130 BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS. [Ch. X XIE 
the tuberosum, so called from its tuberous coot; this is om 
common Potato; it was at first obtained from Peru, where it 
was called batatas. Of the important use now made of the 
root of this vegetable, it is unnecessary to remark; as an arti- 
ele of food it is scarcely less valuable than bread itself, and 
pike is often used by poor people as a substitute for this 
article. 
553. In the large family Luride, or lurid plants, is the genus 
Nicotiana, so called from Nicot, who carried it from America 
to Europe; one species of this, T’abaccwm, is the Tobacco 
plant. Here alsois found the Datura Stramonium, sometimes: 
called thorn apple, a large, nauseous-scented wéed, with angu- 
lar, dentate leaves. The corolla is funnel-form and five-cleft; 
the pericarp is ovate and spinose; at the base is a portion of the 
calyx which remains permanent, while the other parts are de- 
ciduous. In the spring of 1835, a young lady of Vernon, in: 
Vermont, while amusing herself with a walk in the fields, saw! 
some of the last year’s pericarps of the Stramonium, and care-: 
lessly ate a small quantity of the seeds. She was soon seized 
with spasms, and died after a few hours of excruciating agony. 
Had she understood Botany, she might have known, from the 
general appearance of the plant, that it was of a poisonous) 
nature. 
554, Among the many plants of the fifth class and first or- 
der, you will find the mullein, which every child knows by its 
large woolly leaf, and its high stalk, bearing yellow blossoms, 
in that form which is called a spike. Violets you will find 
from the earliest days of spring to the verge of winter. In the 
fields are white, blue, and yellow violets, and in gardens is 
the heart’s ease, or tri-coloured violet. The grape belongs to 
this class and order; the fruit of the plant is probably more fa- 
miliar to you than the flower, which is small and inconspi- 
cuous. 
555. In some species of the grape, the stamens and pistils 
are on different flowers; and for this reason this plant has 
sometimes been placed in the class Diecia; but as other 
species have five stamens and one pistil in the same flower, 
it is generally thought best to class the whole under Pen- 
tandria. 
- 
553. What other genus is mentioned as belonging to the family 
called Luridz ? 
554. What other plants are mentioned as be onging to this class 
and order ? 
555. Why is the grape sometimes placed in the class Diccia i 
