xii FAMILIAR GARDEX FLOWERS. 



— As a uear relative of tlie piuk, caruatioii, and silene, the lychnis sustains 

 the honours of the family by producing brilliant flowers. All the members 

 of this order are herbaceous jjlauts, or sub-shrubby ; none of them are trees 

 in any proper sense of the word. We have had clove carnations ten years 

 old with stems as hard as flint, and as thick as a large man's thumb ; but 

 it is not often any of the piuk tribe attain to so mature a condition. One of 

 their constant characters is the jointed and forked growth of the stems ; 

 another is the simple form of the leaves, which are opposite, and often unite 

 and clasp the stem. The flowers are usually hermaphrodite, consisting of 

 fi-ve sepals and five petals ; the stamens equal in number to the petals, or 

 double ; styles thread-like, bearing the stigmas on their interual surface ; 

 fruit a oue-celled capsule. In this order occur, in addition to the plants 

 already named, the cerastium, spergula, saponaria, and gypsophila. They 

 are for the most part useless, and also for the most part harmless. It is 

 often stated that the clove of the spice-box is the produce of a cazyophyl- 

 laceous plant ; but that is a mistake arising out of the name Can/ojyJiyJlutf 

 aronuUicns. This is a member of the familj'- of myrtles. It is the spicy 

 odoui' of the carnation that obtains for it the specific uame Caryophyllus ; 

 but the two "cloves" are in the natural system separated by as many 

 as ninety-four orders. p. 81. 



POLEMONIUM, ivompohmofi, war; and thereby hangs a tale for 

 which reference must be made to Plinj^. N.O.. Folemonlacea:. Lixx.^iiAN : 

 5, Fentandiia ; \, Moiiogyii'o.—'FoY characters of the order see under 

 "Phlox." p. So. 



NARCISSUS.-See ante. p. 81'. 



CYTISXTS is a geograi^hical uame derived from Cijihrifs, one of the 

 Cyclades, where one of the species was found. N.O., Fabaa:(V^ or legu- 

 minous plants. LiNNiEAN : IQ, MoimdelpIiHS ; 6, Decaudria. p, \ys. 



GRA.PE HYACINTH differs from common hyacinth in trivial 

 features only. The name DUfscari is derived from moschos, musk, in allusion 

 to the odour the flowers emit. The term ''grape" is appropriate to the 

 appearance of the flowers, for they might often be mistaken for berries, 

 owing to the exceeding shallowness of the lobes of the perianth. The 

 essential characters are the same as in other liliaceous plants. p, 97. 



DOUBLE BUTTERCUP illustrates the vagaries of the i?.o^/r/?- 

 culacccr, and suggests that certain of them have long been under the influence 

 of man, who may be said in the present day to care but little about them. 

 The study of the structure of a buttercup flower, whether single or double, 



but single more especially, is a proper first step to the acquisition of the 

 structure of flo\Vers in general. p_ \()\ 



