SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



yellow, and blue, and in umbels, which are simple 

 or compound, and these are with or without bracts 

 at their base : when seated at the base of the 

 umbel, the bract is called an involucre ; when at 

 the base of the umbellules in the compound head, 

 an involucel. The calyx is superior and five- 

 toothed ; petals, five, and inserted on the outside 

 of a fleshy disc, which is placed on the top of the 

 ovary ; stamens, five, and inserted alternately with 

 the petals ; ovary, inferior, and two-celled, with 

 pendulous ovules ; styles, two, distinct ; stigmas, 

 simple. The fruit (cremocarp) consists of two 

 carpels, united by a common axis, from which they 

 separate when ripe ; the external part of the 

 carpels is traversed by linear ridges, which are 

 divided into primary and secondary, there being 

 five of the latter, and four of the former, between 

 them. The ridges are separated by channels, 

 below which are often placed, in the covering of 

 the seed, receptacles or vittas of an oily matter. 

 The seed is pendulous, usually cohering with the 

 carpel, rarely loose. 



Among the more familiar genera may be men- 

 tioned the parsnip (Pastinacd), the cow-parsnip 

 (Heracleum), the celery (Apium), the carrot 

 (Daunts), the hemlock (Conium), the cow-bane 

 (C&vfo), and the coriander (Coriandrunt). 



The properties of the order are very various. 

 Some of the plants are harmless and esculent, 

 while others are narcotic poisons ; a third set are 

 antispasmodic, owing to the presence of a gum- 

 resin containing a fetid sulphur oil ; while a fourth 

 set are carminative, from containing a volatile oil. 

 I. Among the harmless plants used as esculents 

 may be mentioned the chervil, celery, arracacha, 

 earth-nut, pig-nut, samphire, carrot, fennel, parsnip, 

 parsley, and skirret 2. Poisonous plants contain- 

 ing acrid and narcotic principles : fool's parsley, 

 water hemlock or cow-bane, spotted hemlock, and 

 hemlock-dropwort or dead-tongue. The last-named 

 plant has been found to be poisonous only in 

 certain localities. 3. Gum-resinous species, usually 

 with a fetid odour : Narthex assaf&tida, a native 

 of Persia, yields the true assafcetida ; Ferula 

 orientalis furnishes a fetid resin in Morocco ; 

 Galbanum officinale and Opoidia galbanifera yield 

 galbanum ; Dorema ammoniacum yields the Per- 

 sian gum ammoniac ; Opoponax chironum pro- 

 duces the gum-resin called opoponax. 4. Aromatic 

 and carminative plants, containing volatile oil : 

 caraway, dill, coriander, cummin, carrot, anise, &c. 



CAPRIFOLIACE.S. A well-known order, consist- 

 ing of 12 or 14 genera, and about 220 species. 

 They are erect or twining shrubs, rarely trees, 

 having opposite, simple, or pinnate leaves, without 

 stipules ; and flowers terminal in corymbs, or 

 axillary. The flowers are white, scarlet, or yellow, 

 and often sweet-scented, as in the common honey- 

 suckle. The order has been divided into two 

 sections namely, the SAMBUCBL/E, or elder tribe, 

 and the LONICER^E, or true honeysuckle tribe. 



RUBIACE^E. This is a large, and in many 

 respects not a well-defined order, composed of 

 small trees, shrubs, and herbs. It has been divided 

 into two orders by some authors : CINCHONACEVE, 

 containing those plants most resembling cinchona ; 

 and GALIACEiE, or STELLAIVE, those most resem- 

 bling the galiums or bedstraws. The Cinchonacece 

 and Galiacea, indeed, form two well-marked groups 

 of plants, abundantly distinct from each other in 

 habit and in geographical distribution : the one 



consisting of trees, shrubs, and herbs, with simple 

 opposite leaves and interpetiolar glandular stipules ; 

 almost exclusively inhabiting the hotter parts of 

 the world, most of them eminently conspicuous 

 for their economical products and the beauty of 

 their broad foliage and flowers ; the other com- 

 posed entirely of straggling herbaceous plants, 

 with weak angular stems and narrow verticillate 

 exstipulate leaves, inhabiting northern countries, 

 and, with one or two exceptions, alike inconspicu- 

 ous for use and ornament Unfortunately, how- 

 ever, fructification does not supply any character 

 whereby those two ideally distinct groups of plants 

 can be clearly separated from each other, and in 

 the limitation of natural orders something more 

 than a difference of habit is considered requisite. 

 The recent discovery of the peculiar axillary glands 

 of Cinchonacea in Galiacecz serves still further to 

 break up the supposed distinctions between these 

 groups. De Candolle has proposed a further sub- 

 division into thirteen sub-tribes. 



By far the greater number of the species are 

 tropical plants, though many are amongst the 

 most common and neglected of British weeds. 

 Madder (Rubia ttnctorum) is common in gardens, 

 and is much cultivated in Belgium and Holland 

 for its roots, which yield a rich brownish-red dye, 

 called Turkey red. The Galiums or bedstraws are 

 familiar plants, growing on hedges, on dry banks, 

 or sides of old ditches, and known by the common 

 name of cleavers, ladies' bedstraw, crosswort, and 

 the like. Asperula odorata, another of the order, 

 is the well-known woodruff, which acquires, when 

 dried, a most delicate fragrance. The coffee-tree 

 (Cqffea}, Jesuit's bark (Cinchona), the Cape jasmine 

 (Gardenia], and ipecacuanha (Cephaelis), are also 

 well-known members. 



The properties of the order are very varied. 

 The roots of many, as the madders and bedstraws, 

 contain a large quantity of colouring matter ; and 

 it is said that fowls fed upon the roots of some 

 plants of this order have their bones dyed of a 

 red colour ; in other cases, the plants are acrid, 

 emetic, purgative, or diuretic. The bark (as that 

 of the Cinchona, or Peruvian bark) is sometimes 

 bitter, tonic, and astringent. The ipecacuanha 

 plant (Cephaelis ipecacuanha) of South America, 

 the annulated root of which is so valuable in 

 medicine, and by which it is easily propagated, 

 has been lately (1871) introduced into India by 

 the government, for the purpose of cultivation. 

 Many of the plants were grown and sent out from 

 the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh. Quinine, 

 now so extensively used in medicine, is obtained 

 from different species of cinchona, but chiefly from 

 the bark and young shoots of C. Calisaya. The 

 cultivation of cinchona is now being successfully 

 carried on in India, and it has been lately intro- 

 duced, with that object, into Java and Australia. 

 The value of the roasted albumen of the coffee- 

 berry is too well known to require allusion ; and 

 the fruits of others of the order have been recom- 

 mended as answering the same purpose. 



COMPOSITE. This is one of the most extensive 

 of the natural orders, containing not fewer than 

 900 genera, and between 9000 and 10,000 species. 

 The members are herbaceous plants or shrubs, 

 with leaves alternate or opposite, without stipules, 

 and usually simple. What is called the flower is 

 an aggregation of unisexual or hermaphrodite 

 florets, collected in dense heads upon a common 



