SYNOPSIS. 



The uotes "vvhich follow are ou the s;ime plan as iu the synopsis of the First 

 Series, Iu the light sketches of which the work consists scientific details 

 would be out of place, and yet may sometimes be desired by the reader. By 

 bringing together, apart from the descriptions of the plates, a few elementary 

 particulars of the relationships of the plants figured, as well as of their 

 structure and uses, this synopsis may serve some useful pui-pose, although it 

 is made as brief and unobtrusive as pospible. 



CROWN IMPERIAL, 01 FRITILIiARIA. The disposi- 

 tion of the flowers explains the familiar name. The botanical name is from 

 fritiUti'S, a chess-board, in allusion to the chequered colouring of some species, 

 more especially 7^. ;;/(?/i'(7^/7'.v. 'N.O., LUio^e(c. Linn^an: Q, Hexaiidria ; 1, 

 Monogi/n'uf, — To say that the fritillary is a liliaceous plant is like saying it is 

 a vegetable plant, for the lily family is so vast that this comparatively 

 humble flower seems lost in it. There are nearly loO genera and quite 1,200 

 species of liliaceous plants, and they comprehend such diverse subjects as 

 true lilies, tulips, draceenas, aloes, squills, asparagus, onions, the New 

 Zealand flax, and the Australian grass-tree. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 the order comprises herbs, shrubs, and trees, with bulbous, tuberous, and 

 fibrous roots, and of the most varying aspects imaginable. But they agree 

 in having fiowers in which calyx and corolla are generally confounded and 

 coloured alike, the flowers being usually six-divided with six stamens and a 

 thi'ee-celled ovary. It is a magnificent family that no botanist has studied 

 sufficiently, and that will surely be some day broken up and put in order, for 

 it cannot be doubted that as it now stands it is made up of incongruities. 

 The position of the fritillary in the order is with the lilies and tulips, to 

 which it is obviously .Ulied by the form of the flowers and the herbaceous 

 growth and bulbous root. 7;. 1. 



ORIENTAL POPPY. See under " Eschscholtzia. " 2^. ■'). 



CRASSULA, from Lat. rrassus, thick, iu allusion to the succulent 

 leaves. N.O., Crassulaccc. Linn.ean : 5, Vcntundria ; 1, Munotjiinla. — The 

 crassula or stonecrop family comprises plants that are herbaceous, woody, 

 and succulent. The leaves are alternate or opposite, sometimes ternate or 



