240 
ORDER POLYANDRIA. 
a name which forms a somewhat ludicrous contrast with its 
mean appearance. 
This genus however, contains some elegant foreign species ; 
one of which Amaranthus mtlancholicus, has received the whim- 
sical name of Love-lies-bleeding; piobably from the circum- 
stance of its long, spiral, red llower stalks, bending over, often 
reclining upon the ground. 
Another species called Prince’s feather, is always erect. The 
Amaranth, whether from its being a good word to fall in with 
poetical measure, or from some fancied intrinsic beauty, has ever 
been a favourite with poets. Milton, when speaking of the mul- 
titude of angels assembled before the Deity, says, 
“To the ground, 
With solemn admiration, down they cast 
Their crowns, inwove with Amaranth and gold ; 
Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, 
Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offence, 
To Heaven removed. 
With flow’rs that never fade, the spirits elect 
Bind their resplendent locks, enwreathed with beams.” 
In Portugal, and other warm countries, the Globe Amaranth 
is said to be used for adorning the churches in the winter. 
POLYANDRIA. 
The 12th order contains the genus Calla, of which we have 
some native species; it includes the elegant exotic, Calla etlii- 
opica, or Egyptian Lily. In this genus, the flowers having nei- 
ther calyx nor corolla, grow upon that kind of receptacle which 
is called a spadix ; the staminate and pistillate flowers are inter- 
mixed, the anthers have no filaments, but are sessile or fixed 
upon the receptacle ; the berries are one celled, many seeded, 
and crowned with a short style. This spadix thus covered with 
the fructification, stands erect, surrounded by a spreading, ovate 
spatha ; this, in the Egyptian Lily is of a pure white, presenting 
a very showy appearance. Without attention to the structure 
of the plant, you would probably suppose the spatha to be the 
corolla ; the leaves are sagittate or arrow form. 
The wild turnip or Indian turnip, (Ap.dm,) belongs to the 
same natural family as the Calla; the spatha in the Arum is 
sometimes green, streaked with brown, and dark purple, in some 
species it is inflected or bent inwards, covering the spadix. 
The arrow head, (Sagittaria,) is unlike most of the Monce- 
Different species of the Amaranthus — Melancholicus, &c. — Order Polyan- 
dria — Genus Calla — Calla Ethiopica or Egyptian lily — Wild turnip — Arrow 
head. 
