CLASS MONCECIA. 261 



the ground ; the roots are creeping and aromatic, having the 

 taste and smell of the snake-root (Aristolochia). 



We have now finished a review of the class Gynandria ; al- 

 though many species of it are native to this country, you will 

 not so readily procure specimens of this as of most other native 

 plants. The ladies' slipper, milk-weed, and dogsbane, you 

 can often find, but many of the plants of this family, particu- 

 larly the Orchis tribe, opposing all attempts at cultivation, are 

 to be found only in the depths of the forest, or places little fre- 

 quented by man ; we may, in this respect, compare them to the 

 aboriginal inhabitants of America, who seem to prefer their 

 own native wilds to the refinements and luxuries of a civilized 

 life. 



LECTURE XXXVII. 

 CLASS XIX. MONCECTA, AND XX. DICECIA. 



IN all the classes hitherto examined, we have found perfect 

 flowers, that is, those which presented the two important or- 

 gans on which the artificial system is founded. In the first 

 ten classes, we had only to count the stamens to determine the 

 class, and the pistils to ascertain the order. 



In the two next classes, we observed whether the stamens 

 grew upon the calyx or the receptacle, and as before, counted 

 the styles to ascertain the order. 



In the two next classes, each having two orders, we were 

 guided by the comparative length of the stamens, and certain 

 appearances of the seeds, in one class, and of the seed vessel 

 in the other. 



We next found two classes, where connexion of stamens by 

 means of filaments was the essential character, and whose or- 

 ders depended upon the number of stamens. 



In the great class of compound flowers, we regarded chiefly 

 the circumstance of united anthers ; the orders being founded 

 upon certain circumstances relative to the little flowers (florets), 

 which compose the whole flower. 



The class which was the subject of our last lecture, present- 

 ed us with the stamens in a new situation ; viz. growing out 

 from the pistil, and the orders were reckoned according to the 

 number of these strange looking stamens, each one of which in 

 general is formed of two masses of glutinous pollen. 



Our present inquiry is to be directed to two classes, in which 



Concluding remarks Recapitulation Two classes now to be considered. 



