CLASS TETRANDRIA. 
143 
jcorollas; they are oblong and acute; c, represents the stamens, 
which are three in each flower ; the filaments are of the length of 
the corolla ; the anthers are two-forked or bifid; d, is the pistil, hav- 
ing an egg-shaped germ, and two spreading and feathery styles ; at 
(*, is the seed, not having any proper pericarp, but enclosed by the 
two scales of the corolla ; it is single and naked. 
Fig. 125 shows the orchard-grass, of its natural size ; a, is the 
stem, which is a cyhndric and jointed culm. At b, is the leaf", which 
IS long, narrow, pointed, simple, and entire. At c, are the flowers, 
which are thick, panicled, and terminal. 
The orchard-grass is very common in the New England and Mid- 
dle States. 
Of all the grasses, the darnel (Lolium) only is poisonous; this 
plant seems to have been known in the days of Virgil, who, in his 
. " Pastorals," represents the -shepherds as speaking of the lolium as 
destructive to their flocks.* 
CLASS IV. TETRANDRIA. 
The same number of stamens are found 
in the plants of this class, as in those of the 
13th class, Didynamia. In the fourth class, 
the stamens are of equal length, but in the 
13th, they grow in two pairs of unequal 
length. In this class we meet with no large 
• natural family ; the genera which compose 
it appearing little united by natural relations. 
Order Monogynia. 
^ As an example of this order, may be men- 
tioned the HousTONiA ccerulea, which is known 
by different common names; Innocence^ 
Venus''s Pride, and Blue Houstonia. It is a 
very delicate little flower, appearing early in 
* See Appendix, Plate iv. Fig, g, for a representation of one of the grass tribe. 
What does Fig. 125 represent ?— Which of the grasses is poisonous 7— How does 
le fourth class agree with, and how differ from the 13th class 7— Houstonia. , 
