35^ Infrodiictory View of the 



we are indebted for the lime, the lemon, the citron, and the 

 orange. The orange tree may be considered as one of the 

 graces of the vegetable world, uniting in itself a multiplicity 

 of charms. It is a tree of handsome growth, with polished 

 evergreen leaves of the most elegant form, a profusion of 

 beautiful and fragrant flowers, and a wholesome and delicious 

 fruit, cased in gold, which has inspired the poets with a thou- 

 sand exquisite images ; yet, not satisfied with all these perfec- 

 tions, it insists upon yet further provoking the genus ii^itabile^ 

 by possessing them all at once ; the delicate white blossoms 

 breathing out their sweetness upon the very cheeks of the 

 glowing fruit. Such is the beauty of the tree ; ask the feverish 

 invalid if its benevolence be not yet greater. 



We have one British genus of this order, St. John's wort 

 (jHypericum), one species of which the peasants of France and 

 Germany gather on St. John's day, and hang in their windows, 

 as a charm against evil spirits. 



The nineteenth class, Syngenesia, has compound flowers, 

 with the anthers united into a tube. The name of the class 

 (from the Greek, growing together) tells in two ways ; apply- 

 ing both to the union of the anthers and to the number of 

 florets forming the compound flower. The florets are of two 

 kinds ; either tubular, with a spreading five-cleft margin, or 

 ligulate^ long, flat, and narrow, with a very minute tube at 

 the base. They have five stamens and one pistil, and are 

 crowded many together on one common receptacle, seated in 

 a common calyx. In the first order, Polygdmia ^qu-dlis^ the 

 florets are all ligulate, as the common dandelion. In the 

 second order, Polygdmia Superflua^ a number of ligulate florets 

 wanting stamens are ranged round the circumference of the 

 receptacle, and called the rays ; while the centre is crowded 

 with tubular florets, having both stamens and pistil, and is 

 termed the disk, as in the daisy, in which the disk is yellow, 

 and the rays white. In the third order, Polygdmia Prustrdnea^ 

 the florets of the circumference have neither stamens nor pis- 

 til, as may be seen in the common blue corn-flower. In the 

 fourth order, Polygdmia Necessdria, the florets of the disk 

 have no pistil, the marginal florets no stamens, as may be 

 observed in the common garden marigold (Calendula). In the 

 last order, Polygdmia Segregdta, the florets have, in addition 

 to the common calyx which protects them all, a partial calyx, 

 sometimes to eadi separate floret, sometimes containing two 

 or more. Of this order we can give no familiar example. 

 From this class we derive several esculent plants and bitter 

 herbs, as the lettuce, endive, cardoon, artichoke, tansy, worm- 

 wood, chamomile, &c. ; and some ornamental flowers, as the 



