
which hold a liquid of a similar nature. Then there

is a plant which has, at the end
of its leaves, a flat green piece,
covered with a clammy juice,
and set round thickly with sharp
teeth, which are so irritable,
that if an insect, attracted by
80
GLAND; QUESTIONS.
the juice, settle upon them, they close over it like

a steel trap. This flower is called the Venus's
fly trap.
QUESTIONS.
DEscRIBE a stipule, and give an example of a

plant in which it may plainly be seen.
Does the stipule remain on the plant as long as
the leaves?
Are stipules generally single?

What is a bract?
Does a bract fall off when the blossom changes

into fruit?
Is it ever of the same tinge as the blossom?
Mention an instance in which the floral leaf is
very different from the others on the plant.

What is a tendril, and of what use is it?
Where are climbing plants very abundant?

On what parts of a plant are tendrils situated?
What is a thorn?
Thorns are much like prickles.

know one from the other?
How shall we
QUESTIONS.
81
What effect has cultivation on thorny plants?

In what country are the plants very thorny? and
give an instance.
Describe a prickle.
Has cultivation any effect on the prickles of

plants?
On what parts of a plant are hairs usually found?
Of what use are they to the plant?
Mention some uses of the downy covering to
mankind.
When a plant is covered with hair what is it

said to be?
Does the hair on a plant alter by its removal?

How do hairs appear under a microscope?
What is a gland? and give an instance of a plant
on which they are numerous.
Mention what is said about the pitcher plant.
Is the water in the pitchers caused by rain or
dew P
Mention a circumstance connected with the side

saddle flower.
Describe the leaves of the Venus's fly trap.

G
82
CHAPTER VI.
THE CoRoLLA; Its various FoRMs; Uses of THE CoRoLLA;
CALYx; PERIANTH; INvolucRE; STAMENs; PISTILs;
SEED WEssEL; WARIoUs FoRMs of SEED VEssEL; SEED ;
PLUME, RADICLE, AND CoTYLEDON; GREAT PRoPoRTION of
SEEDs; VARIoUs uses of SEEDs to MAN AND ANIMALs;
DisPERSION of SEEDs; CAPsULES; BERRIEs; SEEDs
cRow NED witH FEATHERs; RECEPTAcLE; NECTARY ; Uses
of HoNEY; WARIous SHAPEs of NECTARY.
E shall in this chapter treat of the parts of a

plant by which the seed is formed, protected,
and perfected. These are called the parts of fruc
tification. Although some plants are continued
every year, by their roots, or by means of slips and
layers, set by the gardener, or by bulbs, still even
these sprang originally from seed, while a large
number arise year after year, entirely from the
seeds scattered in the preceding season. The parts
of fructification are seven, but these are not all
necessary, although every part included under that
COROLLA.
83
term may be considered as connected with forming

or taking care of the seed. The only two parts
quite necessary are the pistil and stamen, as with
out them a plant will not produce seed; but some
plants are without any other of the seven parts of
fructification. The name of these are corolla, calyx,
stamen, pistil, pericarp, seed, and receptacle.
Corolla. The part of the plant which is the most
striking and beautiful, and which we, in common
language, call the flower, is the
corolla. This is the gay coloured
part, which is so ornamental to
the garden or the meadow, and

so full of pleasant odours in the
Summer.
The sulphur-coloured portion of the
primrose, the dark blue of the violet, the delicate

pink of the apple blossom, are the
corollas of these different plants.
Each division of the blossom, (or

leaf as the learner would call it) is a
petal. When botanists speak of leaves, they in
variably mean the green portions of the plant; if
84
COROLLA.
they meant to speak of the pink leaves of the rose,

they would call them the petals of the rose.
The word corolla signifies a crown of flowers.
Many flowers open their corollas only during a part
of the day, and shut them up regularly: some open
like the daisy, when the sun dawns, and close up
when he goes down; while the common goat's
beard is called go to bed at noon, because the
petals are all shut up after that hour, and a great
number of flowers shut up before four o'clock. A
few flowers open only in the night, as the night
blooming cereus; and some blossoms are so frail,
that, like the cistus, they open during the middle of
one day, then drop from the plant.
The corolla may be composed of one petal, or it
may consist of several. When it is of one piece
only, it is called one-petaled (monopetalous), when

divided into several pieces, it is many-petaled (po
lypetalous). The rose is a polypetalous corolla;
the primrose a monopetalous one. The learner
might think, at first, that the primrose was com
posed of several pieces, as the corolla is cut into
TERMS APPLIED TO COROLLAS.
85
five segments, almost to the centre; but by closely

examining it, and pulling it out of the green flower
cup, he will see that it is all of one piece. Corollas
which are composed of many pieces, generally, as
they wither, drop one petal at a time, as we may
see in
the garden rose; but flowers which, like the
primrose, are monopetalous, wither and drop in one

piece.
It is very easily seen that the corollas of flowers

are very variously shaped. Botanists have given
names to the most common forms of flowers.
The
following are the terms applied to polypetalous

corollas.
Cruciform (cruciformis), shaped like a Maltese

cross; as in the common wallflower and the single
stock, as in the cut, p. 83.
Rosaceous (rosacea), composed

of from three to five petals; as
in the briar rose, and the flower
of the hawthorn or may.

Papilionaceous or butterfly
shaped (papilionacea). This very common form
86
of corolla, is well named from its resemblance to a
butterfly. The laburnum, the furze, and the sweet

pea, are common instances. The large upper petal,
PAPILIONACEOUS.
which covers the smaller ones, is called the stand
ard, a; the two side petals are termed wings, c; and

the lower part, which is hollowed like a boat, and
contains the
stamens and
pistils, is termed the keel, b.

Pink-like (caryophylla
cea), formed of five petals,
and shaped like the common
garden pink.
The common forms of
monopetalous corolla
these :
are
87
Campanulate, or bell-shaped (campanulata), as

in the blue heath bell, or the hyacinth.
canvasulate.
SALVER-SHAPED.
Salver-shaped (hypocrateriformis), as in the

primrose.
Funnel-shaped (infundibuliformis). When the

tube of the flower is very narrow at
the base, and gradually becomes
wider at that part of the flower
which expands; as in the lung
WOrt.
Labiate or lipped (labiata), a form

of corolla which somewhat represents
the lips of an animal. It will be
best understood by an example: the
common rosemary, the thyme, sage,
and dead nettle, are examples.
88
Personate (personata), a form something like

the last, but which closes with
a palate; as the red dragon's

mouth, which grows on walls,
and the sulphur-coloured toad
flax of the hedges.
A corolla is called regular
when its shape is uniform, as in the rose, wallflower,
&c.; but irregular, when it is not so, as in the
sweet pea, and the rosemary.
There are a few corollas the shapes of which can
not be classed under any of these definitions. They
are termed anomalous corollas.
Of this kind are
the nasturtium, the violet, the monk's hood, the
larkspur, and the foxglove. The latter, although

very nearly allied to bell-shaped flowers, is not
exactly so formed, and its corolla in some respects
resembles the finger of a glove.
The corolla is serviceable to the plant, by pro
tecting the stamens and pistils from rain and dews.
This it does in some plants more remarkably than
in others. Thus the bell-shaped flowers hang down,
USES OF THE COROLLA ; CALYX.
89
and cover the parts within: the pea tribe, by their

wide spreading wings, carefully enclose these parts,
and the marygold closes up before rain. But as
all plants have not their more essential parts pro
tected by the corolla in this manner, and as some
vegetables are without a corolla at all, we must
infer that the Almighty has framed this beautiful
part of his creation, chiefly to delight the eye of
Inan.
Calyx. The calyx or flower cup is that green

portion which we find under the coloured part of
the flower, and which, while the blossom is in bud,
covers it altogether, as in the rose bud and the

polyanthus. This is the description of the true
calyx, but there are some other kinds of calyx, to
which this will not exactly apply, and which will
each be separately described.
The calyx is often formed of a number of green
leaves or divisions, each of which is called a sepal;
so that when it is of many pieces, as in the wall
flower, it is termed polysepalous; and when of one
piece only, as in the primrose, it is called monose
90
CALYX; PERIANTH.
palous. The calyx serves both to support the full

blown flower and to protect the young one; but is
not absolutely requisite, as some flowers have no
calyx. In most, however, we see the bud covered
by it, it being much longer than the blossom, while
the flower is not yet open; but as the flower
expands, and no longer needs its protection, the
corolla soon grows much larger than its green cup.
When a flower has not any calyx, as the tulip, it
is said to be naked. Calyxes, however, which are
composed of several pieces, sometimes fall off at an
early stage of the flower, as in the poppy, which
has a calyx at first, but loses it before the blossom
is fully expanded. Calyxes composed of one piece
only, seldom fall away till the flower withers, and
often not until the fruit is quite ripe, as in the
Winter cherry.
The calyx is very differently shaped in different
plants. There are five distinct kinds of calyx, viz:
perianth, involucre, glume, calyptra, and volva.
Perianth (perianthium). This kind is the true
calyx, as itreally forms acup for the flower, andgrows
PERIANTH.
91
close to it. It is of various shapes; thus in the

pink, it is long and slender; in the rose,
it consists of five green leaves; in the

primrose, it is one long tubular piece; in
the thistles, it is covered with scales. The
learner must remember that if it grows

close round the flower like a cup, it is a
perianth. Sometimes the perianth remains till the
fruit is ripe. This is the case with the apple and
pear, when we may see it on the top of the fruit, in
the form of a few withered leaves. In this instance
it was formerly the perianth of the flower; but

there is also a perianth, which instead of being at
the top of the fruit is at the under part of it, and
then it is the perianth of the fruit. This may be
seen in the husk of the filbert, and the cup of the
3.COril.
Some plants have a double perianth, as in the

mallow.
We must here explain the meaning of the terms

superior and inferior, as they are much used in
botany. When the germen is above the calyx, as
92
INvoLUCRE; GLUME; CALYPTRA;
in the raspberry, which is the germen enlarged into

the fruit, we say the germen is superior, or above,
and the calyx inferior, or below. When, like the
apple, the calyx is above the fruit or germen, we
say the calyx is superior, and the fruit inferior.
Involucre (involucrum). This is a kind of green
leaf, growing at a distance from the flower, and
is not easily distinguished from a floral leaf. It
belongs to a large family of plants, called the um
belliferous tribe, which will be explained in another
place. It may be very clearly seen, in the wild
parsley, as a green cut leaf, under the rays of stalks
on which the flowers stand.
Glume (gluma). This kind of calyx, like the

last, cannot be called a cup, as it is
merely a chaffy scale, peculiar to
the plants of the grass tribe; such
as the grass of the meadow, the
wheat, the oat, the barley, &c. which
are all termed grasses. The glume is sometimes
formed of only one, sometimes of two pieces, and
occasionally, it has an awn upon it as in barley.
VOLVA; STAMENS AND PISTILS.
93
Calyptra or veil (calyptra). This is peculiar to

mosses. It in form resembles an extinguisher.
Wrapper (volva), is peculiar to the mushroom
tribe.
As the learner will not be
able to study the mosses and fungus

tribe until he shall have made some
advance in botany, it is unnecessary

more fully to describe them.
Immediately within the petals of
the flower, we find a number of thread-like sub
stances, which in some blossoms, as the wild-briar
rose, are very numerous; and in some, as the blue

speedwell, are very few. These thread-like sub
stances are called the stamens. At the centre of

the flower, within the stamens, may usually be seen
one or more slender parts, which are called pistils.
Both these parts may be very plainly seen in
the lily and tulip, where the central green column
is the pistil; and the surrounding ones the stamens.
Stamens and pistils are usually found in one blossom,
but there are some flowers, chiefly those of trees,
as the oak, in which they are found in different
94
STAMENS AND PISTILS.
blossoms of the same plant; and there are also

plants, which, like the hazel, have pistils in the
blossoms on one plant, and stamens in the blossoms
of another. The stamens and pistils are quite
necessary to the perfection of a seed, and they
alone would constitute a flower in botany, although
there were neither calyx nor a bright coloured
blossom. In cases where stamens and pistils grow
in different blossoms, the bees carry the powder of
the stamens to the plants in which there are not
any stamens, or it is sometimes carried about by
the winds. There are in the garden many flowers
which have been rendered double by cultivation.
In some of these we find no traces of stamens and
pistils, as in the double wallflower; these parts

having turned into petals, and contributed to the
fulness of the flower. In some double blossoms,
however, as in the damask rose, we find the re
mains of stamens and pistils, though but few are

left. The double flowers, in consequence of being
without either stamens and pistils, do not produce
seeds.
STAMEN ; PISTIL.
95
Stamen (stamen). The stamen consists of two

parts, the filament and the anther. The
filament is the thread-like stalk a, and
the anther is the piece at the top of the

stalk b.
The anther is a kind of little
box, and contains a dust called the farina
or pollen. When the anther is ripe, it bursts and
throws out this pollen.

Pistil (pistillum). The pistil, or central column
of the flower, is composed of three
parts, the germen, the style and the
stigma. The germen is sometimes
called the ovary; in it the young
fruit or seed is found, a. This part
may be plainly seen in the primrose,
where it is a little round knob at the
base of the stalk; and in the wild hyacinth, where

children call it the blue bottle. The style is the
stalk, b, and the stigma is the piece at the top of
the stalk, c. Sometimes the stigma is placed on
the germen, without a stalk or style, as in the
poppy.
96
PERICARP; CAPSULE.
Pericarp (pericarpium). This is the covering of

the seed or the seed vessel, and contains the seeds
which are to produce the future plant. Seed

vessels are of various shapes and substances. Some,
like the pea pod, and the little seed vessel of the
violet, are, when dry, of a substance resembling
parchment; some, like the raspberry, are pulpy;
others, like the walnut, of a hard, thick, woody
material. There are usually enumerated seven
kinds of seed vessel, which we shall explain. We
must however inform the learner, that when he
reads in a botanical work of the fruits of plants, he

must not suppose that the word always means such
fruits as pears or cherries. It signifies seeds and
their coverings in general, and may mean such
things as the little balls on the cleavers or goose
grass, or the cones which grow on the fir trees, or,
in short, any seeds enclosed in their pericarps.
Capsule (capsula), a little chest or casket, which,
when dry, usually splits open, and drops its seeds.
It generally opens by valves, but sometimes, as in
the poppy, it does not open at all, but drops its
FORMS OF SEED VESSEL.
97
seeds through little pores or holes. When ripe it

is
commonly of a dry hard thin sub
stance, but when green it is often

like a berry. It is not very easy
for the learner to get a very exact
idea, at first, of a capsule; but the
remaining distinctions are easily un
derstood, and those seed vessels which are not
included in them, he may consider to be cap

sules.
Legume (legumen). This is a pericarp of two

valves, like a pea, with the seeds at
tached only to one edge of the valves.
There are seeds in each valve, but
they are fixed only to one of the

seams, by which the pod opens. Le
gumes belong chiefly to the butterfly
shaped flowers.
Pod (siliqua). This is a pod which has two
valves, and on opening it, it is seen to contain
besides, a thin piece. To this piece, the seeds
are attached at both edges, and not to one only, as
H
98
FORMS OF SEED VESSEL.
in the legume. Sometimes this pod is short and
POD.
POUCH.
roundish, as in the honesty, and in this case it is

called a pouch (silicula). Like the long pod, it
has a layer between the valves. The cross shaped
flowers, as wallflower, radish, and wild mustard have
this kind of seed vessel.
Stone fruit (drupa), a fruit of a fleshy nature

with a nut inside, as the cherry,
plum, or walnut. The common
nut, though differing from this
description, by not having a fleshy
covering, is however generally
called a drupe.
Pome or apple (pomum), a fleshy
fruit, which instead of containing
a nut, contains a little casket of
FORMS OF SEED VESSEL; SEED.
99
seeds, as in the apple and pear, where the cores of

the fruit are the capsules.
Berry (bacca), a pulpy substance, with the seeds
lying within it, as the raspberry or
gooseberry. The drupe has its
seeds in a stone; the apple has its
seeds in a core or capsule; but in
the berry, the seeds lie in the
midst of the pulp. The orange and lemon are
berries, and the mulberry, grape, and currant. The
strawberry is what is called a spurious berry, be
cause the seeds are not enclosed in the fruit, but
merely lie on the top of it.

Cone (strobilus).
This is com
posed of a number of hard scales;

as in the fir tree.
Seed (semen).
The part con
tained in the seed vessel is the
seed. It is of various sizes and shapes, and usually

of some rather dark colour. The pea, the bean,
the pips in the cores of apples, are all seeds. The
surface of seeds is usually smooth, but there is
100
PARTS OF SEED.
always found at one part of a seed, a spot called

the scar, which may be plainly seen in the bean.
A seed consists of three parts, the plume, which
is the stalk that rises into the air; the radicle, which
is the root; and the lobes, which are called cotyle

dons. By splitting open a garden bean we may
easily see that it has two lobes; so has a pea, but

a grain of wheat has only one lobe or cotyledon.
These lobes contain a flour-like substance, which
serves as food to the young plant; but when the

seed has struck its root, the lobes become two
small leaves, and rise out of the ground. The

cotyledon leaves are shaped differently from the
leaves which grow on the plant afterwards, and are
generally thicker. We may see them very plainly
in the radish, in the bean, and in the lupins. The
SEED LEAVES.
101
learner may remember that when a radish first rises

out of the ground, there are two thick notched leaves,
which soon die away. These are the seed leaves,
or cotyledon leaves.
YoUNG RADISH, SHowING SEED LEAvEs.
If we soak an almond in water, and then split

it, we shall see that it is formed of two halves
or lobes; and we may often see clearly in these
I02
GREAT PROPORTION OF SEED.
lobes, the two seed leaves quite perfect, with a little

stalk at their base, which is to form the future
root.
Although many seeds are requisite for supplying

the world with vegetables, yet a large number are
used by man and animals, and therefore the Great
Creator has given plants many more seeds than
would be necessary for their own increase. Indeed
if all the seeds of even one plant were to grow
and continue to do so for a few years, without
being destroyed, a single plant would soon overrun
the earth. Thus one stalk of maize, will produce
two thousand seeds, and a single plant of tobacco,
three hundred and sixty thousand. We cannot
glance at all the uses of seeds as food and medi
cines, but we may remind the learner of wheat,
and barley, and oats, so necessary for man and
animals: of coffee and cocoa, and almonds and
walnuts; of the fleshy fruits, so pleasant in Sum

mer, as apples, and cherries, and plums, and cur
rants; of the grape, so useful for wine; and of
poppy and coriander, and many more, which are
DISPERSION OF SEEDS.
103
used by the medical practitioner, to relieve the

sufferer.
There are few employments connected with

botany, more agreeable to the young student, than
that of remarking the ways in which seeds are dis
persed. He may see it in every country walk,
and he does not need to be very learned to be able
to discover and understand it. The wild plants
which grace our woods and lanes, never fail to
revive with Spring. Winter spreads his snows,
and they seem gone, but even as soon as February,
they sprout out again, and in the rich month of
June, the fields are green and beautiful with thou
sands of flowers. Yet no gardener was there to
place the seeds. All were sown by the means which
God had given them of planting themselves. We
will consider a few of these means. A large num
ber of the seeds of last year were contained in
capsules, which, when dry, burst open and let the
seeds fall to the earth, like the chickweed; some
of these capsules opened with a jerk, and threw

their seeds to a distance from the plant, as the
104
violet. Some, like the furze and broom, opened

their pods with a crackling noise, and let their
contents fall to the ground; and others, like the
scarlet berries of the nightshade, and the black
berries of the privet, fell from the branches on
which they grew, and while their pulpy parts
withered, their seeds took root in the soil. Many
were carried about by birds from place to place:
thousands were blown about by the winds. The
thistles, the dandelion, the groundsel, and a large
number of others were provided with a little crown
of feathers (called pappus), for the very purpose
PAPPUS.
GERANIUM SEED.
of enabling them to float away over the face of the

earth; the geranium and other seeds have a tail,
with which they pierce the ground; and what
105
we call the keys of the maple, served as expanded

wings, to waft the seeds they
cantained.
The streams \s
floated many seeds which

fell upon them to the oppo
\\
site shores; and the seas
carried on their waves many to more distant lands.

Some seeds, like the burdock, which children call
burrs, and the seeds of the cleavers, clung to our

clothes, or to the fur of animals, and were finally
dropped to the earth. Many seeds indeed were

destroyed by heavy rains, and millions were crushed
on hard pathways, yet so bountifully has the
Almighty provided for their number and dispersion
that enough remained to clothe the earth, and to
supply the wants of living creatures, of man, and
beasts, and birds.
Receptacle (receptaculum). A few words will

be sufficient to explain this part.
It is simply the point at which the stamens, the
pistils, the calyx, and indeed all parts of the flower
meet. If we wish to see a receptacle, we should
I06
RECEPTACLE; NECTARY.
pull off the calyx, then the coloured

blossom, then the stamens and
pistil. The receptacle will then be

left. It is very plain in the dan
delion and the daisy, but in some

flowers it is merely a point.
Nectary (nectarium). We all know that flowers

contain a sweet juice which is converted by bees
into honey. We have sucked this juice, perhaps,
many times out of the clover or the dead nettle,
and seen it lying in large drops, in little cells,
round the crown imperial of the garden. Bees
hover about the flowers and extract it; while the
pollen or yellow dust, with which we see them

loaded, serves these insects for what we call bee
bread, viz. that brown substance which mingles with

the honey in the comb. But the juice is not food
for bees only; butterflies and millions of insects
live upon it. These insects, in their turn, are
sometimes useful to the flower, for, by carring the
pollen or dust on their wings, they take it to those

flowers which have not any anthers in
their corollas,
107
NECT.A.R.Y.
and thus enable them to produce seed, which they

would not otherwise do. The nectary is of various
shapes. Sometimes, as in the dead nettle, the
violet, or the nasturtium, it is a tube at the base of
NASTURTIUM.
the flower.
NARCISSUS.
In the daffodil and narcissus, it is a
cup; in the crown imperial it consists of a number

of cells: sometimes it is a gland at the base of the
stamens. Linnaeus considered that any part of a
flower which could not be classed under any of the
preceding definitions, was a nectary; and the young
learner may therefore consider this sufficient for
the present, although many botanists contend that
this is not strictly correct.
108
QUESTIONS.
WHAT do we mean by the parts of fructification?

How are plants produced?
How many parts of fructification are there?
Which two parts are quite necessary for the
production of the seed?
Repeat the names of the seven parts of fructifi
cation.
Describe the corolla, and give several instances

of this part.
What is a petal?
What does the word corolla mean?
Mention the different circumstances related, res
pecting the closing and withering of some flowers.

Are any flowers open in the night?
What term do we apply to a corolla formed of
one piece? and give some instances of flowers so
formed.
QUESTIONS.
109
What are corollas called which are composed of

several pieces? and give examples.
Describe a cruciform corolla, and give examples.
Describe a rosaceous corolla, and give examples.
What is a papilionaceous corolla? and give ex
amples.
What is the upper petal called?
Which are the wings?
What is the keel?
What is a pink-like corolla? give an example.

What is a campanulate corolla? give an example.
What is a salver shaped corolla? give an ex
ample.
What is a funnel shaped corolla?

Describe the labiate corolla, and give examples.
Describe a personate corolla, and give examples.
What is a regular corolla?
When a corolla is of none of these shapes, what
do we call it?
Of what shapes are the following flowers? single

stock, the yellow broom, the garden acacia, the
strawberry flower, the briar rose, the pink, the
110
QUESTIONS.
Canterbury bell, the wild convolvulus, the lavender,

the dead nettle, the primrose, the violet?
Mention some uses of the corolla.
Describe a calyx.
Are there any other kinds of calyx?
When a calyx is of many pieces what is it
termed?
What is a calyx of one piece called?

What is meant by a naked flower?
Why do we sometimes think a flower naked
when it is not so?
Why is the calyx longer than the young flower?

In what different ways does the calyx wither?
Name the different kinds of calyx.
Describe a perianth.
What is a perianth of the fruit?
When is a calyx said to be superior?
When is it inferior ?
What do we mean when we say a fruit is

superior?
Have any plants a double perianth?
What is an involucre?
QUESTIONS.
Ill
What is a glume?
What are those kinds of calyx peculiar to the
mosses and the mushroom tribe P
What are those parts just within the corolla?

Are they of the same number in all flowers?
Are stamens and pistils generally found in the
same blossoms, and are there any instances in
which they are not so found?
When stamens and pistils are separate, how is
the dust carried to those in which there are no
stamens?
What is said about double flowers?
Of how many parts does a stamen consist?

What is the filament?
What is the anther?
What is the pollen?

Of what parts does a pistil consist?
What is the germen and what is it sometimes
called?
What is the style?

What is the stigma?
Has the pistil always a style?
112
QUESTIONS.
What is the seed vessel called?
Describe the seed vessel, and mention several of
its shapes, and the substances of which it is com

posed.
What do botanists mean when they speak of

fruits?
Describe a capsule.
How does a capsule generally open, and is there
any other way?
Of what substance is it, when ripe, and what is
it often like before ripening?
Describe a legume, and say to what kind of
flowers it belongs.
Describe a pod.
What is a pouch?
What peculiarity is there in the pod and pouch
which distinguishes them from the legume?
What is a stone fruit? and give an example.
What is a pome? and name one.
Describe a berry, and state in what it differs
from a pome and a drupe.
Is the strawberry a true berry? Is the orange?
QUESTIONS.
113
What is a cone?
Describe the seed and the scar upon it.

Mention the three parts of a seed.
What is the plume?
What is the radicle?
What are the cotyledons?

Mention some seeds with two cotyledons, and
some that have one only.
Of what substance do the cotyledons consist?
When the seed has struck its root, what becomes
of the cotyledons?
Mention some plants in which the cotyledon
leaves are plainly seen, and state what is said of
the almond.
Why have plants so many seeds?

Mention the instances given of plants producing
abundant seeds.
Mention the uses of several seeds to man.
Mention the ways in which capsules disperse

their seeds.
What is said respecting pods and berries?

Do birds and winds assist to disperse seeds?
I
114
QUESTIONS.
How do the dandelion, the geranium, and the

maple disperse their seeds?
What is said of streams and rivers?
What is said of the burdock and cleavers?
What is the receptacle? and explain by what

means we may see it?
What substance is contained in flowers?
Do bees make honey of the pollen?

Is honey useful to other insects besides bees?
In what way are insects useful to flowers?
Describe some of the various shapes of the
nectary.
What shaped nectary has the narcissus?
115
CHAPTER VII.
MODE OF FLOWERING:SPIKE, RAcEME; PANICLE;

WHORL; CoRYMB; UMBEL; UMBELLIFERoUs PLANTs;
CYME; HEAD of Flowers; SHEATH; CATKIN; CoMPound
FLoweRs; LIGULATE FLow ERs; SEssILE FLoweRs.
VERY one must see that flowers are variously

arranged upon their stems. Thus the daisy
grows upon the summit of its slender stalk while
the lilac and the wallflower grow in clusters.
The manner in which flowers are placed upon
their stems is called their mode of flowering or in
4
florescence.
The learner must endeavour to un
derstand the few terms which relate to this part of

botany, because, when botanists describe a plant,
they generally use its mode of flowering as a means

to distinguish it. When a flower grows, like the
daisy, at the top of its stalk, it is said to be ter
minal; when it grows between the main stem and
the leaf, it is axillary.
116
SPIKE, RACEME ; PANICLE.
Spike (spica). When a

number of flowers grow down
the main stalk, without
any
shortstalks (pedicels) of their

own, or with stalks so very
short that we can
scarcely
see them, as the lavender,

wheat, barley, the plantain,
which we gather for birds,
and the yellow agrimony of

the hedges.
Raceme (racemus). A ra
ceme is something like a
spike, only that as each
flower hangs by a little stalk of
its own, it forms a looser cluster.
A racemevery often hangs down,

as in the laburnum, and the
flowers of the currant tree.
Panicle (panicula). When the
flowers are seated upon long

loosely spreading stalks, which are
RACEME.
PANICLE; whoRL; CORYMB.
scattered without any

order on the main stem,
as in the oat and the
quaking grass. If the

stalks of this kind of
cluster are much closer
together, and form an

oval shape, as in the
lilac, it is called a thyrsus or
bunch.
Whorl (verticillus). When the

flowers grow in a ring, or nearly
so, round the stem, as in the white
dead nettle and many others.
117
118
CORYMB; UMBEL.
hold each flower grow on the upper part of the

main stem, at different points, some of them much
lower down than others, yet all nearly even at top,
so as that the summit of the cluster is almost level.
The common yarrow,

which children call old
man's pepper, is a co
rymb. When a corymb
is very much crowded,
as in the sweet-william,
it is called a fascicle.
Umbel (umbella).
An umbel is that kind of
cluster in which the main stem terminates in a num
ber of rays, all proceeding from the same point,
and nearly all of the same length, like the spokes
UMBEL ; CYME.
119
of an umbrella, as in the ivy, and the wild parsley

and carrot. When each ray or spoke of the umbel
bears one flower, as in the ivy, it is called a simple
umbel; but when it has another little cluster of
rays at the top, it is called a compound umbel, as

in the wild carrot and parsley. The young learner
has often heard of umbelliferous plants, for they
form a very distinct tribe. They consist of those
plants whose flowers bear compound umbels, and
they are much alike in appearance, nature, and
properties. A great many have small white blos
soms, and are very plentiful in the hedges in Spring
and Summer. The small green leaf, which is often
seen at the base of the bundle of rays, is considered
by botanists a sort of calyx, and has been already

mentioned as the involucre.
Cyme (cyma). A
cyme is much like an
umbel,
because its
rays all proceed from

one point of the main
stem; but on the rays
120
HEAD ; SHEATH.
of a cyme are a number of small stalks, placed

irregularly, so that it has not the regular appear
ance of an umbel. The laurustinus and the flowers
of the elder tree are cymes.

Head (capitulum), when the flowers are seated
close on the receptacle, so as to form a round ball,
as in the thrift and common clover.
S.HEATH.
Sheath. The sheath or spathe (spatha), is a kind

of leaf, situated on a stem, and enfolding one or
more flowers. It may be plainly seen in the snow
drop, and in the narcissus. In a common plant
which grows under hedges, the arum, or lords and
ladies as children call it, the spathe is seen enve
SPADIX; CATKIN.
121
loping a kind of club-shaped column. This column

is called the spadix.
SPADIX.
CATKIN.
Catkin (amentum). This is an oblong piece, on

which are situated a number of scales, and in each
scale is found stamens or pistils. In some catkins

the scales hold stamens only; in some they hold
pistils. The brown drooping pieces which hang on
the hazel, and are called by children lambs' tails,
are catkins; and so are those fragrant yellow balls
on the willows, which children call goslings. The
122
COMPOUND FLOWERS.
scales are the calyxes on these balls. The learner

might say this cannot be a mode of flowering,
because there are no blossoms; but he must re
member what has been said before, that botanists
consider that stamens and pistils alone form a

flower, without any other part.
We shall here describe what is meant by a com
pound flower.
A compound flower, although it appears but a

single flower, is in fact an assemblage of flowers,
in one calyx. Look at the daisy, there we have in
one calyx, and in one blossom, nearly two hundred
small distinct florets. The outer part of the daisy,
those white petals which surround it are the rays.
The yellow centre is the disk. Each of these rays,
as well as each yellow piece, in the disk, is a sepa
rate flower or floret. All florets of compound
flowers either contain stamens or pistils, or both.
Some compound flowers, as the dandelion, are
formed wholly of rays, and are called ligulate:

others, like the common thistle, have their florets
all tubular. The daisy includes both kinds, the
MoDE of FLowBRING: QUESTIONS.
123
white ray being ligulate, the

disk being formed of a num
ber of tube-shaped florets.
Compound flowers have their
anthers united into a cylin
der.
In addition to these modes of flowering, there
are some plants in which the blossom is found

seated on the leaf, as in the butcher's broom; and
there are some exotics, in which the flowers grow

out of the trunk of a tree, without any stalks of
their own.
QUESTIONS.
WHAT do we mean by the mode of flowering?

What is the mode of flowering called?
When is a flower said to be terminal?
Describe a spike, and give an example.

What is a raceme? and give an example.
Is a raceme always upright?
What is a panicle?
124
QUESTIONS.
What do we mean by a thyrsus? and give an

example.
Describe a whorl, and mention an example.

Describe a corymb.
What is a fascicle?
When all the smaller stalks which hold the
flower proceed from one point, like the spoke of an

umbrella, what is it?
Has the umbel a more regular appearance than

the corymb?
What is the difference between a simple and
compound umbel? and give examples.
What are umbelliferous plants?
Of what colour are their blossoms generally?
What is the leaf which grows under the umbel?
What is a cyme?
Has it the regular appearance which an umbel

has? why not?
Describe a head of flowers, and give an example.

What is a spathe? and give an instance.
What is a spadix?
Describe a catkin.
QUESTIONS.
125
What do the scales contain?

What are these scales P
How can a catkin be a mode of flowering, as it

has no coloured blossoms on it?
Describe a compound flower.

What is a ligulate flower?
What is the disk *
Which the rays?

Mention two modes of flowering, besides those
formerly mentioned.
126
CHAPTER VIII.
ON CLASSIFICATION of PLANTs:SystEM or LINNAEus;

DIFFERENCE OF WILD AND GARDEN FLoweRs; NAMEs AND
PECULIARITIEs of CLAssEs AND ORDERs.
N important part of Botany is that which

treats of the manner in which plants are
arranged into groups or classes. This is called its
system or classification. To one unused to science,
it might seem of little importance to know in what

way vegetables may be arranged, or to ascertain
that a certain plant was in the first or second class.
But, unless vegetables were classed, we could not
learn much even of a few of them, and it would be
impossible to get a knowledge of them all. Without

however dwelling upon the use of system, in re
ducing a large number of objects to order, and thus
preventing confusion; and without enlarging on the
benefit which by means of arrangement, we may
CLASSIFICATION:
LINNAEAN.
127
derive from what others have discovered; we will
point out one reason why the classes should be

studied by the learner, which will perhaps be satis
factory. Unless he learn the classes, he cannot
find out the names of flowers which are new to him;
and he will easily see, that without knowing their

names, he cannot benefit by any thing which has
been written about them, nor can he make much
progress in studying them.

There are several systems into which plants have
been arranged. The two most generally studied,
are the Natural system, and the Linnaean system.
Either of these will enable us to acquire a good
knowledge of the vegetable kingdom; and, as the
Linnaean system is far easier than the other, it is
here chosen.
The manner in which plants are arranged upon

the plan of Linnaeus is chiefly founded on the
number of their stamens and pistils. The young
botanist, in pursuing this part of the study, must
remember, that he should examine the wild flowers,
and not those of the garden; because cultivation,
128
LINNAEAN SYSTEM.
often, by rendering the latter double, destroys their

stamens and pistils. Look at the wallflower which
is growing wild on some old wall. We can dis
tinctly see its four petals forming a cross, and its
six stamens, four long and two short; while, in the
rich double wallflower of the garden bed, we see
few, or perhaps no traces of stamen or pistil, these
having given way to the numerous yellow brown
petals, which make the flower so much more valued
by the florist. It is in the fields and woods that

the learner must study plants, and arrange them
into their classes; and when he has done so, for
a short time, he will be surprised to see in how

many cases, he can tell directly he looks at a
flower, to what class it belongs: for, very often,
the flowers of a class are so similar to each other,
that he need not pause to count the stamens and

pistils.
The Linnaean classes are twenty-four in number,
and their names must be committed to memory.
The first eleven are named according to the num
ber of stamens.
LINNAEAN CLASSES.
129
. Monandria; one stamen.
. Diandria; two stamens.

. Triandria; three stamens.
Tetrandria ; four stamens.

Pentandria; five stamens.
. Hexandria; six stamens.
. Heptandria; seven stamens.

8. Octandria; eight stamens.
9. Enneandria; nine stamens.
10. Decandria; ten stamens.
11. Dodecandria; eleven to nineteen or twenty

StamenS.
12. Icosandria; twenty stamens or more, grow

ing out of the calyx; as the apple blossom or wild
TOSe.
13. Polyandria; twenty stamens, or many hun

dred, growing from the receptacle; and not, as in
the last class, on the calyx; the buttercup and poppy
are examples.
14. Didynamia; four stamens, two long and two
short. The great number of plants in this class
are either labiate like the thyme and rosemary; or
K
130
LINNAEAN CLASSES.
personate, like the snapdragon: there are few

exceptions.
15. Tetradynamia; six stamens, four long and
two short. Easily known by its flowers being always
shaped like a cross; as in the wallflower.
16. Monadelphia; stamens either few or many
in number, but uniting by their filaments or stalks
into a tube; as the mallow.
17. Diadelphia: when the filaments or stalks of

the stamens are united like the last, only into two
sets instead of one.
Almost all the flowers in this
class are butterfly-shaped.

18. Polyadelphia; filaments united in several
sets or bundles; as in the yellow St. John's wort.
19. Syngenesia; anthers united so as to form a
tube. This might seem difficult to the learner, but
the shape of the flowers distinguishes this class,

they being all compound flowers, like the daisy,
sunflower, dandelion, &c.
20. Gynandria; stamens, instead of having dis

tinct stalks of their own, growing out of the pistil;
as in the orchis tribe.
LINNAEAN CLASSES AND ORDERS.
131
21. Monoecia; stamens and pistils in separate

flowers, but both growing on the same plant.
22. Dioecia; stamens only in the flowers of one
plant, and pistils only in the flowers of another.
23. Polygamia; vegetables in which some plants
have flowers with pistils only, some have stamens
only, and some have both on the same plant.
24. Cryptogamia; this last class differs from the
others. It is not arranged upon stamens and pistils,

because these cannot be seen; but it comprehends
the ferms, mosses, liverworts, flags, and the fungus
or mushroom tribe.
The Orders of these classes are, in the first thir
teen, founded on the number of pistils; and in the

remainder, upon circumstances which will be ex
plained. Their names should be committed to
memory.
Monogynia; one pistil.

Digynia; two pistils.
Trigynia; three pistils.
Tetragynia; four pistils.
Pentagynia; five pistils.
132
LINNAEAN ORDERS.
Hexagynia; six pistils.

Heptagynia; seven pistils.
Octagynia; eight pistils.
Enneagynia; nine pistils.
Decagynia; ten pistils.
Dodecagynia; about twelve pistils.
Polygynia; many pistils.
The fourteenth class has two orders, founded, not
on the number of pistils, but on other circumstances.

This class Didynamia, has two short and two long
stamens.
The flowers are almost all labiate, or
ringent, like the dead-nettle or the snapdragon. The

first order is Gymnospermia; it has four seeds, not
contained in a seed vessel, but lying at the bottom
of its calyx. The flowers are in this order shaped
like the dead-nettle.
The second order of the fourteenth class is An
giospermia. It is easily known from the first order,

for its seeds are contained in a seed vessel; the
flowers are shaped like the snapdragon.

The fifteenth class has two orders, and these are
very easily explained. It will be remembered that
LINNAEAN ORDERS.
l33
this class has six stamens, four long and two short,
and that all the flowers are shaped like a cross.
The first order is Siliculosa, and is known by its
seed vessel being a pouch, or roundish pod, like
the flower we call honesty, or the little wild weed
called shepherd's purse, or pick pocket, which last,
has a short heart-shaped pouch.
The second order is termed Siliquosa, and is
known by its fruit, which is a long pod; as in the
wallflower and stock.
The orders of the three next classes Monadelphia,
Diadelphia, and Polyadelphia, are founded on the

number of their stamens.
We do not count the
stamens of these three classes in order to see of
what class they are; the stamens therefore serve

to distinguish the orders, and if they have one
stamen, we say they are of the first order; if two,
of the second; and so on.
The orders of the large class Syngenesia, are

marked by peculiarities which render them difficult
to the young student. It is not necessary that he
should attempt committing them to memory. They
134
LINNAEAN ORDERS.
will be better learned and retained by a little prac

tice. This class comprehends all the compound
flowers, such as the dandelion, the daisy the ground
sel, and the thistle.
It must be remembered that
compound flowers are those in which there are a

number of distinct little flowers, all growing in one
calyx.
The orders are as follows:
1. Polygamia aequalis. When all the florets

both in the centre of the flower, and in the rays
which surround it, have both stamen and pistil; as
in the dandelion.
2. Polygamia superflua. The florets of the ray

with only a pistil, and the florets in the centre with
both pistils and stamens; as in the tansy.

3. Polygamia frustranea. Florets of the centre
with both stamens and pistils; but the florets of
the ray without any pistil; as in

bottle.
the corn blue
4. Polygamia necessaria. Florets of the centre

with only stamens; florets of the ray with only
pistils; as the garden marigold.
LINNAEAN ORDER.S.
135
5. Polygamia segregata. Sometimes each floret

has a little calyx of its own, besides the common
calyx; it is then in this order, as the globe thistle.
The orders of the three next classes, Gynandria,
Monoecia, and Dioecia, are distinguished like Mona
delphia and the two following, by the number of
their stamens, and are termed Monandria, Diandria,
and so on.
The twenty-third class, Polygamia, has two orders.

1. Monoecia. Flowers with stamens and pistils,
or flowers that have pistils only, or stamens only,
but always on one plant.
2. Dioecia. Flowers so formed on different plants.
The twenty-fourth class, Cryptogamia, which has
no visible flowers, is arranged into five orders, viz.
ferns, mosses, liverworts, flags, and mushrooms.
QUESTIONS.
ARE there more ways than one of arranging

plants?
What is the system called which is adopted

here ?
136
QUESTIONS.
Mention some uses of classification.
On what circumstances is the Linnaean system

founded?
Why should we choose wild flowers, rather than .

garden flowers, for botanical study?
Give an instance of change effected by culture.
Repeat the names of classes as far as the eleventh.
What is the twelfth class?
In what respect do the twelfth and thirteenth

classes differ? and show it by comparing the ex
amples given.
What is the distinction of the fourteenth
class,
and how may you know its flowers without counting

the stamens?
What is the fifteenth class, and of what shape

are all the flowers contained in it?
Describe the sixteenth class, and, if possible, ex

amine the example given.
Describe the seventeenth class, and examine a
sweet pea, or laburnum, or broom flower, or any

other instance.
Describe the eighteenth class, and mention the

example given.
137
QUESTIONS.
Describe the nineteenth class, and give six flowers

as instances.
Describe the twentieth class.
Describe the twenty-first class.

What is the twenty-second class?
Describe the twenty-third class.
Describe the twenty-fourth class.
On what circumstances are the orders of the
first thirteen classes founded ?
Repeat the names of these orders.

How many orders has the fourteenth class?
Describe the first order, and mention what kind
of flowers it contains.
Describe the second order, and mention in what
it differs from the first.

examples of each.
Endeavour to produce
Mention the names of the two orders of the fif

teenth class.
What is the peculiarity of the order Siliculosa?

How do you know the order Siliquosa P
How are the orders distinguished of the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth classes?
-
138
QUESTIONS.
What kind of flowers are in the nineteenth

class?
How many orders has Syngenesia?

Repeat their names.
Look at your book, and answer the following
questions.
When all the florets of a compound flower are

perfect, that is, having both stamens and pistils, in
what order is the flower?
When the florets of the ray have pistils, and

the florets of the centre have stamens, what order
is it P
In what order is the globe thistle? and why?

How do you distinguish the orders of the classes
Gynandria, Monoecia, and Dioecia?
The hop is in class Dioecia, it has five stamens,
in what order is it?
There is a greenish white flower which trails

over hedges, and has large rough leaves, shaped
like those of a grape vine and tendrils. It is
called the black bryony. It is in class Monoecia,
and has five stamens or (rather anthers as they
QUESTIONS.
139
have no stalks), in what order should you suppose

it to be?
How many orders has the twenty-third class

Polygamia?
Describe them.
Mention the orders of the class Cryptogamia.
140
CHAPTER IX.
FuRTHER REMARKs on THE CLAssEs AND ORDERs; FERNs;
MossEs; FLAGs; LICHENs; SEA-WEEDs.
S the aim of this little work is to direct the
pupil to the practical study of botany, the

plants enumerated in this list are chiefly wild plants,
or common garden flowers, which the young learner
may easily procure for examination. The nume
rous exotics which might be mentioned are left
for the more advanced study of the science.
Class I. Monandria, one stamen. This is a very
small class of plants: it contains two orders,
Monogynia and Digynia. Only two native \
plants are found in it. The glasswort (sali
cornia), a fleshy plant, with jointed stems, some
thing like the samphire, is common on salt marshes.

It has greenish flowers without any leaves. It is
called glasswort, because it yields a quantity of
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
14l
soda, which is used in making glass. The other
plant is the mare's tail (hippuris), which grows in

ditches, and has
long
linear leaves, in a whorl,
round its jointed stem.

Class II. Diandria, two stamens. This class has
three orders, viz. Monogynia, Digy

nia, and Trigynia. In it are the pri
vet, a bush which grows in hedges,
and has in Spring clusters of small white flowers:
and the numerous blue speedwells, which grow in
fields and meadows in Spring and Summer. There
are eighteen species of the speedwell, many of
them very common: they are generally of a bright
blue. The most common kind is often called by
children the blue cat's eye. This is the germander
speedwell (veronica chamadrys), it blooms profusely
in May. Some of the speedwells grow in streams
and ditches. One kind is well known by the name
of brooklime.
In this class, also, are the gipsy wort (lycopus),

a plant found in streams, and said formerly to
have been used by gipsies to stain themselves
142
REMARKS ON
brown: the meadow sage (salvia), the ash tree

(fraxinus), the common lilac (syringa), and that
garden vervain, which has leaves so powerfully
scented like lemon. This is the verbena triphilla.
Several other plants belong to class Diandria, but
it is not a large class.
Class III. Triandria, three stamens. It has three
orders, viz. Monogynia, Digynia,

and Trigynia. This class includes
the grasses, which are very numerous,
and require considerable patience in
their study. All the grass plants are wholesome,
except one, the common darnel. This plant, if
mixed with wheat in bread, produces delirium.
The grass tribe is of great use to man and animals.
The sugar came, the wheat and barley, furnish us
with food; while the green grass of the meadows,
or the hay or oats, are constantly required by cattle.
Many grasses, if examined separately, are very

beautiful, especially during the season of bloom;
and the verdant covering they afford to the earth,

and the tremulous motion which the latter species
cLAssEs AND orDERs.
143
receive from the wind, add much to the beauty of

the Summer scene. The grasses are very similar
to each other in their general aspect. They have
all straight hollow stems, with knots at intervals:
long leaves, which have no veins, but a nerve in
the centre, and lines even with it, running all the
length of the leaf. In examining the flower of
grasses, the student is at first unable to discern
between calyx and corolla. The calyx which is
called a glume, is usually composed of two valves,
though sometimes of one, or of three pieces: these
valves are often terminated with pointed threads
or awns. The corolla is a dry skin, or husk,
within the glume, and when the grass is in flower,
the three stamens and two pistils are clearly seen
hanging from it.
Several beautiful garden plants are in this class,
as the crocus, the iris, and the tall gladiolus or
corn-flag. Very few of our native plants are found
here. Among them is the red valerian (valeriana
rubra), which grows wild on old walls, and is often
planted in gardens, where it is sometimes called
144
REMARKS ON
pretty Betty. The water valerian (valeriana offici

nalis), is similar to the red kind, but of a much
paler rose colour. It grows in streams, and the

leaves are often used by country people as an
application to wounds, whence it is called all-heal.
The little plant so common in corn fields, in early
Spring, and called corn sallad or lamb's lettuce
(fedia), is another plant of this class. It has small
terminal clusters of pale blue flowers, and grows
a few inches high. The wild crocus, the purple and
yellow flags, and some plants of the rush kind,
with a purple flower called trichomena, which is
very rare, and some chickweeds, comprehend all
the other wild flowers of Triandria.
Class IV. Tetrandria, four stamens. Three orders,
viz. Monogynia, Digynia, and Tetra

gynia. Here again we find many
well known wild flowers, though this
is not a large class, when compared with some

others. The teasel, a tall plant, about four or five
feet high, is one of them. It has an oval-shaped
head, of lilac flowers, and these, upon withering,
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
145
leave an oblong chaffy receptacle, formed like a

honey-comb, and set with strong bristles. This
head is used by cloth dressers in preparing cloth,
and in some of the northern counties is cultivated
for that purpose. The tall lilac scabious of the

hedge and corn field, which blossoms about June
and July, and the plantain, which we gather from
the road side for birds, are well known.
There
are also a number of plants with their leaves grow

ing in whorls around their stems, and having close
panicles of small white or yellow blossoms, placed
at the top or on the sides of the stem. The corolla
is wheel-shaped, and four cleft. These are the
white and yellow bed straws, so called because once
used to strew on the ground for beds. The mad
der, used for dying, has also whorled leaves and a
similar shaped flower; and so has also that lovely
and fragrant plant, the sweet woodruff. This is
very common in woods, its panicle of milk-white
blossoms is small, but
they remind one of the white
jasmine flowers, and its leaves, placed like crowns

one above another on its stem, yield, when dried,
L
146
REMA RRS ON
a most delicious odour. The shining holly, whose

gay berries and glossy leaves cheer us in Winter;
and the dogwood, with its red stems and white
flowers, forming a common shrub of the hedges,
as well as some others, belong to this class.
Class W. Pentandria, five stamens.
It has six
orders, viz. Monogynia, Digynia,

Trigynia, Tetragynia, Pentagynia, and
Polygynia. The plants contained in
this large class are too numerous to
mention; a few only can be enumerated: "Here
we find the primrose and cowslip (primula), the
violets (viola), the trailing periwinkle (vinca),
and the pimpernel (anagallis), or poor man's wea
ther glass, which shuts up its blossom before rain.
Many convolvulus and bell shaped flowers are
placed here, including the slender harebell of the
moor, and the large Canterbury bell. A number
of very rough leaved plants belong to Pentandria.
The borage (borago), which grows on waste ground;
the viper's bugloss (echium), whose stem of bell
shaped flowers is conspicuous on the chalky hills;
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
147
and the lungwort (pulmonaria), which with spotted

leaves, grows both in woods and gardens. The
two last named plants are, while in bud, and during
an early stage of the bloom, of a deep red colour,
and upon expansion are of a bright blue. The
same change of colour occurs in the different species
of scorpion grass, which are also in this class; and
one of which, the water scorpion grass (myosotis
palustris), is the forget-me-not. Here we find the
nightshade, and the dark purple blossoms of two
species might warn us of their poisonous nature:
the potatoe, which is a plant of the same tribe, and
has a flower shaped like that of the common
nightshade, is here also; and like that plant, bears
poisonous berries on its branches, though its root
is so useful for food. The tall mullein (verbascum),
with its yellow spike of flowers, and large woolly
flannel-like leaves; the winding honeysuckle (loni
cera); the stately elm tree (ulmus); the wild guelder
rose (viburnum), commonly known by the pretty

name of wayfaring tree; the elder (sambucus),
with its powerful odour, and useful berries; the
148
REMARKS ON
currant and gooseberry (ribes), and the ivy (hedera),

all belong to this class.
To this class belong also the large tribe of um.

belliferous plants, which are so similar to each
other, that the learner may easily distinguish them.
Umbelliferous plants, as was before mentioned, are
those which have compound umbels. Look at a
bunch of flowers or berries of the ivy. You will
see a number of stalks, all coming from one point
on the stem. This is a simple umbel. Look at
the parsley, there you see the stalks coming all out
like the rays of an umbrella, but each stalk has
another bundle of rays at its top.
This is a com
pound umbel, and here we have an umbelliferous

plant. When umbelliferous plants grow in dry
places they are often wholesome and aromatic;
but those which grow on marshy grounds are
highly poisonous. Many of them, as the hemlock

and the carraway, are used in medicine; and many,
like the carrot and parsnip, are valuable as food.
They have all white or yellow flowers, and are
mostly in bloom early in the Spring.
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
149
Class VI. Hexandria, six stamens. It has six

orders, viz. Monogynia, Digynia, Trigy
nia,Tetragynia, Hexagyniaand Polygynia.
To this class belong the lily, the tulip, the
marcissus, and several splendid garden
flowers: and the young botanist may
soon gather some instances from the fields. The
pretty lily of the valley (convallaria majalis), which
loves the shade of the quiet wood; the wild hya
cinth (hyacinthus nonscriptus), which greets us
there soon after the violet has made its appearance;
and the daffodil (narcissus), which, as Shakespeare
says, comes before the swallow dares, are fami
liar examples. Then we find in it the pure snow
drop (galanthus nivalis), the spider wort, the
asparagus, and onion, and several other well known
plants; and the barberry tree, with the acid berries,
which make so pleasant a preserve.
Several rushes are found in the class Hexandria,
and a flower called the water plantain (alisma plan

tago), is very conspicuous on streams. It has three
rose-coloured petals, its leaves all come from the
150
REMARKS ON
root on long stalks, and the plant grows quite in

the water, and is about three feet high. The
common sorrel (rumea acetosa), is often gathered
in fields by children, who well know its acid leaves
and purplish red flowers. This plant is much used
by the Laplanders, who employ it in making cheese
of the reindeer's milk.
Class VII. Heptandria, seven stamens. Orders

(\
four, viz. Monogynia, Digynia, Tetragynia and Heptagynia. This is a very @#
small class. The only wild plant it
contains is the Winter-green (trientalis), a favourite
flower with Linnaeus, but very rare in England.
The magnificent horse chesnut tree (aesculus hip.
pocastanum), is placed here. This tree is often
planted in parks, on account of its beautiful foliage,
and large clusters of delicate pink flowers. Its
nuts, broken and steeped in hot water, will serve,
as well as soap, to cleanse linen.
Class VIII. Octandria, eight sta_^
mens. Orders four, viz. Monogynia,

Digynia, Trigynia and Tetragynia.
*
J%
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
151
Some of the most interesting wild flowers of this

class are the heaths (erica), and the common ling
(calluna), which last is similar to a heath, only
that it grows on a small branched shrub. It has
reddish coloured flowers. These heath plants are
the Highland heather, of which we read in The
Lady of the Lake, and other Scottish poems. The
exotic heaths, which we see in conservatories, are
brought from the Cape of Good Hope. In this

class we have the singular herb Paris (Paris quadri
folia), a plant which may be described so as that
if the learner meet with it in the woods he may
recognize it. It has a calyx of four sepals, a green
corolla of four petals, and four leaves at its root.
Very early in Spring, sometimes by the latter end

of February, we find in woods a small green flower,
called the gloryless (adova moschatella), which
has, in the evening, a scent of musk. Here too
is the maple or sycamore tree (acer), the willow
herb (epilobium), the evening primrose (enothera),
and the mezereon which, in February, is covered
with its pale pink blossoms, without a leaf to shelter
152
REMARKS ON
them. Among the garden flowers of this class, we
find the handsome nasturtium (tropalum), whose

bright flowers, in Summer evenings, emit sparks
like those of an electric machine; and here too is
the beautiful fuchsia, the common scarlet species

of which (fuchsia coccinea) is now so common,
that the cottage window can boast of it as an orna
ment.
Class IX. Enneandria, nine stamens. This small

class contains three orders, viz. Mono
gynia, Trigynia, and Hexagynia. The

most remarkable exotic placed in it is
$:
>
the cinnamon tree (laurus cinnamomum),
the bark of which produces the well known spice

cinnamon. The only wild flower in the class is
the flowering rush (butomus umbellatus), which
grows in streams, and has sharp sedge-like leaves,
which often cut the mouths of cattle who drink the
water. Its flowers are very handsome, growing in

a cluster, and are of a rose colour.
Class X. Decandria, ten stamens. Orders five,
viz. Monogynia, Digynia, Trigynia, Pentagynia,
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
and
Decagnia.
153
The learner has been
told that the seventeenth class, Dia
delphia, is formed of papilionaceous or

butterfly-shaped flowers, with their
filaments united. There are, however, a few papilio
naceous flowers in which the filaments are separate.
And these are in the tenth class. They are all
exotics, however, as the whole number of our native
papilionaceous blossoms belong to the class Dia

delphia. Those of the class Decandria, are orna
mental flowers of the garden or conservatory, and
are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope.
Some very pretty wild flowers belong to this
class. The pink (dianthus), one native species of
which is called the castle pink, and grows on ruined
walls; and another handsome kind, the Cheddar
pink, blooms on limestone rocks in Somersetshire,

and is very handsome.
One common kind, the
Deptford pink, is found in meadows; and another,

the maiden pink, grows in hedges. Then we have
that handsome tribe of flowers the saxifrages. One
of them, well known by the name of London pride
154
REMARKS ON
(saxifraga umbrosa), is a common ornament of the

garden, and was called by its familiar name, because
uninjured by the smoke of London. There are
twenty-four species of saxifrage, mentioned by pro
fessor Hooker, as native plants, and a large number
are cultivated in gardens. In this class also is

found the campion or catchfly (silene). Several
species of this plant are common. The bladder
campion (silene inflata) must be known to the
learner. It blooms in May, and has white flowers
supported upon a calyx, which is swelled like a
bladder, and veined with a fine network. Children
call it snapweed. The young shoots have the

scent and flavour of green peas, and, when blanched
and cooked, greatly resemble that vegetable. Very
similar in appearance to these plants are the
lychnis tribe: one kind (lychnis dioica) is known
by the familiar name of bachelor's buttons, and is
a pink flower, common in meadows and by streams.
A white variety, frequent in corn fields, is delight
fully fragrant in the evening.
In this class too are the chickweeds (stellaria).
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
155
The common kind, which we give to birds, is the

stellaria media. The corn cockle (agrostemma),
which makes so conspicuous a figure among the
corn, with its large lilac flowers; and the numerous
stonecrops (sedum), several of which grow on
walls, and have yellow, white, or reddish blossoms,
are also placed here. Here, too, is the arbutus
tree (arbutus unedo), which grows wild, and bears
its strawberries on the banks of Killarney; and
the pretty delicate wood sorrel (oa'alis acetosella),
which has white flowers with pencilled veins, and
leaves shaped like those of the clover, containing a
powerful acid.
Class XI. Dodecandria, from eleven to nineteen
stamens. Orders six, viz. Monogynia,

Digynia, Trigynia, Tetragynia, Pentagynia, and Dodecagynia. This class con
:*
tains more exotics than native flowers.
The sweet mignionette (reseda), the Frenchman's

darling, is here; it is a native of Egypt. Every
one knows the wild migmionette also (reseda luteola).
It is used in dying, and often called dyer's rocket,
156
REMARKS ON
or yellow weed. In this class too, we
have that
handsomelilac spiked flower, the loosestrife (lythrum

salicaria), which grows by the side of streams; and
the houseleek (sempervivum tectorum), which our
forefathers so carefully placed on the roof, under
an idea that it was an enchanted plant, and would
preserve the dwelling from the injury of lightning.
Class XII. Icosandria, twenty or more stamens
inserted in the calyx. Orders three,
viz. Monogynia, Pentagynia, and
Polygynia. Here the place of in-
&
sertion of the stamens distinguishes
this class from the next; and is a point of great

importance, because in all plants in which the
stamens grow out of the calyx the fruit is whole
some.
If the stamens so situated are more than
twenty in number, the plant is in Icosandria.

Here we have the myrtle (myrtus), the cactus
(cactus), the beautiful syringa of the garden (phi

ladelphus), whose leaves have a strong odour of
cucumber; the peach (amygdalus persica), the
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
157
almond (amygdalus communis), and a number of

exotic and native fruit trees.
The rosaceous or rose-like plants are found in

this class, all bearing wholesome fruits. The type
of this tribe of plants is the rose, and they have
all blossoms like the queen of flowers. But we
must not look for similarity to the cabbage or
damask roses of the garden, but to the wild briar,
the dog rose of the hedges. The five petals, and
numerous stamens growing out of the calyx, which
form the characteristic of this flower, are found
also in the hawthorn or May bush (crategus), which
is so beautiful with its white fragrant blossoms in

Spring; and in the white strawberry flower (fra
garia vesca), which comes with the violet in the
Spring woods. Like it too, are the apple and
pear (pyrus), the crab apple of the woods being
the origin of the cultivated fruit; and the cherry
tree (prunus), whose little black sour fruits are
sought by the schoolboy in the woodlands, and are
the origin of the delicious fruits which grace the
158
R.E.M.A. R. KS ON
cherry orchards of Kent and some other counties.

Here too is the bramble (rubus), one species of
which bears the well known blackberry. This is
the rubus fruticosus. Among the common wild
flowers of this class, are the delicious meadow
sweet (spiraea ulmarea), with its graceful white

blossom, clustering by the stream side, and emitting
a powerful fragrance: and the pretty velvet-like
yellow blossoms of the cinquefoils (potentilla), which
creep with their strawberry-shaped leaves over the
banks by every rural way side.
Class XIII. Polyandria, from twenty to many
hundred stamens, placed on the recep
tacle. Orders seven, viz. Monogynia,
Digynia, Trigynia, Tetragynia, Penta
gynia, Hexagynia, and Polygynia. The

plants of this class are very different from those of
the last. They are many of them poisonous, and
all of very suspicious quality. The poppy (papaver),
is a common instance; there we find, perhaps, a
hundred stamens, growing all round a pistil, in
which there is no style. The opium, that drug
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
159
which is useful if rightly employed, and so permi

cious in its effects when taken for any but medical
purposes, is made from the white poppy (papaver
somniferum). It is the thickened juice of that
plant, made by cutting incisions in the stem. Here
too we have the alabaster ornament of our streams,
the white water lily (nymphaea alba), and the

yellow water lily (nuphar lutea), which is more
common than the white flower; the bright peony
(paeonia), the larkspur (delphinum), columbine
(aquilegia), and many others; besides that deadly
poison the purple monkshood (aconitum); children
often gather this flower, and pull out the long
pistils, which they call Venus's doves, but it is
highly dangerous to do so, as the scent of the
plant produces head-ache, and sometimes causes
convulsions.
The crowfoots (ranunculus), two
species of which are the Spring and Summer but

tercups, so pleasing to children, are in class Poly
andria.
Class XIV. Didynamia, four stamens, two long

and two short.
Orders two.
Here most of the
160
REMARKS ON
plants are easily recognised by the shape

of the blossoms.
The first order is
&
-
named Gymnospermia, and is known by

the seeds being placed in the bottom of the calyx,
instead of being enclosed in a capsule.
Instances of this are the lavender (lavendula),
the thyme (thymus), which is so fragrant on the
moor or chalky bank; the ground ivy (glechoma),
once used in giving flavour to ale instead of hops;
the dead nettles (lamium), which blossom in Spring,
some bearing white, others red flowers; the hore
hound (ballota), with its mouldy scent, and dull
dingy purple blossoms; the cat-mint (nepeta cataria),
with its powerful odour, and several other common
plants.
The second order Angiospermia, has its seeds
in a capsule. Here we find the snapdragon (an
tirrhinum); the stately foxglove or lady's fingers

(digitalis), so useful in medicine; the toadflax
(linaria), with its yellow blossoms, and sea-green
slender leaves, adorning every field and hedge in

June and July; the monkey flower of the garden
161
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
(mimulus), and the
pretty eyebright of the
pasture
(euphrasia).
Class XV. Tetradynamia, six stamens, four long

and two short. All the flowers cross-
3'
S-Q 2->
shaped. Orders two.

The first order, Siliculosa, is known
t21,
N."
by having a short pouch for the seed vessel. The

shepherd's purse (thlaspi bursa pastoris), which
children call pick-pocket, is a well known weed.
Here too we have the candy tuft (iberis), which is
sometimes found wild, and whose purple or white
tufts of flowers are common in gardens; the honesty
(lunaria), sometimes from its round clear smooth
pods called satin flower; sometimes termed moon
wort, from its crescent-shaped seeds, is a common
plant of this order.
The second order, Siliquosa, has for its fruit a
long pod. Here we find the wallflower (cheiranthus),
either adorning the wall, or gracing the garden
bed; and the stock (matthiola), vithits rich clusters
of scented flowers, known to every one. The
cuckoo flower or cardamine (cardamine pratensis),
M
162
REMARKS ON
a delicate lilac blossom, found in woods or moist
meadows, blooming with the primrose and violet;

and the numerous tribe of wild mustards, whose
yellow or white flowers seem to thrive in every

green spot of earth.
The plants of Tetradynamia are all wholesome,
and possess an antiscorbutic property, though many
are too acrid to be agreeable. The horseradish,
the radish, the cabbage, the sea kale, and others,
are in use as table vegetables. Not one tree is
found in the class.
Class XVI. Monadelphia, filaments united into

tubes.
Orders seven, formed from
the number of the stamens, viz.
Triandria, Pentandria, Heptandria,

Octandria, Decandria, Dodecandria,
and Polyandria. The only wild plants in this class

are the mallows (malva), and cranesbills or gera
niums (geranium). The numerous geraniums which
show their pink or lilac flowers among the grass are
well known. There is the Robert's leaved cranesbill
(geranium Robertiana), familiarly called pink cat's
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
163
eye; and the pretty dove's-foot cranesbill (geranium

molle), which has soft leaves and stems, covered
with silk hairs, and is like velvet to the touch.
These and many others, are common in Spring

and Summer, in the green fields or flowery hedges.
We have in all, six species of mallow, including the
tree mallow (lavatera), which grows on rocks, in
the south of England; and the marsh mallow
(althaea), which is of a very mucilaginous nature,
and much used medicinally. One very common
kind is well known to children, growing by every
way side, and having round flat fruits, which they
call cheeses. This is the malva sylvestris. Some
handsome garden flowers are in this class, espe
cially the scarlet and other tinted handsome pot
geraniums. The Latin name of these geraniums is
pelargonium. They are all natives of the Cape
of Good Hope. Here too we have the hollyock
(althaea rosea), a native of China; the hibiscus,
and several other.
Class XVII.
in two sets.
Diadelphia, filaments combined
Orders four, viz. Pentandria, Hexan
164
REMARKS ON
dria, Octandria and Decandria. Flowers

almost all papilionaceous. This is a
large and very useful class, containing
&
-
plants which afford both food and ornament. Beans
and peas in their various varieties are useful to

man as food; while the tares, the trefoils, the
saintfoin and others, yield food for cattle. A few

only of the plants of this large class are deleterious.
In the flower garden we have the gay laburnum
(cytisus laburnum), the seeds of which are emetic;
the sweet pea (lathyrus odorata), the yellow coro
nella, and many others. The heath lands are bright
with the flowers of the golden broom (genista), and
the equally golden furze (ulea), which is seldom

out of blossom; and the purple and white clovers
(trifolium): while the crimson and blue vetches

(vicia), and yellow vetchlings (lathyrus), tangle
about with their tendrils in hedges and woods, and
by way
sides.
Class XVIII. Polyadelphia, fila

ments combined in three or more sets.
Orders four, viz. Decandria, Dode
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
165
candria, Icosandria, and Polyandria. There are

not many plants in this class. The theobroma a
South American plant, which supplies us with the
nuts of which cocoa and chocolate are made, is
placed here. Here too, we have the bright yellow

flowers of the St. John's wort (hypericum), some of
which are common in gardens, while we have as
many as eleven wild species. In the south of France
it is usual to hang up the common St. John's wort
(hypericum perforatum), in the windows of houses,
on St. John's day. This is done to please the
saint, and avert evil spirits from the dwelling.
Many superstitious practices prevail on the Con
timent in connection with this plant, and in former
days they were as prevalent in our own country.
This species of St. John's wort was once called
balm of the warrior's wound, and it is still used
by country people as a very efficacious remedy for

wounds and bruises.
Class XIX. Syngenesia, anthers united into a

tube. Flowers all compound. Orders five, (for their
names see preceding chapter).
166
REMARKS ON
This is the largest of the Linnaean

classes, and the young learner will
soon know its flowers by a few ex
amples. The dandelion (leontodon
taraxacum), so useful in medicine, and so valuable
in Spring to the bees; and our first favourite, the
child's own flower, the daisy (bellis perennis), are
found here. Here too we have the bright succory
(cichorium intybus), with its large blue stars, crowd
ing on its tall stem; and the numerous hawk weeds
(hieracium), which are something like small dan
delions; the marigold (calendula), that goes to
bed with the sun; the numerous thistles, the tansy,
the sunflower, the dahlia, and a hundred others.
Class XX. Gynandria, stamens placed upon

the pistil or germen. Orders four, viz.
Monandria, Diandria, Hexandria, and
Octandria.
This class contains the
beautiful tribe of orchises, and also the
tribe nearly allied to it, of flowers resembling insects,

termed ophrys.
Of the native species of these plants, the bee
167
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
ophrys (ophrys apifera), is the most remarkable,

presenting the appearance of an humble bee settled
upon a flower: we have too, the fly and spider
ophrys, both nearly resembling these insects. In

hot countries this tribe of plants grows on trees,
and produces still more striking resemblances to

the insect creation; some being like butterflies,
with expanded wings; others, like the bright green
or purple lizards of tropical countries. Our own
orchis and ophrys plants are seen to most perfec
tion in woods and on chalky hills, in May and
June.
Class XXI. Monoecia, stamens and pistils in

different flowers, but growing on the same
'',
plant. Orders eight, viz. Monandria,
Diandria, Triandria, Tetrandria, Poly
andria, and Monadelphia.
_%
In this class we find the celebrated bread-fruit
tree (artocarpus), which supplies the natives of the

South Sea Islands with their chief food; and the
fruit of which is as large as a loaf of bread, and no

less nourishing. Here, too, are the yellow flowers
168
REMARKS ON
of the cucumber plant (cucumis), and the gourd

tribe (cucurbita). The sedges, with their sharp
thin leaves, fringing the edge of the stream; and
a number of trees, as the hazel, the box, the ches
nut, and the birch, are found here.
The last tree
is a most graceful ornament of shrubberies and

woods, having a pale silver-coloured bark, and its
branches being so light, that they wave with every
wind, and have been compared to dishevelled hair.
The spurge (euphorbia), which is called wart weed,
because the milk in its stem and branches is used
to cure warts, is well known.
There are fourteen
British species.
Class XXII. Dioecia, stamens and pistils in
separate flowers, and on different plants.
Orders eight, viz. Momandria, Dian
dria, Triandria, Tetrandria, Pentan
dria, Hexandria, Polyandria, and Mo

madelphia.
In this class, as in the last, we have a number of
trees; the Spring poplar (populus), the willow
(salia), with its gray foliage, and the dark yew
CLASSES AND ORDERS.
169
(taxus), with its scarlet cup-like berries, which

are by some writers said to be poisonous, and by
others considered innoxious. Most probably they
have different effects on different constitutions, and
children incur danger when they eat them. Then

we have the graceful hop (lupulus), which is so
useful to mankind, and the mistletoe (viscum album),
with which for so many centuries houses have
been decked, and which is celebrated for having

been regarded by the Druids with great veneration,
and for having been called by them all-heal, and
considered, in dark ages, a universal charm for ills
of every kind.
Class XXIII. Polygamia, flowers different on
the same plant. Orders two, Mo
noecia, and Dioecia.
One native
plant only is found in this class.

This is the orache (atriplex). Se
veral species of this grow on salt marshes, with
thick sea-green coloured leaves, and yellowish or

reddish spikes of flowers. Some are common as
weeds in gardens; one, which has halberd-shaped
170
FERNS.
leaves, of a gray colour, is familiarly called old

man's weed.
In this class also is the nettle tree
(celtis) of hot climates, the sting of which causes

death; and the valuable plantain tree (musa) is
also found here.
Class XXIV. Cryptogamia, stamens and pistils

not visible. Orders five, viz. ferns,
2~
mosses, liverworts, flags (which

include lichens and seaweeds), and
mushrooms.
Ferns (filices) are those plants
which have their parts of fructification on the back

of the leaf or stalk. In ferns the stalk or stipe,
and leaf, are
indeed, the same; the middle rib of
the leaf being merely a continuation of the foot

stalk, so that stalk and leaf are all one; and stems,
properly speaking, they have none. The stem

and leaf thus united, form a frond. Ferns grow in
shady moist hedges, or near rills. Some have
long and slender fronds, as the common hart's
tongue (scolopendrium vulgare); others, like the

common brake (pteris aquilina), which is used for
FERNS ; MOSSES.
171
packing cherries, have pinnated fronds. Ferns,

when young, have their points rolled up in a scroll.
The fructification is sometimes seen by the naked
eye, and consists of a number of little brown
ridges; in some, as in the common brake, these
ridges form a line round the edge of the leaf or
frond.
Ferns are of a less succulent nature than
most other plants. In tropical countries they

grow to the height of trees, and are thence called
arborescent or tree-ferns. The roots of several

species are used in New Zealand and other coun
food, and some bitter species are employed
tries as
as medicines; but, upon the whole, they are not a

useful tribe of plants, though very ornamental,
from the feathery appearance which many of them
present. There are about fifty British species, and
many more in countries near the tropics.
The second order of Cryptogamia is the mosses
(musci); the learner will not need to have mosses
described to him.
He knows the beautiful verdant
plants which cover the stems of trees, or the gar

den walls, or with their soft silky star-like foliage,
172
MOSSES.
serve him for a cushion in the wood or on the bank.
Mosses have distinct leaves, usually closely crowded

on their stems and branches, and when seen under
a microscope, presenting a most elegant array of

verdure. Their roots are all formed of small fibres,
and thus they penetrate the crevices of rocks or

the barks of trees, while they require little nou
rishment from the plant or soil on which they grow,
and are not injurious to other vegetables. They
derive their nutriment from the rain, the dew, or
the moist air. They are most common in tempe

rate and cold climates, and when found in hot
countries, they flourish chiefly in shady places.

Mosses are formed of cells.
Their cellular texture
enables them to resist drought, since the cells

easily imbibe moisture, and retain it long; and
thus if we see them withered by the long Summer's
heat, a shower of rain will again revive their beauty
in the course of an hour. There are many species,
but the learner will not be able to detect them,
until he has made some progress in practical

botany. They are not useful as food or medicine,
MOSSES; LIVERWORTS ; FLAGS.
173
but they protect trees from cold or drought, and

also retain moisture for the roots of grass and
other plants with which they mingle. In Lapland
the little infant has his bed made of moss, which
his mother gathers for him, as often as it loses its

freshness. Mosses mingle largely with other plants,
in forming the substance called peat, which in many

counties is used by the poor instead of coals. The
mosses grow by the sides of shallow pools or on
boggy ground; and in course of years their roots
fill up the place which was once occupied by the
water. The quantity of moisture half decays their
roots, and those of other plants, and then they
form the vegetable mould called peat.
The third order consists of the liverworts (hepa
tica). Liverworts are difficult to describe. They
are not so common as ferns and mosses, and they
are something between a moss and a lichen. Until
late years, they were classed with the mosses. Like
mosses, they are full of cells, and when withered,
revive by the application of moisture.
Order four; flags (algae). A large number of
174
SEA-WEED.
the plants of this order float, either on the sea or

in fresh water.
Those which live in the sea are
termed sea-weeds (fuci). They have not exactly

roots, for being destined to float, they do not need
them. Those, however, which are fastened to any
substance have, at the base, a few fibres, by which
they adhere. Some weeds which we pick up by
the sea-side, in our own country, are of a beautiful
rose-colour, brown, yellow, or green; and in the
seas of the Tropics they are of a rich purple, green
or crimson, and larger and more numerous. Some
times they float in such quantities on the waters,
that vessels cannot pass among their tangled

branches. Many, as the orchil, are used in dying.
They all contain potash or soda, which is valuable
in medicine and manufactures, and some of them
are reduced to a jelly and eaten. The most com

mon sea-weed, one which is known to most children,
is that dark brown kind, which has a number of
bladders upon it.
This is the sea oak or bladder
fucus (fucus vesiculosus). It hangs in profusion

about the piers and baths at the coast, and is often
SEA-WEED; LICHENS.
I75
found in salt rivers. Those green slimy substances
SEA OAK.
which float in fresh water, are also flags, and

termed confervae.
The learner must have seen
those crust-like substances of a gray or greenish

colour, which grow on rocks or trees, as well as
the bright orange or lemon

coloured patches, which are on
old pales or gates, or on the
roofs of houses. These are ano
ther division of flags, and are

termed lichens. The pretty
plant which grows in groups on
176
LICHENS ; FUNGUSES.
walls, in shape like a wine glass, is called the cup

moss, and is the lichen pyxidatus; and the reindeer
moss is the lichen rangiferinus. Without this
valuable plant, this animal could not subsist in
lapland, where it forms the chief property of the
inhabitants.
The fifth order is the mushrooms (fungi). This

comprehends, not only the eatable mushroom, (aga
ricus); but all those poisonous plants commonly

called toad-stools, which, with beautiful spots and
tints, spring up in a few hours. It comprises also,
those mouldy looking spots which cover any de
caying substance, as well as the bright handsome
funguses, which are found on old wood. A num
ber of the fungus tribe are so minute, that they

can be seen only by a magnifying glass; but they
cover all decaying animal or vegetable matter,
and crowd in clusters in damp cellars. The mush
room tribe may be known from the other funguses
by their gills. Look at the common mushroom
(agaricus campestris), which is used for making
ketchup. You will see under the cap (pileus) a
QUESTIONS.
177
number of perpendicular silver-coloured pieces,

running from the stalk to the circumference. These
are the gills, and they produce the seeds. We
have upwards of three hundred species of British
mushrooms.
QUESTIONS.
How many orders has class Monandria? (The

names of the orders need not be repeated).
Mention a plant in this class, and any thing
respecting it.
How many orders has class Diandria?
Mention some circumstances respectingthe speed
wells.
Mention some garden plants found in this class.

How many orders has class Triandria?
What large tribe of plants is found here?
Mention some uses of grasses.
Describe their general appearance.

Mention several other plants found in Triandria.
N
178
QUESTIONS.
Mention any uses to which they are applied.

How many orders has Tetrandria?
Mention some common flowers in Tetrandria.
Of what use is the teasel ?
Describe the bedstraws, and say why they are

thus called.
What is remarkable in the sweet woodruff?
What is that wild shrub which in May bears

clusters of white flowers, each flower with four
petals and four stamens, and with red twigs and

branches?
How many orders has Pentandria?

Is Pentandria a large class?
Mention several plants in this class.
What is there peculiar in the colours of the
borage and lungwort?
Mention other plants with this peculiarity.
To what tribe of plants does the potato belong?
Mention several uses of plants in this class.
Describe umbelliferous plants.
In what cases are umbelliferous plants poison
ous?
QUESTIONS.
179
Are any used in medicine?

What coloured flowers have they?
How many orders has class Hexandria?
Mention several plants in this class, and circum
stances respecting them.
Name some eatable vegetables and fruits found
here.
Of what use is sorrel ?
Is Class Seven a large class, and how many

orders has it?
Mention a wild flower in this class.
Mention some circumstances respecting the

horse chesnut.
How many orders has Octandria?

Mention an interesting tribe of plants found
here.
Where do the exotic heaths come from ?

Describe the herb Paris.
What is that common flower which has a scent
of musk in the evening?
Mention a circumstance respecting the flower of

the garden masturtium.
180
QUESTIONS.
How many orders are there in class Enneandria?

What is the only wild flower it contains?
Mention some circumstances respecting the flower
ing rush.
How many orders has class Decandria?
What is said respecting the papilionaceous flowers
of this class P
Mention some circumstances respecting pinks.

Why was the name of London Pride given to
that plant?
Mention some circumstances respecting the blad
der campion.
Describe the plant.

Mention some circumstances respecting the lych
nis dioica, and give its familiar name.
Mention several other plants of this class.
How many orders has class Dodecandria?
Mention a common garden flower placed in it.
Of what use is the wild mignionette?
What superstition once attached to the house
leek?
QUESTIONS.
181
Mention the peculiarity respecting the stamens

of class Icosandria P
What blossoms show that the fruit of a plant is

wholesome?
What is that large tribe of plants found here?

What is the class of the rosaceous or rose tribe P
Mention several common plants belonging to this

tribe P
How many orders has Polyandria?

Are the plants here similar in their nature to
those of class Icosandria?

poppy.
Name some other plants of this class.

monkshood.
How may we know the plants of class Didy

namia?
How many orders has it?

What is the first order, and how is it known P
What is the second order, and how is it known P
Mention some flowers in both orders.
182
QUESTIONS.
Of what shape are all the flowers in class Tetra
dynamia?
What are its orders?
How may we know the order Siliculosa?

How may we know the order Siliquosa?
Name some flowers in this class.
Of what nature are the flowers in class Tetra
dynamia.
How many orders has Monadelphia?

Mention some flowers it contains?
Name some circumstance respecting the marsh

mallow.
Which is the malva sylvestris?

What is the name of the pot geraniums, and
whence do they come?
How many orders has class Diadelphia?
Mention some useful plants contained in it.
Name some deleterious ones.
How many orders has Polyadelphia?

What plant supplies us with chocolate?
Mention some circumstances respecting the St.
John's wort.
QUESTIONS.
183
What kind of flowers grow in class Syngenesia?

Which is the largest of the Linnaean classes?
Mention five instances of flowers of this class.
How many orders has it?
How many orders has class Gynandria?
What tribe of plants does it contain?
What is said respecting the ophrys tribe of plants
of hot countries?
On what kind of soil do we find our ophrys

plants?
How many orders has class Monoecia?
What useful exotic plant is found in it?
Mention several British plants which it con
tains.
How many orders has class Dioecia?

What is said of the yew tree?
Mention several plants in this class.
What is said of the mistletoe?
How many orders has Polygamia?

Mention a wild plant in it.
In what respect does the class Cryptogamia differ
from all the other classes?
184
QUESTIONS.
How many orders has this class?

Repeat their names.
Describe ferns.
What is the leaf and stalk of a fern called?

Where do ferns chiefly grow?
Mention a common one.
Where is the fructification generally found?
What are arborescent ferns, and where are they

found?
Are ferns of any use?

How many are there in Great Britain?
What are mosses?
What is said of their roots?
In what regions are they chiefly found?

Of what use are they?
What is peat, and how is it found?
What are liverworts?
What are those flags called which float on the

sea?
Mention some particulars respecting them.

What is said of the sea-weeds of the Tropics?
Of what use are sea-weeds?
QUESTIONS.
185
Describe a well known one, and give its name.

What are confervae P
What are lichens?
What is the lichen pyxidatus?

What is said of the rein-deer moss?
What are comprehended in the fungus order?

How may we know the mushroom tribe from
the other kinds of fungi?
What are the gills?
How many kinds of mushrooms have we?
186
CHAPTER X.
SAP:FlowING of SAP; AscENDING SAP; DEscENDING
SAP; PRINCIPLE of LIFE; TRANSPIRATION of PLANTs;
WEGETABLE PRobUCTs; GUM; MucILAGE; RESIN; OILs;
BITTER PRINCIPLE; NARcoTIC PRINCIPLE ; PUNGENT
AND ACRID PRINCIPLEs; AcIDs; SUGAR; STARCH; Co

LouriNG MATTER; WAx; CAMPHoR;
CoRk; Ashes; EARTHs; FLINT.
CAoUTCHouc;
HE fluid common to all plants, called sap, has
been several times alluded to in the preceding

pages. This is a watery juice, which is absorbed
from the earth by the root, and from the atmo
sphere by the leaves, for the purpose of giving
nourishment to the whole vegetable. It is com
monly said to be the blood of plants, for by it they
are sustained, and from this juice all the other
vegetable productions, as sugar, milk, or acid, are
formed. If a wound be made in a plant either by

accident or intentionally, the sap may be seen to
FLOWING OF SAP.
187
flow from it, and it will often continue to ooze from
this incision for a day or two.

Gardeners, when they make this wound, call it
bleeding the plants. The flow of sap is most
copious, if the branch or stem be wounded during
the Spring, just before the young buds are un
folded on the tree; and in Autumn it flows pretty
freely after a frost, but during a frost no sap can
be procured from plants.
One circumstance, which at once distinguishes
plants from minerals or other lifeless objects, and
entitles them to be considered as endowed with
life, is that of the ascent and descent of this sap
through their vessels. The sap rises from the

root, up the woody stem of a tree, chiefly through
that part which has been described as the sap
wood; and in herbs, which have not woody stems,
it ascends through the bundles of fibres or vessels
which form the woody part of the plant.
The sap is in motion more or less during the
whole year, but especially during the Spring and
Autumnal seasons.
In the Winter it becomes
188
QUANTITY OF SAP.
thick, and moves very slowly, so that it was for

merly thought to be quite motionless at that period:
but if this were the case, we should not see vege
tation proceed, as it does in some plants, even
during the coldest weather. In the depth of
Winter, the mosses are verdant and beautiful, and
grow and thrive; and the Christmas rose, and the

yellow aconite, and the laurustinus, bloom in our
gardens to cheer us, though scarcely a wild flower
is in blossom, and nature generally presents a

scene of desolation.
There is much difference in the quantity of sap

yielded by different plants. Some trees produce a
great deal. Thus the common birch (betula alba)

which is so ornamental a tree in our woodlands,
will, if incisions be made in it, yield it in such

abundance, that the Highlanders make birch wine
of this juice: and the common grape vine (vitis

vinifera), will, if a branch be cut through in
Spring, produce about a pint of sap in twenty
four hours.
It has been said that the sap ascends into the
MOTION OF SAP.
189
branches and leaves, and its further progress must

now be considered.
When it enters the leaves a
great change is effected in its chemical properties.

A part of it is carried off from the plant, by the
perspiration which is common to vegetables, and
which is in some cases perceptible, though in
most, we cannot distinguish it. It has been ascer
tained by many experiments. One which has
been often tried, is that of cutting off a branch of
the tree, and covering the part which was cut, with
a thick gum, so as to prevent any sap from flowing
out of it. On weighing this branch, some time
after, it has been found to be less in weight than
when first cut, and therefore it must have become
lighter by means of perspiration. Another change

effected in the sap, is that caused by the different
kinds of gas which vegetables inhale from the
atmosphere. The fluid having lost some of its
watery nature, contains more nutritious principles,
and now descends into the plant, by a different set
of vessels from those by which it rose.
The descending sap is called by botanists the
190
PROPER JUICES OF PLANTS.
proper juice of plants, because it is proper or

peculiar to the kind of plant in which it exists.
Every one knows the common plant called sun
spurge or churn staff (euphorbia helioscopia) which
is a weed in our garden, with green flowers, and
stems full of milk.
If the stem be broken, the
milk flows out of the plant, and it is of an acrid

nature, and used to cure warts.
This is the de
scending sap, or proper juice, of the spurge.
If
we break the hollow stem of the dandelion, we see
a little circle of milk round the broken part, this is

the proper juice of the dandelion: and the orange
coloured juice of the yellow celandine (chelidonium
majus), and the resinous juice of the pine and fir
trees, are each the proper juices of the respective
plant.
The young reader may ask how it is that the
sap risesthat it receives its first
impulse.
This
is a question which has interested naturalists, and
led to many ingenious experiments. Little more

can be said upon it, than that the sap is influenced
in its action by the principle of life. When a
PERSPIRATION OF PLANTS.
191
plant withers, the sap ceases to flow. Vegetable

life, like the similar principle in the animal system,
can be known and understood only by its effects;
and must be traced directly to Him, who is the
Great Author of all life, both animal and vegetable,
both present and eternal.
The perspiration or transpiration of plants may
sometimes be seen on warm calm days, lying in
drops on the poplar, willow, or other trees. It is
generally merely water, like dew, for which it is
often
mistaken;
but sometimes it is of a thick
sweet nature as on the leaf of the lime tree; and
sometimes, as on the leaves of the rosemary, it is

of a waxy substance. At sunrise, clear drops of
water may be seen hanging, like pearls, at the tips
of the slender leaves of the wheat.
This is the
perspiration of the plant. It rose during the warm

part of the day, and mingled with the air in form
of vapour; but the coldness of night condensed it
into drops, which will again melt before the sun
shine. A great German naturalist, in order to
prove that these drops were the effect of transpira
192
VEGETABLE PRODUCTS.
tion, and not of dew, placed a poppy plant under

a bell, and covered it with a leaden case, in such a
manner, as to exclude the atmospheric air. Next

morning, he examined his poppy, and found it
bespangled with drops, though the morning dew
could not have reached it in its prison. The
transpiration of plants is much greater during a
warm dry day, than during cold or moist weather,
and is small in quantity during the chill airs of
night.
The several secretions of plants, as gum, sugar,
&c. render them valuable to man as food and
medicine, and as substances by which he is en

abled to prosecute art and science, and to manu
facture many useful articles. A few of these
which most commonly present themselves to the
student of the vegetable kingdom, may be here
enumerated, and may lead the young botanist to
further observation and inquiry.
One of the most common vegetable products is

gum. This need not be very particularly described.
Every child who has been used to a garden, has
GUMS.
193
seen it lying in brown clear drops on the surface

of the cherry or plum tree. It oozes especially
from trees which bear stone fruits, and is often
found on the fruits themselves. It is very whole

some and nutritious, even when found upon trees,
which, like the peach, bear leaves of an unwholesome

nature. It will melt in water. It is employed in
making ink, in dying, in calico printing, and in so
many domestic purposes, that there are few of us
who have not used it.
It is also valuable in medi
cine. There are several varieties of gum, as the

gum arabic, the gum senegal, the gum tragacanth,
and the common cherry-tree gum, &c. The two
former are obtained from different kinds of acacia.
The gum arabic flows in quantity from the acacia

vera, a tree which is found in all parts of Africa,
and lends its shadow to the hot and dreary deserts
of that country. The gum oozes in clear drops

from its branches, and is gathered and packed for
importation into Europe. Long after its arrival in
England, it may be heard in the warehouses, mak
ing a crackling noise, as it separates itself into
O
194
GUMS AND RESINs.
smaller pieces than those in which it was gathered.

The gum tragacanth is procured from the goat's
thorn of Asia, the astragalus tragacantha. A
kind of gum called mucilage, which does not ooze
from the surface of plants, is found in several roots
and leaves.
In all the kinds of mallow it is abun
dant; from the common mallow (malva sylvestris),

which grows by every way side, to the marsh
mallow (althaea officinalis), which, with its velvet
leaves and pink blossoms, grows on marshy
lands. This latter plant affords a great quantity
of mucilage, valuable to the medical practitioner,
and it is, on the continent, made into lozenges.
The lichen called Iceland moss (cetraria Islandica)
contains much of this mucilage, as do also several
other lichens. This plant is used in England to

make a jelly for invalids; and the poor Icelander,
contentedly dines off this simple fare, with humble
and pious gratitude, thanking God, who, as he says,
has made food to grow for him out of the very

stones.
Resins are substances oozing from trees, and
GUMS AND RESINS.
195
much resembling gum, but they will dissolve in

spirits only, and not in water, and when exposed to
the action of heat, they melt and burn with a strong
flame. Several substances partake of the nature
both of gum and resin, and are hence called gum
resins. The common gamboge, which is used in
painting, is an example of a gum-resin, and exudes
from incisions made in the bark of a tree, common
in Hindostan. This tree, the garcinia mangostana,

bears the fruit well known in India as the man
gosteen, which is considered equal in richness to

the pine-apple, and partakes of the flavour of the
strawberry and the grape. The mangosteen tree
is highly ornamental to the Indian garden, both
during its flowering season, and in the time of its
fruitage; for its blossoms resemble beautiful roses,
and its fruits are as large as an orange. A South
American species of St. John's-wort produces
gamboge little inferior to the kind which is yielded
by the mangosteen. The myrrh, so often alluded
to in Scripture, and which is still much used in the
East for embalming the dead body, is a gum
196
GUMS AND RESINS.
resin, produced by a tree growing in Abyssinia,

and the spicy Arabia, though it is not known from
what plant the natives procure it. The assafoetida,
with its powerful and unpleasant odour, is a gum
resin furnished by the ferula assafaetida, an Indian
plant, which is so much relished by the natives of
Hindostan, that they call it the food of the gods.
The renowned Balm of Gilead, praised in the
Sacred Volume for its odours, and still prized in
the land of Scripture History, is a gum-resin,
found in abundance in the buds of the shrub amyris
gileadensis. The Turks so value this gum, that
they have a law, prohibiting its exportation into
other countries. But better known than any of
the preceding instances, is a gum-resin which we
may see on any Summer day. This is the rich
bloom which lies on the plum, and which is, like
the sea-green powder that lies on several leaves,
a gum-resin.
A resin which is of much value in the arts, and
which is familiar to all by the name of turpentine,
Venice turpentine, &c. exudes from various species
BURNING FOREST.S.
197
of the fir tribe. It is generally procured by mak

ing incisions in the trees. The common turpentine
is mostly obtained from the Scotch fir (pinus syl
vestris). The fir tribe are found chiefly at the
north of the globe, where they form immense
forests, and from the inflammable nature of the
resins which these trees contain, fires of a most
appalling kind sometimes take place in the fir

woods. These fires are occasionally caused by the
carelessness of travellers, who let fall sparks from
a pipe, but they are often caused by lightning.
Linnaeus, in his Tour of Lapland, gives a
striking description of a fire of this kind which he
witnessed. Several days ago, says this cele
brated botanist, the forests had been set on fire
by lightning, and the flames raged at this time with
great violence, owing to the drought of the season.
In many different places, perhaps in nine or ten
that came under my notice, the devastation ex
tended several miles in distance.
I traversed a
space, three quarters of a mile in extent, which

was entirely burnt; so that Flora, instead of ap
198
BURNING FOREST.S.
pearing in her gay and verdant attire, was in deep

sable; a spectacle more abhorrent to my feelings
than to see her clad in the white livery of Winter;
for this, though it destroys the herbage, leaves the
roots in safety, which the fire does not. The fire
was nearly extinguished in most of the spots we
visited, except in dry trunks of trees. After we
had travelled about half a quarter of a mile across
one of these scenes of desolation, the wind began
to blow with rather more force than it had done,
upon which a sudden noise arose in the half burnt

forest, such as I can only compare to what may be
imagined among a large army, attacked by an
enemy. We knew not whither to turn our steps.
The smoke would not suffer us to remain where we
were, nor durst we turn back.
It seemed best to
hasten forwards, in hopes of speedily reaching the

outskirts of the wood, but in this we were dis
appointed. We ran as fast as we could, in order to

avoid being crushed by the falling trees, some of
which threatened us every minute. Sometimes
the fall of a large trunk was so sudden that we
OILS.
199
stood aghast, not knowing whither to turn to

escape destruction, and throwing ourselves entirely
on the protection of Providence. In one instance,
a large tree fell exactly between me and my guide,
who walked not more than a fathom from me, but
thanks to God! we both escaped in safety. We

were not a little rejoiced when this perilous adven
ture terminated, for we had felt all the while like
a couple of outlaws, in momentary fear of surprise.

Nearly akin to the resinous products of plants,
are the substances which compose those grateful
odours which form so great a charm in flowers
and herbage. These perfumes are termed essential
oils, and when distilled from various flowers, as the
rose, the lavender and others, they make those

essences, which we call lavender water, rose water,
&c. They are decidedly of a resinous nature.
Though found chiefly in the flower of the plant,

yet they sometimes exist in the leaves, as in the
rosemary, the myrtle, and sweetbriar. Sometimes
they are found in the bark, as in the cinnamon;
and some few roots are of an aromatic nature, as
200
OILS ; BITTERS.
in the common plant called avens or herb bennet,

the root of which has the odour of cloves.
Oils called fixed oils, and obtained by expression,

are seldom found in any other part of a plant than
its seed: the oil of almonds, linseed oil, and several
other vegetable oils, in common use, are of this

nature, and are procured by expressing almonds,
the seed of flax, or of other vegetables.
The juices of plants yield bitter, pungent, nar
cotic and other principles, highly valuable to the
physician, and some of them, agreeable to the
palate. The common hop (humulus lupulus) may
be instanced, as affording a bitter principle in very
general use. The bitter resides in its fragrant
and beautiful cones. This plant, though some
times growing wild in our hedges, is scarcely indi
genous to Britain, nor was it generally cultivated
in the gardens of Kent and Surrey, until after the
reign of Henry VIII. When it was first introduced,
its culture was greatly opposed, and the city of
London petitioned parliament against the two
anuisances of Newcastle coals and hops; the
BITTERS.
201
latter because it would spoil the taste of drink,

and endanger the people's health. The hop seems
now to have become almost a necessary among us.
The handsome tribe of plants called gentian, some
of them with the most brilliant blue, others with
yellow blossoms, are in common use in medicine.

The yellow gentian (gentiana lutea) which grows
on the Alpine mountains of Europe, is the chief
medicinal bitter used in European practice. It
covers large tracts of ground in Switzerland and
Germany, and cattle leave those pastures un
touched on account of its bitter flavour.
The
wood sage of our hedges (teucrium scorodonia) is

extremely bitter, and a plant of our woods and
pastures produces a bitter principle, which is
almost equal in efficacy to the gentian: this is
the red centaury (erythraea centaurium). It is a
common plant, with rose-coloured clustered blos
soms, which close before rain, and even on a fine
July day are shut up after one o'clock.

The pungent principle may be instanced in the
plant, which is among the most wholesome of our
202
PUNGENT PLANTS.
salad herbs, the water cress (nasturtium officinale).

The common cuckoo flower of the spring woods
(cardamine pratense), possesses this flavour in a
greater degree, and still more pungent are the
common horseradish (cochlearia armoracia), and
the yellow biting stonecrop (sedum acre) which is so
frequent on walls. When a plant possesses a hot
biting flavour, which remains long on the tongue,
and is of a stimulating quality, its principle is
termed acrid. Of this kind are the various species of
buttercup, which will, if bitten, blister the mouth:
and the common arum, or lords and ladies, as it is
usually called. This plant, the arum maculatum,

is very frequent under English hedges; it was
formerly employed to make starch, but it irritated
the hands of those who used it.
The writer of
these pages once saw the mouth of a child in a

very inflamed and blistered state, from having
tasted the acrid juice of the arum; and the pain
and irritation caused by it could not be allayed for
several hours.
Several plants produce juices which cause sleep,
NARCOTICS.
203
and which, if taken in great quantity, are fatal.

They are called narcotics, and they furnish valu
able medicines. The most well known and power
ful narcotic is the opium, which is obtained from
the white poppy (papaver somniferum), a flower
common in our corn fields, and cultivated in several
countries for that drug.
The common lettuce
(lactuca), especially when growing wild, yields a

milky fluid, often employed as a narcotic. Many
persons eat the lettuce at night time, to promote
sleep. Pope says of it,
For want of rest,
Lettuce and cowslip wine probatum est.
The milk in the lettuce is very abundant; indeed

the plant received its Latin name from lac,
milk. The medical properties of the milk of lettuce
are similar to those of opium, and it is considered
a safer remedy, and often administered in cases in
which opium could not be employed. It is obtained
by making incisions in the plants during the time
of flowering, and scraping off the dried juice which
flows from the apertures, and hardens into a gum.
204
POISONS.
Several of our most deadly poisons affect those

who take them, by causing a sleep from which
they cannot be awaked. The deadly nightshade
(atropa belladonna) is of this kind. It is recorded
of this plant, that the Danish army, who, under
Sweno, attacked the Scots, fell victims to its
power. The Scots had engaged to supply the

Danes with drink, and they mixed the berries of
the nightshade with the liquor that they furnished;
well knowing that a heavy sleep would soon over
take those who drank of it.
A few short hours
elapsed, and the whole army were in a deep slum

ber, and fell a ready prey to their enemies. The
foxglove (digitalis), the henbane (hyoscyamus),
and several other plants might be named as pro
ducing sleep when moderately taken, and death, if
taken in great quantities.
Several kinds of acids, known by various names
to chemists, as oxalic acid, malic acid, and prussic
acid, are yielded by vegetables. We have all
observed the acid in unripe fruits; the green
gooseberry and the green apple are familiar in
205
POISONS.
stances of sourness of flavour.
There is also a
powerful acid in many ripe fruits, as the lemon

and the barberry, which no Summer's sun will
render sweet to the palate. The sap of some trees
contain acid, as the common elder (sambucus nigra);
and several leaves are extremely sour in flavour,
as those of the common sorrel (rumea acetosa),
and of the wood sorrel (oxalis acetosella).
Both
these plants are used by the Laplanders as con

serves, and from the wood sorrel they make a fer
mented drink. That fearful poison, the prussic
acid, is obtained both from animal and vegetable
substances.
It is found in the bitter almond, and
in the leaves of the peach and laurel, and some

other plants. It would be highly dangerous to eat
the laurel leaves, and they have been known to
render a stream of water poisonous; but the small
quantity of prussic acid which exists in the bitter
almond, the kernel of the plum, and other similar
fruits, renders them innoxious.
Sugar is a substance yielded in great quantity by

the vegetable kingdom, and we may easily taste it
206
SUGAR ; STARCH.
in ripe fruits, as the raspberry and cherry. It is

also found in many roots, as the beet and carrot,
and is yielded by the sap of several trees, as the
birch and sugar maple. The sugar which we see
at our table is obtained from the juice of the sugar
cane (arundo saccharifera).
Starch is a vegetable product found in the roots
of many plants, as the potato. Several kinds of
orchis yield it in abundance; the bulbous root of
the common buttercup contains it; and so do also
the seeds of several plants, as wheat, peas, beans,
chesnuts, and acorns.
Among the various substances which plants fur

nish to the arts and manufactures, scarcely any
are more valuable than those which are extracted
for the purposes of tanning and dying. The sub

stance called tannin, which tanners use in preparing
leather, is found chiefly in the barks of trees,
though occasionally in seeds or in young shoots.
The tannin obtained from the birch, the hazel, the
black thorn, and several other trees, is in common
use. Dyes of various kinds are made from the
COLOURING MATTER.
207
colouring matter of plants. A fine blue dye is

procured from the Indigo (indigofera tinctoria), a
shrub which is cultivated both in the East and
West Indies for dyers. It is a pretty plant with

purple flowers, and might be grown in England.
In Hindoostan it is planted out in large extents of
country, and forms a very profitable article of
culture, but labour is there so much cheaper than
in Great Britain, that it can be produced in India
at much less expense, and the British farmer does
not find it worth his attention.
One of our native
plants, the dyer's woad (isatis tinctoria), rivals the

indigo in the excellent blue which it produces, and
it is occasionally cultivated in some counties of
England. With the dye of this plant the ancient
Britons painted their bodies. The handsome corn
blue bottle (centaurea cyanus), which makes so
conspicuous a figure in the corn field, yields also a
rich bright blue of the colour of ultramarine. Red
colours are extracted from madder (rubia tincto
rium), and from various lichens, and other plants;

the walnut, alder, and other trees, yield brown
208
COLOURING MATTER ; WAX.
dyes; and yellow is produced by so many plants,

that it would be useless to attempt enumerating
even the chief of them. The yellow agrimony, of
which a cut occurs in a former chapter, where it
represents the spike," yields, by different pro
cesses, a deep full yellow, or a pale nankeen
colour. The wild mignionette, or dyer's weed
(reseda luteola), which grows plentifully on chalky
soils, is often planted in fields for its yellow dye;
the saffron crocus, which, from its culture in Saffrom
Walden, gave its name to that town; the dyer's

broom (genista tinctoria), and many others, both
British and foreign plants, contain the yellow tint
in their juices.
The young reader may be surprised to hear,
that scarcely any vegetable secretion is more com
mon than that of wax. We see on the upper
surfaces of many leaves, a kind of varnish, which
adds much to the beauty of foliage, and which
when separated from it by chemical process, is
found to be a true vegetable wax. It is also col
lected from the anthers of flowers, and from the
WAX : CAMPHOR.
209
catkins of the alder, poplar, and fir trees. A great

quantity of wax is produced by the berries of a
North American plant, the wax myrtle (myrica
cerifera). Candles are made from this shrub, and
hence it is called the candleberry myrtle. The
berries are thrown into boiling water, when the
wax floats upon the top of the liquid, and is
gathered off. The candles emit a pleasant odour,
but as the berries are troublesome to collect, and
animal tallow is not expensive, they are little used

except by the poor people in whose neighbourhood
the bushes grow, who use them also for making
soap. The sweet gale, or bog myrtle, which is
common in the Highlands of Scotland, and in
. Devonshire and some other counties of England,
yields an inferior kind of wax similar to bees'
Wax.
Camphor is supplied to us chiefly by the cam
phor laurel (laurus camphorata), a tree which

grows in Hindoostan and several warm climates.
This substance is, however, common on many
labiate plants, and in lavender, thyme, and rose
P
210
INDIAN RUBBER ; CORK.
mary, it exists in so great abundance, that it has

been suggested, by some botanists, that these plants
might be cultivated for its production. Camphor
is serviceable in medicine, and is useful to natu
ralists who wish to preserve dried specimens of

plants or animals, as insects will not come near it.
Indian rubber, or caoutchouc, is a vegetable pro
duct in daily use in our country, and it exudes, as
a milky gum, from several plants, as the Indian
fig. We receive it chiefly from South America,
where it is procured from the havea caoutchouc,
the jatropha elastica, and some other trees.
Cork is a substance procured from the outer
bark of a species of oak, growing in France and
Spain. This is the cork oak (quercus tuber). It
is thought that cork, nearly equal to this, exists in
the bark of some other trees, especially in the
common English elm (ulmus campestris). This
latter tree, though common in our hedge rows, is
not considered indigenous, but is thought to have
been introduced in the time of the crusaders from
Palestine.
ASHES, EARTHS, FLINT.
211
The burnt ashes of wood yield charcoal; and

many plants produce a quantity of soda, and several
earths, especially lime: but one of the most sin
gular vegetable substances, is flint. This is found
in most grasses. The common gromwell or gray
millet (lithospermum officinale), which is frequent
on waste places and in corn fields, contains, in its
nuts or seeds, a large proportion of flint. The
plant is about a foot high, has small yellowish white
flowers, with broadly lanceolated leaves, very hairy
on the under surfaces. The nuts are polished and
hard, and like small pebbles; nor can they be
broken by ordinary means. The name of the
plant is derived from two Greek words a stone
and seed, on account of the flinty hardness of
this part. The horsetail (equisetum) was formerly
called shave grass and pewter-wort, and used by
housewives in cleaning pewter, on account of its
hard and flinty nature. Gerarde, an old herbalist,
in Queen Elizabeth's time, says of it, This is the
plant wherewith fletchers and comb makers do
212
QUESTIONS.
rub and polish their work, and it is still em

ployed by whitesmiths and cabinet makers for the
same purpose.
QUESTIONS.
WHAT is sap?
Is sap found in all plants?
Why is sap like the blood of animals?
What is meant by bleeding a plant?
When is the flow of sap greatest?
How does the sap rise in trees?
Through what part of herbs does it rise?
Is the sap in motion throughout the year?
Why should we infer that it is not motionless in
Winter?
Mention some trees yielding a great quantity of

Sap.
What changes take place in the sap when it

enters the leaves?
How is it proved that plants transpire?
QUESTIONS.
213
What is the descending sap ?

Why is it called proper juice?
Describe a proper juice, and give an example.
Can we ever see the perspiration of plants?
Is it always of a watery nature ?
How did a naturalist ascertain that the drops at
sunrise were not dew, but transpiration?
When do plants transpire most P

Name a common vegetable product.
Is gum wholesome P
Of what use is it?
Name some varieties of gum.

What is gum arabic?
What is mucilage?
Name some plants which produce it.

What are resins?
How do we distinguish resin from gum?

What are gum resins?
What is gamboge?
Name some plants which produce it.
What is myrrh?
What is said of assafoetida?
214
QUESTIONS.
What is turpentine?
What are essential oils?
Of what nature are they?

In what parts of a plant are they found?
What are fixed oils? and name some.
What principle is contained by the hop?

Name some circumstances respecting this plant.
Name some other well known bitters.
Give instances of plants containing the pungent

principle.
What is the acrid principle? and name some
plants containing it.
What is a narcotic?
Mention some plants in which the narcotic prin

ciple is found.
Mention some of the various kinds of acid.
Name several instances of plants containing

acid.
Is sugar found in many vegetables?

In what plants may we find starch?
Name some plants in which tannin may be

found.
QUESTIONS.
215
What is said of indigo?

What is said of dyer's woad?
Name a plant in which we may find a bright
blue dye.
From what plants may we extract a red dye?
What plants produce a yellow dye?
What is said of vegetable wax?
Name a plant in which it is very abundant.
Whence do we procure camphor?
Do any other plants produce it?
Name some of its uses.
Whence do we procure caoutchouc?

What is cork, and whence obtained?
Name an English tree in which it is found.

Name some other substances produced by plants.
What is said of the common gromwell?
What is said of the plant termed horsetail?
216
CHAPTER XI.
LOCALITIES of
PLANTs: EFFECTs of CLIMATE on
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONs; PLANTs of various CountRIEs,

AND of DIFFERENT HEMISPHEREs.
E must all have observed that different plants

are peculiar to different places, and that we
cannot gather them all in any rural spot. Thus if
we wished to find primroses or lilies of the valley,
we should not climb to the top of a sunny hill to
search for them; or if we wanted the briar rose,
we should not go to the sands on the sea shore to

look for it. A large number of our wild flowers,
like the daisy and dandelion, are found in hedges,
meadows, on hills, in valleys, and in almost every
part of a rural British landscape.
Many of them, however, grow chiefly in certain
situations; and if they happen to rear their heads
in places where we should not expect to find them,
are less flourishing than when blooming under
LOCALITIES OF PLANTS,
217
their usual circumstances. A number of plants

are termed aquatics, and grow in streams, like the
water violet, or the water lily, or the green duck
weed, which covers the surface of the pond. Again,
many very handsome flowers, and several trees,
while they do not grow in the midst of the water,
require the presence of moisture in their immediate
neighbourhood, and wave to the breezes which
blow over the streams.
Among these, are the
wild water valerian, and the purple loosestrife;

the odorous and graceful white meadowsweet;
the gray willow, and the useful alder. The sea
side has its peculiar plants, though they are few
in number; but the samphire will grow there only,
and the Michaelmas daisy, and the sea-side purs
lane, are never seen but on salt lands.
Some, like
the tamarisk and sea holly, though found in their

native places at the coast, may, by culture, be made
to ornament our inland shrubberies and gardens.
Sea-weeds have their place exclusively in the
bottom of the ocean, or round about the salt pools
which arise from it, or are fastened to rocks which,
218
LOCALITIES OF PLANTS,
at high tide, are washed by the briny waters. A

few British plants, like the marsh St. John's wort,
and the shining sundew, thrive only in boggy places;
and several of our most beautiful garden flowers
are brought from the bogs of other lands: this is
the case with the azaleas and rhododendrons.
Our corn fields have their own gay ornaments,

for there we find the poppy and the corn-cockle;
while the violet, or the wood anemone, gladden
the shady hedges or the copses. The gay meadow,
where the sun shines in fullest power, is bright
with buttercups. The ivy grows against the wall
or the old tree, and the moss makes the old stone
look young with its verdure. A few plants in

sinuate their fibres into rocks and walls, and, like
the stonecrop and the houseleek, flourish on a

barren soil. Brambles, honeysuckles, and wild
vines of various kinds, twine about hedges and
woods; and parasitic plants, like the mistletoe,
flourish on the juices of larger vegetables. We
have few parasites in our country, but in warm

climates they are numerous and luxuriant.
TROPICAL PLANTS,
219
But we must turn from the plants of our own

lands, to regard the products of other countries.
Our garden flowers are chiefly exotics. A few
British flowers have been improved by the skill
of man, and are reared as garden flowers, but we
owe the greater numbers to distant and warmer
climates.
We do not however see our exotics in
the same appearance which they present in their

own lands. Some are improved by our gardeners,
but by far the larger number of them lose both
brilliance and odour by their transplantation. In
Tropical countries vegetation has a more profuse
and magnificent appearance; the colours are
brighter, the odours more powerful, and the trees

are gigantic in height, while the plains are carpeted
with thousands of flowers. Wheat grows only on
high mountains in those hot regions, but products
of equal value, as the maize, the millet, the date,
the banana, the sugar came and bamboo, flourish
there. Coffee, spices, and many luscious fruits, as
the orange and citron, belong to sunny regions.
The forests are full of trees, hung about with
220
EFFECTS OF CLIMATE
large twining flowers: but mosses and lichens are

not found there, and the soft grassy turf of our
own meadows is unknown, while tall coarse grasses,
many feet high, take its place.
Palms are quite confined to countries within the
Tropics, and the pine and fir tribe are peculiar to
regions far from the Equator, or to very elevated
districts. It is generally said, that plants are simi
lar in all countries in the same degree of latitude;
but it must be remembered, that elevation above
the sea has the same effects on vegetation, as

distance from the Equator. In both cases, we may
arrive at a point where the snow never melts,
and where vegetation ceases. In both cases, plants
become depressed and few, as we reach the regions
of perpetual snow. The palm trees, the tree ferns,
the coarse harsh grasses, form the striking features
of Tropical vegetation, and present an appearance
quite different to that which it exhibits in the
temperate or colder regions of the globe; while as
we advance towards the poles, trees become fewer
and smaller, and mosses and lichens become nume
ON VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.
rous.
221
Some kinds of fir, the alder, the birch, the
hazel, and willow, are found on the borders of
perpetual snow; and some of these dwarf birch

and willow trees are so small, that the former is
often not above a foot high. The plants of the

eastern hemisphere, in many cases, differ from
those of the west, though in the same degree of
latitude. Thus the cactus is peculiar to the eastern
hemisphere, and the beautiful heaths to the western.
Many islands also have plants peculiar to them
selves, and which are never found in continents.
QUESTIONS.
MENTION some plants found only on peculiar

spots.
Mention some aquatics, and plants found only

by streams.
Name some plants of salt marshes.
Will any of these grow in inland places.
Where do sea-weeds grow?
222
QUESTIONS.
Mention some plants of corn fields and of mea

dows.
Mention some which grow on walls, and some

which grow in hedges.
Are our garden flowers exotics?
In what respect does Tropical vegetation differ
from ours?
What plants compensate to the inhabitants of the

Tropics for the want of wheat?
Are there grass meadows in Tropical lands?
In what regions are palm trees found?
What circumstance affects vegetation in the same
way as difference of latitude?
In what way do plants near the poles resemble
those of elevated regions?
What plants give the most striking appearance
to Tropical vegetation?
What plants are most numerous near the poles?
-
What is said of the dwarf birch and willow P
Are the plants of the eastern hemisphere simi

lar to those of the west?
What is said of the plants found on islands?
223
CHAPTER XII.
ON THE WoRDs GENUs, SPECIES, AND WARIETY; ON CoN
sulTING A FLORA; ON FoRMING AND PRESERVING A
DRIED CollecTION of PLANTs.
S this book is intended for the young, it is

necessary here to explain terms, which,
though they appear very simple to the practised
botanist, sometimes perplex the beginner. These
are the words Genus, Species, and Variety.
A genus includes a number of plants similar to
each other in their most striking features: a species
comprehends those allied by still closer and more
numerous resemblances. Thus all roses belong to
the genus rose; all violets, to the genus violet.
There are, however, several kinds of roses, as the
briar-rose, the damask-rose, and the cabbage-rose.

Each of these kinds is a different species. Again,
-
there are several kinds of violet, as the sweet
scented violet, the dog violet, and the Neapolitan
224
ON GENUS, SPECIES,
violet. These all belong to the genus violet, but

are different species of that genus. When flowers
of the same species differ in some very slight par
ticular, as colour or size, this particular is liable
to change by removing the individual plant to
another soil.
It is not a constant featre of the
plant, and we therefore term a plant so differing, a

variety of a species, and not another species. Thus
the white sweet violet is not a distinct species from
the purple sweet violet. The flower is exactly
similar both in its structure and its nature, and,
merely differing from it in colour, is but a white

variety of the common sweet violet.
We must now endeavour to guide the learner to

the use of a Flora, or book by which he will dis
cover the names of those flowers he may find in
his country walk. If he should however happen
to have a friend who is a botanist, it would be
better to seek his assistance on this point; as a few

minutes' practical instruction would render the use
of a Flora more easy than a written direction can
do. There are British Floras by several good
AND VARIETY.
225
authors. One very valuable one is written by Sir

J. E. Smith; another, by Dr. Hooker; and ano
ther, by Withering. These are all arranged upon

the Linnaean system. The latter work has been
condensed by Macgillivray, and is the easiest for
beginnes.
When the learner has gathered a flower, he
must first find its class and order, by examining
its stamens and pistils. We will suppose that he
wished to know the name of the large white con
volvulus, or bindweed, which grows in the hedges
of almost every English landscape. Upon dissect
ing the flower, he would find that it contained five
stamens and one pistil; and would of course refer
it to class Pentandria, order Monogynia. By
turning to that class and order in the Flora, he
would find a number of different genera of plants

of that class and order; and, with the fl wer in his
hand, he must compare it with the descriptions of

each genus, until he sees one which it resembles.
This seems much to do, as in class Pentandria
there are so many flowers, but he soon finds that

Q
226
ON CONSULTING
it is not necessary to go through each description,

as sometimes he can see by the first two or three
words that it cannot suit the flower he seeks.
In Withering's Systematic Arrangement of

British Plants,or British Florathe description
of the genus convolvulus is thus:
Calyx inferior, of one leaf, small, divided into

five egg-shaped permanent segments. Corolla of
one petal, large, bell-shaped, regular, with five
plaits, and five shallow lobes: mectary and gland
under the germen. Filaments awl-shaped, half as
long as the corolla. Anthers arrow-shaped, erect,
terminal. Germen roundish. Style thread-shaped,
as long as the stamens; stigmas two, spreading;
capsule roundish. Seeds large and roundish.
Named from convolvo to entwine.
This excellent and minute description, of course

includes all the genus convolvulus; and now, in
order to find what species he has gathered, the
learner must mark the number attached to the
genus, and turn a few pages further in the book

to the corresponding number. Here he finds
A FLORA.
227
described, first the little pink almond-scented con

volvulus, and next the large white species, the
flower in question. The following is its specific
description.
Convolvolus sepium, great bindweed. Leaves
arrow-shaped; flower stalks square, bearing a
single flower; bracteas heart-shaped, close to the
flower; roots long, creeping; stems twining, several
feet long; flowers large, white or tinged with rose
colour. Perennial, flowers in July and August,
grows in hedges and thickets.
As soon as the learner can use a Flora readily
(which he will do after a little practice), he ought
to begin to form a collection of dried plants. This
collection is called an herbarium, or a hortus siccus.
In preserving plants, care should be taken to

retain, as much as possible, the appearance and
form which they have when growing. Many
plants may be well dried by being placed in large
books; but the young botanist will find it a good
plan, to procure several quires of blotting paper,
and to place his plants between the sheets of paper,
228
ON FORMING
putting on them a pressure of considerable weight,

such as a large pile of books, or a bag of shot.
This little drying apparatus should be kept in a
convenient place during the Summer; and the
botanist should, immediately upon his return from
his walk, lay out his plants to dry. If a large
quantity of paper be used, so as that two or three
sheets are between each specimen, the plants will
not require removing; but if a small quantity of
paper only be employed, the plants must occasion
ally be taken out, while the paper is thoroughly
dried by the fire.
The learner must not be disappointed if some
of his flowers lose their colour. Few of them,
indeed, retain their natural brilliance of tint, even
when dried with the greatest care, and several
flowers invariably turn black in drying. This is

the case with the common yellow cow-wheat, the
yellow rattle, the red bartsia, and most of the
orchis plants.
When the plants have been well dried, they
should then be placed on paper, to form the her
AN HERBARIUM.
229
barium. Each specimen should be attached to a

sheet of white paper. A good way of confining
them to the paper, is by covering some coloured
paper with thin carpenter's glue, and cutting small
strips of the coloured sheet, when wanted, and with

these strips fastening down the flower. At the
top of each plant should be written its class and
order; and beneath, its scientific and English names,
the place where it was found, the time when it
was gathered, and any other particular concerning
it, which the botanist would wish to record.
Dried plants are often much injured by insects,
which had laid their eggs in the living flower, and
are hatched in the herbarium.
If the herbarium
be kept in a damp place, it cannot possibly be long
preserved; and even when kept in a dry room, it

requires frequent opening. Botanists can prevent
the incursions of insects by washing their plants
with poisonous liquid; but as the smallest careless
ness with this preparation might endanger life, it
is not right to recommend its use to the young.
30
QUESTIONS.
QUESTIONS.
WHAT is a genus?
What is a species?
In what does a variety differ from a species?
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

PICTORIAL CATE CHISM

aimed to offer to the learner a complete

of the science, and to present them in as sim

it suitable for general instruction.

The simple fact, that the

system of Linnaeus affords the greater facility

of flowers, and that it is upon the whole

By placing questions at the end of the

ON the NATURE of Plants; Cellular Tissue; Vascular

Roots:Various Uses of Roots; Uses of Fibrous Parts;

Of the STEM Its Uses; Its Direction; Means of Sup

of Pith; Hollow Stems; Woody Stem of Palms;

BUDs:-Season of their Formation; Leaf Buds; Flower

LEAvEs:Upper Surfaces of Leaves; Under Surfaces

Leaves to Plants; Effect of Light on Leaves; Colour

APPENDAGEs of Plants; Stipule; Stipules on the Plane

The Corolla; Its various Forms; Uses of the Corolla;

MoDE of FloweRING:Spike; Raceme; Panicle;

On CLAssIFICATION of Plants:System of Linnaeus;

Further Remarks on the Classes and Orders; Ferns;

SAP:Flowing of Sap; Ascending Sap; Descending

Local ITIEs of Plants; Effect of Climate on Vegetable

On the Words Genus, Species, and Variety; On Con

sulting a Flora; On Forming and Preserving a dried

OTANY, or the study of vegetables, teaches

variety of objects, of various sizes, from the tall

stone. The largest, most solid and lasting kind

root, or fruit of a plant, we find in each of them

a pulpy soft substance. In the leaf, this substance

CELLULAR TISSUE; WooDY FIBRE.

but it is the same substance in them all.

examined by a microscope it is found to be full of

It is, therefore, called the cellular tis

sue. The juice which fills these cells, gives the

It consists of vessels or tubes, distributed over every

the sugar in the sugar-cane. The whole mass of

are formed entirely of cellular tissue.

Over every part of the plant, except the top of

In leaves, as well as in the blossoms of

flowers, it is clear and easily torn; but when it is

It is quite devoid of colour, and takes its tint from

stripped away, but if torn off from flowers and leaves,

cuticle of a plum, and of some other fruits, has a

plant has on it a number of little clear spots, which

look like ice-drops. We may frequently see the

WHAT does Botany teach? "

What are plants called which grow in our own

What is that which makes the rose red and the

What are the other substances called?

Is the vascular tissue abundant in plants?

Are there any plants without them?

What part of the plant does it cover?

Mention some substances occasionally found on

ROOTS:VARIous Uses of Roots; Uses of FIBRous PARTs;

PERFECT plant may be said to consist of the

and some parts called the appendages, which will be

is a part always found in vegetables, except in two

water, or aquatic plants, have usually roots. Some

stream, as the water-lily. The little green duck

food from the soil, for its mourishment. It gene

USES OF FIBROUS PARTS.

these openings. It is found that some vegetables