GENERAL FACTS RELATING TO VEGETABLES. 
20 
l>'t. Whether inserted on the. calyx or corolla^ oi, 
2d. Whether inserted on the Receptacle. 
If we find the Stamens inserted on the Rece/ptacle^ the flower is ia 
the class Polyandria ; but if on the Calyx or Corolla^ it is in Icosan- 
DRIA. 
If our flower has less than twenty stamens, with none of the pecu- 
iarities above mentioned, of connexio7i. position^ or length., we have 
only to count the number of stamens, in order to be certain of the 
class ; if there are ten stamens, it is in Decandria ; and so on through 
the nine remaining classes. This is the true analytical process ; but 
when we put plants together to form a species, and species together 
to form a genus, and genera together to form an order, and orders 
together to form a class, we then proceed by Synthesis, which means 
putting together. 
General Facts relative to Vegetables. 
Plants are furnished with pores, by which they imbibe nourishment 
from surrounding bodies. The part which fixes the plant in the 
earth, and absorbs from it the juices necessary to vegetation, is the 
root ; this organ is never wanting. 
The stem proceeds from the root ; sometimes it creeps upon the 
earth, or rem.ains concealed in its bosom ; but generally, the stem 
ascends either by its own strength, or, as in the case of vines, by sup- 
porting itself upon some other body. The divisions of the stem are 
its branches ; the divisions of the branches are its boughs. When the 
vegetable has no stem, the flower and fruit grow from the tops of the 
root : but when the stem exists, that or its branches bear the leaves, 
flowers, and fruits. Herbs have generally soft, watery stems, of short 
duration, which bear flowers once, and then die. 
Trees and shrubs have solid and woody stems 3 they live and bear 
flowers many years. 
Small bodies of a round or conical form, consisting of thin scales, 
lying closely compacted together, appear every year upon the stems, 
the boughs, and the branches of trees. They contain the germs 01 
the productions of the following years, and secure them from the 
severity of the seasons. These germs, and the scales which cover 
them, are called buds. The buds of the trees and shrubs of equi- 
noctial countries, have few scales, as they are less needed for pro- 
tection against inclemencies of weather. 
Leaves, like flowers, proceed from buds ; the former are the lungs 
of vegetables ; they absorb v/ater and carbonic acid from the atmo- 
sphere, decompose them by the action of rays of light, and exhale or 
give out oxygen gas. 
Vegetables, like animals, produce others of their kind, and thus per- 
petuate the works of creation. The organs essential to the perfec- 
tion of plants, are the stamens and pistils. Those plants in which 
the stamens and pistils are manifest, are called Pheiiogamous j where 
these are rather suspected than demonstrated to exist, they are called 
Crypto gamous. The presence of a stamen and pistil only constitutes 
a perfect flower ; but in general, these organs are surrounded with 
an inner envelope, called the corolla., and an outer one, called the 
calyx. When there is but one envelope, as in the tulip, this is often 
called by the more general term of perianth, which signifies, sur- 
rounding the flower. Persons ignorant of botany, give exclusively 
When is the flower in one of the first ten classes?— Difference between analysis and 
synthesis— Stem — Branches— Boughs— Herbs— Trees and IShrubs— Buds- Leaves - 
Piief isamous and Cryptosamous plants. 
3* 
