LETTER XII. 



THE HEATH TRIBE THE BINDWEED TRIBE. 



(Plate XII.) 



Let me now introduce you to an extremely beau- 

 tiful set of plants, in which you will find nothing but 

 the most charming colours, set off by so clear a com- 

 plexion, and such perfect forms, that there is little 

 comparable. to them in the whole vegetable kingdom. 



Very different from the tribes we have lately seen, so 

 far are they from wanting a corolla that they possess 

 that part in a most highly expanded state ; not, how- 

 ever, consisting of several distinct petals, as in all 

 the natural orders we at first examined, but having 

 the petals grown together into a cup or bell or hol- 

 low body of some kind, and only separate at their 

 upper ends. These corollas are technically named 

 monopetalous, or one-petaled ; a very bad designation 

 because the corolla consists in reality of many petals 

 in a united state ; but the word was invented when 

 the real nature of such a corolla was unknown, and 

 custom has established what error first promulgated. 

 It is to the various tribes of Monopetalous Dicof.elydons 

 that we are now to direct our attention. 



The Heath tribe, which is what I at first alluded 

 to, stands pre-eminent among such plants for its love- 



