428 ICOSANDRIA. 



spending number of seeds. Spinea, nearly 

 allied to it, stands here, most of its species 

 having five styles, though some have a 

 much greater number ; see Engl. Hot. 

 i. 284, 960. Mesembryanthemum 9 a vast 

 and brilliant exotic genus, of a succulent 

 habit, abounding in alkaline salt, and a 

 few genera naturally allied to it, make up 

 the rest of the order. 



3. Polygt/tiia. An entirely natural order of 

 genuine Rosaceous flowers, except possibly 

 Cahjcanthus. Here we find Rosa, Engl. 

 Bof. t. 1S7, 990—2; Rubus, LS26 9 827, 

 716; Fragaria, t 1.524; Potentilla, t. 88, 

 89,862; Torment ilia, t. 863,864; Geum, 

 t. 106; Dri/as, t. 451; and Comarum. A 

 t. I? 2 : all elegant plants, agreeing in the 

 astringent qualities of their roots, bark and 

 foliage, and in their generally eatable, 

 always innocent, fruit. The vegetable 

 kingdom does not afford a more satisfac- 

 tory example of a natural order, composed 

 of natural genera, than this ; and Linnaeus 

 has well illustrated it in the Flora Lap- 

 ponica. His genus Torment ilia, differing 

 from Pofentilla in number of petals and 



