TRIANDRIA. 



Ill 



mon use at our tables. This plant (Fig. 155,) Fi s- 155 - 

 has abroad, ovate, acuminate, seven nerved leaf. 

 It climbs on any rough barked tree, to which it 

 attaches itself in a manner similar to our false 

 grape, or five leaved ivy, (Ampelopsis.) The fruit 

 hangs in clusters as represented by the figure. 

 On the pepper farms in the East, these plants 

 are raised by placing two or three cuttings of 

 pepper vines in the ground, six or eight feet 

 apart ; after which, high stakes are driven down 

 for them to climb upon. In Sumatra quick 

 growing trees are planted for this purpose. In 

 three years these shoots bear, the berries being 

 ripe, and of a blood red color in September. 

 The plants are then cut down to the ground, 

 the berries gathered and dried in the sun. The roots then 

 send out new shoots, which in three or four years more pro- 

 duce another crop. 



There are two kinds of pepper in the shops, the black and 

 the white. The black is the hottest, and is the dried berry 

 in its natural state. The white is the same berry steeped in 

 water, and thus deprived of its skin. 



CLASS III. TRIANDRIA. Stamens 3. Orders 3. 



This class is larger than either of the 

 preceding. It contains the Club-rushes 

 and most of the Grasses, the Irises, and 

 many other common, and well known 

 genera. The Grasses, it is well known, 

 contribute more extensively to the sup- 

 port of domestic animals than any other order of plants. 

 They are, therefore, a highly interesting tribe to the practical 

 farmer and grazier, but possess few qualifications to attract 

 the notice of the florist. The Club-rushes, which are also a 

 numerous tribe, have in general still fewer attractions. These 

 are ordinarily confounded with the Grasses, to which they 

 have a general resemblance. But the Club-rushes, 01 

 sedges, have solid angular stalks, while the culms of the 

 Grasses are round and hollow. The grasses contain large 

 quantities of sugar and other nutritive matter, while, the Club- 

 Describe the mode of raising and curing black pepper in the East. How 

 many stamens has the class Triandria ? What tribes of important plants 

 does it contain ? What is the difference in the composition of the grasses 

 ana the club-rushes? 



