188 
ORDER MONOGYNLL 
to raise a nap or furze on woollen cloth. The C'ornvs, so called 
from a Latin word cornu, a horn, on account of the hardness of 
the wood, is a genus composed mostly of shrub-like plants, with 
flowers growing in flat clusters or cymes, like the elder. The 
florida, a species of Cornus, often called Box-wood, sometimes 
Dog-wood tree, is a beautiful ornament of our woods. It may 
be considered either a large shrub or a small tree ; it grows 
from the height of fifteen to thirty feet. Its real corollas are 
very small, and are clustered together in the manner which is 
called in botany an aggregate. This aggregate of flowers is 
surrounded by that kind of calyx called an involucrum, which, 
in this plant, consists of four very large leaves, usually white, 
but sometimes of a pale rose color ; to the latter circumstance 
is owing its specific name Jlorida, or florid. You would no 
doubt, on the first sight of this plant, mistake the large leaves 
of the involucrum for the petals. 
Another very common genus of the class Tetrandria, is the 
Bed-straw, ( Galium, )an herbaceous plant, with very small white 
flowers, the leaves grow in whorls or rings ; in different species, 
the leaves thus clustered together stand around the stem-leaves 
in fours, fives, sixes and eights. Some species exhibit a pecu- 
liar roughness upon the stems and leaves. This genus with 
many others of the class, belongs to the natural order Stellatce,* 
or starry plants ; the leaves radiating from the stem as rays of 
light from a star. 
Among the exotics of this class, are the Saxtalcm which 
produces the sandalwood, and the Madder, (Rubia tinctoria ,) 
the root of which produces a beautiful scarlet color. The latter 
plant is said to have the singular property of tinging with its red 
color, the bones of the animals that feed upon it. This is one 
of the starry plants, belonging to the order Stellatae of Linnaeus; 
but Jussieu has arranged this and some of the plants whose 
leaves grow in whorls, under his 57th order, which he calls Ru- 
biaceae. The Silver tree, Protea argentea has soft leaves, re- 
sembling satin of a silver color. Another species of Protea, 
the aurea, has gold colored leaves, which are edged with scarlet. 
Both these trees are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
have never been found in any other locality. The other orders 
of this class are not particularly interesting or important. 
♦From Stella, a star. 
Cornus — Bed-straw — Madder — Protea orgenlea. 
