220 CLASS HEXANDRIA. 



acters ; these are inseparable ; the nature of the stem,-or the 

 manner of its growth depending on the structure of the seed. 

 The extensive family Liliaca, including the lily, tulip, 

 Crown-imperial, &c. is one which presents itself first in con- 

 sidering this class. 



You have already been made ac- 

 quainted with the lily, as it was one of 

 the first flowers you were taught to 

 , analyze; and, in a brief view of the 

 liliaceous flowers, you have been pre- 

 sented with the most striking charac- 

 ters belonging to this family, which we 

 might, following the example of great 

 names, call an " illustrious" race. 

 Pliny says, the " lily is next in nobility to the rose."* 

 naeus called the liliaceous flowers " Nobles of the vege 

 kingdom ;" he also called the palm trees " Princes of India." 

 In the class Hexandria, the symmetrical ratio between the 

 number of stamens and the division of the other parts of the 

 flower, is generally to be found. In the spiderswort, (Trade- 

 scantia), which has 6 stamens, we find the corolla 3 petalled, 

 calyx 3 leaved, and capsules 3 celled. In the third class, 

 which has 3 stamens, the divisions are often 6. 



In the lily, which has 6 stamens, there are 6 petals ; 3 of 

 these are exterior, 3 interior ; the capsule is 3 sided, with 3 

 cells, and 3 valves ; the seeds are arranged in 6 rows. This 

 proportion of numbers seems to forbid the idea that this plant 

 grew up without the agency of any designing mind. We are 

 not always to expect the same symmetry in plants as has been 

 here remarked. It is in the natural, as in the moral world, 

 that, although every^ where around us, we see such proofs of 

 order and system, as manifest the superintending care of one 

 Almighty Being ; yet there are irregularities which we can- 

 not comprehend : but although we may admire the order, we 

 are not to say that even what seems disorder is formed with- 

 out a plan. 



* " Lilium nobilitate proximum est." A French poet, in the following lines, 

 gives the lily a rank above the rose. 



" Noble fils du soleil, le lys majestueux, 

 Vers 1'astre paternal dont il brave les feui 

 Eleve avec orgueil sa tete souveraine ; 

 II est roi des fleurs dont la rose est la reine." 

 The white lily is here meant ; this is particularly admired by the French. 



Ialiace Symmetry of parts in the flowers of this class. 



