FAMILIAR GARDEX FLOIFERS. 



unequally pinnate, without stipules ; flowers hermaphrodite, regular ; the 

 calyx with five lobes usually, but sometimes with as many as twenty ; corolla 

 consisting of petals equal in number to the lobes of the calyx ; stamens five 

 to ten ; ovaries free, equal in number to the petals ; fruit composed of many- 

 sided carpels, to the inner sutures of which the seeds are attached. In 

 echeveria the corolla is in one piece, deeply divided, and the stamens are 

 united to it. A quite unimportant order, though renowned for the beauty of 

 its fiowers. p, 9 



SNAPDRAGON, or ANTIRRHINUM. N.O , ScropM^ 

 Utriacete. LiNN^ix: 14, Tetradynamui ; 2, Avgiospermia. — See summary 

 under " Mimu^us." p. 13. 



FOXGLOVE. The familiar name is explained in the essay. The 

 botanical name Digitcdts means finger-stall or *' glove," which may appear 

 to give propriety to the popular name. !N".0., Scrophidariacetd, or Figworts. 

 LiNNiEAN: 14, Dldynainia ; 2, Angiospermia. — In this large and important 

 order are many curious and beautiful plants, not a few of them characterised 

 by distinct toxic qualities. The foxglove, snapdragon, calceolaria, mullein, 

 mimulus, and veronica are perhaps the best known amongst many, but more 

 for their beauty as garden fiowers than for their m.edical uses, although 

 digitalis is a plant of considerable importance in modem medicine. They 

 are mostly to be classed under herbs and shrubs, but the noble pawlonia is 

 an example of the trees of the order, and the buddlea is intermediate between 

 the trees and the shrubs. The catalpa is sometimes classed with the figvrorts, 

 but its proper place is with the bignoniads. Another plant often associated 

 in this group is the gloxinia, but this is a member of the gesnerworts, and 

 therefore it is scarcely allowable to speak of the foxglove — as it is sometimes 

 spoken of — as the '* British gloxinia." The common foxglove is the best 

 plant of its genus ; other species of digitalis must rank below it, but a few of 

 the number are interesting, more especially Digitalis aurea, the yellow 

 flowering foxglove, a native of Greece. p. 1 7. 



CINERARIA, from cineres, ashes, in allusion to the grey dovtTi on 

 the leaves of many species. X.O., Oompnsit(p, or Astcracetc. Linn^an : 19, 

 8gngenesia ; 2, SfiperJiua.^See summary under "Aster." p. 21, 



CHRYSANTHEMUM, from Greek chri/s^s, gold, B,ndi anthos, a 

 flower. N.O., AsteracecB. LiNNiBAN : 19, Syngenesia ; 2, S((perjlua. — For 

 summary see under "Aster." p^ 25. 



JAPAN QUINCE, or PYRUS JAPONICA. Name from 

 pgrus, a pear, as in Vii-gil and Pliny ; but it is difficult to avoid the suggestion 

 of something fiery, such as we have in the brilliant flowers of this plant, 

 which, we may suppose, was quite unknown to the ancients. The pear as 

 known in Eui'ope cannot be spoken of as a fiery tree, and it is not often the 

 fruits of the pear are highly coloured. The quince was kno'wn to the Greeks 

 as kiidoiiia, hence the modern botanical distinction, the Japan quince being 

 more properly classed as Cydimia Japouifx, although best known under the 

 generic distinction of Pjtus. As for the familiar word pear, that is true 

 English, having come down to us from the Saxon with scarcely any change. 

 The pears, quinces, and apples belong to the pomaceous section of the great 



