xiv FAMILIAR GARBEy FLOIVERS. 



"WISTARIA takes its name from Professor "Wistar, tlie American 

 Itotaiiist. Irhic'uir is from f/I/^i!/>', sweet, and reminds one of glycerine, the 

 sweet jirinciple that is pressed out of various oils and fats in certain manu- 

 facturing processes. N.O. Fahacea-, leguminous plants, or Pxpiliouaccw. 

 Li\N.'RAN ; 17, IHadelphia : 4, iJccandrla. — This heautiful tree is sometimes 

 called the purple laburnum, hut as we have a true laburnum with purple 

 ilowers, the name is scarcely allowable. y. l:^-3. 



ARUM, from the Egyptian fro)/^ the ancient name of the plant. 

 X.O., ^Lr'trr<e or Arads. L^N^'JEA^^ : 21, Jloficccia ; 9, Foh/andrirt. — The 

 plants of this order are easil)^ recognised both by their leaves and flowers. 

 They are alwa3's herbaceous, many are of lowly stature, as the '" lords and 

 ladies" of the hedgerow; others are rampant climbers, as the philodendron 

 of the tropics, wliich clambers over trees and displays huge leaves and aerial 

 roots high in the air amongst the branches. The sheathing of the leaves is a 

 leading character, but a more striking sign of the order is the inflorescence, 

 which consists of a sjjathe enclosing a spadix on which the several flowers are 

 situated. In the plate the spathe is the " hly *' proper, a mere expansion of 

 the flower-stem, and within it is seen the tip of the sjoadix which bears two 

 sorts of flowers, those at the base beiug fruitful, those above supplying the 

 fertilising pollen from their stamens. Calyx and corolla are unknown in this 

 order, but the spathe or " floral leaf" is often very conspicuous and cha- 

 racteristic. Although a very acrid and often dangerous race of plants, thej^ 

 contriLuite in a material degree to the service of man. The cuckoo ]iint or 

 arum of the liedgerow is the source of the starchy substance known as Port- 

 land sago, and the roots of several tropical species are cooked as j'ams. They 

 are, however, dangerous, and to chew one leaf of the common cuckoo pint 

 will be to insure excruciating pains and some degree of danger. Tlie jiorcu- 

 pines of the Cape eat the roots of the trumpet lily, but tliey arc so acrid that 

 man can make no use of them. j/, 120. 



TROPJEOLUM, from tropaioi/, a ti-ophy, X.O.. TroptfoRuvc. 

 LtXN.T.iN : 8, OcfniHlria ; 1, 2Io)iof/ifn\a.—T}\(^ plants belongmg to this order 

 are smooth, tender, and herbaceous, ^vith diffuse or twining stems, and 

 alternate petiolatc peltate leaves: the flowers are irregular, axillary, and 

 solitary, the calyx has five sepals, the upper one with a long distinct spur ; 

 the petals are unequal and irregular, the two upper are sessile and remote, 

 arising from the throat of the calyx, the three lower stalked, and suuiller, 

 sometimes abortive : the stamens, eight in number, perigjTious. the fllaments 

 distinct ; the anthers minute, erect, two-celled, dehiscing longitudinally ; 

 ovary consisting of three carpels ; style one, stigmas three, acute ; ovules 

 solitary pendulous ; the fruit is indehiscent, separating into three pieces 

 which surround a common axis; the seeds are large, havino- no albumen and 

 tilled with the embryo, the cotyledons of which are thick and consolidated 

 together into a single body; the radicle lies within the projections of 



