ISG 



CLASS DIOECIA. 



Fig. 157. 



cucumber uneven and watery. We find in the same artificial 

 order a very different family of plants, called Coniferoiis or 

 cone-hearing j^lants ; these have the staminate flowers in aments, 

 each furnished with a scale or perianth supporting the stamens ; 

 the i^istillate flowers are in strobilums, each furnished with a 

 hard scale. The stems are woody, the leaves evergreen, and 

 the juice resinous. To this natural family belong the ]3ine and 

 cypress. 



280. The character of trees may be studied to advantage at 

 four diflerent seasons : in winter^ when the forms of the ramifi 

 cation can be seen in the naked boughs, and the leaf and flower- 

 buds examined in their inert state ; in spring^ when in blossom ; 

 in siunmei\ when the foliage is in perfection; and in autumn^ 

 when, during the first stages of decay, the mellowness and va- 

 riety of tints afford beautiful subjects for the pencil of the 

 painter, and for those who love the study of nature under all 

 her forms. 



281. The Class Dicecia (two houses) has 

 staminate and mstillate floioers on separate 

 plants. The distinction witli regaixl to the 

 orders.^ as in the preceding class, is derived 

 from the number of stamens. 



Here are no plants of the fi^st order .^ or 

 with one stamen. 



282. Order Diaiidria.^ two stamens — con- 

 tains the willow (sALix), which has long and 

 slender aments both of staminate and pistil- 

 late flowers, the two kinds being on sej)ar- 

 ate trees. The order Triandria contains 

 the fig (Ficrs), remarkable for containing 

 the flower within the fruit, which is botanically considered as a 

 juicy receptacle within which 'are concealed the minute flowers 

 and seeds. The fig is peculiar to warm countries. Order Tetran- 

 dria contains a parasitic plant, the Mistletoe of the oak ( Viscuni 

 album). The Druids^ considered this plant as sacred to the 

 silvan deities. Tradition relates that where Druidism pre- 

 vailed the houses were decked with this plant that the silvan 

 spirits might repair to them. The fruit of the mistletoe con- 

 tains a viscid matter by means of which the seeds adhere to 

 the trees ; in germinating, the seeds send their radicles into the 

 bark of the plant to which they are attached, and from which 

 this true parasite receives its nourishment. 



* The Druids, it is supposed, derived their name from drus, a Greek word sipiifying oak, as it was 

 in groves of this tree tiiat the priests celebrated their mysterious rites, and sacriliced" human victims to 

 their sanguinary deities. 



Cone-bearing plants.— 280. Appearance of trees at diflerent seasons,— 281. Class DicDcia.— 282. Wil- 

 low— Fig— Mistletoe. 



