240 



CHAPTEE XIV. 



CHENOPODllCEJE POLYGONACE^ ELEAGNEJE THY- 

 MELlCE^E AIlISTOLOCHllCE^ EMPETEACE^] EU- 

 PHOKBlACEJE UE.TICA.CE.E. 



" By the silver founts that fall, 

 As if to entice the stars at night 

 To thy heart ; by grass and Rush, 

 And little weeds the children pull 

 Mistoook for flowers ; oh ! beautiful 

 Art thou, earth ! albeit worse 

 Than in heaven is called good ! 

 Good to us that we may know 

 Meekly from thy good to go ; 

 While the Holy Crying Blood 

 Puts in music, kind and low, 

 'Twixt each ears as are not dull 

 And thine ancient curse." 



MRS. BARRETT BROWNING. 



WE liave now discussed three of the subclasses of the first 

 great class of plants, the Two-lobe A (Dicotyledonous). One 

 more subclass still remains, and this is characterised by having 

 no corolla, and called Petalless. 



The first order in this fourth subclass is that of the GOOSE- 

 FOOT. It includes a large number of uninteresting-looking 

 plants, but which are not, however, wholly without their uses. 

 The tribe takes its name from its first family, which has many 

 members, with their calyx divided into five segments, enclosing 

 five stamens and two styles. 



The Good-King-Henry, or Mercury Goosefoot (Chenopodium 

 Bonus-Henricus), is a common weed in waste places. Its young 

 shoots were formerly used as Spinach, and they are still so in 

 Prance, where it is highly valued, both for the table and for 

 making into poultices. As a proof of their high appreciation 

 gf this herb, the French have named it after their favourite 

 king, Henry IV. The leaves are triangular-shaped, and the 



