EXPLANATION OF PLATE I.

Fg. 1. ARECA oleracea Cabbage-tree. [Family of the Palms.] This tree is mor.cecious. It grows to the height of 120 feet. This is a young plant, little more than 20 feet in height. The stipe is slender, simple, and vertical. Leaves terminal, very long, pinnate; petioles sheathing; leafets elongated, lanceolate; spathas monophylous, growing from the axils of the lower leaves, which fall off; flowers in panicles, the staminate and pistillate flowers enclosed by different spathas. a, Spatha shut, b, spatha opened laterally; c, stipe, which is fusiform ; d, panicle of staminate flowers, which were contained in the spatha before it opened; e, panicle of pistillate flowers, entirely separated from its spatha; f, part of the stipe, formed at its superfices by the base of the developed aves, and in the interior by the young, tender, and succulent leaves, which form a white compact head. These are eaten by the people of the West Indies as a salad, cooked as we prepare cabbage; the name Areca is given in the East Indies, where this tree flourishes. g, is a young leaf folded like a fan. The areca-nut is chewed by the people of India. It is said to resemble the nutmeg. This plant belongs to Monacia Monodelphia.

Fig. 2. CACTUS peruvianus. (Family of the Cacti.) The name Cacti was given by the Greek botanist, Theophrastus, who first discovered the plant. A succulent plant, becoming woody by age; it rises to the height of thirty feet. It grows among the rocks in Peru, near the sea. The stem is vertical, articulated, branching, spinose, with seven or eight prominent angles. Branches erect; spines acicular, fasciculated, divergent, placed at intervals upon the ridges of the stem and branches. Flowers lateral, cauline, solitary, sub-sessile, it belongs to Icosandria Monogynia.

Fig. 3. DRACENA draco. Dragon-tree. (Family Asphodel.) A tree of Africa and the Indies, the diameter of whose trunk is very great in comparison to its height. Stipe cylindrical, vertical, marked with transverse cicatrices left by the leaf in falling Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexicaulis, ensiform, cuspidate; the upper ones erect, the lower ones pendent, the intermediate ones spreading or reflexed; a red, resinous extract, obtained from this plant, and called Dragon's blood, is sold ir the shops. The ancient Greeks introduced it into medicine. This plant is classed ir Hexandria Monogynia.

Fig. 4. Musa paradisiaca, or the Banana tribe. (Family Musa.) The name Musa iu said to have been given by Linnæus in honour of Antonius Musa, the physician of Augustus, who wrote on botany. This is an herbaceous plant, with a perennial bulbous root; it grows to the height of 15 or 20 feet. It is a native of the East Indies, but has been long cultivated in South America. The leaves are radical, petioled, at Erst convolute; petioles long, large, sheathing, forming by their brim a thick and smooth stem resembling a atipe. The lamina of the leaf is sometimes 9 feet in length and two in breadth, oblong, entire; the sides thick and strong, with the veins at right angles to them, and to the midrib. Scape cylindrical, naked, sheathed. Spike terminal, pendent. Flowers semi-verticillate, bracted; the fertile flowers at the base of the spike, the infertile at the summit. A, is a young Banana; a a, central leaves, convolute. B, a Banana bearing fruit; a, remains of old leaves; b, the scape; c, d, e, pendent spike; c, the fruit, (classed by Mirbel in the genus berry ;) d, portion of the axis from which the flowers have fallen; e, steril flowers, crowded into a compact head, terminal, enveloped by their bracts. This plant is by some placed in the class Hexandria, by others in the now obsolete class Polygamia; but Mirbel, very properly, think, considers it as belonging to the class Monacia. The spikes of fruit sometimes weigh from thirty to forty pounds each. The fruit when ripe is yellow. Each berry is about eight inches in length, and one in diameter.

Fig. 5. CACTUs opuntia. Prickly-pear. (Family of the Cacti.) A succulent plant with a woody stem, first described and named by Theophrastus, as a spiny, edible plant. It is a native of southern latitudes, where it grows to the height of eight or ten feet. Stem thick, compressed, ramose, articulated, spinose; the joints are ovate. Leaves very small, cylindrical, subulate, caducous. Spines fasciculated, divergent, growing at the base of the leaves.

Fig. 6. TYPHA latifolia. Cat-tail. (Family Typha.) The name from the Greek tiphos, a lake, because it grows in marshy places. An herbaceous plant, monacious, with a perennial root, growing to the height of eight or ten feet in marshy grounds, in Europe and North America. Stem vertical, simple, aphyllous at its summit, surrounded at the lower part with sheathing petioles. Leaves very long, riband-like. Flowers in a terminal, crowded, cylindrical spike. Barren flowers superior, and separated from the fertile flowers by a short interruption. This plant belongs to Monacia Triandria.

Fig. 7. CACTUS melocactus. (Family of the Cacti.) Succulent plant from tho Antilles, perennial, melon-form, with fifteen or twenty sides, garnished with fascicles of divergent spines.

Mirbel, whose description I follow, defines fusiform as tapering at both ends and swelled towards the auddle: thus he considers the Radish root as fusiform, while the carrot he calls conical.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE II.

Fig. 1. YUCCA aloifolia. (Family of the Liliacea.) Adam's Needle. A tree of ten or twelve feet in height, indigenous in the West Indies. Stype cylindric, erect, sometimes two or three-forked. Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexi caulis, ensiform; the upper ones erect, the lower ones pendent, the intermediate, spreading or reflexed. Panicle simple, terminal, pyramidal. Flowers pendent. Perianth simple, six-sepalled, campanulate. This plant belongs to Hexandria Monogynia. It is the majestic lily of the tropics. The name Yucca is from Jucca, the Indian appellation.

Fig. 2. SACCHARUM officinale. (Family of the Grasses.) Sugar-cane. An herbaceous, perennial plant, which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet. Culm is vertical, cylindrical, solid. Leaves sheathing, elongated, ensiform. Panicle large, silky. The name Saccharum is from the Arabic, soukar, sugar. This plant is thought to be a native of India, but it is now cultivated in most warm countries. With most of the grass-like plants, it belongs to Triandria Digynia.

Fig. 3. FERULA tingitana. (Family of the Umbellifera.) Giant-fennel. Herbaceous plant, biennial, 8 or 9 feet in height. Stem cylindrical, vertical. Leaves alternate, large, decompound, with very small leafets. Petioles with a large base, amplexicaulis. Panicle terminal, composed of umbels. This plant grows in Spain and Barbary; it belongs to Pentandria Digynia, where the umbelliferous tribe is mostly classed. A species of this genus. FERULA assafoetida, produces from its root the me dicinal gum, assafoetida; from another species, the galbanum is obtained.

Fig. 4. CYMBIDIUM echinocarpon. (Family of the Orchidea.) A parasitic plant of South America which grows to the height of two or three feet. Stems compressed. Leaves opposite, oval, acute. Capsule bristly. This piant belongs to Gynandria Monandria. A species C.* pulchellum (grass-pink) is very common in our region.

It may be proper to inform the student, that where several species of a genus are mentioned, it is very common to designate the name of the genus by the initial letter; thus C. stands for Cymbidium.