LETTER II. 



THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE — BLANCHING THE GERA- 

 NIUM TRIBE SPIRAL VESSELS — HYBRID PLANTS. 



(Plate II.) 



You ask me whether the Strawberry is not a plant 

 of the Crowfoot tribe ; and if so, how it happens that 

 it is so wholesome a fruit. It is true that the Straw- 

 berry plant has, in many respects, a resemblance to 

 the Crowfoot, especially in its numerous stamens 

 and carpels ; and I, therefore, am not surprised at 

 vour thinkino' that thev must both belono- to the 

 same natural order. But when you are more accus- 

 tomed to the making accurate observations, you will 

 cease to be deceived by such resemblances. On a 

 future occasion I shall introduce the Strawberry and 

 its relations to your notice (see Letter VIII.) ; for 

 the present I shall content myself with calling- your 

 attention to a difference by which they may be 

 readily distinguished. The Crowfoot is, as you have 

 seen, a plant with the stamens arising from underneath 

 the carpels^ so that when the calyx drops, or is taken 

 off, the stamens still remain surrounding the car- 

 pels, and are, as Botanists say, hypogynous (see 

 p. 1 1.). But in the Strawberry flower you cannot 

 tear off the calyx, without bringing the stamens 



