ORDER DIGYNIA. 199 



A very small plant called Enchanter's Night-shade (Circ&a), 

 may be found growing wild in shady places ; it is a very harm- 

 less, modest looking plant, notwithstanding its ominous name. 

 It has a small white blossom, in the parts of which, great uni- 

 formity as to number may be observed ; having two stamens, 

 a corolla with two petals, a calyx with two leaves, capsule with 

 two cells, each of which contains two seeds. 



The symmetry of structure, observable in the plant just 

 described, is seen in many flowers ; as those of two stamens 

 often have the number two prevail in the other parts of the 

 flower ; tljis number is frequently doubled, as in the Lilac, 

 which has two stamens, and the corolla four parted. In a 

 plant with three stamens, the number three or six usually pre- 

 vails in the divisions of the calyx, corolla, capsule, &c. A 

 knowledge of this fact will assist you in determining the class 

 of a plant ; for example, if you have a flower Whose calyx has 

 five or ten divisions, and the corolla the same number, you may 

 expect, if the flower is a perfect one, to find either five, or ten 

 stamens ; or if the divisions of the flower be two, there will 

 generally be two, or four stamens ; if three, either three, or 

 six stamens ; if four, either four or eight stamens. The num- 

 ber five/as divisions of the calyx, corolla and capsule, is gen- 

 erally united to five or ten stamens, and found in the 5th and 

 10th classes. 



Another native plant of the second class, is the Veronica. 

 Of the seventy species which this genus is said to contain, no 

 more than six or eight are common to North America. The 

 Veronica and the Circsea both turn black when dried ; although 

 they do not add to the beauty of an herbarium, they are desira- 

 ble in a collection of plants, as our country contains few spe- 

 cimens to illustrate the second class. At Fig. 103, c, is a 

 representation of a flower of the Veronica ; at d, is the Cir- 

 caa. 



Among the exotics of this order we find a singular plant 

 peculiar to the East Indies, the NYCTANTHES arbor tristis, or 

 sorrowful tree ; it droops its boughs during the day, but through 

 the night they are erect and appear fresh and flourishing. 



The Olive (Olea) is common on the rocks of Palestine, and 

 may now, according to the accounts of travellers be found 

 upon the same spot which was called, eleven centuries before 

 the Christian era, the mount of Olives, or mount Olivet. 



Order Digynia. 



In the second order of this class is the sweet scented spring- 

 Enchanter's night shade Remaining plants in the order Monogynia Order 

 Dygynia. 



