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LETTER IX. 



THE PROTEA TRIBE — THE AMARANTH TRIBE. 



(Plate IX.) 



If you cast your eye back over the various tribes 

 we have passed in review, you will remark that 

 they all agree in one circumstance, however diffe- 

 rent they may be otherwise. They all have both 

 calyx and corolla : that is, two distinct rows of parts 

 on the outside of the stamens ; and the petals are 

 never joined together : on this account they are 

 called Polypetalous, a name which is made by many 

 Botanists to designate the large portion of the vege- 

 table kingdom to which they belong. By and bye you 

 will learn that another portion of considerable extent 

 is called MonopetalouSy because the petals are united 

 by their edges into one tube or body ; and I have now 

 to explain that a good many natural orders, which 

 have either a calyx without any petals, or no calyx 

 at all, receive the name of Apetalous. They are often 

 also called imperfect or incomplete, with reference to 

 their want of petals ; it is to some of these that I 

 wish next to direct your study. 



The first with which we shall begin, is what is 

 called the Protea tribe, a group of exotic plants very 

 much cultivated in green-houses for the sake of their 

 beautiful or singular foliage, and the great masses of 



