CLASS SYNGENESIA. 
229 
Leguminous plants, which furnish many of the most delicious 
table vegetables ; such as peas, beans, &c. 
The orders of this class are founded on the same circum- 
stance in respect to the stamens, which distinguishes those of the 
preceding class. 
We make these recapitulations for you, because it is always 
important in the consideration of a subject, to have a few clear 
ideas before you leave it ; this is better than a great many im- 
perfect or confused ones. It would, therefore, be well in all 
your studies, when you have read upon a subject, to ask your- 
selves what are the main points to be remembered ; and you 
will find the less important facts or ideas, by the natural sug- 
gestions of the mind, will readily cluster around the principal 
ones. 
LECTURE XXXV. 
CLASS XVII SYNGENESIA. 
We have now arrived at a class which contains a large por- 
tion of the vegetable tribes, particularly of those plants which 
blossom in the last summer months, and in autumn. 
The term Syngenesia signifies a union of anthers ; this cir- 
cumstance, you can readily conceive, forms a difference between 
this class, and those which are distinguished by a union of fila- 
ments ; in the one case, the tops of the stamens, or the anthers, 
are united, while the lower parts are separate ; in the other case, 
the tops are separate while the filaments, or lower parts of the 
stamens are united. 
The number of stamens in plants of this class is mostly 
5, distinguished fiom the fifth class, not only by the union of the 
anthers, but by the compound chaiacter of the flowers ; the lat- 
ter circumstance is indeed the essential character of the class. 
In some cases, plants with five stamens, have their anthers uni- 
ted, but having no resemblance to others in the class Syngene- 
sia, they are retained in the fifth class: the violet and impa- 
tiens are examples of this irregularity. This is an instance in 
which the artificial arrangement, is made to bend to natural re- 
semblances. 
The general characters of the compound flowers have already 
been exhibited to you, in connexion with some ‘of the most im- 
portant and distinct natural families. The analysis of the 
Recapitulation— Class syngenesia — Characters which distinguish it. — 
20 
