158 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
of these on each petiole. Dr. Lindley further observes that there are several different plants in the countiy, 
each bearing the name of Tacsonia mollissima, but which evidently do not belong to that species, as some of 
them have only two or three glands on the petioles. It is possible that this may be the reason that opinions 
differ so much as to the beauty of the flowers of T. mollissima, as those plants which produce the most beautiful 
flowers, may probably belong to some other species. 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
CRASSULACE^ Dec. 
Essential Character. — Sepals from three to twenty, more or less 
united at the base, and therefore the calyx is many-parted. Petals 
equal in number with the sepals, and alternating with them, cither 
distinct or united into a gamopetalous corolla, inserted in the bottom 
of the calyx. Stamens inserted with the petals, either equal to them 
in number, and alternating with them, or twice as many ; those oppo- 
site the petals being shortest, and arriving at perfection after the others; 
filaments distinct, subulate ; anthers oval, two-celled, bursting length- 
wise. Nectariferous scales several, one at the base of each ovarium 
sometimes obsolete. Ovaria of the same number as the petals, oppo- 
site to which they are placed around an imaginary axis, usually 
distinct, but in some of the anomalous genera rather concrete, all one- 
celled, and tapering into one stigma each, opening when ripe by a 
longitudinal chink in front, but in one genus on the back. Seeds 
attached to the margins of the suture, in two rows, variable in number. 
Albumen thin, fleshy. Embryo straight in the axis of the albumen, 
having the radicle directed to the hilum. ((?. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this order have all fleshy stems and leaves, and generally 
ornamental flowers produced in clustered heads or cymes. “ The species,” says Mr. Don, “ are found in the dry 
situations where not a blade of grass nor a particle of moss can grow, on naked rocks, old walls, sandy hot plains, 
alternately exposed to the heaviest dews of night, and the fiercest rays of the noon-day sun. Soil is to them a 
something to keep them stationary, rather than a source of nutriment, which in these plants is conveyed by 
myriads of mouths invisible to the naked eye, but covering all their surface, to the juicy beds of cellular tissue 
which lie beneath them.” The order includes numerous genera, some of which contain only small insignificant 
plants, while others have flowers of great magnitude and remarkable beauty. 
GENUS I. 
CRASSULA Lin. THE CRASSULA. 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-parted. Petals five, distinct. Stamens five ; filaments subulate. Scales five. Carpels five, 
many-seeded. ((?. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The species are fleshy shrubs or herbaceous plants, generally natives of the Cape of Good 
Hope. The genus was formerly very extensive ; but it has been circumscribed by modern botanists, who have 
divided the old genus Crassula into five or six modern ones. The word Crassula is derived from crassus, thick, 
in reference to the fleshy leaves. 
1.— CRASSULA ARBORESCENS Willd. THE TREE CRASSULA. 
Synonymes. — C. Cotyledon Curt. ; Cotyledon arborescens site, roundish, mucronate, fleshy, flat, glaucous, dotted above, glabrous. 
Engraving. — Bot. Mag., t. 384. Cymes trichotomous. ((7. Don.) 
Specific Character. — Stem shrubby, erect, terete. Leaves oppo- 
Description, &c. — A very curious plant, with thick whitish leaves, which are edged with pink and covered 
over the surface with very small dots. The flowers are pretty, and of a pale pink ; but they are very rarely 
