CLASS SYNGENESIA. 181 



tained by boiling the roots of the Glycirrhiza, a native of Italy and 

 France. The tamarind is a native of tropical regions. The 

 Arabians and Africans allay their thirst by the cooling freshness of 

 the pulp contained in its legumes. Some plants of this class seem to 

 possess active properties ; the seeds of the Lupine are said to be 

 poisonous. A traveller states, that the banks of the Nile are often 

 visited in the night by the hippopotamus or river-horse, a large an- 

 imal which does great damage to the gardens and fields ; and that 

 the inhabitants destroy the animal by placing a quantity of the 

 Lupine seeds near where he is expected ; these he devours greed- 

 ily ; they soon swell in his stomach, and distend it so much as to 

 cause death. 



The Furze (Ulex Europceus) is a very common plant in Europe, 

 though not found so far north as Sweden. It is a flower of beauti- 

 ful appearance ; so much so, that Linnaeus, as is said, when he first 

 beheld it, fell upon his knees, in a transport of gratitude, and thanked 

 the Author of nature for thus beautifying the earth. 



A class called Polyadelphia, or many brotherhoods, having sta- 

 mens united in more than two sets, was formerly admitted, but it was 

 thought to be unnecessary, and the genera which it contained have 

 been transferred to the class Polyandria ; the St. John's wort (Hy- 

 pericum) is among the plants which were in the rejected class Po- 

 lyadelphia ; this has its numerous stamens in three clusters, not united 

 by their filaments ; but all the species of the Hypericum are not thus 

 divided into separate parcels of stamens. This distinction, as the 

 character of a class, is very properly laid aside ; and the plants 

 which were in the former 18th class, Polyadelphia, (many brother- 

 hoods,) are now placed in the 12th class, Polyandria, (many stamens.) 



In the last two lectures, we have treated of two classes distin- 

 guished by the union of their filaments. In one class, Monadelphia, 

 the general character was that of filaments united in one set, forming 

 a tube. In this class, no particular form of the corolla was found to 

 be general, unless we except the last order, in which the hollyhock 

 flowers may serve as an example ; having a double calyx of an 

 unequal number of divisions, a corolla of fhe heart-shaped petals, 

 united into one piece around the column formed by the united fila- 

 ments. 



In the class Diadelphia we found the marks of distinction to be, 



1st. The union of the filaments into two sets ; 



2d. The papilionaceous corolla ; and, 



3d. The nature of the fruits, consisting of that kind of pod called 

 a legume, and thus forming one great natural family of Legumirt-ous 

 plants, which furnish many of the most delicious table vegetables ; 

 such as peas, beans, &c. , 



LECTURE XXXIV. 



CLASS XVII. — SYNGENESIA. 



We have now arrived at a class which contains a large portion 

 of the vegetable tribes, particularly of those plants which blossom in 

 the last summer months, and in autumn. 



Furze— Class Polyadelphia, why rejected ?— Recapitulation of the last two lectures 

 —Class Syhgenesia. 

 16 



