CLASS MONCECIA. 



183 



Fix. 154. 



274. Class Mon(ecia — contains plants 

 where growing from the same root we 

 find some flowers containing only sta- 

 mens^ others only pistils. The orders in 

 this class are determined by the nuniber 

 of stamens in each flower. 



Order Moyiandria^ one stamen. — We 

 find here the Bread-fruit tree (Artocak- 

 pus), which grows to the hight of forty 

 feet, having fruit of the size of a large 

 watermelon hanging from its boughs. 

 This tree is a native of the East Indies ; 

 the fruit when roasted resembles wheat 

 bread, and is much valued for food. This plant belongs to the 

 natural order Urticacece^ in which are the Fig and Mulberry. 



275. Order Triandria., three stamens — contains the cat-tail 

 (Typha) ; this grows in swampy meadows and stagnant waters, 

 to the hight of four or five feet. The long brown spike which 

 grows at the summit of the stem (giving rise, from its peculiar 

 appearance, to the name cat-tail) is the catkin / the upper part 

 consists of staminate flowers^ having neither calyx nor corolla; 

 the three stamens arising from a chaffy receptacle. The pistil- 

 late flo'wers form the lower part of the spike; each one produces 

 a seed supported b_y a kind of bristle. The leaves and stems of 

 the Typha are employed for bottoming chairs and making mats ; 

 the pollen is very abundant, and is inflammable.'^ The sedge (Ca- 

 BEx) consists of nearly two hundred species. Though a grass- 

 like plant, it is separated from the family of grasses, which are 

 mostly in the third class, on account of the monoicious character 

 of its flowers. The sedge-grass belongs to the natural order Cy- 

 feracece ; the genus Cyperus being the type. This tribe of 

 coarse grasses inhabit marshy grounds ; though resembling the 

 true grasses in their general aspect, they diner from them in 

 having stems witiiout joints, and often triangular. Unlike the 

 grasses, they are of little utility ; they spread rapidly, and often 

 destroy the best pastures by overrunning them. A species of 

 Cyperus, the^;<^/^^?/rw^, which grows in abundance on the banks 

 of the Nile, was used by the ancients in the manufacture of a 

 kind of thick j)aper ; a thin, fibrous membrane was obtained 

 from the stem, and several thicknesses being glued together, the 

 whole was pressed into sheets. This parchment is still to be 

 Been in ancient records, and offers to tlie observation of the 

 curious, the authographs of Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. 

 (See Plate vi.. Fig. 5.) The Indian corn (Zea mays) is found in 



• See Plate i., Fig. 6. 



-274. Class Monocoia.— 274. Order Monandria— Bre^wl-fruit.— 273. Cat-tail— Sedge— Iml inn corn.&c. 



