238 BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF 



To these classes Ijinn^eus has added the Palm 

 Trees, which he calls Princes of India. They are 

 distinguished by bearing their parts of fructification 

 on a spadia or receptacle, within a spathe or sheath ; 

 remarkable for their prodigious height, distinguished 

 by an unvaried, undivided perennial trunk, crowned 

 at top by an evergeeen tuft of leaves, and rich in the 

 production of large and fine fruit. Since, however, 

 the time of Linnseus, the study of botany has ad- 

 vanced, and many of these hitherto unclassed trees 

 have been added to the class Hexandria. 



The orders which compose the classes, and which 

 are also given in this little work, are arranged by 

 Linnaeus as follows : — 



Monogynia,* one pistil. 



Digynia, two pistils. . 



Trigynia, three pistils. 



Tetragynia, four pistils. 



Pentagynia, five pistils. 



Hexagynia, six pistils. 



Heptagynia, seven pistils. 



* The orders of the first thirteen classes, distingiiislied by 

 the number of the pistils contained in the flower, and by adding 

 the word gynia (a Greek term for wife) to the number, may be 

 easily remembered. 



