BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 49 



Its graceful boughs by the night winds are bent, 

 And how sweetly they give out their fragrant scent ! 

 Say, canst thou envy Arabia now, 

 Or ask for her garlands to twine round thy brow ? 



Oh talk not of India's rose hung bowers, 

 And the hues of rainbow-tinted flowers ; 

 Look thou on our rich and varied store, 

 And envy the gardens of Gul no more. 



E. We now come to Hexandria or six sta- 

 mens, which Nuttall styles a very natural, 

 though varied assemblage of plants. With a few 

 exceptions the plants in it belong to the great 

 Mono-cotyledonous class of the natural system. 



L. What does Mono-cotyledonous mean ? 



E. Mono, you are aware, is the Greek term 

 for the number one : Cotyledon is a word deri- 

 ved from the same language, meaning cavity ; 

 its exact synonym is therefore one cavity. When 

 you break an egg you will notice the yolk ; this 

 would, if allowed to be hatched, form no part of 

 the future chicken, whose form begins in the 

 white ; the yolk remains in its body to serve as 

 a means of nourishment until it is able to pro- 

 vide food for itself. Nature expon Is no less care 

 on seeds, which are in truth vegetable eggs. Be- 

 sides the embryo of the future plant contained 

 in the seed, is a supply of nutritious matter 



