98 CLASS 0CTANDR1A. 



the beauty and fragrance of their early flowers* 

 None of the species are natives of America ; but 

 the Dirca, of which there is but one species, is ex- 

 clusively so. 



The Tropaolum, Indian Cress, or Nasturtium, re- 

 ferred also to the 8th class, deserves particular attention 

 from the incongruity of its parts with the alleged num- 

 ber of its stamens; as it has an inferior calyx of one 

 piece, but divided into 5, instead of 4 segments, and 

 terminated behind in a spur ; the corolla has likewise 

 5 unequal yellow petals finely pencilled with orange. 

 The fruit is 3 seeds, coated with a wrinkled integu- 

 ment ; these, from a similar warmth of taste and fla- 

 vor, have given to the plant the appellation of Cress, 

 and are employed for pickles. From the number of 

 parts in the flower we should naturally expect 10 sta- 

 mens, and, in fact, the rudiment or filament of a ninth 

 is not uncommon. From the inequality in the length 

 and situation of the stamens which are fully develop- 

 ed, as in the genus Cassia, it is pretty obvious that a 

 5th part are deducted by abortion. These plants, 

 originally from Peru, are now become common annu- 

 als, though rendered perennial by protection from 

 frost. They bear many long trailing tender branches, 

 with alternate, roundish, target-shaped, or peltate 

 leaves, so formed in consequence of having the petiole 

 attached below the margin of the disk of the leaf, and 

 in this instance nearly in the centre. 



The genus Polygonum, which includes the Buck- 

 wheat plant and some of our most common weeds, such 

 as the Knotgrass, belongs pretty generally to the 3d or- 

 der of our 8th class, and is itself the type of the very na- 

 tural order Polygone^:. In this genus, we again find 

 the incongruity of a 5-parted petaloid, inferior perianth, 

 instead of a division into 4, to agree with the assumed 

 number of 8 stamens. The fruit is, as in Buckwheat, 



