FIGWORT FAMILY. 228 



young state before it before it becomes hard and woody is used for 

 making pickles. 



4. SB'SAMUM, L. BENNE. 



Calyx 5-parted, the upper lobe smallest. Tube of corolla large, limb 

 plicate somewhat bilabiate ; upper lobe emarginate, lower slightly 3-fid. 

 Stamens 4, didynamous, with the rudiment of a fifth. Capsule oblong, 

 obtusely 4-angled, 4-grooved, 2-celled, 2-valved, valves recurved. Seeds 

 numerous. Annual herbs with the upper leaves often alternate-solitary 

 and axillary flowers and oily seeds. 



1. S. IN'DICUM, DC. Stem erect pubescent ; leaves ovate-oblong or 

 lanceolate, the lower often 3-lobed ; capsule mucronate with the persis- 

 tent style, velvety pubescent. 

 INDIAN SESAMUM. Benne. Sesame. 



Stem 4-5 feet high, branching. Leaves petiolcd, very variable in shape, those near the 

 base of the stem often 3-fid. Flowers on short peduncles, reddish white. Pods about an 

 inch and a half long, filled with seeds which are white, or in some varieties black on the 

 margin. 



Native of India, cultivated. 



Obs. The Benne plant being a native of India, does not perfect its 

 seeds in the northern States, but only succeeds in those climates in which 

 the cotton plant can be cultivated. It is said that the plant was intro- 

 duced by the negroes, who make use of the seeds as food. The seeds 

 contain a large quantity of oil, which is obtained by expression in the 

 same manner as Linseed oil ; it is bland and tasteless, and is used for the 

 same purposes as Olive oil, answering for cooking or for burning. The 

 plant is cultivated in many warm countries for the sake of the oil. The 

 leaves abound in mucilage which they readily impart to water ; one or 

 two of them stirred in a half-pint of water will render it thick and 

 ropy without affecting its transparency. The plant is often raised at 

 the north, from seeds brought from the south, for the leaves, the mu- 

 cilaginous drink made from them being considered serviceable in the 

 bowel complaints of children, though it probably possesses no advantage 

 over that made from the bark of the Slippery Elm, or the Sassafras 

 Pith. * 



OKDER XLVII. SCROPHULAR'IA'CEvE. (FIGWORT FAMILY.) 



Herbs, shrubs or sometimes even trees with alternate, opposite or verticillate leaves with- 

 out stipules, a persistent calyx of 4-5 more or less united sepals, and a more or less 

 irregular, bilabiate or personate corolla, with the lobes imbricated in the bud. Stamens 

 either 4 and didynamous the fifth stamen sometimes appearing in the form of a sterile 

 filament, or very rarely autheriferoas, or often only 2 one pair being either suppressed 

 or reduced to sterile filaments. Ovary 2-celled, with the placentae united in the axis. 

 Capsule 2-valved. Seeds indefinite, albuminous. 



An Order of nearly 150 genera, affording many curious and rather handsome flowers 

 some troublesome weeds and a few plants of considerable medicinal powers especial- 

 ly the purple Fox-glove (Digitalis purpurea, L.). 

 &1. Upper lip of the corolla covering the lower in the bud. 

 Corolla wheel-shaped 5-cleft, the lobes somewhat unequal. Stamens 



5 ; a part or all of the filaments bearded. 1. VERIUSCUM. 



