138 
CLASS DIANDRIA. 
them from their natural family, and brings them under the class we 
are now considering. You may understand this better, if we com-' 
pare it to taking a person from his relations, to place him among 
strangers. But this evil must sometimes be borne for the sake of 
some attendant good ; we are also obliged to submit to the necessity 
of occasionally separating the flowers from their natural relations, 
because we cannot turn aside from our rules of classification to ac¬ 
commodate a few plants which deviate from the ordinary laws of 
nature. The sage seems to have made an effort to escape this mis¬ 
fortune, for it seems almost to have attained four stamens, by doub¬ 
ling its filaments, but two of these having no anthers cannot be con¬ 
sidered as stamens; therefore the plant falls back into the second 
class, and is placed by the side of the lilac, to which it has no kind 
of resemblance, except in its two stamens. This plant, however, 
is not the only one of the labiate flowers which is removed from its 
natural family in the 13th class; for the rosemary and the moun¬ 
tain-mint accompany it into the second class ; but these have not 
the two imperfect filaments which were remarked, in the sage. The 
genus Salvia contains one hundred and fourteen species; the one 
most commonly cultivated with us is the officinalis , a shrub-like, 
perennial plant; to this we give more particularly the name of sage. 
Another species of the same genus is the sclara , called Clarry;this 
has larger and broader leaves than the common sage ; it is cultiva¬ 
ted for its medicinal properties. 
A very small plant called Enchanter’s night-shade, (Circaaff may 
be found growing wild in shady places; it is a harmless, modest- 
looking plant, notwithstanding its name. It has a small white blos¬ 
som, in the parts of which great uniformity as to number may be 
observed; it has two stamens , a corolla with two petals, a calyx with 
two sepals , capsule with two ceils , each of which contains two seeds. 
The symmetry of structure observable in the plant just described, 
is seen in many flowers; as those of two stamens often have this 
number in the other parts of the flower; the number is frequently 
doubled; as in the lilac, which has two stamens, and a four-parted 
corolla. In a plant with three stamens, the number three or six 
usually prevails in the divisions of the calyx, corolla, capsule, &c. 
A knowledge of this fact will assist you in determining the class of 
a plant; for example, if you have a flower wdiose calyx has five or 
ten divisions, and the corolla the same number, you may expect, if 
the flower is a perfect one, to find either five or ten stamens ; or if 
the divisions of the flower be two, there will generally be two or 
four stamens ; if three, either three or six stamens ; if four, either 
four or eight stamens. The number five, as divisions of the calyx, 
corolla, and capsule, is generally united to five or ten stamens, and 
found in the fifth or tenth class. 
Another native plant of the second class, is the Veronica. Of the 
seventy species which this genus is said to contain, no more than six 
or eight are common to North America. The Veronica and the 
Circsea both turn black when dried; although they do not add to the 
beauty of an herbarium, they are desirable in a collection of plants, 
as our country contains few specimens to illustrate the second 
class. At Fig. 122, c, is a representation of a flower of the Veronica; 
at d, is the Circcea. 
Why is the sage removed from its place with the labiate flowers—Are there any 
marks of four stamens in the sage?—How many species of the genus Salvia?—What 
two are mentioned in particular?—Enchanter’s night-shade—What is observed re¬ 
specting the symmetry of structure in many flowers ?—Veronica. 
