THE BINDWEED TRIBE. 



163 



her humble origin, feeds only upon dews and rain, 

 till the frost comes, nips her tender frame, and leaves 

 her dead and shrivelled form still clinging to its place : 

 a monument of the punishment of vegetable ambi- 

 tion. This strange plant is of the Bindweed tribe ; 

 but is extremely imperfect; leaves it has none, except 

 a few stunted scales, and its flowers are little white 

 things collected in close clusters. The fruit consists 

 of membranous capsules, in each of which are two 

 cells and four seeds. 



I must now leave you to hunt for Dodder, and to 

 study her singular habits if you can find her, till I 

 have leisure to resume my pen. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIL 



I. The Heath Tribe. — 1. A shoot of Hisjnd Heath (Erica 

 hispida). — 2. A flower; a, the sepals. — 3. The stamens audpistiL — 4. 

 and 5 anthers. — 6, A pistil cut open, shewing the arrangement of the 

 ovules within the ovary. — 7. The ripe fruit oi Rhododendron, natural 

 size; a, a central receptacle of seeds, from which the valves separate. 

 — 8. A seed very higlily magnified; a, the hilum, or scar where the 

 seed separated from the receptacle. — 9. The same cut through per- 

 pendicularly, shevring the embryo lying in the midst of albumen. 



IL The Bindweed Tribe. — l. A shoot of Dwarf Convohidm 

 (Convolvulus tricolor). — 2, The stigma. — 3. A stamen. — 4. The ovary 

 divided perpendicularly, shewing the manner in which the ovules 

 grow. — .5. The ripe fruit. — 6. A seed. — 7. The same cut through 

 perpendicularly; a, the radicle of the embryo ; b, the hilum, or scar 

 where the seed separated from the receptacle. 



M 2 



