BOTANY. 
damp wintry months. Their herbage con- 
sists of pellucid leaves, sometimes accom- 
panied with a stem ; their capsule is of one 
cell and of one valve, closed with a vertical 
lid ; seeds numerous and small ; the capsule 
is covered with a calyptra or membranous 
veil, the summit of which is the stigma, a 
circumstance absolutely peculiar to this 
family ; the stamens are mostly in a sepa- 
rate flower and numerous. The late Dr. 
Hedwig of Leipsic is celebrated, for his dis- 
coveries relating to mosses. He has distin- 
guished their genera by the peristomium or 
fringe, which in most cases surrounds the 
mouth of the capsule. This fringe is either 
single or double. In the former case it 
consists of either four, eight, sixteen, thirty- 
two, or sixty-four teeth. The inner peris- 
tomium when present is more membranous, , 
plaited, and jagged. The principles of Hed- 
wig have been adopted with a few requisite 
limitations by the most able writers in this 
branch of botany. 
3. Hepatica, liverworts. The herbage of 
these plants is most generally a frond, or leaf, 
bearing the fructification; but they differ 
most essentially from the last order in the 
want of a lid to the capsule, which is formed 
quite on a different principle from that of 
mosses, and very various in the several 
genera. Jungermannia and Marchantia are 
examples of this order. 
4. Alga;, flags. The herbage of these is 
also frondose, being sometimes a powdery 
crust, sometimes leathery or gelatinous; 
the seeds are imbedded in the frond, or in 
some appropriate receptacle ; the stamens 
are scarcely known. The vast family of 
Lichen occurs here, the most hardy of 
vegetables, clothing exposed rocks, trunks 
of trees, and barren heaths, in the most cold 
and inhospitable climates. On one of them 
the rein-deer depends for sustenance in the 
winter. Others are useful in dyeing, and even 
medicine. The numerous and various tribe 
of sea-weeds, Fucus, Conferva, and Ulva, 
are classed here. 
5. Fungi, mushrooms. These are fleshy 
in substance, of quick growth, and generally 
of short duration. They are divided into 
Angiocarpi which bear seeds internally; 
and Gymnocarpi, whose seeds are imbed- 
ded in an exposed membranous organ. 
Many of these are eatable, some poisonous. 
Linnaeus had a great prejudice against the 
use of any of them as food. 
Appendix. Palma. The magnificent 
natural order of palms was placed by Lin- 
naeus as an appendix to his system, because 
their parts of fructification were not well 
known when he first wrote. They are now, 
however, in general so well understood that 
the plants in question are easily reducible 
to the regular classes of the Linna an sys- 
tem; and it would be advisable for any 
future editor to arrange them accordingly. 
They principally belong to the Hexandria 
Monogynia, and are nearly allied to many 
plants already referred to that class. 
Palms are called by Linmeus the princes 
of the vegetable kingdom, and are remark- 
able for their lofty growth, their simple 
stems crowned with evergreen leaves, and 
their abundant fruits. Among them we 
find the date, so valuable an article of food 
for many nations ; the cocoa-nut, and many 
other fruits of less value. Some supply 
whole nations with oil, for food or econo- 
mical uses, from their fruits, with wine from 
the juices of their stem, or with cordage 
from its fibres. 
We shall now proceed to give a sketch 
of the natural system of arrangement pub- 
lished by Jussieu, a botanist of the first 
eminence, now living at Paris. Its primary 
divisions are founded upon the structure of 
the seed, whence is derived the distinction 
of all plants into Acotyledones, destitute of 
a cotyledon ; Monocotyledones, such as 
have one cotyledon; and Dieotyledones, 
such as have two. Under the last are in- 
cluded a few genera that have numerous 
cotyledons, as Pinus and its allies, which 
Jussieu considers as having two cotyledons, 
each divided into several segments, but 
erroneously. So that this last section should 
rather be characterized as having two or 
more cotyledons. 
The classes of Jussieu’s method are fif- 
teen, and comprize in all an hundred or- 
ders. These classes have no appropriate 
names, but are distinguished by numbers 
with a short definition of the essential 
character. The orders, except those of the 
first class, are for the most part named after 
some principal genus belonging to each. 
It is to be observed that with respect to 
the cotyledons, there are some inaccuracies 
in the terms used, for many of the sup- 
posed Monocotyledones are now known to 
have no cotyledon at all, and what has been 
so called in the rest is more properly an 
albumen. 
Class I. Acotyledones. The orders of this 
are in a great measure analogous to the 
24th class in Linnaeus. 1. Fungi; 2. Alga; 
3. Hepatica ; 4. Musci ; o.Filices; to which 
is added a sixth, termed Naiades, which. 
