BOTANY. 



597 



student, because the fourteenth class (didyiutinia) has 

 also four stamens, but in this last two are longer 

 than the others. 



This class is divided into three orders, namely, 

 MONOGYNIA, DIGYNIA, and TETRAGYNIA, according 

 to their number of pistils respectively. The whole 

 contains above one hundred and nineteen genera and 

 one thousand and twenty-seven species in the Decently 

 published lists. Many of the genera of the first order 

 are beautiful shrubs and trees, chiefly natives of the 

 Cape of Good Hope and New Holland, as the 

 Protects, Hakias, Banksias, and the splendid waratah 

 or Telopia speciosissima. Several fine ornamental 

 Chinese shrubs, as the ixoras, for instance, belong to 

 this class, as well as many hardy plants, both shrubs 

 and herbs, natives of Europe. 



The second order contains only four genera, one 

 of which is a British annual, Buffbnia tenuifolia, named 

 after the celebrated naturalist the Count de Buffon. 

 The witch-hazel, a hardy North American tree, is 

 also placed in this small order. 

 Tetrandria. 



Tetragynia. 



Digynia. 



Monogynia. 



The third order, TETRAGYNIA, is also small, contain- 

 ing only eleven genera. Among these, however, we 

 find the well-known holly, or holme-tree, as it used to 

 be called in former times. This as a hedge plant is 

 unrivalled; and as an ornamental evergreen, none 

 are more worthy a place. Its timber, when it has 

 attained full size, is solid, white, and of remarkable fine 

 grain, and much used by musical instrument makers 

 and other artists. The common pond weed, Potamo- 

 giton, so frequent in our slow running rivers, also 

 belongs to this order. 



The fifth class of the system is PENTANDRIA, that 

 is, flowers having five stamens. It is divided into six 

 orders, namely, MONOGYNIA, DIGYNIA, TRIGYNIA, 

 TETRAGYNIA, PENTAGYNIA, and POLYGYNIA. This 

 class contains, perhaps, more phaenogamous plants 

 than any other in the sexual system. The genera 

 amount to above five hundred and twelve, and the 

 described species are above four thousand and 

 seventy-three. The first order is particularly abun- 

 dant both in genera and species ; every description 

 of flowering plant is found here, trees, shrubs, and 

 herbs, terrestrial and aquatic, trailers, creepers, and 

 climbers, annuals, biennials, and perennials, decidu- 

 ous and evergreen, tender and hardy. Among this 

 great crowd of vegetable beauties, it is difficult to 

 particularise any one as more typical of the class and 

 order than another. Suffice to notice that among the 

 herbs the primrose and convolvulus are conspicuous 

 among the shrubs are the beautiful azaleas, and of 

 trees the allamanda and Portlandia are the most 

 splendid in the tropical groves. Of medical plants 

 there are many ; one only need be mentioned, namely, 

 the Jesuits' bark tree, Cinchona officinalis ; and oi 

 dietetic plants there are many ; instance the plantain 

 tree of India, and the cultivated potato of Europe. 



The second order, DIGYNIA, contains all plants 

 having five stamens and two pistils. This is also a 

 large order, and comprises many beautiful and useful 



plants. Here we find the Asclejrias, with its curiously 

 constructed flowers, and the no less remarkable Sta- 

 uclia, a family of leafless plants, but bearing flowers 

 of uncommon character both in shape and colour, 

 and moreover diffusing a scent so loathsome that 

 jlow-flies lay their eggs on the petals ! Here also 

 we find the remarkable English parasitical plant, the 

 dodder, Cuscutn Europeca, and the stately elm tree, so 

 useful both for ornament and timber. Many medicinal 

 plants are also in this order, and not a few are useful 

 to the cook and confectioner. 



The third order, TRIGYNIA, contains only eighteen 

 genera, some of which are well-known plants. The 

 laurustine is one of the most ornamental, and the 

 elder, though a common intruder, is nevertheless 

 useful in some respects ; both wood and pith are em- 

 ployed in the arts, and the fruit supplies the labourer 

 with a homely kind of wine. The sumach family, so 

 variously useful in the arts, is also ranked here, with 

 several other genera of inferior note. 

 Pentandria. 



Trieynia. Digynia. Monogynia. 



The fourth order, TETRAGYNIA, contains one genus 

 only, and which happens to be a British plant, a 

 beautiful inhabitant of our bogs and marshy ground, 

 known by the name of grass of Parnassus. There are 

 four species of this plant already described ; three of 

 them are natives of North America. 



The fifth order, PENTACYNIA, contains nineteen 

 genera, among which we find the highly ornamental 

 family of Crassula, a tribe of succulent plants, chiefly 

 from the Cape of Good Hope. Here also we find 

 the superlatively useful flax, which furnishes the raw 

 material of the linen manufacture ; the neat thrift, 

 used for the edgings of walks in gardens, and the 

 showy sea lavender. 



Pentandria. 



Pentagynia. 



Tetragynia. 



The sixth and last order, POLYGYNIA, that is having 

 many pistils, is a small order containing only three 

 genera, two of which are exotics, and the other a 

 native of Britain, common in corn-fields, called 

 Myosurus miirimus, or mouse-tail. 



The sixth class is HEXANDRIA, and is divided into 

 four orders, namely, MONOGYNIA, DIGYNIA, TRIGYNIA, 

 and POLYGYNIA. It contains two hundred genera 

 and above one thousand seven hundred and twenty- 

 seven species. This class contains the greater num- 

 ber of our bulbous flowering, and culinary plants, as 

 the showy narcissus, the splendid lilies, the long-lifed 

 American aloe, the magnificent crinums, and pan- 

 cratiums ; the unequalled fruit the pine-apple, and 

 the equally useful onion, asparagus, &c. &c. The 

 plants are chiefly herbaceous, are found in every 

 clime from the torrid to the arctic zone, in the burning 



