12 



part of the summer, and are white on the outside, but 

 purple within. 



SENSITIVE HEDYSARUM, is a native of 

 Bengal, near the Ganges, and was first introduced 

 into England by Dr. Russel, in 1/75. This may be 

 considered as one of the most extraordinary plants in 

 the vegetable world. When the air is very warm, 

 and quite still, its leaves are in continual motion, some 

 rising, others falling, and others whorling circularly, 

 by twisting their stems : the cause of these phenomena 

 is not at all accounted for. Dr. Darwin conjectures 

 that this spontaneous motion may be necessary to the 

 plant, as perpetual respiration is to animal life. 



It grows about three feet high ; the leaves are of a 

 bright green, with somewhat of a sea-green hue in 

 the middle; the flowers are of a pale red, slightly 

 tinged with blue, and sometimes with yellow. 



To this Order belongs the leguminous vegetables, 

 as the Pea, Bean, Vetch, &c. b they are all said to be 

 wholesome, but I believe there are some exceptions 

 to the rule. The seeds of the Citisis Labernum, in 

 their green state, have an emetic quality; and those 



b That which in common language is called a pea-shell. 

 in the language of Botany is called a legume?i, the seeds being 

 arranged along one of its sutures. When, in a similar covering, 

 the seeds are affixed to the seams on both sides, as in the 

 plants of the second Order of Class XV, that kind of seed- 

 vessel is properly called a pod, In the English language this 

 discrimination is not attended to. 



