SYNOPSIS, XV 
later times been added under the name of Labiatifore, in consequence of the 
tlorets having distinctly two lips of unequal size. These divisions have, 
however, been thought objectionable on several accounts, and De Candolle, 
following Cassini and Lessing, has trusted more to modifications of the style, 
the result of which is the following arrangement of the order in eight tribes, 
named respectively Jernoniacea, Eupatoriacee, sAsteroidee, Se 
Cynarea, Mutisiacee, Nassauviacea, Cichoracec, A very large order, the 
members of which are met with in every part of the world. They are 
mostly astringent, tonic, and aromatic, affording foods, fibres, dyes, and 
eclonided, 
drugs. There is scarcely a poisonous plant in the family. p. 133, 
SNOWDROP. The name is explained in the text. N.O., dAmary/- 
liducee, the Amaryllis family. Linnzan: 6, Herandria ; 1, Monogynia.— 
A casual inspection of the flower by one unskilled in botany will result in a 
conviction of an alliance of the snowdrop with the lilies, but the snowdrop is 
simply not a lily but an amaryllid. Between the two families the differences 
are not many, but there are differences, aud one of the principal is the 
inferior position of the ovary. This is a large order, comprising the suow- 
flake, snowdrop, vallotta, pancratium, narcissus, the agave, and the ‘“ giant 
lily’ of Australia, doryanthes. They are widely distributed and are plentiful 
in the southern hemisphere. A large proportion of them possess acrid juices, 
one of the number, the beautiful Hamanthus toricaria, being employed by 
the Hottentots to poison their arrows. An important amaryllid is the 
American agave, often, but mistakenly, called ‘‘aloe.’”? From this noble 
thick-leaved plant a valuable fibre is obtained, and from the juice of its 
leaves the Mexicans prepare the celebrated drink called ‘‘ pulque.’? The 
snowdrop was valued in ancient times for medical purposes, as also fora 
distillation of its juices employed as a cosmetic. But it is no longer used for 
such purposes, and lives unmolested, establishing its rights by its beauty 
alone, p. 1387. 
CLEMATIS, from Avema, a vine, or climber. From the same root we 
have in Dutch, climbop, the ivy, a very picturesque though strictly classic 
name. N.O., Ranunculaceae. Linnman: 13, Polyandria; 6, Polygynia.— 
The clematis section of crowfoots stands far apart in all its prominent 
characters from the buttercups and anemones that are classed in the same 
order. It agrees with them in the possession of an acrid juice which produces 
inflammation when applied to the skin, and if taken internally is irritant and 
may prove fatally poisonous. In the buttercup we see the leaves placed 
alternately, and their bases sheathe the stem; in the clematis the leaves are 
opposite, and do not sheathe the stem. In the insertion of the stamens on 
the receptacle all the members of this order agree. A large proportion of the 
species of clematis are climbing shrubs of temperate climes, a few are herba- 
ceous, and all are ornamental, even our wilding of the hedgerows, the 
traveller’s-joy, or Clematis vitalba, being extremely elegant, if not so showy 
as the exotic species that are now so much cultivated. p. 141. 
