142 
CLASS PENTANDEIA. 
meadow grounds. The Stricta, or cluster-flowered loose-strife, 
is from one to two feet in hight ; it bears a profusion of fine 
yellow blossoms in a loose terminal raceme. After flowering, 
it throws out bulblets from tlie axils of the leaves, which pro- 
duce new plants. 
a. The Primula, from which the natural family Primulacese was named by Pro- 
fessor Lindley, is a beautiful genus ; most of its species blossom early, whence its 
name, primula, from primus, first. The primula is the proper primrose ; it received 
its name in England, where it is very common. The Primula, vulgaris is the com- 
mon English primrose ; — the cowslip (veris), oxlip (elafior), and Scottish primrose 
{fcotica), are all different species of the same genus. These are cultivated in our 
gardens, as also the Primula auricula, a native of the Swiss Alps (often improperly 
called polyanthos) ; we have but one native species of primula which is much 
known, the farinosa, bird's-eye primrose. When we read in British authors of 
primroses and cowslips, we must remember that they are not the same flowers 
which we usually call by these names. The English cowslip {Primula veris) has 
the segments of its corolla spotted with a rich, yellow color, which Shakspeare 
seemed to suppose contained the fragrance of the flower. Thus in the " Midsum- 
mtf !N^ight's Dream " the Fairy says : 
" I serve the fairy queen, 
To dew her orbs upon the green : 
The cowslips tall, her pensioners be ; 
In their gold coats spots you see ; 
Those be rubies, fairy favors, 
In those freckles live their savors; 
I must go seek some dew-drops here, 
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear." 
The American Cowslip belongs to the genus Caltha, of the class Polyandria. 
The coffee-plant (Coffea arabica) is a native of Arabia ; it is used to a great extent 
by the Turks and Arabs, to counteract the narcotic eftects of opium, which they 
use in large quantities. It is remarked by a physician, that the question is often 
asked, which is the least detrimental to health, tea or cofi^ee; he says: "The 
Turks, who drink great quantities of coffee, and the Chinese, who make equally as 
free use of tea, do not exhibit such peculiar effects as render it easy to decide 
whether they are in reality deleterious to the human system." 
187. The i/rumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera^ Fig. 134, V) has a 
very minute, five-cleft calyx, which is superior^ or above the 
germ : the corolla is monopetalous, with an oblong tube ; the 
limh of the corolla is deeply divided into five revolute segments, 
one of which seems separated from the others ; the filaments are 
exsert^ anthers oblong. The general characters of the grajpe (Vitis) 
are, a calyx, five-toothed ; petals adhering at the top ; a round 
five-seeded pericarp. The stamens and pistils are, in some 
species, dioecious.^ or on separate plants ; this circumstance 
would carry a plant into the class Dioecia ; but as some species 
have perfect flowers containing five stamens and one pistil, and 
as it is not permitted to separate the difierent species of a genus, 
we take the dioecious ones, which are less numerous than the 
pentandrous, into the fifth class. 
a. The regions which produce the wine-grape have a mean annual temperature* 
* By mean annual temperature is meant a medium between the extremes of heat and cold. In % 
o. Primula — Coffee. — 1 
187. Trumpet honeysuckle— General characters of the grape genua. 
