208 CLASS TETRANDRIA. 



very small (not. seen in the cut) ; the petals are spreading and 

 reflexed ; the filaments are shorter than the petals, and crowned 

 with large heart-shaped anthers. 



Another very common genus of the class Tetrandria, is the 

 Bed-straw (Galium), an herbaceous plant, with very small 

 white flowers ; the leaves grow in whorls ; in different species, 

 the leaves thus clustered together stand around the stem in 

 fours, fives, sixes and eights. Some species exhibit a peculiar 

 roughness upon the stems and leaves. This genus, with many 

 others of the class, belongs to the natural order Stellate* or 

 starry plants ; the leaves radiating from the stem as rays of 

 light from a star. 



Among the exotics of this class, are the SANTALUM, which 

 produces the sandalwood, and the Madder (RusiA tinctoria), 

 the root of which produces a beautiful scarlet colour. The 

 latter plant is said to have the singular property of tinging, 

 with its red colour, the bones of the animals that feed upon it. 

 This is one of the starry plants, belonging to the family Stellatac 

 of Linnaeus ; Jussieu has arranged this, and some of the plants 

 whose leaves grow in whorls, under his 57th order, Rubiacese. 

 The Silver tree(PnoTEA argentea), has soft leaves, resembling 

 satin, of a silver colour. Another species of Protea, the aurea, 

 has gold coloured leaves, which are edged with scarlet. Both 

 these trees are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and havo 

 never been found in any other locality. 



Order Tetragynia. 



We find here the holly (Hex) ; this is an evergreen, with a 

 smooth, greyish bark, shining, thorny leaves, whitish flowers, 

 and scarlet berries ; this plant is very common in England for 

 fences ; its verdure is not impaired by the most severe winter. 



with five stamens, its four petals and the four divisions of its calyx, seem to in- 

 dicate that the fifth stamen is but an accidental circumstance ; this seems to 

 have been the opinion of Mirbel and some others. 

 * From >///,/, a star. 



Bed-straw Madder Protea Hex. 



