ORDER TRIGYNIA. 
207 
Trigynia. 
The Third Order presents us with but one genus, which of 
itself renders the order important : it is the Rhubarb, (Rheum :) 
in one species the Riieu.m tartaricum ; the leaves are acid, and 
on this account, when young, are used for making pies ; this is 
a native of Tartary, but now common in our gardens. The 
Rheum palmatun i is the plant which produces the medicinal 
rhubarb ; this is obtained from the roots, which are thick, fleshy, 
and yellow. This plant is cultivated in England, and is remark- 
able for the rapidity of its growth. An English writer * asserts 
that its stem has been known to grow more than eleven feet in 
three months ; that some of its leaves were five feet in circum- 
ference ; that the root also grows to a great size ; and that some 
had been carried to England which weighed more than seventy 
pounds. 
We have now closed our considerations of the ninth class. 
Yon will recollect our lecture commenced with the eighth, 
which we found, though not a large class, to be an interesting 
one. The ninth, with the exception of two genera, laurus and 
rheum, presented few considerations of importance ; the ninth, 
the seventh, and first, are among the smallest of the artificial 
classes. 
We have dwelt somewhat at length upon exotics, because they 
are seldom described in botanical works in common use. If you 
become interested in the study of plants, you will naturally wish 
to know something about those which you are in the habit of 
using for food or medicine, or to which, as in the laurel of the 
ancients, allusions are often made in the books which you read. 
It is important, however for yoit to seek for a practical knowl- 
edge of botany from the actual observation of our own native 
plants ; to find them in their own homes, in the clefts of rocks, 
by the side of the brooks, and in the shady woods ; it is there 
you will find nature in her unvitiated simplicity. We do not go 
to the crowded city to find men exhibiting without disguise the 
feelings of the heart. The flower transplanted from its rural 
abodes, though not a moral agent, and, therefore, incapable of 
moral transformation ; yet exhibits in the splendid green house 
a physical metamorphosis, not less remarkable than the moral 
change which luxury too often produces upon the character of man. 
* Woodville. 
Order Trigynia — Different species of Rhubarb — Remarks upon some of 
the classes — Knowledge of exotics desirable — Flowers in their native situa- 
tions. 
