144 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



fall down by its own weight. Take a blossom 

 and tell me its name. 



L. It has ten stamens and two pistils ; it is 

 then in the tenth class and second order of that 

 class. 



E. How will you write it in your description '/ 



L. Class Decandria, order, Digyriia. Its 

 calyx is inferior or below the germ, made of one 

 leaf, tube-shaped, has five teeth, and, let me 

 see, destitute of scales. The petals are five in 

 number, with claws. It must belong then to 

 the genus Saponaria, and turning to that genus 

 in the Botany, I perceive it agrees with the de 

 scription of the Officinalis. The calyx is cylin- 

 drical, the leaves of a long oval shape, opposite 

 to each other, and nearly growing together 

 around the stem. This is the Soapwort, or 

 what grandmother calls Bouncing Bet. I per- 

 ceive, that in looking up the genus of a plant, 

 my attention must be principally directed to the 

 parts of the flower, while the specific differences 

 relate the stems and leaves. 



K. There is a distinction between the stems 

 of plants which is based on their modes of grow- 

 ing. The two kinds are called by the names 



Of ENDOGENOUS and EXOGENOUS. 



