DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS USED IN MEDICINE. 



Series I.— Phaenogamous or Flowering Plants. 



Substance of the plant composed of cellular tissue, woody fibre, ducts and 

 spiral vessels. Leaves usually present ; cuticle with stomata. Sexual organs 

 always present, and usually surrounded by a floral envelope. Reproduced 

 by means of seeds, having distinct coverings, cotyledons, and a radicle and 

 embryo. 



Class I.— Exogenae.— De Candolle.— Dicotyledonous Plants. 



Trunk, consisting of concentric layers, surrounding a central column of 

 pith, and composed of two parts, wood and bark ; wood consisting of ligneous 

 strata, traversed by medullary rays, and increasing by the deposit of new 

 matter on the outside, (the older and inner layers called duramen or heart- 

 wood, and the newer and outer, termed alburnum or sapwood.) Bark formed 

 of strata, increasing by the deposit of new matter on its inner side. Leaves 

 jointed at their union with the stem, and having their veins and nerves much 

 and irregularly ramified (reticulated). Flowers usually with a distinct ca- 

 lyx and corolla (double, perianth) ; frequently having a quinary arrange- 

 ment, or occasionally binary, or of some of the multiples of two. Embryo 

 with two opposite cotyledons. Radicle naked. 



S nb-Class I,— Polypetalous Exogenous Plants* 



Floral envelopes, consisting of both calyx and corolla ; the petals being 

 distinct. 



Group I. — Polycarpicales. 



Ovaries several, or numerous, distinct ; when in several rows, sometimes 

 coherent, but not united into a compound pistil. Stamens and pistils inserted 

 on the receptacle. Embryo small, in a large quantity of horny or fleshy al- 

 bumen. 



Order 1..— RANUNCULACE^.— De Candolle. 



Herbaceous (seldom shrubby). Leaves alternate (rarely opposite), variously divided 

 and having the petiole dilated at base, and partly clasping the stem. Sepals 3 — 6 or more, 

 usually 5, seldom persistent. Petals 3 or many, hypogynous, occasionally wanting. 

 Stamens many, hypogynous, anthers adnate or innate. Ovaries many (sometimes few 

 or solitary), distinct ; ovules solitary or many. Pericarps dry puts, or achenia, or bac- 

 cate, or follicular. Seeds with a horny or fleshy albumen. 



