Introduction. 



it will become the business of all to discover the uses of plants. 

 In this light, a popular Botany is a Harbinger of the Millenium. 



The greater part of our botanical names are derived from the 

 Greek, that language being from its structure an exceedingly 

 convenient one for the composition of technical terms. Botany 

 is derived from a word signifying a herb or grass, itself derived 

 from another word, meaning to feed, because grass is the chief 

 food of the animals most useful to man. 



Suppose our readers were transported to a vast prairie, and 

 the 100,000 known species of plants placed before them, and 

 they were required to range them in class, order, &c, how would 

 they begin ? The two great natural divisions of the flowering 

 and flowerless would be the first thing observed. An intermediate 

 division, which no doubt only existed to fill up the chasm, is now 

 wanting; in all probability it is gradually consuming in our 

 houses in the form of coal. 



The next point would be to take a perfect flower, and after 

 analyzing it, find wherein the several parts differed from others, 

 so as to form a ground of generalization. We will take the 

 flower of Juno, the Lily, as it stands near us, for example (see 

 plate). The large and beautifully colored leaves, of which there 

 are six, form the corolla or crown, that part commonly called the 

 blossom. Within the corolla are six thread-like organs, with 

 caps, called stamens ; you can see them in fig. 2, marked a ; 

 in fig. 4, the thread a, from the Latin word filum, is called a fila- 

 ment ; b is the anther or pollen box. The pistil is the long 

 organ in the centre, towering above the others ; at fig. 3 it is 

 divided into three parts, the germ, o, the style, b, and stigma, c, 

 which is three-lobed. The end of the stem where the flowers 

 are inserted, is called the receptacle. There is yet another part 

 which is wanting here, the calyx or flower cup ; you can see it, 

 however, in the other plates. 



If we watch the flower carefully we would find, after a certain 

 time, that the stamen would approach the pistil. A good com- 

 parison has been made of the male stamina, with their gaily 

 painted hats, bowing round the female pistil as beaux about their 

 belle. Each in turn, to carry out the simile, is permitted to come 

 in contact with the fair ; and as the contact takes place, the 

 golden pollen is shaken upon the pistil ; and the stamen retires 

 to give place to the next, that offers the same homage. When 



