88 



CLASS 12. ICOSANDRIA. 



(Twenty or more Stamens, placed on the Calyx.} 



The plants of this class agree very much in structure with 

 each other, and are almost all contained in the same natural or- 

 der, (Rosacese.) Most of them are beautiful, most of them come 

 under the gardener's care, most of them are useful, and none 

 of them noxious. The stone fruits indeed yield prussic acid, 

 and which occasions the peculiar grateful flavor of the kernels, 

 but this is never in sufficient quantity to prove hurtful. Here 

 belong the Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Peach, Apricot, Medlar, 

 Almond, Pomegranate, Quince, Strawberry, Raspberry the 

 Rose, the Myrtle, and the Allspice the Cactus, Syringa, Me- 

 trosideros, Clove Tree, Mesembryanthum, Potentilla, Geum, 

 &c. ; many of the above natives of our own island, or grown 

 in English gardens. 



Order 1. MONOGYNIA. 1 Style. 

 SLOE. PLUM. CHERRY, (Prunus.) Cal. five- cleft; petals five. 



Order 2. BI-PENTAGYNIA. From 1 to 5 Styles. 

 (Styles variable in most of the genera.) 



HAWTHORN, (Cratagus.) Fruit a berry, with two bony seeds. 

 MEADOW-SWEET, (Spiraea.) . Fruit a capsule, with few seeds. 



Order 3. POLYGYNIA. Many Styles. 



ROSE, (Rosa.) Calyx five-cleft, fleshy, holding the hairy seed. 

 BRAMBLE, (Rubm.) Calyx five-cleft, leafy ; petals five; fruit 



of several berries, growing on a fleshy receptacle. 

 STRAWBERRY, (Fragaria.) Calyx ten- cleft; petals five ; fruit 



of minute nuts placed upon a fleshy receptacle. 



