530 



time, in the vegetable kingdom, by cross impregnation ; 

 which we are very unwilling to admit, nor do any of his 

 instances prove satisfactory to us. As to Parnassia, we 

 now know several American species, as distinct as those 

 of any other genus. 



Order 30. Contortje. "This order derives its name 

 from the corolla, which," (in all the species known to 

 Linneeus,) " is twisted in the bud, contrary to the course 

 of the sun, its limb being wheel-shaped, when expanded, 

 in such a way that each of its segments, unequally pro- 

 portioned in their margins, is curved inward under the 

 next segment, the shorter side of the former being beneath 

 the longer one of the latter. Europe is very poor in this 

 tribe, India very abundant. Many of the plants are 

 milky, and, like most other such, poisonous; some indeed 

 so violently, as immediately to destroy animals that eat 

 them. Their medical effects, rightly managed, may be 

 very great. They have all, naturally, an injurious pro- 

 perty, even Asclepias Vincetoxicum, though this plant, like 

 Nerium and Vinca, is scarcely milky, but in its very 

 youngest shoots." (It is singularly remarkable that the 

 fruit of one of this family, at Sierra Leone, the size of an 

 orange, yields a copious and wholesome milk, used by the 

 colonists as cream to their tea. See Sm. Ititrod. to Bo- 

 tany, ed. 3. 316.) 



" Many of the order of which we are treating are 

 shrubby ; the leaves opposite and evergreen, except the 

 species of cold countries. The flower is, in many cases, 

 intricate in structure, because of the peculiar apparatus 

 of the nectaries of various genera." 



" The roots are perennial. Leaves all, as far as hi- 

 therto known, simple and undivided, and, with very few 

 exceptions, opposite ; sometimes ternate, or quaternate ; 

 rarely alternate. The inflorescence is often peculiar, in 

 having its flowerstalk not axillary, but proceeding from 

 the side of the stem between the insertion of the leaves. 

 Calyx of one leaf, five-cleft. Corolla of one petal, regular. 



