ORDER DECAGYNIA. 
165 
suits most ennobling to man, are too contemptible to need a com¬ 
ment. To degrade the beautiful and innocent employment of culti¬ 
vating plants, by rivalries to produce a flower that may claim to be 
distingue , shows that the serpent still lingers in Eden. Let the flow¬ 
er-garden be a retreat from low and grovelling competitions, the pro¬ 
moter of innocence, of benevolence to man, and devotion to God. 
Order Trigynia. 
We here find the genus Silene, one species of which is called the 
catch-fly; another, the nocturna , or night-blooming, is, 
“That Silene who declines 
The garish noontide’s blazing light; 
But when the evening crescent shines, 
Gives all her sweetness to the night.” 
Another genus, the sandwort, is the 
“ Arenaria, who creeps 
Among the loose and liquid sands.” 
Order Pentagynia. 
The corn-cockle ( Agrostemma ) is very common in corn-fields ; al¬ 
though troublesome, and regarded as but a weed, it is a handsome 
pink-like plant, bearing a purple blossom. In its generic character 
it differs little from the genus which contains the pink, except in 
having five pistils instead of two, on which account it is placed in 
the fifth order. 
Here is also found the Sorrel, (Oxalis,) which produces the oxalic 
acid, similar in its properties to the acid obtained from lemons ; it is 
poisonous, ahid not knowm as a medicinal article, but is important in 
the arts. 
Order Decagynia. 
In this order is the Poke-weed, ( Phytolacca ,) a very comm on plant, 
found on the borders of fields and road-sides; the fruit consists of 
large, dark berries, often used by children for the purpose of colour¬ 
ing purple. The young shoots are tender, and are sometimes eaten 
as a substitute for asparagus. The flower of this plant presents us 
with 10 stamens, 10 styles, a calyx with 5 white sepals resembling 
a corolla, a berry superior, (above the germ,) with 10 cells, and 10 
seeds. 
We have completed our review of the first groups of classes, or 
those which depend upon the number of stamens ; in our next lecture 
we shall consider the two classes which depend on the number and 
insertion of the stamens. 
Plants in the order Trigynia—Order Pentagynia—Describe the Poke-weed. 
