CLASS TETRANDR1A. 59 



ent (or abiding) calyx ; a total absence of corolla ; 

 three stamens ; and three villous or downy stigmas ; 

 to these succeed a hard, almost cartilaginous, three- 

 sided capsule of three cells, with three seeds. This 

 plant, though so unostentatious (allied to the Mirio- 

 phyllum or Water-milfoil), cannot help, still, to amuse 

 the rational botanist intent upon searching out the 

 harmonies and symmetry of vegetable nature. The 

 number three, or six, so extremely uncommon among 

 the great Dicotyledonous kingdom of plants, prevails 

 here throughout every part of the flower ; and yet, 

 theory would prescribe, both from its germinal char- 

 acter, and affinity with Miriophyllum, a number four 

 in place of three, and it is not very uncommon to 

 meet with single flowers in which the quadruple form 

 does, in reality, prevail. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OF THE CLASS TETRANDRIA. 



Among the curious natural assemblages of plants, 

 included either wholly or partially in this artifical 

 class of four stamens, I will first introduce to your 

 notice the Teasel (Dipsacus of Linnaeus), constituting 

 the type of comparison for the natural lamily of the 

 Dips ace *:, or aggregate flowers, which, with the ex- 

 ception of disunited anthers, and commonly only four 

 in number, might readily be mistaken for examples 

 of truly compound or Syngenesious flowers. The 

 Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), is a plant exten- 

 sively cultivated for the purpose of dressing woollen 

 cloth, and inducing upon it a short and finishing knap. 

 Almost all the plants of the genus are large, rough 



