132 CLASSES TKIANDRIA AND TETEANDRIA 



furnishes from its root an intoxicating beverage, the hava of 

 the South Sea Islanders ; while the leaf of the Piper letle is 

 chewed with the Areca-nut in the East as a stimulant. 



LECTUKE XXV. 



TKIANDRIA, THREE STAIMENS. TETRANDRIA, FOUR STAMENS. 



171. Order Moiiogynia^ one pistil. — We find here among 

 cm- common exotics the Crocus, one of the earliest flowers of 

 our gardens, not unfrequently blossoming in the neighborhood 

 of a snow-bank. It has a bulbous root, or more pro2)erly stem, 

 long and narrow leaves, a spatha, and six petals. Besides the 

 CROcrs vermis^ or spring crocus, which often appears even in 

 our own climate as early as March, there is of this genus a very 

 distinct species, the Crocus, officinalis^ or true saflron, which 

 appears among the late flowers of autumn. The following beau- 

 tiful lines resj)ecting these flowers are from the pen of one* 

 whose early and fervent piety marked him as a fit inhabitant 

 of a pm'er sj^here ; — a Christian philosopher, he could see an 

 invisible hand directing the operations of nature. 



" Say, what impels, amid surrounding snow 

 Congealed, the Crocus^ fi<^'>'i^y bud to grow ? 

 Say, what retards, amid the summer's blaze, 

 The mitwnnal hulb, till pale declining days ? 

 The God of seasons, whose pervading power 

 Controls the Sun, or sheds the fleecy shower ; 

 He bids each flower his quickening word obey 

 Or to each hngering bloom enjoins delay." 



172. The Lis, or Fleur-de-lis, f is very curious in its struc- 

 tm-e. It has no proper calyx, but a spatha; its corolla consists 

 of six parts, alternately reflexed ; the pistil has three petalloid 

 stigmas. It- is named from Iris, the rainbow, on account of the 

 various colors which it reflects, varying from diflerent shades 

 of purple, into blue, orange, yellow, and white. We have 

 several native species of Iris, one of which, the common blue- 

 flag, is found in wet places. The flowers are purple, streaked 

 with yellow; this plant is sometimes called poison-flag. The 

 Crocus and Iris are found in the natural family Iridaceoi. 

 Linnaeus caUed the same plants JEnsatce (from ensis^ a sword), 



* Henry Kirke White. 



t Appendix, Plate vi. Fig. 6. 



171. Different species of Crocus. — 172. Iris. 



