56 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOE. 



(our) father. 17. Thou well contendest with thyself. 18. God is with 

 thee. 19. Often the mind is in discord (disagrees with itself). 20. 

 The enemies fight earnestly with us. 21. Thy speech is not in unison 

 with thyself. 



EXERCISE 52. ENGLISH-LATIN. 



1. Omnia mea mecum porto. 2. Secumne omnia sua portant sa- 

 pientes? 3. Tu me amas, ego te amo. 4. Vita tua mihi est cara, 

 mea tihi. 5. Mali semper secum discordant. 6. Tractatio literarum 

 gratissima est nobis. 7. Amant sese homines. 8. Amantne sese 

 mulieres ? 9. Pessime amant sese mali. 10. Per se pulchra est virtus. 

 11. Propter te ipsum te amo. 12. Mea patria gratior est mihi quarn 

 tua tibi. 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XV. 



SECTION XXVII. CRUCIFER.SE OR BRASSICACEJE, THE 

 CRUCIFEROUS (CROSS-BEARING) OR CABBAGE TRIBE. 



ALREADY, in an early lesson, we have had occasion to make a 

 statement respecting the cross-bearing flowers that we hope the 

 reader has not forgotten. We mentioned that a strange plant 

 being referred to this natural order might at once be con- 

 sidered harmless, and probably very good to eat. 



Let us now go a little more minutely into the characteristics 

 of these cross-bearers. They are these : Sepals, four, free ; 

 petals, hypogynous, four, free, cruciform ; stamens, six, tetra- 

 dynamous ; ovary, bilocular, placenta parietal ; fruit, ordinarily a 

 pod; seed, dicotyledonous. 



Let us now proceed to the application of such of the pre- 

 jeding characters as may be necessary. Firstly, the propriety 

 of the term cruciferous will be rendered evident from an exami- 

 nation of the representation of the flower of a plant termed 

 Shepherd's Purse, one of the cruciferous family (Fig. 147). 



This same individual, the Shepherd's Purse, shall also serve 

 to teach us yet something more regarding the peculiarities of 

 the natural order Cruciferce. 



Let us now examine a branch of the plant (Fig. 146). 

 Directing our attention at first to the flowers, we find them 

 to be arranged after the manner of a raceme, and totally devoid 

 of bracts. This absence of bracts pervades the whole natural 

 order Cruciferce, which is the only natural order in which the 

 bracts are uniformly absent. Hence by this sign a cruciferous 

 vegetable may be as readily known as by the structure of the 

 flower ; indeed, the sign of absence of bracts has a wider sphere 

 of application. The flowers of the Cruciferce are at the best 

 very small, but perhaps they might not yet have fully developed 

 themselves at the period of observation. Consequently, if the 

 cruciferous shape of flowers were the only guide, the student 

 might not be able to wait for the sign of discrimination ; 

 whereas by noticing the absence of bracts, he would know the 

 plant under consideration to be 

 cruciferous, and knowing this, 

 he would be assured of its harm- 

 lessness at least. Most probably 

 it would be good to eat, either 

 in the form of salad or cooked. 



The advantages of being thus 

 able to refer an unknown plant 

 to a harmless and useful .order 

 we need not specially indicate. 

 They will be self-apparent. Let 

 the reader consider the bearing 

 of this anecdote. It is related 

 that, when during Anson's voy- 

 ages his crews disembarked in 

 unknown places, the surgeon, 

 fearful of poisons, would not 

 suffer them to partake of any 

 vegetables except grasses, not- 

 withstanding the scurvy was mak- 

 ing great ravages amongst them. 

 Now the reader must be informed, 



if he does not already know, that the scurvy is a disease 

 almost entirely dependent upon too exclusive a diet of salt meat, 

 without accompaniment of vegetables, more especially vegetables 

 of succulent character. Formerly the scurvy made great ravages 

 in our navy; at present it is scarcely known, having been 

 banished, partly by the administration of fresh preserved pro- 

 visions, but chiefly by the administration of lime-juice, which 

 now constitutes a po-tion of the rations of every sailor. If 



i46. SHEPHERD'S PTJRSE. 



147. FLOWEK OP THE SHEP-- 

 HERD'S PURSE, ENLARGED. 



Anson's crew had been provided with fresh vegetables to oat 

 their scurvy would have been cured ; and they knew it. How 

 great, then, must have been the fear of the surgeon, and how 

 valuable is the knowledge of Botany ! 



Returning to our investigation of the distinctive signs by 

 which cruciferous plants maybe known, we shall merely call 

 attention to the far-.t that each flower has sit stamens, cf 

 which two are more spreading and shorter than the others ; 

 hence the denomination Tetradyna- 

 mia (or four-powered) in the Lin- 

 naean or artificial classification, and 

 this is another essential character- 

 istic of cruciferous plants. The 

 other characteristic signs being for 

 the most part microscopic, we pass 

 them over without notice. 



The Cruciferce are dispersed all 

 over the surface of the globe ; the 

 greater number, however, inhabit 

 the northern temperate zone, more 

 especially of the Old World; be- 

 tween the tropice they are rare, and 

 when they exist, are found on moun- 

 tain elevations ; beyond the Tropic 

 of Capricorn they become less fre- 

 quent, even more so than beyond 

 the Tropic of Cancer. 



When we mention that cabbages, sea-kale, mustard, cress, 

 and radishes belong to this order, we shall have stated enough 

 to demonstrate the utility of its species. When we state again 

 that wall-flowers (Fig. 149) and stocks are cruciferous plants,, 

 the reader will see that utility is not the only claim which 

 the Cruciferce present to our notice. 



The Cruciferce are imbued with an acrid volatile principle dis- 

 persed throughout all their parts, and frequently allied with, 

 sulphur. To this volatile principle cruciferous plants owe their 

 piquancy and their peculiar odour, which, after putrefaction, is 

 ammoniacal ; thus proving the Cruciferce to contain the simple 

 body, nitrogen, ammonia being a compound of nitrogen with 

 hydrogen. In many species of Cruciferce there exists in con- 

 nection with the odorous principle also a bitter material and a 

 fixed oil ; the latter is chiefly developed in the seed. The active 

 principles of annuals belonging to this order reside in the 

 leaves, those of perennials in the root. Certain species, the> 

 leaves of which are inoperative, produce very acrid seeds. Many 

 Cruciferce grow mild by cultivation, which augments their 

 amount of sugar and mucilage. The anti-scorbutic properties 

 of many Cruciferce have been known from times of great 

 antiquity; the species which possesses the greatest fame in thisi 

 respect being the Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia Officinalis), a draw- 

 ing of which is given in Fig. 148. 



SECTION XXVIII.-PASSIFLORACE^:, OR THE PASSION- 

 FLOWER TRIBE. 



The beautiful Passion-flower, now so common in English- 

 gardens, is a native of the forests of Central America, where 

 it grows on large stems which hang like festoons from the boughs 

 of forest trees, interweaving them with a network of gorgeous, 

 leaves and flowers. The term Passion-flower was applied by 

 the Spaniards, owing to the supposed resemblance presented in 

 various parts of the floral whorls to the accessories of Christ's 

 crucifixion. The conspicuous ray-like appendages, sprinkled 

 with blood-like spots, were compared to the crown of thorns ; 

 the stigma is cruciform ; nor were the ardent Spaniards slow 

 to discover other fancied resemblances, which eyes less pre- 

 judiced than their own in favour of a dominant idea can scarcely 

 recognise. 



Characteristics : Calyx tubular, urceolate (like a pitcher, from 

 the Latin urceus, a. pitcher) five-parted, ordinarily furnished at 

 its throat with one or more series of filaments. Corolla of five 

 petals. Stamens five, hypogynous, adherent to the support of 

 the ovary. Ovary stipulate superior, one-celled ; three or five 

 placentte ; three or four styles terminated by club-like stigmas ; 

 ovules reflexed ; fruit, a berry, indehiscent (not splitting), or 

 capsular, three or five valved ; seed, dicotyledonous ; embryo 

 straight, central. 



We shall be able to individualise the Passion-flower order 



