ICOSANDRIA. 

 CLASS XII. 



TWENTY STAMINA. 



This Class has three Orders. 



This Class is said to have twenty stamina, but the 

 precision of the number is not of so much importance 

 as their insertion into the Calyx, which, though an 

 additional circumstance, is essential to the character 

 of the Class. 



ORDER I. 



CHERRY LAUREL. This plant is a native of monogy- 



the mountainous parts of Persia^ and is supposed to I 1 



have been first cultivated in Europe in 1570. It bios- ^"^j^^-^" 

 soms in April, and in the autumn produces a black 

 berry somewhat like a cherry or small plum ; hence 

 it has been classed by Linnaeus with the Genus Pru^ 

 nus, under which head it is to be found in modern 

 botanical works. In England it was a scarce plant in 

 the reign of Charles I, and a merchant who possessed 

 one in his garden at Highgate, in the year l6'29, <le- 

 fended it every winter from the severity of the cold 

 by covering it with a blanket. This fact is recorded 



