GENERAL FACTS RELATING TO VEGETABLES. 2Q 



1st. Whether inserted on the. calyx or corolla, or, 

 2d. Whether inserted on the Receptacle. 



If we find the Stamens inserted on the Receptacle, the flower is in 

 the class Polyandria ; but if on the Calyx or Corolla, it is in Icosan- 



DRIA. 



If our flower has less than twenty stamens, with none of the pecu- 

 liarities above mentioned, of connexion, position, or length, we have 

 only to count the number of stamens, in order to be certain of the 

 class ; if there are ten stamens, it is in Decandria ; and so on through 

 the nine remaining classes. This is the true analytical process ; but 

 when we put plants together to form a species, and species together 

 to form a genus, and genera together to form an order, and orders 

 together to form a class, we then proceed by Synthesis, which means 

 putting together. 



General Facts relating to Vegetables. 



Plants are furnished with pores, by which they imbibe nourishment 

 from surrounding bodies. The part which fixes the plant in the 

 earth, and absorbs from it the juices necessary to vegetation, is the 

 root ; this organ is never wanting. 



The stem proceeds from the root ; sometimes it creeps upon the 

 earth, or remains concealed in its bosom ; but generally, the stem 

 ascends either by its own strength, oi*, as in the case of vines, by sup- 

 porting itself upon some other body. The divisions of the stem are 

 its branches ; the divisions of the brandies are its boughs. When the 

 vegetable has no stem, the flower and fruit grow from the tops of the 

 root : but when the stem exists, that or its branches bear the leaves, 

 flowers, and fruits. Herbs have generally soft, watery stems, of short 

 duration, which bear flowers once, and then die. 



Trees and shrubs have solid and woody stems ; they live and bear 

 flowers many years. 



Small bodies of a round or conical form, consisting of thin scales, 

 lying closely compacted together, appear every year upon the stems, 

 the boughs, and the branches of trees. They contain the germs of 

 the productions of the following years, and secure them from the 

 severity of the seasons. These germs, and the scales which cover 

 them, are called buds. The buds of the trees and shrubs of equi- 

 noctial countries, have few scales, as they are less needed for pro- 

 tection against inclemencies of weather. 



Leaves, like flowers, proceed from buds ; the former are the lungs 

 of vegetables ; they absorb water and carbonic acid from the atmo- 

 sphere, decompose them by the actionof rays of light, and exhale or 

 give out oxygen gas. 



Vegetables, hke animals, produce others of their kind, and thus per- 

 petuate the works of creation. The organs essential to the perfec- 

 tion of plants, are the stamens and pistils. Those plants in which 

 the stamens and pistils are manifest, are called Phenogamous ; where 

 these are rather suspected than demonstrated to exist, they are called 

 Crypto gamous. The presence of a stamen and pistil only constitutes 

 a perfect flower ; but in general, these organs are surrounded with 

 an inner envelope, called the corolla, and an outer one, called the 

 calyx. When there is but one envelope, as in the tuhp, this is often 

 called by the more general term of perianth, which signifies, sur- 

 rounding the flower. Persons ignorant of botany, give exclusively 



When is the flower in one of the first ten classes?— Difference between analysis and 

 eynthesis— Stem— Branches— Boughs— Herbs— Trees and Shrubs— Buds— Leaves - 

 Phenogamous and Cryptogamous plants. 

 3* 



