350 Introdiictorij View of the 



Art. X. An Introductory View of the Linnean System of Plants. 

 By Miss Kent, Authoress of Flora Domestica, Sylvan Sketches, 

 &c. 



{Concluded from ^. \ ^2.') 



My dear Reader, 



I HAVE now but a very short time to spend with you, and 

 yet have much to say. Under such circumstances, people are 

 seldom very pleasant companions : they talk too hastily to be 

 very clearly intelligible, and fatigue both their hearers and 

 themselves to little purpose. There is, however, this advan- 

 tage in epistolary companionship, that the parties may take 

 their leave, even in the midst of a sentence, without any 

 breach of politeness. 



The ninth class, Ennedndria, is a very small one, con- 

 taining three orders. In the first, Monogynia, we have no 

 British plants ; its chief wealth consists of the fine exotic 

 genus Xaurus, which comprehends many handsome and valu- 

 able species : the camphor, cinnamon, and sassafras trees, the 

 poet's laurel, the alligator-pear, and some excellent timber 

 trees. The cashew-nut, Anacardium (from two Greek words 

 signifying heart-shaped) occidentale, also belonging to this 

 order, is a handsome Indian tree, producing fine evergreen 

 leaves ; fragrant flowers ; an edible pear-shaped fruit, from 

 the end of which the nut protrudes ; a caustic oil, applied to 

 various uses ; a gum ; and a natural ink for marking linen. 

 In the second order, Trigynia, is rhubarb, jRheum (from Rha, 

 the ancient name of the river Volga) . The roots of several 

 of the species are used medicinally, and their leaf-stalks for the 

 table. In the third order, Hexagynia^ we have one British 

 species, the flowering rush, Butomus umbellatus, a tall aquatic 

 plant, producing large umbels of handsome flowers, with six 

 rose-coloured petals, and as many pistils of a deeper red, hexa- 

 gonally disposed. The leaves are nearly 3 ft. long, and have 

 three sharp angles, which, wounding the mouths of cattle 

 feeding upon the plant, have obtained for it the name of Bu- 

 tomus, from two Greek words, signifying an ox, and to cut. 



The tenth class, Decandria^ has five orders. In the first, 

 Monogynia, we find the beautiful evergreen called the straw- 

 berry tree, ^^rbutus Uhedo*, which displays its delicate fruit 



* The word Arbutus has been derived from the Celtic ar-boiscy austere 

 bush; in reference to the roughness of the fruit. In the same manner, 

 Pliny's appellation, C/nedo (signifying, I eat one) is supposed to express 

 that naturalist's opinion of the fruit ; but surely neither name can be con- 

 sidered as justly applying to this tree strawberry, which, however some may 

 call it insipid, can never deserve a harsher epithet. They might b^- better 

 bestowed on the red bear-berry, A. Uva-ursi. 



