oeOer pentandria. 



109 



Fiff. 146 



243. In the class Monadelphia we in- 

 clude all such plants as have their fila- 

 ments united in one set, forming a tube at 

 the bottom of the corolla ; in this respect 

 this class differs from the preceding ones, 

 where the stamens are entirely separate ; 

 here you will observe that the antliers are 

 separate, though i]iQ filaments are joined. 

 We cannot in this class, as in the two pre- 

 ceding ones, point out any prevailing form 

 of the corolla. The mark of distinction 

 here is in some cases rather doubtful, the 

 filaments being sometimes broad at their 

 base, and yet not entirely connected. We have no first order, 

 for the character of the class is filaments united^ and one fila- 

 ment could not form a brotherhood. 



244. Order Triandria^ tJiree stamens. — "We find here blue- 

 eyed grass {Sisyrinchium) \ the three filaments have the ap- 

 pearance of being but one ; the corolla is tubular and six- 

 cleft, style one, capsule three-celled ; it belongs to the natural 

 order Iridacece; similar in artificial and natural characters is a 

 splendid plant, the Mexican tiger-flower {Tigridia)^ so called 

 from its spotted flowers. 



245. Order Pentandria^ five stamens^ presents us wdth the 

 passion-flower {Passiflora\ a climbing plant peculiar to the 

 warm countries of America. "Its long and often woody 

 branches attain the summits of the loftiest trees, or trail upon 

 the ground, adorned with perennially-green, or falling leaves. 

 They sustain themselves by means of tendrils, and send out a 

 succession of the most curious and splendid flowers." Some 

 species j^roduce fruits much esteemed in the West Indies. 

 Sixty species have been collected in one conservatory near 

 New York. The generic characters of the passion-flower are 

 five sepals, combined below into a tube ; petals five, often with 

 filamentous or annular processes on their inside, which appear 

 to be an altered whorl or whorls of stamens. The name. 

 Passion-flower, was given by the superstitious of former days, 

 who saw in the flve anthers a resemblance to the wounds of 

 the Saviour ; in the triple style, the three nails in the cross ; in 

 the central receptacle, the pillar of the cross ; and in the fila- 

 mentous processes, the crown of thorns around the head of 

 Christ. This plant, by some botanists, has been placed in the 

 class Gynandria, on the supposition that its stamens stood upon 

 the pistil ; others would place it in the class Pentandria, order 



vm. Monadplphia— No first order.— 244. Order Triandria.— 245. PasBioii-flower— Derivation of ite 



