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CHAPTER VI. 

 CELASTE^CE^E EHAMNlCE^E LEGUMINdSJE. 



" There is a lesson in each flower, 

 A story in each stream and bower ; 

 On every herb on which you tread 

 Are written -words, which, rightly read, 

 Will lead you from earth's fragrant sod 

 To hope, and holiness, and God." 



IN the plants which, we are now about to study we must no 

 longer look for the stamens to be situated upon the recep- 

 tacle that was the character of the Thalamiflorals ; the second 

 subclass, that of the Calyciflorals, makes the calyx the bond 

 of union, and the stamens are situated upon it. 



The twenty-fourth British order, the first in this subclass, is 

 that of the SPINDLE TEEE. The only British representative of 

 this family is Euonymus europseus, a pretty shrub with lance- 

 shaped leaves, smooth branches, and small clusters of greenish 

 flowers. These have generally four petals, four sepals, and four 

 stamens, though the number is sometimes five. The blossom 

 is unattractive, but the seed is very beautiful, consisting of 

 a fleshy crimson vessel, divided by a depressed line crossing 

 it at right angles into four parts ; the vessel opens at these 

 lines, and discloses four large seeds of a brilliant orange. I 

 have found this shrub about Richmond, in Yorkshire, and 

 on the borders of the Downs in Wiltshire, and Edward has 

 it from Kent. No great interest attaches to this shrub ; 

 butchers' skewers are made from it; but, what would be 

 more likely to redeem it from neglect is, that it is good for 

 making piano-keys. The Arabs eat the green leaves of one 

 species of Spindle, and wear a sprig of it to preserve them 

 from the plague. 



The common BUCKTBTOEN (Rhamnus catharticus), is found 



