MONOCOTYLEDONE^E. 



interior mass. Hardly any of these plants appear to 

 have any definite magnitude ; individuals of the same 

 species being very different in size : the common 

 mushroom, we see, varies from one inch to one foot 

 in diameter. 



Many of the acotyledones are evanescent and 

 quickly perishable in the open air ; yet, when dried 

 and kept free from moisture, the lichens and fungi 

 change to a leathery consistence, and then are very 

 durable. Individuals of almost all the orders are 

 used as articles of diet in the arts or materia medica. 



Some of this class are remarkable for their tenacity 

 of life. Several of the mosses after being kept in 

 cabinets, as specimens or otherwise, for many years, 

 and in which time they have become completely dried, 

 nevertheless, as soon as they are exposed to moist air, 

 recover vitality, and grow again as well as ever. 



SECTION II. MONOCOTYLEDONE^E. 



LEAVING the acotyledonese, we now enter on the 

 most simple order of the monocotyledonese, namely, 

 the Graminece*. In all moist and temperate climates 

 these form the general covering of the earth. They 

 furnish man with the " staff of life," and for the 

 herds and flocks of our depasturing animals are the 

 most useful of all others. 



* Grasses. 

 D 



