BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 71 



And the Marjoram flowers 

 Within our bowers, 

 To thee their nectared essence yield ; 

 Come honey-bee with thy busy hum, 

 Our Mint like flowers still bid thee come. 



E. The next class, Tetradynamia, contains 

 flowers with six stamens, four of which are long 

 and two short, hence arising its name, the class 

 with four powers. This class is already some- 

 what known to you from containing the Cruci- 

 form family. Do you remember the character- 

 istics of this family ? 



L. Yes ; the petals have the form of a cross. 

 I have been examining some of them since you 

 told me of their powers in curing scurvy ; the 

 calyx, I find, has always four sepals, and the 

 corolla four petals. 



E. There are only two orders in this class, 

 distinguished by the simple circumstance of con- 

 taining either broad or long pods ; the pods are 

 receptacles for the seeds of flowers. The petals 

 are generally of a white or yellow color, very 

 rarely a purple. They are never poisonous. 



The first order is Siiiculosae, or that with short 

 or round pods. The Pepper Grass is here, 



