X FAMILIAR GARBEX FIOIFERS. 



AZALEA, from azdleos, dry, none of the species being met with in 

 marshy ground, but most of them in dry and often barren situations. N.O., 

 Erkaccfc. LiNN.?i:AN: 5, Fentandrla : 1, Monofiijuia. — The azalea does not, 

 to the casual eye, appear related to the heather, but a critical scrutiny reveals 

 the family tie. All the heath-worts, or ericaceous plants, are trees or shrubs 

 with hard wood, entire leaves, and hermaphrodite, regular, or slightly 

 irregular flowers. The calyx and corolla are four or five-divided, the 

 stamens being double the number, and inserted in the receptacle. The fruit 

 is in a capsule containing many small seeds. It is a large order, comprising 

 the heaths, arbutus, clethra, azalea, rhododendron, ledum, and many other 

 shrubs that are prized for their beauty, but are of small importance in the 

 arts, the majority of them being bitter and astringent, and producing inedible 

 fruits. The arbutus is an exception, as it produces an edible fruit, and hence 

 is known as the "strawberry-tree." The bear-beny {Arctostaplnjlos) is 

 another example, for if the berries are rarely eaten by man, they are by 

 various sjjecies of birds that are prized as food. The common heather 

 {CaUinia ndgaris) is a very serviceable plant, as ale is brewed from its young 

 tops with an addition of malt ; horses, cattle, and sheep feed on it, but they 

 do not prosper without the aid of better food. As a honey i:)lant it is of 

 great value, differing in this respect from the beautiful azalea, the honey 

 from which (perhaps) poisoned Xenophon's soldiers. From Lclmn hiti- 

 foiifftit is derived Labrador tea, and (JnuJlhey'ia ■proniiiihcus furnishes 

 mountain tea. p. -33. 



SUNFLOWER, or HELTANTHUS, the flower of the sun,_is 

 a glorious member of the great family of composites or asters, j). 67. 



GENTIATSTA. Named after Gentius, King of Illyria, who fir^t 

 discovered the bitter tonic properties of the gentian root. N. O. , OenttainiccfV. 

 LiNNJSAN : 5, Fcntaiidrirf ; 2, I)\fi>j}ni(. — The members of the order are 

 herbaceous plants, sometimes twining, with opposite or occasionally alternate 

 entire leaves, regular flowers, which are generally five, but sometimes four, 

 six, eight, or ten divided, watli two stigmas, and an ovary of two carpels. 

 They inhabit all paiis of the world, and their flowers are of all colours. 

 The gentians proper are mostly mountain plants with blue flow' ers ; in other 

 words, they are representatives of polar vegetation, both in the arctic and 

 antarctic regions. The gentian root of commerce is derived from the yellow 

 gentian (6-'. lutca), which is a common plant on the European Alps, p. Gl. 



TRADESCANTIA.— Named in honoiuof the Tradescants. N.O., 

 i'i)iiii)H'IimicciP. LiNN.TiAN : 6, Ilexandria ; 1, Jloi/of^f/i/ia. — These pretty 

 flowers do not rank high with the gardener or the chemist, or the man whose 

 taste for science is promoted only by the impulse of hunger. For the botanist, 

 however, there is a point of interest in the midway place between sedges and 

 lilies that is occupied by the spider-worts. Brown compares them with 

 rushes, Lindley compares them with alismads : the amateur gardener will 

 find his own comparisons when the pretty flowers are before liim, and he 

 cares more for tlieii' beauty than their ^ilnce in any classification. jj. (3-). 



PELARGONIUM, from pehn-ffos, a stork, in allusion to the beak- 

 like seed-pod. N.O., Crane's-bills, or Grran/nrea-. Linn,"e.\n : 16, Mo)>({- 

 (I'-'phia ; 4, Heptandria. — The great family of geraniums has but a small 

 place in the arts, though a large place in the garden. They are herbs or 

 shrubs, with tmnid stems, leaves alternate or opposite, and flowers white, 

 red, or purple, rarely yellow. The flowers are hve-divided in seijals and 



