^ ORDER PENTANDRIA. 259 



mar of Fructification, because it will lead you into a very nice 

 investigation of that kind of flower whose anthers produce glu- 

 tinous pollen ; and I now apprize you, that the stamens are 

 generally obscure, and difficult to ascertain correctly in such 

 cases, particularly in the flowers of the Orchis tribe. 



" Take one of those heads of flowers from the milk-weed 

 (ASCLEPIAS), which are so common in the months of June and 

 July ; you will perceive that each flower grows upon a little 

 stalk, and that all these stalks proceed from the same centre, 

 like the braces of an umbrella ; which answers to the definition 

 given of an umbel inflorescence. 



" The most conspicuous parts of a single flower, are five up- 

 right substances, and five petals reflexed and lying down close' 

 to the stem ; lift up those petals, and you will find a calyx con- 

 sisting of five small narrow leaves. 



" You will now have ascertained that the inflorescence is an 

 umbel, that the calyx consists of five leaves, and the corolla of 

 five reflexed petals. 



" As the five upright substances, with a little horn in the cen- 

 tre of each, have not the appearance of stamens, although they 

 are next in course to the petals, you may at first be at a loss 

 what to call them ; but I will here give you Linnreus' name 

 for every thing, whether inside or outside of the corolla, if it 

 be neither "-alyx, stamen, nor pistil, of whatever form and size 

 it may be ; he, having found that such parts generally secrete 

 a sweet liquid, calls them all by the general name nectaries ; 

 such as the shoe part of the ladies' slipper, the spur of the nas- 

 turtion, &c. Now pull off all the nectaries, and examine the 

 part which they encircled. You will observe five shelly pro- 

 jections between where the nectaries stood ; between these are 

 seeds lying very close, which you must peel off carefully with 

 a sharp pointed knife, so as not to disturb what is under them. 

 You will probably find some difficulty in effecting this at the 

 first trial, but you cannot proceed in your examination until it 

 be accomplished. 



" Next, examine what is left with your magnifying glass, 

 though you may see the parts without a glass ; you will dis- 

 cover a lobe hanging down from each side of the five shelly 

 projections, resembling bees' wax in appearance ; these are the 

 anthers with glutinous pollen ; as the two lobes hang to the 

 branches of a single stamen, though very unlike stamens in 

 other cases, they are properly the double anther of a single 

 stamen. The thick substance from which the stamens proceed, 

 is the stigma, consequently, the milk-weed is placed in this 

 class, GYNANDRIA ; the orders in this class are distinguished 



Eaton's description of the milk-weed. 



