10 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



to the base with four valves. Distribution, most temperate and 

 cold countries ; habitat, a minute wayside weed. Flowers green- 

 ish-white ; December to March. 



Nat : Ord : 8 Linacece. 

 Slender herbs with alternate, narrow, entire leaves ; sepals five, 

 overlapping ; petals five, with long claws, twisted, deciduous ; sta- 

 mens five, united into a tube at the base, which is inserted under 

 the ovary ; styles five ; ovary five-celled ; capsule becoming many- 

 celled, with one seed in eacli cell. 



I. LINUM. 



1. L. usitatissimum (Flax). Annual. Stem eighteen inches, soli- 

 tary, branched above, erect ; leaves alternate, narrow, lance -shaped, 

 without stipules ; flowers numerous, in branched cymes ; sepals 

 ovate, acute ; petals wavj'', soon falling off ; stamens five, alternate 

 with the petals, opposite to which latter are five glands (aborted 

 stamens ?). Distribution almost universal ; habitat, waj'sides occa- 

 sional, perhaps a remnant of former cultivation. Flowers purple ; 

 May. 



A handsome species of the above — L. grandljiorum — with large 

 scarlet flowers, is grown in the Public Park, Hamilton. April. 



Nat : Ord : 9 3Iah'acc(€. 



r Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with tough fibrous stems, usually covered 



with stellate down ; leaves alternate ; calyx five-lobed, valvate in 

 bud, usually with three to five or more bracts on the outside, form- 

 ing an involucel ; petals five, adhering at base to column of sta- 

 mens ; filaments of stamens uniting into a long tube, inserted 

 under ovary ; anthers one-celled ; pollen grains large, spherical, 

 covered with spines — a htautlfal object for the microscope; styles 

 numerous, free or united ; fruit consisting of many combined diy 

 carpels or a many-seeded capsule. 



The plants of this order are all noted for their mucilaginous 

 IDroperties, and many for their valuable fibre ; they also contribute 

 \ some of our most ornamental garden shrubs. The Hollyhock 

 {Althooa rosea), with gaudy red flowers ; the Cotton plant [Gassy pium 

 hcrbaccum), with yellow flowers; AhiUilon striat/on, a tree with 

 three-lobed leaves and orange-yellow flowers strixoed with red ; 

 also various species of Hibiscus, which have been introduced from 

 West Indies. In the grounds below JMount Langton may be seen 

 three splendid trees, 80 feet high ? of the silk cotton tree {Bombax 

 ceiva), which belong to the closely-allied order of Bombaceoe. 



A. Fruit consisting of numerous dry carpels rotate round a central axis. 



Involucel none, calyx five, cut angular. 

 1. S. Carpinifolia (Wire-weed). W perennial herb or small shrub, 

 with a long, wiry root ; stem erect, branched, one to two feet high ; 

 leaves on short stalks, variable, lance-shaped, unequal -sided, 



