86 CLASS HEXANDRIA. 



pendulous flowers. The U. perfoliala, a rather com- 

 mon plant, has the elliptic obtuse leaves perfoliate, or 

 as if bored through for the passage of the stem ; 

 the corolla campanulate, granular and scabrous with- 

 in, and the anthers awned. In the U. grandiflora, 

 so common in western Pennsylvania, the leaves are 

 also perfoliate, but the petals smooth within, and the 

 anthers bluntly terminated ; the flower is also con- 

 siderably larger. There are likewise 2 other species 

 with which your Floras or systematic books will 

 readily bring you acquainted. 



In Asparagus, by some assumed as the type of a 

 natural order of the same name, the corolla is inferior 

 and 6-parted. The style very short, with 3 stigmas; 

 and the berry 3-celled, with 2 roundish seeds in each 

 cell. 



In Convallaria, Solomon's Seal, and Lily of the 

 Valley, which takes its place among the Liliaceje, 

 the corolla is inferior and 6-cleft ; the berry globu- 

 lar, spotted, and 3-celled. The genus is now divided 

 into several sections, or rather distinct genera or 

 natural groups. In the C. bifolia, the corolla lacks a 

 third part of its organs, and is consequently only 4- 

 parted, with the border spreading; the stamens only 4; 

 and the berry 2, instead of 3-celled. The flowers 

 are white and small, in a terminal raceme, and the 

 very low stem furnished with 2 alternate cordate 

 leaves. This plant grows in clusters in shady woods, 

 and flowers in May and June. Here, as in many 

 other instances of well known analogy, we have an 

 example of the natural composition of flowers, formed 

 of so many concomitant parts linked together by per- 

 petual ingraftment, so as to form but one compound 

 individual. 



In the next section, Smilacina, the corolla is per- 

 fect, or 6-parted, and spreading ; with the filaments 



