118 



FOKMS OF FEUITS. 



The Hazel-nut is a fruit of a bony structure enveloped in a 

 tubular laciniated coat which botanists call an involucre 

 (fig. M). One other variety of fruit is here the winged-seed- 

 nut (fig. N), which characterises the fruit of the Sycamore 



N 



family. This seed-bearing quality in plants is a proof of 

 their pertaining to the third day's creation. " And God said, 

 Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the 

 fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind ; and it was so." 

 And it is further the title by which the great Creator made 

 the vegetable " world over to His own crowning work man. 

 "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, and 

 every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed." 

 The one exception to this rule the one tree whose fruit was 

 withheld, was, as you know, the occasion of the fall of our 

 first parents. But that error being atoned, our God has pro- 

 mised a new Paradise, where the Tree of Life will flourish, 

 bearing twelve manner of fruits ; not yearly, but monthly. 

 We know not what blessed quality that fruit may have, but 

 we are told that the leaves of the tree shall be " for the healing 

 of the nations." 



To return to the plants before us : the KNOT-GEASS family 

 comes next in order. Fanny hoped to have found the Strap- 

 wort near the Loe Pool, in Cornwall, where Mr. Johns 

 describes it as growing, but she sought it in vain. It takes its 

 name from the strap-shape of the leaves ; and its small white 

 flowers growing in tufts have five petals, five stamens, and 

 three stigmas. Its style of growth is prostrate. She was more 



