206 



CLASS TETRANDRIA. 



Fig. 106 shews the same plant in its natural size ; a, is the 

 stem, which is a cylindric and jointed culm. At b, is the leaf, 

 which is long, narrow, pointed, simpk, and entire. At c, are 

 the flowers, which are thick, panicled and terminal. 



The orchard grass is very common in the New England 

 and Middle States. 



Of all the grasses, the darnel (Lolium), only, is poisonous; 

 this seemed to have been avoided in the days of Virgil, who, 

 in his " Pastorals," represents the shepherds us speaking of the 

 lolium as destructive to their flocks. 



Fig. 107. 



CLASS IV. TETHANDRIA. 



The same number of stamens are 

 found in the plants of this class, as jn 

 those of the 13th class, Didynamia. 

 In the fourth class the stamens are of 

 equal length, but in the thirteenth they 

 grow in t wo pairs of unequal length. 



Order Monogyitiu. 



As an example of this order, may be mentioned the Hous- 

 TONIA ccerulea, which is known by different common names ; 

 in some sections of the country it is called Innocence, in others 

 Venus 1 Pride, and in some Blue Houstonia. It is a very deli- 

 cate little flower, appearing early in the spring, in grassy fields 

 and meadows ; the colour varies from sky blue (which gives 

 its specific name ccerulea) to a pure white. The flower has a 

 small calyx, with four divisions; a monopetalous corolla of four 

 divisions, which gives it something the appearance\of a cruci- 

 form plant. 



The common Plantain (Plantago), (See Fig. 107, a) is found 

 here ; it is a plant by no means useless, although it exhibits 

 nothing interesting to gratify the sight. The leaves are some- 

 times used in external applications for medicinal purposes ; they 

 are also, when young and tender, boiled and used for food in 

 some parts of the United States. The flowers of the plantain 

 grow on a spike ; they are very small, but each one has a ca- 

 lyx and corolla ; these are both four-parted ; the filaments are 



Analysis of the orchard grass How does the fourth class agree with, and 

 how differ from the thirteenth class Houstonia Plantain. 



