360 Linnean System of Plants, 



all obtained from this tree, which demands a volume to do 

 it justice. Some of the most important genera of the seventh 

 order, Polyandria^ are the beech, birch, nut, chestnut, walnut, 

 plane, hornbeam, and oak, an extensive genus, of which the 

 cork tree is a species. The sweet-gum tree (Liquidambar) is 

 valuable both for the fragrant gum from which it is named, 

 and for its hard and compact wood. Lords and ladies are of 

 this order. The last order, Monad4lphia, also, is a very im- 

 portant one, comprising the areca-nut tree, the pine, fir, 

 larch, cypress, cedar, arbor vitae, &c. Gourds, cucumbers, 

 melons, tapioca, castor oil, and various medicinal drugs, are 

 obtained from plants of this order. Here, too, are placed 

 the tallow tree, and the poisonous manchineel of the West 

 Indies, 



The twenty-second class, Dice'cia (two houses), has the sta- 

 mens and pistils not only in separate flowers, but on separate 

 plants. The principal genus in the order Didndria is the 

 willow, of which Sir J. E. Smith has enumerated sixty-four 

 native species. In Triandria we find the date palm, and the 

 irrope-grass, generally used at the Cape of Good Hope for 

 thatching houses, and found to be remarkably durable. In 

 Tetrandria are placed mistletoe, and the candleberry myrtle. 

 Pentdndria, though a small order, is a wealthy one, being 

 possessed of the pistacia, the hop, hemp, &c. In Hexdndria 

 is the yam, and the poplar occupies the order Octdndria. In 

 Polydndria, besides the butcher's broom, which has its flower- 

 stalk concealed under the upper surface of the leaf, are the 

 juniper, the yew, the nutmeg tree, and the pitcher plant, so 

 named from a tubular pitcher-shaped appendage at the ex- 

 tremity of the leaf. 



In the class Polygdmia there are perfect flowers, flowers 

 with stamens, and flowers with pistils only, either on the 

 same or on distinct plants. Those which bear them on the 

 same plant are included in the order Monce'cia ; those which 

 bear them on separate plants form the order Dioe^cia, In the 

 first we find the genus Mimosa, of which two remarkable species 

 are the sensitive and the humble plants ; the interesting genus 

 -4cacia, &c. In the second order are the carob tree, the 

 fruit of which was supposed to have been eaten by St. John 

 in the wilderness, whence it was named St. John's bread ; the 

 bread-nut tree of Jamaica, of which the fruit is boiled and 

 eaten with their meat by the negroes ; the date plum ; ginseng, 

 the root of which is considered, in more countries than its 

 own, as a remedy for every ill, whether of mind or body ; 

 and that peculiarly interesting genus, the fig tree. 



As these letters were intended for the use of persons com- 



