190 CLASS MONCECIA. 



to Rome, where it became the favorite tree of the Ro- 

 man villas. 



The Arum, or Wake-robin, is the type of the natur- 

 al order Aroide.k. It produces a 1 -leaved, cucullate 

 (or hooded) spathe. There is neither calyx nor co- 

 rolla. The spadix (or columnar receptacle) is naked 

 above, bearing sessile anthers below the middle, and 

 the germs at the base. The berry (of which there are 

 many on the same spadix) is commonly scarlet, 1 -cell- 

 ed, and many-seeded. One of our most common 

 and elegant species is the A. triphyllum, or Indian 

 Turnip, with a round, tuberous, hot, and acrid root. 

 From each of these arise 2 ternated leaves ; and from 

 between them an ovate, acuminated spathe, with a flat 

 and bent summit, striped like a zebra with greenish 

 and brown bands. This species is also dioecious, one 

 spathe or plant producing fertile, and the other infer- 

 tile flowers. 



In the order Monadelphia will be found the genus 

 Pinus (the Pine or Fir tree) the type of the natural 

 order Conifers. These are all resiniferous ever- 

 greens, most abundant in mild and cold climates, and 

 here very frequent in sandy sterile soil. Their impor- 

 tance for timber, resin, turpentine, and pitch are well 

 known. The kernels even of the Stone Pino [Pinus 

 Pinea), as large almost as almonds, are eaten as a de- 

 sert in Italy and the South of France. — The sterile 

 flowers are in aments, of which the scales are peltate 

 (or target-shaped) ; there is neither calyx nor corolla ; 

 but 2, sessile, 1 -celled anthers to each scale. The 

 fertile flowers are collected into an ovate or conical 

 strobile (or cone) ; with the scales closely imbricated, 

 and 2-flowered ; no corolla ; the pericarp a winged 

 nut covered by the scales of the cone. The genus 

 presents 3 natural sections, or subgenera. The first is 

 Abies, or the Fir tree, properly so called, in which the 



