MONOUCOTYLEDONER, 235 
and alternate with the other. Gemmule usually enclosed in 
the substance of the embryo, which it bursts laterally at ger- 
mination. Radicle also enclosed by the embryo, the inferior 
extremity of which is pierced by, and forms a sheath for, the 
radicle. Perianth sometimes absent ; often single or simple 5 
and its parts generally three in number, or a multiple of 
three. Leaves frequently alternate and sheathing at the 
base ; sessile or not distinctly articulated with the stem: and 
having parallel veins or nerves little branched. (See Fron- 
tispiece, Fig. 3. ) Stem consisting of cellular tissue, through 
which bundles of vessels are irregularly scattered; without 
any division into pith, wood, and bark ; and growing by the 
descent of new matter into the central part. (See Frontis- 
Piece, Fig. 1.) 
_ Exampres.—Palms, Lilies, Grasses, Orchis, Tulip, Onion. 
The Monocotyledonee are called Endogenae from their 
mode of growth, and Endorhizae from the radicle being en- 
closed in a sheath. 
Monocotyledones, according to Humboldt, are 1-6th of 
e flowering plants in tropical regions; 1-4th in the tem- 
Perate latitudes, between 36° and 52°; and 1-3d in the 
northern and arctic regions. 
‘The monocotyledonee are generally wholesome. They 
often contain a large quantity of starch in the roots, as the 
‘yams—the stem, as the Sago Palm—or the fruit, as in the 
‘Brasses: and sugar is also plentiful in them. There are 
of a bitter, acrid, or poisonous nature. cn 
The monocotyledonez are divided into three classes, ac-_ 
as the stamens are hypogynous, perigynous, or epi- : 
