188 CLASSIFICATION. 



The corolla is superior, or over the germ ; it consists of fire 

 petals, usually with a stamen standing between each petal. 

 From the centre of the flower, arise two styles, which often 

 remain permanent upon the fruit. The general figure of the 

 fruit is oblong or oval ; it separates perpendicularly into two 

 seeds, as may be seen in the fennel or dill. The figure, mar- 

 gin, and angles of the seeds are considered as affording proper 

 characters for the distinction of genera ; as in the parsnip, 

 they are flat, in the carrot, bristly, in the hemlock, marked 

 with ridges. Among the plants of this family which are used 

 as articles of food, are the carrot, parsnip, celery, and parsley ; 

 the aromatics are dill, fennel, sweet cicely, caraway, and co- 

 riander ; among the poisonous plants, are the conium (]x>ison 

 hemlock), water-parsnip, and the cicuta (water-hemlock). 

 The seed of umbilleferous plants belong to the genus of fruits, 

 Cremocarp. 



CLASS 13. 



Corolla polypetolov-s, stamens hypogynous (under the germ). 



In this class the principal family is the Cruciform (Crucife- 

 r<z). In these plants we find such flowers as have a calyx 

 consisting of four leaves, and a corolla composed of four pe- 

 tals ; each petal is fastened to the receptacle or bottom of the 

 calyx by a narrow part called a claw ; the whole exhibiting 

 the form of a cross ; hence the term cruciform, from crux, a 

 cross. In the centre of the flower is a single pistil, long and 

 cylindrical; the stigma is oblong and divided into two parts, 

 which are reflexed or bent back on each side. Each petal is 

 placed between two leaves of the calyx ; this alternate position 

 is always seen in flowers where the number of petals equals 

 the number of leaves of the calyx. , 



The cruciform flowers have six stamens, two of which stand- 

 ing opposite to each, other are shorter than the remaining four, 

 which always stand in pairs. This inequality in their length 

 determines them to be in the class Tetradynamia. The germ 

 soon becomes a long pod called a silique, or a short thick one, 

 called silicula; this difference in the length of the two pods 

 constitutes the distinction of the two orders of the class in 

 which they are placed. 



The plants belonging to this class are herbaceous ; the leaves 

 are alternate ; the cabbage, the mustard, radish, and stock- 

 has, as yet been favoured with only a part of his remarks. His labours met 

 with a most ungrateful check, in the unkindness, and still more mortifying 

 stupidity of his wife, who, in his absence from home, is recorded to have de- 

 troyed his whole herbarium, scraping off the dried specimens for the sake of 

 the paper on which they were pasted !" Sir James Edward Smith's Botany. 



Characters of Class 13 Describe the cruciform plants. 



