Shakspeare also calls the same flower, "Love in idleness." You will find the blue violet (Viola cærulia) among the first flowers of spring. Our meadows present a great variety of beautiful and fra grant violets. The genus Capsicum affords the Cayenne pepper and the red pepper of our gardens. The pericarps, when ripe, are of a bright red ; the seeds, which are attached to a central column, are heating and stimulating. A draught of hot cider and molasses, with a pod or two of red pepper steeped in it, was long held in high repute, in New England, as a remedy for colds. The green peppers are used for pickles. We might enumerate many other interesting plants which belong to this order, but our limits will not permit. The family of the Convolvuli, or the morning-glory tribe, and of the Caprifolia, or bush-honeysuckle tribe, are composed of genera of pentandrous plants LECTURE XXVI. CLASS PENTANDRIA-Continued. Order Digynia. N this order of the fifth class, is the family Gentiane, which_affords some delicate flowers, as well as medicinal articles. The fringed gentian is a beautiful plant with a blue flower. This genus sometimes presents an irregularity in the number of stamens. In the natural family, called Atriplices, from the genus Atriplex, (seaorache,) is the pig-weed, Chenopodium; this plant, notwithstanding its humble appearance, is dignified with a high-sounding name. is grouped by natural characters with the beet and dock, flowers which are destitute of beauty, According to the late arrangement of natural orders by De Candolle and Lindley, we find the order Chenopodia, in which is the pig-weed, water-hemp, and several other plants, placed by Jussieu in his order Atriplices. Umbelliferous Plants. * It We meet, in this order of the class Pentandria, with a family of plants closely allied by natural characters; these are called umbelliferous from the Latin umbella, an umbrella, on account of the manner in which the peduncles grow out from the main stem. Among the plants of this family, which are used for food, are the carrot, parsnip, celery, and parsley; the aromatics are dill, fennel, caraway, coriander, and sweet cicely. Poison hemlock, (Conium,) water parsnip, (Sium,) water cow-bane, are among the poisonous plants of this tribe. The water cow-bane (CICUTA virosa) grows in ponds and marshes. Cows are often killed in the spring by eating it, but as the summer advances, the smell becomes stronger, and they carefully avoid it. Linnæus relates, that in a tour made into Lapland, for scientific purposes, he was told of a disease among the cattle of Torneo, which killed a great many in the spring, when they first began to feed in pastures. The inhabitants were unable to account for this circum stance; but the Swedish botanist examining the pastures, discovered a marsh where the CICUTA virosa grew in abundance; he ac *See Plate ii. Fig. 3, for a plant of this family. Capsicum Gentianæ-Family Atriplices-Chenopodia-What is the origin of the word umbelliferous?-What are some of the plants of this family ?--What is said of the water cow-bane? quainted the people with the poisonous qualities of the plant, and thus enabled them to provide against the danger by fencing in the marsh. The poison hemlock (CONIUM maculatum) has a peculiarly unpleasant, nauseous smell; its stalk is large and spotted, from whence its specific name maculatum, which signifies spotted. This plant is supposed to be the poison so fatally administered by the Athenians to Socrates and Phocion. The umbellate plants which grow on dry ground are aromatic; as dill, and fennel; those which grow in wet places, or the aquatic species, are among the most deadly poisons; as water parsnip, &c. Plants of this family are not in general so beautiful to the sight, nor so interesting, as objects of botanical analysis, as many others.* In order to assist you in analyzing plants of this family, we will illustrate their botanical characters by a sketch of the coriander. 1. CALYX, a; this is of that kind called an involucrum; the leaves which you see at the foot of the universal umbel, form what is called the general involucrum; the leaves which are at the foot of the partial umbel, form a partial involucrum. Both of these involucrums are pinnatifid, or have the leaves divided. 2. COROLLA, b; this is represented as magnified; you can see that it has five petals, inflected or bent inwards. 3. STAMENS, five, anthers somewhat divided. 4. PISTILS, two, reflexed or bent back, as may be seen on the seed c, where the stigmas are permanent. 5. PERICARP, is wanting in all umbellate plants. 6. SEED, c, is round, with its two styles at the summit; it consists of two carpels. Botanists in general shrink from the study of the Umbelliferæ; nor have these plants much beauty in the eyes of amateurs; but they will repay the trouble of a careful observation. The late M. Cusson of Montpelier bestowed more pains upon them than any other botanist has ever done; but the world has, as yet, been favoured with only a part of his remarks. His labours met with a most ungrateful check, in the unkindness and mortifying stupidity of his wife, who, in his absence from home, is recorded to have destroyed his whole herbarium, scraping off the dried specimens for the sake of the paper on which they were pasted !-" Sir James Edward Smith's Introeduction to Botany." What is said of the poison hemlock? -Describe Fig. 128. 7. STEM, d, is herbaceous, branched. In distinguishing the genera of umbelliferous plants, the figure, margin, and angles of the seeds are much regarded. The seeds of the carrot are bristly, those of the poison hemlock marked with ridges, those of the parsnip flat. Order Trigynia. This order contains the elder, (Sambucus,) a shrub which ornaments the fields during the summer, with its clusters of delicate white flowers. From the appearance of the blossom you night. suppose it to be umbelliferous; the stalks do at first radiate from one common centre, but afterward they are unequally sub-divi ded; this arrangement of flowers is called a cyme. The dark, rich purple berries of the elder, and the peculiarity of its pithy stem, are among its distinguishing, natural characters. The snow-ball, Viburnum, has a natural affinity with the elder: the flowers in its cymes are more thickly clustered together. Both are distinguished by their flat corollas, which resemble a cir cular piece of paper, with five divisions notched on the border. The only generic difference between the snow-ball and the elder is, that the former has a berry or pericarp, with one seed, the latter with three. The snow-ball which is cultivated in shrubberies is an exotic; but there is a native species of viburnum, the oxycoccus, which pro‹ luces showy flowers early in the spring, and is well worth a place in pleasure-grounds. Order Tetragynia. Here we find the grass of Parnassus, (Parnassia.) This is an interesting flower; the leaves are white, and beautifully veined with yellow; the stem produces but one flower; the nectaries are ren ark able for their beauty and singular appearance; they are five in number, heart-form, and hollow, surrounded with thirteen little threads, each one terminating with a round, glandular substɛ nce. The plant is said to be a native of Mount Parnassus, in Greec‹ ›, so celebrated in mythology, as the dwelling of the muses. Order Pentagynia. are In the fifth order we find the flax, Linum, so called from a Celtic word, lin, a thread. It has a showy, blue flower, with an erect stem; a field of flax in blossom presents a very beautiful appearance. The cultivated species is said to be of Egyptian origin. It is from the liber or inner bark of the stem of this plant, that all linen goods, and the finest lawn and cambric, are manufactured. We owe to it, in one sense, our literature; as the paper of which our books made, is mostly from linen rags. The fibres of the stem are not only thus important to the comfort of man, by contributing to his clothing, and to his intellectual improvement in furnishing a method of disseminating knowledge, but the seeds are highly valuable for their oil, called linseed oil. This is used in medicine. The delightful performances of the painter are executed by means of colours prepared with oil, from the seed of the flax, laid upon the canv ass made from the fibres of its stems. The leaves of Umbelliferous plants are mostly compound, and sheathing at the base. + The description of this plant is given on the authority of Nuttall, who calls it the American coriander, which he says is found in the neighbourhood of the Red River. The cultivated coriander has a one-leafed involucrum. Elder Snow-ball-Grass of Parnassus--Flax. Order Polygynia. The thirteenth order, containing plants with more than ten pistils, occurs next to the fifth; there being no plants in the class Pentandria with six, seven, eight, or nine pistils. The yellow root (Zarthoriza) is a native of the Southern States. It has 5 stamens, 13 pistils, no calyx, 5 petais, 5 nectaries, and 5 capsules; the flowers are purple, growing in panicles. It is a low shrub, with a yellow root, sometimes used by diers. Our explanation of the class Pentandria has necessarily been somewhat tedious, on account of the number and importance of the plants which it contains, few of which, in comparison with the whole we have been able to notice. We do not, however, expect to make you practical botanists by introducing to your observation a few interesting plants;-this can only be done by gathering flowers, and examining them according to those rules of analysis which we have endeavoured to explain in the most simple manner. If you study flowers, you will read about them with pleasure and profit; if not, remarks upon them will convey little instruction. Sciences may be unfolded, every facility which books and teaching can give, may De placed before the youthful mind; but that mind must itself be ac tive, or the germs of knowledge will no more take root and expand than the seeds of plants would vegetate if thrown upon the bare sui face of a granite rock. LECTURE XXVII. CLASS HEXANDRIA, CLASS HEPTANDRIA. CLASS VI.-HEXANDRIA. Or all the artificial classes, none presents us with so great a number of splendid genera as Hexandria; most of them are distinguished by bulbous roots, monocotyledonous seeds, and endogenous stems; the palms and some other plants of this class have fibrous roots in connexion with the last two characters; these are inseparable, the nature of the stem, or the manner of its growth, depending on the structure of the seed. Order Monogynia. Liliaceous plants, or the family of the Liliaceæ. The most prominent group of plants in this class and order, is the lily tribe, comprehending not only the genus of the lily, but the tulip, crown-imperial, hyacinth, and many other of our most beautiful exotics, as well as many native plants. The liliaceous flowers have no calyx; the perianth is coloured, and petal-like; it is usually called the corolla. The number of stamens is generally 6, sometimes but 3; in the latter case the plant is in the class Triandria; the stamens are opposite the divisions of the corolla. The germ is triangular, 3celled, superior. The root is bulbous. The leaves have paralle veins. Zanthoriza-Remarks on closing the examination of the class PentandriaClass Hexandria-Natural characters which distinguish plants of this class-Gener al remarks upon the Lihaceæ. You have already been made acquainted with the lily, as it was one of the first flowers you were taught to analyze. Pliny says the "lily is the next in nobility to the rose."* Linnæus called the liliaceous flowers "Nobles of the vegetable kingdom;" he also called the palm-trees "Princes of India," and the grasses Plebeians. But in our republican country, where arisFig. 129. tocratic distinctions among men are discarded, we will not attempt to introduce orders of nobility among the plants. In the lily, which has 6 stamens, there are 6 petals; 3 of these are exterior, 3 interior; the capsule is 3-sided, with 3 cells, and valves; the seeds are arranged in 6 rows. This proportion of numbers seems to forbid the idea that this plant was produced without the agency of a designing mind. We are not always, however, to expect the same symmetry in plants, as has been here remarked. It is in the natural, as in the moral world, that, although we see around us such proofs of order and system, as manifest the superinending care of one Almighty Being, yet we meet with irregularities which we cannot comprehend; but, although we may admire the order, we are not to say that even what seems disorder, is formed without a plan. "Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce The tulip has no style, but its three-parted stigma is attached to a three-cornered germ. The corolla of the tulip is more expanded at the base than that of the lily. The stem of the tulip is never more than one-flowered, while that of the lily usually has a number of flowers. In no plant is the variation made by culture, greater than in the tulip; it is said, that of one single species, (TULIPA gesneriana.) eleven hundred varieties are cultivated in Holland. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the rage for tulips was so great that some were sold for four thousand dollars, and one variety, called the Viceroi, for ten thousand dollars; but this extraordinary traffic was checked by a law, that no tulip or other flower should be sold for a sum exceeding one hundred and seventy-five dollars. The amateurs of this flower may truly be said to have had the tulip-mania, to have rendered such a law necessary. The Crown-imperial† is a majestic flower, and presents, in the regularity of its parts, the curious appearance of its nectaries, and the liquid secretion which takes place in them, facts of great interest both in the departments of botanical classification and physiology. But we find in the fetid odour of this splendid flower, a circumstance which leads us to prefer, as an ornament for our parlours, or as a gift to a friend, the humble mignionette, or the lowly violet. * Lilium nobilitate proximum est." A French poet, in the following lines, gives the lily a rank above the rose. "Noble fils du soleil, le lys majesteur. This plant is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 4, of the Appendix; the Yucca aloifotia, which belongs to the same natural family, is represented at Plate ii. Fig. 1. The Narcissus is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 7. The Agave, of the Narcissi family, is represented at Plate vii. Fig. 2. The Pine-apple, belonging to this class and order, is represented at Plate v. Fig. 3. What is said of the lily ?---Tulip-Tulip mania-Crown-imperial. |