MONADELPHIA. 437 



pod of this Order. Most of its species are 

 foetid and very poisonous, whereas scarcely 

 any plants properly belonging to this Class 

 are remarkably noxious, for I have great 

 doubts concerning the disease called Uer- 

 phania, attributed by Linnaeus to the seeds 

 of Raphanus Raphanistrum. 



The Cruciform plants are vulgarly called 

 antiscorbutic, and supposed to be of an 

 alkalescent nature. Their essential oil, 

 which is generally obtainable in very small 

 quantities by distillation, smells like vola- 

 tile alkali, and is of a very acrid quality. 

 Hence the foetid scent of water in which 

 cabbages, or other plants of this tribe, 

 have been boiled. 



Class 16. Monadelphia. Stamens united 

 by their filaments into one tube. Orders 8, 

 distinguished by the number of their sta- 

 mens. 



I. Triandria is exemplified by Sisyrinchium, 

 Ic. Pict. t. 9, and Ferraria, Curt. Mag. 

 t. 144, 532, both erroneously placed by 

 Linnaeus in Gynandria. Also the singular 

 Cape plant Aphyteia, consisting of a large 



