ILLUSTRATIONS. 15 



same subdivision, belonging to another natural family, that of 

 the Gentians. It has stoutish creeping or floating stems, with 

 strong coarse roots, and forming at the end a tuft of leaves, 

 consisting of three obovate or oblong leaflets, set on a long 

 stalk, which is sheathing at the base. The flowers come in erect 

 racemes, and each consists of a short calyx with green lobes, 

 and a bell-shaped corolla, deeply five-lobed, the lobes spread- 

 ing or even reflexed, white tinged with red, the inside ele- 

 gantly fringed. The flowers have five stamens joined to the 

 tube of the corolla, and the fruit is a capsule opening in two 

 valves. 



We must pass on to another great division of Dicotyledons 

 in which the structure is of a simpler character. These are 

 the MoNOCHLAMYDS, having Monochlamydeous or one-coated 

 flowers. They form a considerable group, comprising some 

 few showy families, and including many others in which the 

 blossoms are quite inconspicuous. Here there is normally 

 not more than one floral envelope (sometimes none) to the 

 stamens or pistil, which are the essential organs of the flower. 

 The envelope when present is called the perianth or perigone, 

 and is in reality a green or coloured calyx, the corolla being 

 constantly wanting. 



To this series belongs the gay but poisonous Mezereon 

 shrub,* one of the Thymelaceous family, a very early-blooming 

 plant, found in woods and thickets. The branches of this dwarf 

 deciduous shrub are clothed with the little clusters of flowers, 

 " blushing wreaths investing every spray,^^ while yet the young 

 leaves are undeveloped. The latter appear later, and are ob- 

 long or lanceolate in form. The flowers have a short broadish 

 tube to the perianth, a limb of four spreading lobes, and eight 



* Daphne Mezeremn — Plate 4 C. 



