BOTANY. 



of their flowers, over and above what 

 concerns the stamens and the pistils. 

 "Without such a rule, the class would be 

 overwhelmed with the trees of tropical 

 countries. 



The orders are, Monoecia, when the se- 

 veral kinds of flowers grow on one plant, 

 as Atriplex : Dioecia, when they are situ- 

 ated on two separate ones; and Trioecia, 

 when they occupy three several individu- 

 als of the same species. 



XXIV. Cryptogamia. Stamens and pis- 

 tils either not well ascertained, or not to 

 be numbered with certainty. 



1. Filices, ferns, whose flowers'are al- 

 most entirely unknown. The seed-ves- 

 sels commonly grow on the back of the 

 leaf, thence denominated a frond, and 

 are either naked or covered with a mem- 

 brane. In some few they form spikes or 

 clusters of capsules. 



2. Jlfusci, mosses, a peculiar family of 

 plants, possessing 1 great elegance, though 

 diminutive in size ; extremely tenacious 

 of life, growing- in the hottest as well as 

 the coldest climates; flourishing- most in 

 the damp wintry months. Their her- 

 bage consists of pellucid leaves, some- 

 times accompanied with a stem : their 

 capsule is of one cell and of one valve, 

 closed with a vertical lid ; seeds nume- 

 rous and small ; the capsule is covered 

 with a calyptra or membranous veil, the 

 summit of which is the stigma, a circum- 

 stance absolutely peculiar to this family ; 

 the stamens are mostly in a separate flow- 

 er, and numerous. The late Dr. Hedwig 

 of Leipsic is celebrated for his discove- 

 ries relating to mosses. He has distin- 

 guished their genera by the peristomium 

 or fringe, which in most cases surrounds 

 the mouth of the capsule. This fringe is 

 cither single or double. In the former 

 case it consists of either four, eight, six- 

 teen, thirty-two, or sixty-four teeth. The 

 inner peristomium when present is more 

 membranous, plaited, and jagged. The 

 principles of Hedwig have been adopted, 

 with a few requisite limitations, by the 

 most able writers in this branch of botany. 



3. Hepatic^* liverworts. The herbage 

 of these plants is most generally a frond, 

 or leaf, bearing the fructification ; but 

 they differ most essentially from the hist 

 order in the want of a lid to the capsule, 

 which is formed quite on a different prin- 

 ciple from that of mosses, and very vari- 

 ous in the several genera. Jungerrnan- 

 nia and Marchantia are examples of this 

 order. 



4. JVgte, flags. The herbage of these 

 is also frondose, being sometimes a pow- 

 dery crust, sometimes leathery or gela- 



tinous ; the seeds are embedded in the 

 frond, or in some appropriate receptacle ; 

 the stamens are scarcely known. The 

 vast family of Lichen occurs here, the 

 most hardy of vegetables, clothing ex- 

 posed rocks, trunks of trees, and barren 

 heaths, in the most cold and inhospitable 

 climates. On one of them the rein-deer 

 depends for sustenance in the wimer. 

 Others are useful in dyeing and even me- 

 dicine. The numerous and various tribe 

 of sea-weeds, Fucus, Conferva, and Ulva, 

 are classed here. 



5. Fwigi, mushrooms. These are fleshy 

 in substance, of quick growth, and gene- 

 rally of short duration. They are divided 

 into Angiocarpi, which bear seeds inter- 

 nally ; and Gymnocarpi, whose seeds are 

 imbedded in an exposed membranous or- 

 gan. Many of these are eatable, some 

 poisonous. Linnaeus had a great preju- 

 dice against the use of any of them as 

 food. 



APPENDIX. Palmce. The magnificent 

 natural order of palms was placed by Lin- 

 naeus as an appendix to his system, be- 

 cause their* parts of fructification were 

 not well known when he first wrote. 

 They are now, however, in general so 

 well understood, that the plants in ques- 

 tion are easily reducible to the regular 

 classes of the Linnaean system; and it 

 would be advisable for any future editor 

 to arrange them accordingly. They prin- 

 cipally belong to the Hexandria Monogy- 

 nia, and are nearly allied to many plants 

 already referred to that class. 



Palms are called by Linnceus the prin- 

 ces of the vegetable kingdom, and are re- 

 markable for their lofty growth, their sim- 

 ple stems crowned with evergreen leaves, 

 and their abundant fruits. Among them 

 we find the date, so valuable an article of 

 food for many nations ; the cocoa nut, and 

 many other fruits of less value. Some 

 supply whole nations with oil, for food or 

 economical uses, from their fruits; with 

 wine from the juices of their stem, or 

 with cordage from its fibres. 



We shall now proceed to give a sketch 

 of the natural system of arrangement 

 published byjussieu, a botanist of the 

 first eminence, now living at Paris. Its 

 primary divisions are .funded upon the 

 structure of the seed, whence is derived 

 the distinction of all plants into Acotyle- 

 dones, destitute of a cotyledon ; Monoco- 

 tyledones, such as have one cotyledon ; 

 and Dicotyledones, such as have two. Un- 

 der the last are included a few genera that 

 have numerous cotyledons, as Pinus and 

 its allies, which Jussieu considers as hav- 

 ing two cotyledons, each divided into 





