170 



THE CLASS MONCECIA. 



Spurge, which is a common weed on waste land, and the Zannichella. Triandria is 

 diiefly occupied by the Sedges, under the names of Carex, which alone claims sixty of 



Fig. 363. 

 Monoecia Diandria. 



Fig. 364. 

 MonoDcia Monandria. 



Fig. 365. 

 Moncecia Pentandria. 



Fig. 366. 

 Monoecia Tetrandria. 



Fig. 367. Monoecia Triandria 



the whole hundred and eight species found in the classes Typha or Reed Mace, and 

 Sparganium or Bur-reed ; all of which, with the Elyna, grow in marshy and muddy 

 places. 



The order Tetrandria (four stamens) has five genera viz., Aluno Glutinosa or 

 Common Alder-tree, Buxus Sempervirens 

 or Box-tree, Urtica or Stinging Nettle, 

 Littorella, and Eriocaulon. The stinging 

 secreting hairs of the Nettle, with their 

 circulation, have been described at page 67. 

 There are only three genera in the order 

 Pentandria (five stamens) ; Bryonia or 

 Bryony ; Xantheum, and Amaranthus ; 

 whilst the order Polyandria (more than five 

 stamens) has ten genera, several of which 

 are our most important wooded trees. Thus we find the Quercus or Oak, Betula or 

 Birch, Fagus or Beech (Fig. 125), and Chestnut and Corylus or Hazel, amongst 

 trees; with Carpinus, Sagittaria (Fig. 173), Ceratophyllum and Myriophyllum ; and, 

 last, the Arum Maculatum or Wake Robin (Fig. 76), with its starch-containing cormus. 

 The valuable Pinus, or Pine-tree, is the sole occupant of the last order, or Monodelphia. 



It is scarcely possible, in so heterogeneous an assemblage of plants, to fix upon any 

 leading common characteristic ; but although no member, except the corm of the Arum, 

 and the nuts of the Fagus, Quercus, and Corylus, offers anything for the food of man or 

 beast, neither is any, except the Oak-bark, employed in medicine, it is highly probable 

 that valuable astringent and perhaps acid properties are common to them "all. The 



Fig. 368. Monoecia Pclyandria. 



