130 LETTER XXXVIII. 



Tribe is now admitted into the works of all systematic 

 writers. 



Its principal points of agreement with the Chick- 

 weed Tribe consist in its having five petals, five 

 stamens growing below the ovary {fg- 3.), and five 

 distinct styles ; all points of slender importance in 

 themselves, and in the present instance quite neu- 

 tralized by the nature of the predominating difixirences 

 above explained. 



It might have been more correctly allied to the 

 Mallow Tribe, for you will remark that its stamens 

 grow into a tube {fig. 3.), that it has pin-headed, or, 

 as we say, capitate, stigmas, and several one-celled 

 carpels, arranged in one whorl round an imaginary 

 axis ; it moreover agrees with that group in possessing 

 mucilaginous properties. But, on the other hand, its 

 leaves have no stipules, its calyx is extremely diff'erent 

 from the valvate one of Mallows, and it has not their 

 crumpled folded embryo. 



In fine, it is rather to the Rock Rose Tribe, and 

 the plants assembled in that vicinity, that Flax must 

 be compared, as you will hereafter see. 



Among the peculiarities of Flax, that do not belong 

 to its character as a distinct natural group, but that 

 are exclusive to the genus Linum, of which it is a species, 

 are two that deserve particular notice ; the one, the abor- 

 tion of half its stamens, the other, the occurrence of a 

 ten-celled ovary, in connection with five styles. 



You will remark that the five stamens of Flax are 

 united by their base into a downy cup {fig. 3.), and 

 that five small teeth {fig. 3. a. a.) alternate with them. 



