142 The Natural System of Botany. 



its common name of May apple has been given it, is about 

 the size of a plumb, has a pleasant acid taste, and is often eaten 

 and its root is an excellent cathartic. Another singular little plants 

 the Jeffersonia diphylla. It was named from President Jefferson 

 and is remarkable for the curious structure of its seed vessel 

 which opens with a lid like a snuff box. In Ohio it is in some 

 repute as a medicine, and is termed Rheumatism Root. The 

 Lco?itice, or Pappoose Root, is another plant of this tribe, very 

 commonly known in New England. It is proper to remark 

 that the two first of these genera were separated from the 

 Barberry tribe, and formed into another order, whose type \va3 

 Podophyllum, but on no good ground, as it would seem, since 

 they have been replaced by the best American authorities in 

 Berberideae. 



We must not forget to notice a curious instance of irritabil- 

 ity which occurs in the flower of the Barberry. The stamens 

 • are in a recumbent position when the flowers first open, lying 

 back close pressed upon the petals. But, if you touch one of 

 their filaments with a pin, the stamen rises gently up, and 

 strikes its anthers against the stigma, just as, says Lindley, 

 the figures in old fashioned clocks strike their hammers 

 upon the bells when chimes are sounded. No one, continues 

 our authority, knows the cause of this curious habit ; it is one 

 of those certain but inscrutable facts, the explanation of which 

 is probably beyond the faculties of man. There is one thing, 

 however, connected with it that deserves to be noticed, although 

 it does not throw light upon the nature of the phenomenon. If 

 you dose the Barberry with laudanum or any opiate, the sta- 

 mens are stupified and lose their elasticity ; and if you poison 

 the plant by some corrosive substance, such as arsenic, which 

 produces inflammation in animals, a sort of vegetable inflamma- 

 tion is produced in the stamens of the Barberry. We are not, 

 however, on that account to conclude that this plant approaches 

 animals in its nature, but merely that the principle of life 

 which pervades all nature is the same in its essence, and is 

 affected by similar causes, whether it exists in an animal or a 

 vegetable. 



There are two small orders, nearly allied to the Magnolia 

 Tribe, the members of which belong to tropical countries, 



