DICOTYLEDONS--RUBIACE.E DIAGRAM 12. 185 



divisions ; the corolla is also formed of a single piece, but it is 

 very irregular. It has a peculiar form, and seems to have two lips, 

 an upper and lower one ; and there are four stamens, which are 

 remarkable for two being large and two smaller. 



Nearly all the plants of the family Labiatee are fragrant, and 

 none are poisonous. The principal plants are the rosemary, the 

 sage, the mint, the lavender, the thyme, the marjoram, and the 

 balm-mint. 



FAMILY RUBIACE^l. 

 [ DIAGRAM 12. ] 



This family is one of the most useful to man. It includes three 

 plants of the greatest importance the cinchona, the coffee, and the 

 madder. Quinine is the bark of the cinchona, a large tree 

 which grows in South America ; the coffee also is a tropical shrub 

 largely grown in Southern and Western Asia ; and the madder is 

 cultivated in South Europe. The only plants of the family 

 Rubiaceas which are found everywhere are the yellow bed-straw 

 and the goose-grass ; this last is much like the madder. Its stalk 

 is square like that of the labiatae, and the leaves also grow on the 

 same level, but more than two together. The corolla is regular, 

 with four or five divisions and as many stamens. The fruit is a 

 double pod. 



Quinine, or Peruvian bark, is of two kinds, the grey and the red. 

 It has the property of curing intermittent fevers, which are 

 especially frequent in marshy countries. Instead of using the bark 

 itself, an alkali which, united with an acid used in the form of a 

 sulphate called quinine, which is extracted from it and possesses the 

 same qualities, is employed. Indeed, the bark only owes its virtue 

 to the quinine which it contains. 



Coffee is the seed of a shrub which grows in Arabia, and is 

 cultivated in all warm colonies. There are two seeds, or coffee-beans, 



