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LADIES BOTANY:
OR
A FAMILIAR INTRODUCTION
To the Study
OF THE
NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
BY
JOHN LINDLEY, Pu.D. F.RS.
ETC, ETC. ETC.
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.
Dich yerwirret, Geliebste, die tausendfaltige Mischung,
Dieses Blumengewiihls tiber dem Garten umher ;
Viele Namen horest du an, und immer verdranget
Mit barbarischem Klang, einer den andern im Qhr.
Alle Gestalten sind ahnlich, und keine gleichet der andern ;
Und so dentet das Chor auf ein geheimes Gesetz,
Auf ein heiliges Rathsel. O! konnt ich dir, liebliche Freundinn,
Ueberliefern sogleich gliicklich das lisende Wort. —GérTHE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I.
FIFTH EDITION.
QAP
LONDON:
JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY.
ver hall
AN) Al yaniv
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530 4
Leas
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INDEX
CLASS I DICOTYLEDONS
I THALAMIFLORAE
Page
Ranunculaceae I.5
Berberidaceae II.11
Nymphaeaceae 99 210
Papaveraceae I.19
Cruciferae 3.95
Resedaceae II.36
“Cistaceae oe
4 Violaceae I.64
-Droseraceae II.81
— Polygalaceae II.30
= Caryophyllaceae I.96
~ Malvaceae 1.86
Hypericaceae 1.82
. Geraniaceae 1.36
~ Linaceae II.129
Ly
gs il.Caliciflorae-
| Rhamnaceae II. 18
Leguminosae I.123
\ Rosaceae 1.107
~ Ly thraceae II.66
_ Tamariscaceae >> 78
Onograceae I.46
sat Cucurbitaceae II.51
~ Portulaceae 1.102
“s Crassulaceae IL.106
Grossulariaceae$Ribes) ,, 16
Saxifragaceae 93 112
Umbelliferae ; 1.26
XO III. COROLLIFLORAER
Caprifoliaceae 1.175
Rubiaceae II.171
- Dipsacaceae +. oe
>, Compositae I.199
Campanulaceae, I.170
Ericaceae I158
- 1116649
Plate
I
XXVI
XLIX
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earl oseonokte ee
P.I.166 Pi,XIII Bab.49
164 XIII
Oléeacéae
Gentianaceae BS 51
Polemoniaceae II 164 XLIII 52
Convolvulaceae I 161 Xii 53
Boraginaceae I 180 XV 54
Solanaceae I 185 XV55
Scrophulareacae I 194 XVI 57
Labiatae I 191 XVI 58
Primulaceae I 187
II 157 XLII 61
Plantaginaceae I 208 XVII 63
IV MONOCHLAMYDEAE
PAGE PLATE BABINGTON
Amaranthaceae I 133 IX 64
Chenopodiaceae II 143 XL 65
Poly goneaceae II 140 XL 66
Euphorbiaceae II 124 XXXVIII 72
Urticaceae I 148 XI 75
Amentiferae I 155 XI 78
ViGYMNOSPERMAE
Conifere@ (Oak) I 138 x
CLASS II MONOCOTYLEDQNS
II FLORIDAE
Orchidaceae I 223 XIX 83
Iridaceae I 219 XVIII 84
Amaryllidaceae I 216 XVIII 85
Alismgceae I 247 XXI 86
' 29 II2206 XLIX
Liliaceae I 231 XIX 88 (Asphoc
29 I 237 XX 9, (rulig)
Melanthaceae I 239 89
Juncaceae I 241 xX 90
Typhaceae I 244 XXI 92
Araceae II 192 XLVI 93
Lemnaceae I 249 XXI 94
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III GLUMIFERAE
196 Pitcher Plants P1.L Mango
98
100
102
Cyperaceae Page I 262 P1.XXII Bab.97
Gramineae I 252 XXII
CLASS ITiI CRYPTOGAMBAE
Filices I 266 XXIII
_Lycopodiaceae I 273 XXIII
V6L.I (Page) VOL.I
typ ‘ob 71 Passion Flower
92 Orange 130 Protea
ana Marvel of Peru. 275 Moss
286 Jungermannia 282 Lichen
285 Mushroom 287 Sea-Weed
212 Distinction of Dicotyledon & Monocotyledon
‘VOL II VoL II
6 Magnolia 20 Vine
26 Pittosporum 40 Caper
44 Cactus 56 Begonia
60 Fig Marigold 87 Venus Fly Trap
98 Horse Chestnut 101 Walnut
1236 Rue 150 Mezereum
153 Cinnamon 161 Epacris
167 Trumpet Flower 179 Jasmine
182 Asclepis 188 Birthwort
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PREFACE.
Turs little book has been written in the hope that
it may be found useful as an elementary introduction
to the modern method of studying systematic Botany.
There are many works, of a similar description, to
explain or illustrate the artificial system of Linneus,
the simplicity of which might have rendered such
labours superfluous ; but no one has, as yet, attempted
to render the unscientific reader familiar with what
is called the Natural System, to which the method
of Linnzus has universally given way among Bota-
nists. All seem curious to know something about
this celebrated System, and many, no doubt, take
infinite pains to understand it; but it is to be feared,
that a large part of those who make the attempt, are
far from meeting with the success their industry
deserves. On all hands they are told of its difficul-
ties; books, instead of removing those difficulties,
only perplex the reader by multitudes of unknown
words, and by allusions, which, however clear they
lv PREFACE.
may be to the experienced Botanist, are anything
rather than illustrative in the eyes of a beginner,
who is often fairly lost in a labyrinth of resemblances,
differences, and exceptions. One would think mo-
dern Botany was like ‘the art unteachable, un-
taught,” only to be understood by inspiration.
The cause of this lies, not in the science itself, so
much as in the books that are written concerning
it. Since the appearance of my Introduction to the
Natural System of Botany in 1830, several works of
great merit have been published on the same subject,
both in this country and abroad, so that the student
is abundantly supplied with guides ; and if his object
be to understand it, as an important branch of
Natural Science, they are sufficiently well adapted
to his purpose; but for those who would become
acquainted with Botany as an amusement and a re-
laxation, these works are far too difficult. Treating
the subject, as they do in great detail, and without
consideration for the unlearned reader, the language,
the arguments, and the illustrations employed in them
must be unintelligible to those who have no previous
acquaintance with Botany; the characters of the
Natural Groupes or Orders, into which the Vegetable
Kingdom is divided, are not as a whole, susceptible
of such an analysis as a young student is capable of
PREFACE. Vv
following ; and I can quite understand how the whole
system may appear to be an unintelligible mass of
confusion. It has, therefore, occurred to me that if,
without sacrificing Science, the subject should be
divested of the many real and of the still greater
number of imaginary difficulties that frighten stu-
dents, and if they could be taught to recognize the
Natural tribes of plants, not by mere technical cha-
racters, but by those simple marks of which the prac-
tised Botanist exclusively makes use, a work in which
such objects are attained might be found of some
utility.
It is now admitted on all hands that the principles
of the artificial system of Linnzeus, which were so
important and useful at the time when they were
first propounded, are altogether unsuited to the
present state of science; and in the latest work that
has been published in this country, upon that system,
the learned and amiable author is forced to rest his
defence of his still following it upon “the facility
with which it enables any one, hitherto unpractised
in Botany, to arrive at a knowledge of the genus and
species of a plant.” But ifa system of Botany is to
be nothing more than a contrivance to help those who
will not master the elements of the science, to deter-
mine the name of a plant; and if it is really neces-
vl PREFACE.
sary to have a mental rail-road on which such per-
sons may be impelled without any exertion of their
own; then indeed the analytical tables of the French
are infinitely better contrivances than the Sexual
System: because if well executed they meet every
case and lead with certainty to positive results.
I have, however, been always at issue with the
Linnean school of Botany as to their system accom-
plishing even the little that it pretends to; and if I
may be permitted to appeal to my own personal
experience of the difficulties of a beginner who is
unassisted by a tutor, (and few could have had fewer
difficulties to contend against than myself,) I should
say that it is totally opposed to such a conclusion. I
began with the Linnean system, which I was taught
to believe little less than an inspired production; I
had plenty of books compiled according to that
system to consult, and I was fairly driven to seek
refuge in the Natural System from the difficulties
and inconsistencies of that of Linnzeus.
It seems to me that there is a confusion of ideas in
what is urged in favour of the Linnean system, and
that its theoretical simplicity is mistaken for prac-
tical facility of application. That the principles of
the Linnean system are clear, and simple, and easily
remembered is indisputable; that student indeed
PREFACE. vii
must be remarkably dull of apprehension, who could
not master them in a day. But is its application
equally easy? that is the point. When, for example, a
specimen of a Monopetalous plant has lost its corolla,
or when the stamens or pistils are absent, either acci-
dentally, or constitutionally, as in Dicecious plants,
what Linnean Botanist can classify the subject of
inquiry? Or where a genus comprehends species
varying in the number of their stamens, as for in-
stance, Polygonum, Salix, Stellaria, and hundreds of
others, who is to say which of the species is to deter-
mine the classification of the rest? or when this point
has been settled, how is the student to know what
passed in the mind of the Botanical Systematist ?
The latter puts a genus into Octandria, because out
of ten species, one has constantly, and two occa-
sionally, eight stamens, and he includes in the same
class and order, all the other species of the genus,
although they have five, six, or ten stamens. Sup-
pose the student meets with one of the last, and
wishes to ascertain its name by the Linnean system,
he will look for it in Pentandria, or Hexandria, or
Decandria, where he will not find it. After wasting
his time, and exhausting his patience in a vain pur-
suit, he must abandon the search in utter hopelessness,
for there is no other character that he can make use
vill PREFACE.
of as acheck upon the first. At last some one will
tell him that his plant is a Polygonum; he turns to
his book, wondering how he could have overlooked
it; and he finds Polygonum in Octandria. Should
he inquire how this is, he will learn that his species
belongs to Octandria, not because it is octandrous,
but because it is so very like other Polygonums that it
cannot be separated from them, and they belong in most
cases to Octandria. This is the unavoidable answer ;
and what does it really mean, except that it is not in
consequence of its accordance with the system that
the student’s Polygonum is to be discovered, but in
consequence of its natural relation to other Polygonums ;
so that it is necessary to understand the Natural
System, to make use of the Artificial System! This is
no exaggerated case, but one of common occurrence.
It is undoubtedly true that in some books such incon-
venience is guarded against by special contrivances ;
but those contrivances form no part of the system.
Granting, however, for argument’s sake, that these
and other objections are overstated, and that the
Linnean system does really facilitate the discovery of
the class and order to which a plant belongs, let us
next consider what advance towards the determina-
tion of the genus and species, or in other words the
name of a plant, a student has really made, when the
PREFACE. 1X
class and order are ascertained. If this argument
were conducted, as in strictness it ought to be, with
reference to the whole Vegetable Kingdom, it would
be easy to shew that the student had in fact gained
almost nothing that is of use to him; but, in order to
give the friends of the Linnean system every advan-
tage in the discussion, we will confine the inquiry to
the few hundred plants which grow wild in England.
For this purpose take the generic characters in Dian-
dria Monogynia, as stated in Dr. Hooker’s British
Flora, a work in which the subject is treated with all
the skill and perspicuity of which it is susceptible,
and in which the Linnean system is seen to the
greatest advantage. ‘The characters are these :-—
* Perianth double, inferior, monopetalous, regular.
1. Ligustrum. Linn. Privet.—Cor. four-cleft. Berry two-celled,
with the cells two-seeded.
** Perianth double, inferior, monopetalous, irregular. Seeds enclosed
in a distinct pericarp ( Angiospermous ).
2. Veronica, Linn. Speedwell.—Cor. four-cleft, rotate, lower seg-
ment narrower. Caps. two-celled.
3. PincuicuLa, Linn. Butterwort——Cal. two-lipped, upper lip of
three, lower of one bifid segment. Cor. ringent, spurred. Germen
globose. Stigma large, of two unequal plates or lobes. Capsule, one-
celled, with the seeds attached to a central receptacle.
4, Urricutaria, Linn. Bladderwort.—Cal. two-leaved, equal, Cor.
Xx PREFACE.
personate, spurred. Stigma two-lipped. Caps. globose, of one cell.
Seeds fixed to a central receptacle.
*** Perianth double, inferior, monopetalous, irregular. Seeds four,
apparently naked (closely covered by the pericarp, Gymnospermous ).
5. Lycopus, Linn. Gypseywort.—Cal. tubular, five-cleft. Cor.
tubular, limb nearly equal, tour-cleft, upper segment broader, and
notched. Stam. distant, simple.
6. Satvia, Linn. Sage or Clary.—Cal. two-lipped, tubular. Cor.
labiate, the tube dilated upwards and compressed. Filaments with
two divaricating branches, one only bearing a perfect single cell of an
anther.
**** Perianth double, superior.
7. Circa. Linn. Enchanter’s Nightshade.—Cal. two-leaved, but
united into a short tube at the base. Cor. of two petals. Caps. two-
celled; cells one-seeded.
***** Perianth single, or none.
8. Fraxinus, Linn. Ash.—Cal. O, or four-cleft. Cor. O, or of four
petals. Caps. two-celled, two seeded, compressed and foliaceous at
the extremity. Seeds solitary, pendulous. (Some flowers without
stamens.)
9. Lemna, Linn. Duckweed.— Perianth single, monophyllous, mem-
branaceous, urceolate. Fruit utricular.
10. CLrapium, Schrad. Twig-rush.—Perianth single, glumaceous.
Glumes of one piece or valve, one-flowered, imbricating ; outer ones
sterile. Fruit a nut, with a loose external coat, destitute of bristles at
the base.
This extract from the British Flora makes it evi-
dent that in determining to what genus a plant be-
longs, a great deal of inquiry beyond the discovery
PREFACE, Xi
that it has two stamens and one style, is indispensable.
The student must be acquainted with the meaning of
many technical terms, he must have his plant in
different states of growth, he must procure the fruit,
he must examine the interior of that part; in short,
he must go through a long and careful examination,
which is entirely independent of the Sexual System.
In other and larger classes, such as Pentandria, Hex-
andria, ‘Tetradynamia, Syngenesia, Gynandria, and
Moneecia, the length and difficulty of such an ex-
amination, are much increased. Now I distinctly as-
sert that in determining the Natural Orders of plants
there is no difficulty greater than that of making
out the genera in the Linnean system. In reality it
is the same thing, only with a different result: in
the one case it leads to the mere discovery of a name ;
in the other to the knowledge of a great number of
useful and interesting facts independent of the name.
This, which I hope will be evident from a perusal of
the following Letters, is so strongly felt by all Bota-
nists of any experience, that they never think of using
the Artificial System themselves; they only recom-
mend it to others.
There is, however, no mistake into which the
public is apt to fall much greater than the notion
that Botany is a science of easy acquirement. Like
xil PREFACE.
all other branches of Natural History, it is founded
upon a close observation of numerous independent
facts, and can only be understood as a science after
long and attentive study; nevertheless a certain
amount of it may be acquired without extraordinary
application. The following pages will, it is hoped, ex-
plain sufficiently in what way this may best be done.
What I should recommend to those who take up
this work with the intention of studying it, is to begin
with the beginning, to follow it in the same order in
which it is written, and to procure for examination
the very flowers that are named init; they are in
most cases within the reach of all who live in the
country. The specimens should be carefully com-
pared with the descriptions and plates; and when
they are all remembered and understood, you will be
a Botanist;—not a very learned one—but acquainted
with many of the fundamental facts of the science,
and able to prosecute the inquiry to any further
point, and to study other and more scientific works
with ease and advantage.
The course to be pursued by those who would push
their inquiries beyond the information in the present
work should be of the following nature. ‘They should
read some Intreduction to Botany, in which the mo-
dern views of structure and of vital action are well
PREFACE. Xlli
explained ; they should make themselves familiar with
technical terms, which, although avoided in the fol-
lowing Letters, cannot be dispensed with in works of
amore exact and scientific character; they may at
the same time perfect themselves in a knowledge of
common Natural Orders, by gathering the wild plants
within their reach, comparing them with each other,
and with the characters assigned to them in systematic
works. ~~ Being thus provided with a considerable
amount of precise fundamental knowledge, they may
apply themselves to the study of the Natural System
in its great features. “They will then, and not till
then, be able to appreciate the value of the modifi-
cations of organization connecting one tribe of plants
with another, and to understand the infinite wisdom
and beautiful simplicity of design which is so visible
in the vegetable world; the just appreciation of
which, through countless gradations of form, structure,
and modes of existence, it should be the constant aim
of the Botanist to demonstrate.
nial
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LETTER I. Page
Introductory Remarks—Fundamental Terms—The Crowfoot Tribe—The
Poppy Tribe : : ° : 6 ol
LETTER II.
The Umbelliferous Tribe—Blanching—The Geranium Tribe—Hybrid Plants 26
LETTER III.
The Evening Primrose Tribe—The Myrtle Tribe : : . 46
LETTER IV.
The Cruciferous Tribe—Double Flowers—The Violet Tribe 3 - bo
LETTER V.
The Passion-flower Tribe—Affinity—The Gourd Tribe—The Tutsan Tribe 71
LETTER VI.
The Mallow Tribe—The Orange Tribe ; : . . 86
LETTER VII.
The Chickweed Tribe— Metamorphoses of Plants—The Purslane Tribe—
Succulent Plants——Breathing-pores . : : » 96
LETTER VIII.
The Rose Tribe—Budding and Grafting—The Pea Tribe . 5 ley
LETTER IX.
The Protea Tribe—The Amaranth Tribe. ; 2 . 180
LETTER X.
The Marvel of Peru Tribe—The Oak Tribe—Structure of Dicotyledonous
Wood . ° : Z - : . 136
LETTER XI.
The Nettle Tribe—Woody Fibre—The Breadfruit Tribe—The Willow Tribe 148
LETTER XII.
The Heath Tribe—The Bindweed Tribe . : - . 158
Xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
LETTER XIII.
The Gentian Tribe—The Olive Tribe—The Jasmine Tribe . . 164
LETTER XIV.
The Hare-bell Tribe—The Lobelia Tribe—The Honeysuckle Tribe—The
Coffee Tribe . ° . : . . 170
LETTER XV.
The Borage Tribe—The Nightshade Tribe—The Primrose Tribe. - 180
LETTER XVI.
The Mint Tribe—The Foxglove Tribe & : ° - 191
LETTER XVII.
Compound Flowers—The Ribgrass Tribe. 5 5 - 199
LETTER XVIII.
Distinctions of Exogenous or Dicotyledonous, and of Endogenous or Mo-
nocotyledonous Plants—The Narcissus Tribe—The Cornflag Tribe . 212
LETTER XIX.
The Orchis Tribe—The Asphodel Tribe 3 : : . 222
LETTER XX.
The Lily Tribe—The Colchicum Tribe—The Rush Tribe ‘ 5 Pasir
LETTER XXI.
The Bullrush Tribe—The Arrow-grass Tribe—The Duckweed Tribe . 244
LETTER XXII.
Glumaceous Plants—The Grass Tribe—The Sedge Tribe ° . 252
LETTER XXIII.
Cellular, Flowerless, or Cryptogamic Plants—The Fern Tribe—The Club-
moss Tribe : : ° e 5 . 266
LETTER XXIV.
The Moss Tribe—The Jungermannia Tribe . : + - 275
LETTER XXV.
The Lichen Tribe—The Mushroom Tribe—The Seaweed Tribe . 282
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| LETTERS ON BOTANY,
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LETTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS—FUNDAMENTAL TERMS —
| * THE CROWFOOT TRIBE—THE POPPY TRIBE.
| (Plate I.)
|
You ask me how your children are to gain a know-
ledge of Botany, and whether the difficulties which
are said to accompany the study of this branch of
science, cannot, by some little contrivance, be either
removed altogether, or very much diminished.—
Allow me, in answer to this question, to repeat a
fable which I remember to have read in some French
author.
A lady, observing some ants travelling across a
table, dropped a lump of sugar in the midst of them ;
but, to her surprise, although ants are noted sugar-
| eaters, they all retreated in terror from the spot, nor
could any of them afterwards find courage to return
to examine the object of their dread; on the con-
trary, they chose another track, and carefully avoided
that which would have proved a treasure had they
known its value. Struck by the occurrence, the lady
B
24 LETTER I.
placed the same piece of sugar on a part of the table
near which the ants were in the habit of crossing,
and when she saw one of them approaching it, she
gently placed her finger in his way, so as to obstruct
his passage without alarming him; the ant paused,
looked around him. and then took a new direction,
not exactly towards the sugar, but near it; the
lady again opposed his passage gently, and at last,
by making him take a sort of zigzag direction,
tacking, as it were, at every few steps, the ant was
unconsciously brought to the sugar without being
frightened. Once there, he examined the glittering
rock attentively, touched it with his antenne, broke
off a morsel, and hastened away with it to the ant-
hill; whence he presently returned at the head of a
host of his comrades, by whom the rest of the sugar
was quickly carried off.
So it is with science and the young who have to
acquire a knowledge of it. Let them be once alarmed
at the aspect of their new pursuit, and it is almost
impossible to restore their confidence ; but there are
few who, if led to it insensibly, will not perse-
vere till they have made themselves masters of the
subject.
The most discouraging parts of Botany to a be-
ginner, consist either in the numerous new and
strange names one has to learn the meaning of, or in
the minuteness of the parts by which plants are distin-
guished from each other, or in the great multitude of
species of which the vegetable kingdom consists ; and
it must be confessed, that there is something seriously
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3
alarming in the mass of preliminary knowledge which
it would appear has to be acquired before any per-
ceptible progress can be made.
But if we look at the subject a little more closely,
we shall find that, of the technical names employed,
only a small number is really necessary in the be-
ginning; that minute parts are little consulted in
practice, however much they may be in theory; and
that in consequence of the perfect arrangements of
Botanists, no more inconvenience is experienced from
the number of species, than in any other branch of
Natural History.
There are certain terms, the exact meaning of which
must be understood, and which cannot be dispensed
with, if the science is to be studied to any good purpose;
a sort of habit of observation has also to be acquired,
without which the differences between one plant and
another, can never be appreciated or remembered ;
but these things may be gained imperceptibly and
without any extraordinary exertion either of in-
dustry or patience. We have only to begin with the
beginning, and never to take one step till that which
precedes it is secured ; afterwards, the student may
advance to what point he pleases. ‘This appears to
me to be the only secret in teaching Botany.
We must, however, be careful while we attempt to
strip the study of its difficulties, that we do not also
divest it of its interest, and imitate those who, by the
ingenious substitution of words for ideas, have contrived
to convert one of the most curious and interesting of
all sciences into a meagre and aimless system of names.
BQ
4, LETTER If.
Names are, no doubt, necessary for the purpose of dis-
tinguishing one thing from another; but, as no one
would call that man a carpenter, who only knew the
names of all the instruments in a carpenter’s chest of
tools, so neither can that person be considered a Bo-
tanist, whose knowledge is confined to the application
of a few hundred Latin names to flowers and weeds.
Were the latter the mark of a Botanist, then would
every gardener be so accounted, which would be a
great and grievous mistake.
« J’ai toujours cru,” said Rousseau, whom I would
at once have adyised you to take as your guide, if
his inimitable Letters were not both incomplete and
obsolete, —‘*‘ J’ai toujours cru qu’on pourrait étre un
tres grand Botaniste, sans connaitre une seule plante
par son nom,”—and to a great extent he was right.
Only to apply their names to a few plants, is a poor
insipid study, scarcely worth the following; but to
know the hidden structure of such curious objects, to
be acquainted with the simgular manner in which the
various actions of their lives are performed, and to
learn by what certain signs their relationship, for
they have their relations like ourselves, is indicated,
is surely among the most rational and pleasing of
pursuits.
It is only by acquiring a knowledge of the natural
system of Botany, that you can systematically provide
yourself with such information. If timid, or unin-
ered: or interested persons have alarmed you with
an account of the difficulties of this mode of study,
let me advise you to disbelieve them, and to give
FUNDAMENTAL TERMS. 5
your little people the opportunity of making the at-
tempt. With such assistance as I shall be happy to
give you, I cannot doubt of their succeeding.
You need not be told, that plants have generally five
very distinct parts, viz. ROOT, STEM, LEAF, FLOWER,
and rruir; the application of the three first of these
terms, in their common acceptation, is already well
known to you; the last is applied by Botanists, not
only to such objects as apples, pears, cherries, and the
like, but also to any part which contains the seed ;
so that the grains of corn, the heads of the poppy,
the nuts of the filbert, and even the little bodies
which are commonly called caraways, are all diffe-
rent kinds of fruit. These terms may pass without
further explanation for the present.
It is in the flower that the beauty of plants
chiefly resides ; it is there that we find all the curious
apparatus by means of which they are perpetuated,
and it is the spot where the greatest number of parts
are found, the names of which are unusual, and re-
quire to be remembered. ‘To illustrate these let us take
a very common plant, to be found in every meadow,
by the learned called Ranunculus, by the vulgar
Buttercup, or Crowfoot.
On the outside of the flower of this plant, about the
middle of its stalk, are one or two little leaves, which
look like the other leaves, only they are a great deal
smaller; indeed, they are so small as to resemble
scales; these are the Bracts (Pl. I. 1. a. a.).
Next them, and forming the external part of the
flower itself, are five small greenish-yellow hairy
6 LETTER I.
leaves (A. 6.), which are rather concaye, and fall
off shortly after the flower opens ; leaves of this sort
form the caLyx, and are called sepaLs; it is sup-
posed that they are intended to protect the more
tender parts of the flower, when the latter are very
young and delicate.
Next the sepals are placed five other leaves,
which are much larger, and of a bright shining yel-
low; they stand up and form a little cup, in the
bottom of which the other parts of the flower are
curiously arranged; these five shining yellow leaves
form the coroixa, and are called prrats. They give
all its gay and glittering appearance to the Crow-
foot ; which, when they have dropped off, is scarcely
to be distinguished from the grass it grows among.
Their business is, in part, to prepare the honey which
exudes from a little scale you will find on their in-
side, near their base (jig. 1.), and, which, if secreted
in sufficient quantity, is collected by bees for their’
sweet food; and it is, in part, to protect from injury
the delicate organs which lie in their bosom. ‘These
jast are of two sorts ; as you will soon learn.
In a ring from which both the sepals and petals
arise, you will find a number of little thread-like
yellow bodies, which are thicker at the top than at the
bottom ; they spread equally round the centre, as if
they wished to avoid that part, and are a great deal
shorter than the petals; we call them sTAaMENs.
Their lower part, which looks like a thread, is called
the FILAMENT ; their upper thickened end is named
the anruer. ‘This last part is hollow, and will be
FUNDAMENTAL TERMS. vf
found, if you watch it, to discharge a small quantity
of yellow powder, called the potten. ‘The pollen
has a highly curious office to perform, as will be
shewn you presently.
Next to the stamens, and occupying the very
centre of the flower, are a number of little green
grains, which look almost like green scales ; they are
collected in a heap, and are seated upon a small ele-
vated receptacle (fig. 3.); we call the whole collection
of them the pistrt, and each separate one a CARPEL,
They are too small to be seen readily without a mag-
nifying glass; butif they are examined in that way,
you will remark that each is roundish at the bottom,
and gradually contracted into a kind of short bent
horn at the top; the rounded part (fig. 4. a.) is the
ovary; the horn (d.) is the sryLe ; and the tip of the
style (c.), which is rather more shining and somewhat
wider than the style itself, is named the sTiGMA; so
that a carpel consists of ovary, style, and stigma.
At first sight, you may take the carpels to be solid,
and fancy them to be young seeds: but, in both
opinions, you would be mistaken. ‘The ovary of each
carpel is hollow (fig. 5.); and contains a young seed
called an ovute (fig. 5. d.), or little egg; so that the
carpel, instead of being the seed, is the part that con-
tains the seed.
Although the ovule is really the young seed, yet
it is not always certain that it will grow into a seed ;
whether or not this happens, depends upon the pollen,
of which we have already spoken, fallmg upon the
stigma. If the pollen does fall on the stigma, it
8 LETTER) (1.
sucks up the moisture it finds there, swells, and
finally each of the minute grains, of which it con-
sists, discharges a jet of matter upon the stigma,
which fertilizes the ovule, and then the latter
grows and becomes a seed. But if the pollen does
not fall upon the stigma, then the ovule withers away,
and no seed is produced. Thus, you see every
one of these parts of the flower 1s formed for some
wise purpose. ‘The sepals are to protect the petals ;
the petals to protect the stamens and carpels, and to
form sugary food for their support ; the stamens are
to fertilize the ovules, and the carpels are to guard
the young and tender seeds from injury; fertilization
could not take place without the aid of the pollen;
and the pollen could not produce its effect if it were
not for the moisture and peculiar construction of the
stigma. How admirable is the skill which is mani-
fested in the construction of this little flower, and
how striking a proof does it offer of the care with
which the Creator has provided for the humblest of
his works!
You have now seen all the parts of which flowers
usually consist; the fruit is merely an alteration of
the carpels, and the seed of the ovules. So perfect
is the adaptation of the several parts to the end they
have to perform, that it rarely happens that in the
Crowfoot any of the ovules miss being fertilized. For
this reason, the fruit of the Crowfoot is almost ex-
actly the same when ripe as when young, except
that its parts are larger, and it has become brown, dry
and hard (fig. 6.). Separate, at this period, one of
FUNDAMENTAL TERMS. 9
the carpels from the remainder, and place it under
the miscroscope ; it will be found to resemble a seed
very much in appearance, and indeed is often called
by that name; but you have already seen, from an
examination of the carpel, that the real seed is
hidden in its inside ; formerly fruits of this sort were
called naked seeds; they are now called Grains; as
for instance a grain of caraway, a grain of wheat,
and so on.
What remains to be seen of the structure of the
Crowfoot is very minute, and requires some expert-
ness in the use of a dissecting knife and microscope
to be easily made out. It is not, perhaps, very im-
portant that you should understand it; but, I may
as well complete my account of the plant now that it
is before us. I would recommend you to trust, at
first, to the drawing that accompanies this; and not
to waste your time in cutting up the grains, until
you have well understood what it is you have to
look for.
The inside of the grain is filled up with the seed,
now arrived at its perfect state; the shell of the
carpel has become hard and thick, and not only
effectually protects the seed from harm (fig. 8. a.)
but keeps it in the dark; another wise provision,
for without darkness the seed could not grow. ‘The
shell thus altered is called pericarp.
If you cut the seed through, you will, for a long
time, discover nothing but a solid mass of white flesh,
in which all the portions seem to be alike ; but if you
happen to have divided it accurately from top to
10 LETTER I.
bottom, cutting through both edges of the grain, as at
fig. 8, you will then be able to discover near the base
of the seed a very minute oval body (fig. 8. a.), which
may be taken out of the flesh with the poimt of a
needle. This oval body isa young plant; it is the
part which grows when the seed germinates, and 1s
named the EMBRyo; the fleshy matter that surrounds
it, called ALBUMEN, is only intended to nourish the
young and delicate embryo, when it first swells and
breaks through the shell. Small as is the embryo,
so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, it also is
constructed in a regular manner. It is not merely an
oval fleshy body, but it has two differently organized
extremities, of which the one is divided into two lobes,
called coryLepons (fig. 10.), or seed-leaves, and the
other is undivided, and called rapicLe ; the latter is
the beginning of a root, as the former were the begin-
nings of leaves. Let the seed fall upon the earth, the
embryo imbibes moisture, swells and shoots forth into
a young plant, and thus the growth of the Ranunculus
is renewed as soon as it is completed.
Such is the structure of a perfect flower, and such
the principal terms which you have to remember, in
order to understand the language of Botanists; other
terms there are, besides these, which are equally
essential, but they are not used so frequently, and it
is not worth detaining you about them now. I shall
explain them whenever we meet with them.
Having thus minutely examined the flower of the
Crowfoot, let us next observe the way in which its
other parts are formed.
FUNDAMENTAL TERMS. 18)
The roots of this plant consist of a number of little
taper divisions, the points of which are very tender
and easily bruised ; from near the ends of these little
divisions, you have a number of delicate fibres, also
with soft and tender points. It is by these points
that the root obtains its watery food, from out of the
soil; and if you break off the points the plant will
languish until the wounds are healed, and new and
perfect rootlets formed; if it is unable to renew them
it will die. ‘This should always be thought of when
you wish to transplant any thing; for the same cir-
cumstance occurs in all other plants, and the success
of removing shrubs, or flowers, or trees, depends
very much upon the points of the roots being pre-
served. In the gay Asiatic Ranunculus, which is
so often cultivated by gardeners, for the sake of the
gaudy colours of its beautiful double flowers, the roots
at the time when they are taken out of the ground to
be dried, have become so hard and tough, up to the
very points, as not to be easily injured; yet it is pos-
sible even in this case to prevent the plants from
producing healthy leaves, and well-formed flowers
another season, if the roots are carelessly mutilated
when taken up.
The Leaves are dark-green, and very much divided
into lobes, which are narrower in the leaves near the
top of the stem than in those near the root. The
business of these little appendages of the stem is not
merely to render the face of nature pleasing to the eye
by the charming verdure they produce; nor, as in
such plants as have eatable leaves, to supply men and
12 LETTER. I.
animals with wholesome food. The plant itself could
not grow without them; or, if it grew, could not
bear fruit, but would totally perish as soon as it was
born. ‘The business of the leaves is to suck out
of the stem the watery food which the roots had
sucked out of the soil, and the stem out of the roots ;
and having filled themselves with it, to expose it to
light and to air, to evaporate the superfluous part,
and having thus in a manner digested it, to discharge
it again back into the stem in the form of the peculiar
matter which it may be the property of the plant to
produce; such for instance as sugar in the Sugar
Cane, flour in the Potatoe, gum in the Cherry Tree,
a powerful medicinal substance in the Peruvian Bark
tree, and poison in the Ranunculus itself. In order
to enable the leaf to convey the watery food it sucks
out of the stem to all parts of its own surface, and to
return it back again, nature has furnished this little
organ with a most curious and complicated arrange-
ment of drains or conduits, consisting of excessively
minute water-pipes glued together and branching in
every direction ; these are what we call veins; which
you see in the Ranunculus are all joimed together in
the stalk of the leaf, but separate as soon as they enter
the leaf itself, when they first divide into a few large
arms, then subdivide into a number of smaller ones,
and again divide over and over again until at last they
form a net with meshes finer and more delicate than
the most exquisitely manufactured lace. If you could
examine the veins with a microscope you would find
them still more curious in their structure than I have
2
THE CROWFOOT TRIBE. 15
represented them to be; for in the middle of every
little vein is a sort of windpipe which conveys vital
air to their extremest points.
Such is the way in which the veins of the leaf are
disposed in the Crowfoot. It is very essential that
you should pay attention to this netted branching
arrangement, because one of the great natural divi-
sions of the vegetable kingdom is to be known by that
circumstance. One of the great natural divisions
of plants is called Exocenous, because the stems
grow by addition to the outside of their woody centre ;
the same division is also called DicoryLeponous,
because the embryo has two seed-leaves or cotyledons.
You may generally recognize such plants by their
leaves having netted veins; so that you see it is neither
necessary to watch the stem to see how it grows, nor
to examine the seed under a microscope in order to
count the cotyledons, if you would ascertain whether
a plant is Exogenous or not; the manifest arrange-
ment of the veins in the leaf reveals the secret struc-
ture of the stem.
If you have rightly understood what I have ex-
plained thus far, you will not only have mastered
several terms, but you will actually have made one
important step in the study you have taken up: you
will have become acquainted with the essential charac-
ters of a large and important natural order of plants,
called the Crowroor tripe (or Ranunculaces),
among which are some that are remarkable for the
virulent poison which often lurks beneath their beau-
tiful exterior. The Crowfoot genus itself contains
14 LETTER I.
some species, such as that called “the wicked” (Ra-
nunculus sceleratus), and another called ‘the burn-
ing” (R. acris), which will blister the skin if applied
externally to the human body, or produce dangerous
symptoms if taken into the stomach; these, however,
are mild and harmless if compared with such as I
shall presently mention to you. But first of all let us
see in what the most essential character of the Crow-
foot tribe consists.
By far the greater part of the characters which we
have seen that the Crowfoot possesses, will be also
found in other and extremely different plants; but
there are two characters which are what we call essen-
tial: that is to say, such as will distinguish it and the
other plants belonging to the same natural order,
from other natural orders resembling it. These
essential characters are, there being a great many
stamens which arise from beneath the carpels,
(which is what Botanists term being hypogynous, Pl.
I. 1. fig. 3.); and also several carpels which are
not joined together. If you will pay attention to
these two circumstances, you will always know a
Ranunculaceous plant, that is to say, a plant belong-
ing to the Crowfoot tribe; and although you may
not remember its name, you will know, what is of far
more consequence, that it is, in all probability, a
poisonous plant, and that its stem grows by addition
to the outside of the woody centre, beneath the bark.
A few instances of other genera, belonging to the
same natural order, will put this in a clearer light.
There is a little annual, with leaves cut into divi-
THE CROWFOOT TRIBE. 15
sions as fine as hairs, and with small but rich dark
scarlet flowers, called Adonis, or Pheasant’s eye.
This plant agrees with the Crowfoot in its structure,
in almost every point: but its petals have not a scale
near their base, on which account Adonis is reckoned
a plant of the same tribe, but is separated as a distinct
genus.
Another and charming little collection of pretty
flowers is formed by the Anemones, with their purple,
or white, or scarlet petals, which modestly hang their
heads, as if unwilling to expose their beauty to every
curious eye. ‘These have the calyx and corolla mixed
together, so that you cannot distinguish the one from
the other; and when their flowers are gone, they
bear little tufts of feathery tails, or oval woolly
heads, in the place of the clusters of grains which
you found in the Ranunculus. Such tails or heads of
wool, are collections of the grains of the Anemone,
and contain the seeds; the tails themselves are no-
thing but the styles of the carpels, grown large and
hard and hairy; they are thought to be intended by
nature as wings, upon which the grains may be car-
ried by the wind from place to place. If you look
at the leaves, or the stamens, or the young carpels, or
the ripe seeds of the Anemone, you will find all those
parts constructed, in every essential respect, like
the Crowfoot. Hepaticas, which you have so often
seen thriving, when neglected, in a cottage garden,
when, perhaps, they perished under your own con-
tinual care, as if they were created specially for the
pleasure of the poor, are nothing but Anemones, with
16 LETTER I.
three bracts underneath the flower, and either six or
nine sepals and petals.
You have seen the Globe-flowers (‘Trollius), with
their yellow heads, in the borders among American
plants; these have a great many sepals, which give
the beauty to their flowers; their petals are little
strap-shaped bodies lying on the outside of the stamens;
and each of their carpels contains several seeds; in
this they differ from the Crowfoots, but otherwise re-
semble them so much, that before the flowers appear,
you would take the Trollius for a Ranunculus.
Marsh Marigold, again (Caltha), which grows in
large green tufts in the meadows, and by the sides of
ditches, differs from the Globe-flower in having no
petals at all. Christmas Roses (Helleborus), and Winter
Aconites (Eranthis), are also of the Crowfoot tribe ;
each differing in one respect or other from those I
have mentioned, but possessing the essential charac-
ters already explained.
All the plants yet mentioned, are so like the
Ranunculus, that it is impossible to overlook their
resemblance, even if it were not pointed out. But
there are some others in which the resemblance is
less striking at first, although it is equally great when
understood. Who has not heard of Larkspurs?
Rocket Larkspurs, with their spikes of white, and
pink, and purple starry flowers; of Bee Larkspurs,
which look as if the insect from which they take
their name were glued to their inside; or Siberian
Larkspurs, with their branches of blue flowers, which
no gem nor mineral can emulate in brightness, or
~
THE CROWFOOT TRIBE. 17
deepness of colour? These are of the Crowfoot tribe,
but less closely allied to Ranunculus itself, than what
I have already mentioned. We are so accustomed to
combine in our minds the idea of Buttercups and
yellowness; that we are apt to overlook the resem-
blance which really exists between the Ranunculus and
the Larkspur, because of the want of yellow in the
latter. But setting aside this, which is of no Bota-
nical importance whatever, let us look at the calyx
of the Larkspur (Delphinium). It is composed of five
leaves, or sepals, the uppermost of which has a horn
arising from out of its back ; so is that of Ranunculus,
excepting the horn. It has four petals, of which two
have long tails, hidden within the horn of the petal ;
it is they which look like the bee’s body : Ranunculus
has nothing of this, but five common petals instead.
The Larkspur has a great many stamens arising
from below the carpels; this is the first essential
character of Ranunculus ; it has also several carpels
(two or three) which are not grown together: and
this is the second essential character of Ranunculus; so
that this plant has, in reality, no essential character
by which it can be distinguished from the Crowfoot
tribe. As for its four strange petals, they are of
no importance; for you will remark that in Trol-
lius, the petals are little hollow bodies, and that the
Marsh Marigold has none whatever ; so that not only
the form of the petals is of no consequence in the
Crowfoot tribe, but it does not even signify whether
they are present at all or not.
When you have once satisfied yourself that the
é
18 LETTER I:
Larkspur belongs to Ranunculacez, you will have no
difficulty in perceiving that the true Aconite (Aconi-
tum), is also of the same natural order ; for the re-
semblance of these two is too striking to be mistaken.
The true Aconite, which yields to no plant in the vi-
rulent poison of its roots, has all the structure of the
Larkspur, except that the upper leaf of its calyx has
not any horn, but is very large, and resembles a
sort of helmet, overshadowing all the other parts of
the flower. In consequence of there being no horn
to the upper leaf of the calyx, the two uppermost
petals, which have horns, are forced to hide them be-
neath the helmet, instead of inserting them into it.
With these differences the Larkspur and the true
Aconite are formed nearly alike.
Peonies are the last plants I need mention, as be-
longing to the Crowfoot tribe. They have a calyx
which resembles green leaves, and which never drops
off ; in other Ranunculacez, the calyx often drops off,
even before the petals; im this respect, Peeonies are
unlike the rest of the Crowfoot tribe; but they have
the two essential marks of distinction in the carpels
and the stamens.
Let me recommend you to procure, if possible, all
the plants that have thus been enumerated, and
to compare them with one another till you fully under-
stand their resemblance, which you may very readily
do; and then you will find, that to know the struc-
ture of the common Crowfoot, is, indeed, as I said in
the beginning, te know the properties and general
character of a large natural order.
THE POPPY TRIBE. 19
The next plants I would advise you to study, are
the Poppies; that singular genus, which, in the form
of a few red flowered species, is the plague of the care-
less farmer, who calls them Redweed, and, in the
form of another, is rendered, by the folly and vice
of man, the scourge of half the world, in the shape
of opium. The Poppies form a genus of plants re-
presenting the characters of a small natural order,
very nearly related to the Crowfoot tribe, from which
it differs in its properties, being of a stupifying, in-
stead of a burning and blistering nature, as well as
in its botanical characters. Like the Crowfoot, the
Poppy has leaves with netted veins, and also a great
many stamens, arising from under the carpels; but,
unlike the Crowfoot, the carpels are not several,
and distinct from each other, but have all grown
together into a single ovary (Pl. I. 2. fig. 2.); the
styles are wanting; and the stigmas are elevated
hairy lines, which spread equally from the top of the
ovary, forming a sort of star-like crown. If you
open the ovary, you will find that it consists of
but one cell, or cavity; and that several little plates,
which project from the sides of it into the cavity
(fig. 6.), are covered with very numerous and very
small ovules, or young seeds. In course of time, the
ovary changes to a hollow box, with a hard brittle
shell, called a capsuLx, which is the fruit: and when
it has become of a pale brownish colour, it, and the
seeds it contains, are ripe; in this state it is the
poppy-head you see in the windows of druggists’
shops. So hard is the shell of the capsule, and so
c2
20) LETTER I.
small are the seeds, that the latter would never be
able to get out unless nature had contrived some
certain manner of opening the box. Lid it has none,
for the hardened stigmas bind down the top and
prevent its opening: but in order to remove this im-
pediment, a number of little valves open underneath
the edges of the stigma (fig. 5. a.), and through these
the seeds fall out.
You see then, that the Poppy differs from the Ra-
nunculus, in haying the carpels united into an undi-
vided ovary, instead of being all separate ; in the same
way all the Poppy tribe differ from all the Crowfoot
tribe ; but this is not all. Ifyou break the stem or leaf
of a poppy, there runs out a milky fluid, in which the
stupifying principle of the plant is contained; no milk
is found in the Crowfoot tribe, the juice of which is
always watery and transparent. This is another and
most important mark of distinction.
The most essential differences between the Crow-
foot tribe, and the Poppy tribe, therefore, stand
ianse——
Crowfoot Tribe, or Ranunculacee.
Stamens very numerous. Carpels distinct. Juice
watery.
Poppy Tribe, or Papaveracee.
Stamens very numerous. Carpels united into one
central ovary, with a single cavity. Juice milky.
Besides these marks, by which you may know the
two natural orders, there are others. The Poppy
has two sepals, and twice two petals; this is never
THE POPPY TRIBE. Q]
found in the Crowfoot tribe; but as some of the
Poppy tribe have three sepals, and twice three petals,
the number of those parts is not sufficiently constant
to form an essential mark.
Having thus examined the flowers, and ascertained
what the differences and resemblances are between
the one tribe and the other, I would next advise
you to compare the leaves of wild Poppies with
those of the Crowfoots, and you cannot fail to be
struck with their great resemblance ; and thus will
you have become acquainted with two striking
natural orders, neither of which will you ever be
likely, I should hope, to forget.
For the sake, however, of impressing the characters
of the Poppy tribe more strongly upon your mind, I
should advise you to take a few more examples ;
especially as the fruit by which the Poppy tribe is
partly known, frequently seems, until it has been
carefully explained, to be very unlike the only instance
we have, as yet, examined.
On the sea-shore near Brighton, and indeed on
most parts of the English coast, there grows a blue-
leaved plant, which looks as if the salt of the sea
spray had encrusted itself upon its skin; but which
is sure to be remarked when in flower, because of its
large bright yellow flowers, and when in fruit by the
long stiff horns it bears in the place of a poppy head ;
for this last reason it is called the Horned Poppy
(Glaucium). This plant also belongs to the Poppy
tribe. It differs from the Poppy itself, in its fruit
being very long and slender, instead of short and
29 LETTER I.
round; but like that plant it contains only one
cavity. The reason why the poppy head is so thick,
is, that it is formed out of as many carpels grown
together, as there are stigmas; in the naked-stalked
Poppy there are seven; in the Opium Poppy
(Papaver somniferum) there are a great many; in
others more and in others less: but m the Horned
Poppy the fruit is formed of only two carpels grown
together, which will at once explain why the fruit is
so narrow.
Celandine (Chelidonium majus), a pale green cut-
leaved plant, with little yellow flowers, found in groves
and in shady lanes, or in churchyards, by no means
uncommonly, is another plant belonging to the
Poppy tribe. Its milk is of an orange colour, and has
a nauseous taste; its fruit is a long pod constructed
like that of the Horned Poppy, but when it is ripe
dropping into two pieces called vALVEs.
The Argemone or Prickly Poppy, and the Esch-
scholtzia, so very remarkable for its finely cut
bluish leaves, and bright yellow flowers, are also of
this natural order. In the Eschscholtzia a circum. -
stance happens which you should not omit to note,
because it seems to explain in other plants several
things which appear at first sight very puzzling.
The flower of this species before it expands is enclosed
in a taper-pointed green sheath, shaped like a hutkin,
which is pushed off by degrees as the petals unfold,
and at last drops to the ground. What is this singular
part, which is so unlike any thing im the plants
hitherto examined? it is the calyx, which, like that
THE POPPY TRIBE. 25
of the Poppy is formed of two sepals; these sepals grow
so firmly together by their edges, where they touch
each other, that when the time for them to fall off
arrives, they are unable to separate; but as it is ab-
solutely indispensable to the plant that the calyx
should in some way or other be got rid of, in order to
enable the flower to expand, nature has provided the
calyx with the means of separating from the stalk by
its base; and thus it is pushed off in the manner I
have mentioned. ‘This, which is the first instance
you have yet seen, of two parts that stand next to
each other having grown together, is an exceedingly
common occurrence in plants, and is one of the means
by which the real nature of flowers is frequently so
masqued that one can hardly discover how it is they
are formed. I would advise you to recollect this
occurrence, and in good time you will see how it
explains other things.
This letter will have found occupation enough for
your little girls in beginning their Botany, without my
carrying the subject further for the present.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE I.
1. Tue Crowroor Trise.—A. A twig of the upper part of the
stem of the Upright Meadow Crowfoot ; aa bracts, 6 calyx.—l. A
petal seen in the inside with the scale at the base.—2* An anther
with a part of the filament seen in front ; 2** the same more mag-
nified, viewed sidewise.—3. The centre of a flower cut through, the
calyx and corolla being removed ; the stamens are seen spreading
outwards, with their filaments originating from underneath the
Q4
carpels ; the latter occupy the centre, and are shewn to arise from
a short conical central part, which is their receptacle.—4. One of
the carpels; a@ the ovarium ; 4 the style; ¢ the stigma.—d. The
same carpel cut open so as to shew the young seed, or ovule, ¢.—
6. A cluster of ripe carpels, or grains.—7. One of the grains sepa-
rate ; compare this with fig. 4, on the opposite side of the plate. --
8. The same grain cut in half, shewing @ the young plant or em-
bryo, and 4 albumen or nutritive matter stored up for feeding the
young plant when it begins to grow.—9. Is an embryo extracted
from the albumen and seen from the back.—10. The same seen
from the side, so as to shew the two minute seed-leaves or cotyle-
dons, a. (N.B. The principal part of these figures is more or less
magnified.)
2. THE Popry Tripe.—A. A flower and leaf of the naked-stemmed
Poppy, the flower of which is turned so as to exhibit the four petals,
the stamens, and the ovary; the natural size.—1. Is a flower-bud,
with the two sepals by which it is covered.—2. An ovary, with its
diverging star-like stigmas.—3. The same part cut through from
top to bottom, with the ovules or young seeds exposed.—4. A
stamen, with the filament and anther.—5. A capsule, or head, when
ripe ; the little valves by which the seeds fall out are seen at a.—
6. The capsule cut across, so as to shew the plates which project
from its shell into the cavity, and the multitude of seeds that grow
upon the plates.—7. A seed.—8. The same cut through; a the
albumen ; 4 the young plant, or embryo.
LIBRARY
QF THE
_ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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LETTER II.
THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE—BLANCHING—THE GERA-
NIUM TRIBE—SPIRAL VESSELS—HYBRID PLANTS.
weer.
ncn
(Plate II.)
en nn rene
You ask me whether the Strawberry is not a plant
of the Crowfoot tribe; and if so, how it happens that
it is so wholesome a fruit. It is true that the Straw-
berry plant has, in many respects, a resemblance to
the Crowfoot, especially in its numerous stamens
and carpels; and I, therefore, am not surprised at
your thinking that they must both belong to the
same natural order. But when you are more accus-
tomed to the making accurate observations, you will
cease to be deceived by such resemblances. On a
future occasion I shall introduce the Strawberry and
its relations to your notice (see Letter VIII.) ; for
the present I shall content myself with calling your
attention to a difference by which they may be
readily distinguished. ‘The Crowfoot is, as you have
seen, a plant with the stamens arising from underneath
the carpels, so that when the calyx drops, or is taken
off, the stamens still remain surrounding the car-
pels, and are, as Botanists say, hypogynous (see
p- 14.). But in the Strawberry flower you cannot
tear off the calyx, without bringing the stamens
20 LETTER Il.
away along with it; the stamens therefore arise out
of the calyx, which is a very different affair from
what occurs in the Crowfoot, and in this way they,
and the natural orders to which they respectively
belong, may be certainly known from each other.
When stamens have such an origin as in the Straw-
berry, they are technically called perigynous, a term
which is so commonly used, that I could wish you to
remember it.
Let me now shew you a natural order of plants,
which, although less beautiful than the Poppy
tribe and the Crowfoot tribe, is not less interesting
or important. Enclosed with this letter are fresh
gathered specimens of a little plant with dark-green
leaves, cut into many fine divisions, like parsley-
leaves; their smell is strong and unpleasant. ‘The
flower-stem of this weed is about a foot high, and it
bears small greenish-white blossoms, arranged at the
ends of the branches in a very peculiar manner
(Pl. Il. 1. fig. 1.). From its resemblance to Parsley,
and from its noxious qualities, for it is very poisonous,
the vulgar call it Fool’s Parsley (Aithusa Cynapium).
You will: find it growing wild in almost any piece of
waste garden ground, where it has sometimes been
mistaken for Parsley that has sprung up sponta-
neously, and has proved fatal to unfortunate children
who have eaten of its leaves.
As it is rather a dangerous neighbour, you will
not be sorry that I have taken an early opportunity
of shewing you how to know the traitor, notwith-
standing his resemblance to one of the most harmless
THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. a7
of plants. Look at the way in which the flowers are
arranged. You will remark that the flower-stem
divides at the top into a number of short slender
branches, whieh all proceed from a common point,
just as the rays of a parasol all proceed from the
ring which slides up the stick; this is called an
uMBEL. Lach of these rays is terminated by a cluster
of flowers, the stalks of which also proceed from a
common point, and form again an umbel. So that
the Fool’s Parsley not only has its flowers arranged
in umbels, but in what, in consequence of their
divided nature, are called compound umbels; the
clusters of flower-stalks by which the branches of the
first set of rays are terminated, are called simple
umbels, by way of distinction. It is to this circum-
stance of the peculiar arrangement of the flowers,
that the natural order to which the Fool’s Parsley
belongs is called Umbelliferous, or Umbel-bearers ;
for all the other plants belonging to the order, have
their flowers arranged in a similar manner ; and thus
you have one exceedingly simple and manifest cha-
racter by which the order is known.
Let us next look at a separate flower ; the parts
are very small, but your little people’s eyes are, I
dare say, good enough for them to see all that I
think it necessary to point out, without the use of a
microscope. In the first place, there is scarcely any
sign of a calyx; all that you can find is a little
narrow border, from within which the petals arise.
The petals are five in number (fig. 2.), of a greenish-
white colour, and each has its point doubled inwards
98 LETTER if.
(fig. 3.), in such a way as to look like the spots ina
suit of hearts in playing-cards; there are only five
stamens, and they arise from between the petals. The
centre of the little flower is occupied by a whitish
fleshy body, which is divided into two lobes, from the
top of each of which springs a style (fig. 5.). Where
now is the ovary? Is it the whitish fleshy body from
out of which the styles arise ? if so, young seeds must
be found in the inside of that part; but if you cut
it, you will find neither cavity nor young seed.
The ovary is in this plant so concealed, that a
beginner would not be likely to find it without assist-
ance. Look at the top of the flower-stalk, on the
outside of the petals; you will find a thickish deep-
green furrowed part (fig. 5.a.), from the top of
which the petals and stamens spring; and if you cut
that part across you will discern two little cavities, in
each of which hangs a young seed. ‘This then is the
ovary, which in Umbelliferous plants seems placed
below the calyx and the corolla, on which account it
is called inferior, just as in the Crowfoot and Poppy
tribes, in which it stands above the calyx and corolla,
it is termed superior.
These terms, like many others used in Botanical
books, were invented long since, when Botany was
in a rude state, and they convey an incorrect notion
of the true nature of the parts to which they are ap-
plied. I shall, therefore, digress a little, to explain
to you the real nature of the difference between a
superior and an inferior ovary. In plants, such as
the Crowfoot, which have a superior ovary, the
THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. QQ
sepals, the petals, the stamens, and the pistils, grow
separate from each other ; but in umbelliferous plants,
whose ovary is inferior, the principal part of the
calyx, the stalks of the petals, and the lower half of
the filaments, grow to the sides of the ovary so
firmly that they cannot be separated, and hence
the ovary looks as if it grew beneath the other parts ;
while, in reality, the parts of the flower, both of the
Crowfoot and Fool’s Parsley spring from the top of
the flower-stalk, beneath the pistil ; but in the former,
they are all separate; while in the latter, they grow
all together.
After the petals and stamens have fallen off, the
ovary gradually increases in size; the furrows on its
surface become deeper; it hardens, acquires a dull
brown colour, and, at last, a fruit (fig. 6.) is formed,
which, in time, separates into two halves (fig. 7. a.
b.), or grains; which are what are vulgarly and in-
accurately named seeds.
These are the principal peculiarities in the flowers
of umbelliferous plants; and they will always serve
to know them by. You may, if you wish it, render
their characters more simple and more easy to re-
member, by taking the essential distinction of um-
belliferous plants to consist in flowers growing in
umbels, and inferior fruit, which when ripe separates,
or may be separated, into two grains. The appearance
of this order is, however, so peculiar, that I have no
fear of its being recognised with certainty after you
have seen a few more instances of it.
Let us now return to the means of distinguishing
30 LETTER II.
Fool’s Parsley from common Parsley. Observe, once
more, the simple umbels of the former species; at the
bottom of the flower-stalks there are a few narrow
taper-pointed green leaves which you will, pro-
bably, recognize by their situations to be bracts
(see page 5. and fig. 1. a. a. a.). When bracts sur-
round a number of flowers in aring, just as sepals
surround petals, and petals surround stamens, they
form what is called an INvoLUCRE; it is, therefore,
by this name that I must speak of the bracts of um-
belliferous plants. The involucres, then, of Fool’s
Parsley, consist each of three leaves, which all turn
one way, spreading towards the outside of the umbel ;
by this easy character it may be certainly known
from common Parsley, and from all the rest of
our wild umbelliferous plants, the involucres of which
are quite different.
It would be a good thing if they could all be dis-
tinguished from each other as easily; but, unfortu-
nately, umbelliferous plants are often so much alike,
that nothing but a very minute attention to the for-
mation of the fruit, will enable you to find out their
names and qualities with certaimty. I shall not pre-
tend to shew you much of the manner of doing this ;
for, if you would learn to distinguish them, you
must peruse books on systematic Botany, im which
umbelliferous plants are described. But, as it will
be useful for you to know the meaning of some
words that are, of necessity, employed in speaking
of their fruit, I may as well explain what those are.
The back of each half of the fruit of Fool’s Parsley,
THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. 31
has four deep furrows (vallecule) which cause five
elevated ridges to appear (fig. 10. a.); the nature of
these furrows and ridges is very much attended to.
The faces of the halves of the fruit, where they
touched each other before they were separated, are
also noticed; they are called the commissure. In the
skin of the seed, underneath the rind of the fruit,
you will often see very minute slender brown lines
(fig. 10. and 9. b.), which, if highly magnified, are
found to be bags filled with oil; they are called
stripes, or witfe, and it is in them that the substance
which gives so pleasant a flavour to caraways and
coriander grains, is stored up. You may, perhaps,
have a difficulty in finding the stripes; if so, cut a
ripe grain across (fig. 10.), and you will see the
ends of the stripes (fig. 10. b.) looking like little
mouths, out of which a dark oily matter slightly
oozes ; or if you are still unsuccessful in your search,
then make a thin slice in the same direction, place
it in water under the microscope, and throw light
upon it from beneath, by means of the mirror, and
the ends of the stripes will appear as so many holes.
There are few tribes of plants more familiar to us
than the umbelliferous, because of the many useful
species that it contains. ‘The carrot, the parsnep,
celery, eryngo, angelica, lovage, caraway, cori-
ander, dill, anise, hemlock, fennel, and samphire,
are all well known kinds; besides which there is a
host of others with which the Botanist is acquainted.
I should advise you to desire the gardener to find
you specimens of all those I have mentioned, and,
32 LETTER II.
on learning the distinctions of them, to compare
them with each other, and with the descriptions of
Botanists, before you attempt to attend to the wild
species; in that way you will familiarise yourself
a little with the manner in which the characters are
drawn up; a very necessary qualification for every
one who would study umbelliferous plants like a
Botanist.
The greater part of the species has white or whitish
flowers: a good many, as the fennel for example,
have yellow flowers, and a very few blue ones. ‘To
the latter class belong most of the species of Eryngo,
and the beautiful Didiscus coeruleus (Bot. Register,
fig. 1225.), which, although a native of New Holland,
forms so charming a hardy ornament of the flower
garden in the summer.
It is not a common circumstance for a tribe so
very similar in the structure of the species as um-
belliferous plants, to contain both poisonous and
wholesome kinds; but here we have the Deadly
Hemlock and Dropwort, associated with Parsley,
Carrots and Fennel; and what seems still more re-
markable, a species, Celery, which is unwholesome
in its wild state, become harmless when cultivated.
Common Celery is a native of the meadows of many
parts of England, where it forms a rank weedy
strong-smelling herb, which is unfit for human food ;
how different it is mm gardens every body knows. It
is thought that its ceasing to be noxious when culti-
vated is owing to the greater part of its stems and
leaves being blanched. No doubt you must be
Oc
BLANCHING. 33
curious to know why blanching a plant should destroy
its unwholesomeness, and therefore we will again
digress from our principal subject for the purpose of
explaining this curious fact.
In my last letter, I told you that the business of
leaves is to expose to light and air the sap they suck
out of the stem. ‘The consequence of light and air
acting upon the surface of leaves, is the forming
in their substance, which is originally of the same
yellowish-white that you see in seeds, a green colour,
which is more or less deep in proportion to the
degree in which the light is powerful; thus a plant
which stands exposed to the sun all day long, has its
leaves of a darker green than another which grows
among other trees, or near a building which throws
it into the shade for a part of the day: and the latter
again is darker green than a plant which grows
at the north side of a high wall, or in an enclosed
court which the sun’s rays never enter. In like
manner, if you cause a plant or any part of a plant
to grow in total darkness, it will be entirely desti-
tute of greenness; or in other words, the substance
of the plant will remain of its original yellowish-
white, because no green matter can be formed
but by the action of light; and if a part already
green is kept for a long time in darkness, it will be-
come yellowish-white, in consequence of all its green
bemg destroyed by the peculiar action of the atmo-
sphere upon plants in darkness.—This is the explana-
tion of blanching. But mere loss of colour is not the
only consequence of plants being kept in the dark ;
D
34 LETTER II.
you have already been told that poisons, when it is
the nature of plants to yield poisons, are also formed
in leaves by the action of light; the absence of this
wonderful agent will therefore prevent the formation
of poison, as well as the formation of green colour ;
and hence blanching renders poisonous plants harm-
less. ‘Thus, in the Celery, but a small portion only
of the leaves is exposed to light; the whole of the
stem and of the lower part of the leaves is buried in
the earth ; the small quantity of noxious matter that
might be formed by the few leaves which are allowed
to bask m the sun, has to pass down the buried
stalks of the leaves before it can reach the stem,
where it would be laid up; but you know the leaf-
stalk of the Celery is very long, and any thing
which has to filter from the upper part of such a leaf
to its bottom has to take a long journey, in the course
of which it is constantly under the destroying influ-
ence of darkness; so that before it can reach the
stem, it will all have perished. A _ similar effect
is produced by the Italians upon Fennel, which,
although not a poisonous plant, has too powerful a
taste to be a pleasant food, except as an ingredient
for flavouring sauces. The Italians, in their warm
climate, cause Fennel to grow rapidly in darkness,
and thus obtain it in a state very like Celery in
appearance; the darkness destroys the principal
part of the flavour, no more of the Fennel taste
being left than is sufficient to give the blanched
stems a pleasant aromatic quality,
There are no plants which you are likely to mis-
THE _-UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. 55
take for umbelliferous, if you will only attend to
the exact nature of the characters I have already
explained. Nevertheless, as it is exceedingly diffi-
cult for begimners to comprehend the necessity of
exactness in natural history, and as you have already
been puzzled about the Strawberry and the Crowfoot,
I may as well caution you against an error which
you may fall into; and I cannot do better than point
it out in the words of Rousseau himself. “If you
should happen, after reading my letter, to walk out
and find an Elder-bush in flower, I am almost sure
that at first sight you would exclaim; here we have
an umbelliferous plant. You would find a large
umbel, a small umbel, little white blossoms, an in-
ferior ovary, and five stamens; yes, it must be an
umbelliferous plant. But let us look again; suppose
I take a flower. In the first place, instead of five
petals, I find a corolla, with five divisions, it is true,
but nevertheless with all five joined into one piece ;
now flowers of umbelliferous plants are not so con-
structed. Here indeed are five stamens, but I see no
styles: I see three stigmas more often than two;
and three grains more often than two; but umbel-
liferous plants have never either more or less than
two stigmas, nor more nor less than two grains to
each flower. Besides, the fruit of the Elder is a
juicy berry, while that of umbelliferous plants is dry
and hard. ‘The Elder, therefore, is not an umbel-
liferous plant. If you now go back a little, and look
more attentively at the way in which the flowers
are disposed, you will also find their arrangement
D 2
36 LETTER II.
only in appearance like that of umbelliferous plants.
The first rays, instead of setting off exactly from the
same centre, arise some a little higher, and some a
little lower; the little rays originate with still less
regularity ; there is nothing like the invariable order
you find in umbelliferous plants. In fact, the ar-
rangement of the flowers of the Elder is in a cyme,
and not in an umbel. See how mistakes will some-
times lead us to the discovery of truth.”
You must not suppose from so much having been
said about the umbel, that that kind of arrangement
of flowers, always indicates an umbelliferous plant ;
on the contrary it is only when the umbels bear infe-
rior fruits separating into two grains that they really
belong to plants of this natural order. ‘There are
many other plants which bear umbels, with a different
structure of the flower, as for instance the Geranium
tribe (Plate II. 2.). Many species of that natural
order have simple umbels, but the structure of their
flowers is exceedingly different. Suppose I fill up my
letter with some account of them; if you are weary of
study for the moment, you can leave off at the point
at which we have now arrived, and resume the subject
on another day.
Do you know what a Geranium is? if you ask the
gardener for one, he will bring you a neat-looking
shrubby green-house plant, with fragrant leaves and
upright umbels of beautiful red flowers ; this however
is not a Geranium, although it is nearly related to one,
and belongs to the Geranium tribe; it is a Pelargo-
nium. ‘The real Geraniums are little herbs which
THE GERANIUM TRIBE. 37
grow by the way side, or in waste places, or in the
meadows, and some of which are often cultivated in
the borders of the flower-garden or shrubbery, for
the sake of their gay red or white or purple blossoms.
One of them, the Meadow Geranium, is so very
common that vou can scarcely fail to procure it; if
you should fail, then almost any other kind will do as
well for the purpose of enabling you to follow me.
This plant has roundish leaves, divided into several
deep lobes, with the veins branching in the manner of
Exogenous plants (p. 13.), a circumstance which also
occurred in the umbelliferous order, although I forgot
to mention it. The leaves are placed upon long
hairy stalks which are singularly swollen at the base,
where there grows a pair of pale thin green scales
called strputes; these parts you have not before
seen; they are frequently not met with in any species
of a whole natural order, but when they do occur
they usually accompany the leaves of every plant
in the order; their use is unknown. ‘The flowers of
this species can hardiy be said to be in an umbel,
for only two of them grow together, but if more were
to appear, as is the case in other species, they would
all diverge from one common centre; and this you
know would make an umbel. ‘Their calyx consists
of five ribbed sepals which spread when the flower is
open, and when the petals have fallen off contract
round the young and tender ovaries, to which they
form an efficient protection. ‘The petals are five, of
a purplish blue colour; they are very round at their
ends, and spread in such a manner as to form a
58 LETTER Il.
figure something resembling a saucer ; their veins are
unusually prominent, and give the petals a streaked
or pencilled appearance.
We did not see any veins in the petals of the
Crowfoots, or the Poppies, or the Umbelliferous
plants, and yet we might have found them if we had
paid attention, for veins are as regularly found in
petals as in leaves, and, what is very curious, they
have the same structure, except that they are usually
composed of air-vessels only. ‘The tough and flexible
tubes, or water-pipes, which you find surrounding the
air-vessels in the veins of leaves (p. 12.), are in those
organs indispensable for the protection of the air-ves-
sels, and for giving strength to the leaf, during the
many months which it has to exist; but all this won-
derful provision against injury, would be thrown away
in the petals, which never live beyond a few days,
sometimes only a few hours ; and would be prejudicial
to that delicate and transparent appearance in them
which we so much admire. Nature, therefore, who
creates nothing in vain, has generally formed petals
with veins composed of air-vessels only ; and hence the
extreme delicacy of the fragile corolla. The petals of
the Geranium are so well adapted to shew you this
arrangement, and you must be so curious to witness
the way in which the secret workings of vegetation
take place, that I am sure you will thank me for
teaching you how you can best view the structure.
For this purpose place the petal of a Geranium
upon a piece of perfectly smooth and flat glass, such
as is usually furnished for the transparent stage of a
SPIRAL VESSELS. 39
microscope ; wet it with water; and then lay over it
another flat piece of glass. Press the two glasses
firmly together, and by degrees you will squeeze all
the air out of the petal, and it will become transparent.
You may then, with a pretty good magnifying power,
observe all the air-vessels of the veins distinctly,
looking like fine threads of silver wire twisted up
like a spiral spring. It is on account of this appear-
ance that the air-vessels are called technically sprra
VESSELS.
The stamens (fig. 2.) are ten, arising from beneath
the pistil; that is, they are hypogynous; they are
placed in two rows, each of which consists of five sta-
mens. The lower part of the filament is broad, and
rather convex ; it curves a little towards the pistil,
and then tapers off into the part which bears the
anther.
The pistil (fig. 3.) has a very singular appearance.
At the base it has five roundish projections, covered
all over with clammy hairs; from the top of these
projections a sort of column arises, which at the
point is five-lobed (fig. 4.); the projections are the
ovaries, the column is composed of five styles glued
together, and the five lobes are the stigmas. ‘The
hairs upon the ovaries will give you a good idea of
the nature of hairs in other plants. Cut off, with a
sharp knife, a very minute portion of the skin of one
of the ovaries, and lay the morsel on its side in
water under the microscope; you will find that the
hairs are delicate transparent projections, tapering
to a point. Some of them are very short and
40 LETTER II.
curved downwards, as if it was their business to
protect the surface of the ovary (fig. 11.), others
stand erect, and have a head of a brownish colour,
from which a clammy fluid exudes; the last are
secreting hairs, and their duty is supposed to consist
in carrying off the volatile matter to which the plant
owes it smell; for they are not only found on the
ovaries, but on almost all the other parts.
When the fruit (fig. 6.) is ripe, it resembles, in a
striking manner, the bill of certain birds; on which
account the Geranium is called, in English, Cranes-
bill, by which I would have introduced it to you, if
the Latin name had not become the more common.
This singular appearance is owing to a very simple
circumstance. In most plants the styles shrmk up,
or fall off, at the same time that the flower fades,
and by the time the fruit is ripe, have entirely disap-
peared. But in the Geranium, the styles continue
to grow and harden as fast as the fruit itself; and
when the latter is ripe, the styles project from
the ovaries in the form of a beak. At the time
when the fruit is ripe the seeds are shut up in the
cavities of the ovary, so that one would wonder how
they are to get out; if you would wish to catch the
Geranium in the act of sowing its seed, gather a
little branch of the ripe fruit in a fine summer’s
morning, before the dew is off it, and put it in
the sun. By degrees the fruits will dry, and if you
watch them, you will be surprised by some of them,
on a sudden, emitting a snapping sound, and you
may see first one and then others of the ovaries
THE GERANIUM TRIBE. 41
quickly curving upwards towards the top of the style,
opening, at the same time, by their face, so as to let
their seed drop out (fig. 6. a.). This is caused by
the styles contracting from dryness, and shortening ;
they stick so close together at their points, that they
cannot separate there, and so they actually pull the
ovary up by the roots, and then roll up upon
themselves, as if they were frightened at what they
had done. ‘The seeds are often beautiful objects,
and are sometimes curiously pitted or netted all
over their surface. No workman ever gave such
finishing to the setting of the most costly gems, as
Nature has given even to the seeds of a weed.
Among our wild flowers are two genera which
belong to the Geranium tribe ; the Geranium itself,
and the Storksbill (Krodium). The latter is very
common in gravelly and sandy wastes, and looks so
like a Geranium, that you will, most likely, mistake
it for one. You may, however, know it by five only
of its ten stamens bearing anthers. In the Geranium
you will find that the five outermost of the stamens,
are much shorter than those which form the inner
row, and more stunted (jig. 2.), but they all have
anthers. In the Storksbill the five outer are still
more stunted, and have no anthers. But the most
interesting part of the tribe is that which is cultivated
in green-houses, and to which J have already said the
name Pelargonium is applied. This differs from
both the other genera in the stamens being more than
five, and fewer than ten in number, and in the co-
rolla being irregular, that is to say, different in dif-
42 LETTER Il.
ferent parts; the two upper petals are larger than
the three lower, and stand altogether apart, so as to
give the flower the appearance of having two lips.
These Pelargoniums are almost entirely natives of
the Cape of Good Hope, and have become as much
the favourites of modern florists, as the tulip, the
pink, the ranunculus, and the auricula were of their
forefathers. And yet they were not originally so very
beautiful; their leaves indeed were always fragrant
and their colours gay, but they possessed nothing
like the clearness of complexion, the regular features,
and the rich variety of colour which characterise
the present race. To what are we to attribute this
sudden change? To cultivation? No doubt to cul-
tivation; but to cultivation of a very peculiar kind,
of which our ancestors never dreamed; we call it
HYBRIDIZING.
You are already acquainted with the singular causes
which bring about the change of ovules into seeds
(see page 8.); and you know, that if the pollen does
not act upon the stigma, the ovules shrivel up and
die prematurely. It has been discovered, that if two
plants are very near relations, the pollen of one will
act upon the stigma of the other, just as well as if the
pollen was produced by the anthers of the plant to
which the stigma belongs; but when the seeds so
obtained are sown, they change to plants which are
not exactly like either of those from the intermixture
of which they sprang, but which bear a strong re-
semblance to both. For instance, if you take the
pollen of a plant with blue flowers, and place it upon
2
HYBRID PLANTS. 45
the stigma of one which has red flowers, the seed will
produce a plant having purple flowers; or, if a plant
with a very vigorous mode of growth is thus inter-
mixed with another of a very dwarf habit, the plants
which spring from seeds thus procured, will be
neither very dwarf nor very tall; and soon. This is
the secret of the improvement of Pelargoniums, which
happen to intermix very easily: a sort with large
ugly flowers, is intermixed with one with small neat
flowers, and you have, in all probability, a variety
with large flowers, that are as neat in appearance as
those of the small flowered kind. I need not parti-
cularize, with more minuteness, the way in which
plants respectively influence each other; a little
reflection must render it apparent to you, now that
you understand the principle. I must not, however,
omit to tell you, that intermixture can only take
place between plants very closely related to each
other, and that distant relations have no influence
the one on the other. You could not hybridize a Ge-
ranium with a Pelargonium, nor those Pelargoniums
which have fleshy tumours for stems with such as have
slender stems, nor even a gooseberry with a currant ;
but to the power of intermixing the slender stemmed
real Pelargoniums there seems to be no limit.
That nature acted thus, long before man discovered
her secret, there can be no doubt; for winds and in-
sects are as skilful hybridizers as we are; and the
different races of apples, pears, and other fruit,
which have, in all ages, sprung up in gardens, are,
no doubt, indebted for their origin to such circum-
44, LETTER II.
stances; but it is only in modern times that this
mode of proceeding has been reduced within certain
rules, and that hybridizing has become a fixed and
useful art.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE II.
I. Toe UmBetuirerous Tripe.—l. A portion of the flowering
stem of Fool’s Parsley, shewing the umbel; aaa the one-sided in-
volucres by which the plant is especially known.—2. A flower mag-
nified, shewing the petals, stamens, styles, and disk.—3. A petal
separated from the rest, with its curious incurved point.—4. A stamen,
with the filament and anther.—5. A young ovary seen from the
side ; a the ovary itself; 4 the styles; c the line where the calyx is
to be sought for.—6. A ripe fruit viewed from its side; at the base,
a forked axis is just perceptible, from the arms of which the grains
finally swing.—7. The fruit with its grains separated, and swingmg
from the arms of the axis.—8. A back view of one of the grains;
the five prominent ridges are distinctly visible-—9. The face or com-
missure of the same grain; 6 one of the stripes or vittee——10. The
same grain cut through; a@ the ridges; } the stripes; ¢ the albumen.—
11. Half a seed taken out of the rind of the gram: @ the embryo,
lying at the upper end of a large quantity of albumen.—12. The
embryo very highly magnified, and seen sideways for the sake of .
shewing its two seed-leaves, or cotyledons.
Il. Toe Geranium Trise.—l. A couple of flowers of Meadow
Geranium, one of which has dropped its petals; a bracts.—2. The
ten stamens and the style-—3. The lower part of a pistil, covered
with glandular hairs.—4. The top of the style and the five stigmas.—
5. The lower part of a pistil spht, to shew a the ovule, and 4 a
tapering axis, to which the styles are glued. It is this part which
forms the hard centre of the beak in the ripe fruit, and from which
the styles drop, after they have curled up to shed the seeds.—6. A
couple of ripe fruit, one of which is beginning to shed its seed;
a an ovary from which the seed has dropped.—7. A seed; a the
45
hilum, or scar left by its separating from the ovary.—8. Seed split ;
the embryo /is curiously rolled up, and plaited, and there is no
albumen; @ is the radicle, or seed-root; 5 the cotyledons, or seed-
leaves.—9. Is a cross section of the same seed.—l0. The embryo
in its natural state, with the skin of the seed stripped off; the radicle
is a taper body, hooked back at the narrow end of the embryo.—
11. Hairs very highly magnified; the short sharp-poimted ones are
lymphatic hairs; the long upright pin-headed ones are secreting
hairs.
LETTER III.
THE EVENING PRIMROSE TRIBE—THE
MYRTLE TRIBE.
wore rerrece.
(Plate IIT.)
oer. aed
My last letter was so long that I fear you must
consider me unreasonable in expecting you to be
already prepared for another. And yet I think that
considering the interest you say your little girls take
in plants, I shall scarcely do wrong in profiting by
- the present opportunity of going on with the subject,
especially as this letter is likely to be much shorter than
the last. They already begin to wonder where the
terrible difficulties lie concealed, with which you have
hitherto been frightened from allowing them to study
Botany ; but I can venture to assure them that, as
far as the elementary parts of the science are con-
cerned, there are no difficulties to encounter greater
than what they have already overcome. I feel per-
fectly sure that Crowfoots, and Poppies, and Umbel-
bearing plants, and Geraniums, are now familiar to
you, together with all their relations. We will next
take a family of quite another kind.
In the meadows and woods of Europe, North
America, and the colder parts of Asia, are found a
great number of herbs which, with a great accor-
She Evening. ee tose. tle: LET |
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MIVERSITY QF ILLINGIS
THE EVENING PRIMROSE TRIBE. 47
dance in their general appearance, agree also in this
remarkable circumstance, that every one of the parts
of the flower consists either of four pieces or of some
number which may be divided by four; in South
America are many species of a similar nature, only
they are shrubs and are much more richly coloured.
Botanists call these Onagracee, or the Evening Prim-
rose tribe, because the charming yellow flower which
unfolds its bosom to the evening sun, and drinks up
the dews of night with its petals, rendering darkness
as lovely as noon-day, but which retires at the ap-
proach of the sun, rolling up its petals and carefully
protecting its stamens and pistils from the glare of
light, is one of the tribe; it might be called the owl
of the vegetable world, only it is more beautiful and
delicate than that hard-hearted enemy of mice.
If you have ever examined one of them accurately
you will be at no loss to recognize all the rest. For
this purpose suppose you take the Shrubby Evening
Primrose (Osnothera fruticosa), a beautiful little North
American plant, with an absurd name, for it is not a
shrub.
The leaves of this plant are of a narrow figure, not
unlike the head of a lance, and their veins are dis-
posed in a netted manner like all the preceding ;
it has therefore a stem which mereases in size by
addition of matter to the outside of the wood; or in
a word it is Exogenous; the leaves do not grow
opposite each other from opposite sides of the stem,
but are placed one a little above the other, so as to be
alternate ; mark this.
48 LETTER IIi.
The flowers are bright yellow; and are entirely
different from those of any of the preceding tribes.
In the first place the calyx has a long slender tube
(Plate III. I. fig. 1. a.), from the top of which arise
two leaves, both turned the same way, and notched at
the point (fig. 1. 6.) ; itis in reality composed of four
sepals, united at the base into a tube, but capable of
being separated above the tube into four pieces, as
you may easily see if you attempt to divide it with
the point of a pin.
From the top of the tube of the calyx arise four
petals.—Observe, again,—four,—which are of a
bright yellow, and are rolled together, except in the
night, when the flowers are expanded.
Twice four stamens spring from the top of the tube ;
each has a very long anther, which swings by its
middle from the summit of the filament, and sheds its
pollen in such a way that it looks as if it were mixed
with cobweb. If you magnify this pollen in a drop
of water, each grain will be found three-cornered
(fig. 5.), and held to its neighbour by excessively
delicate threads; a peculiarity in the pollen which
is rarely met with, except in the Evening Primrose
tribe.
The ovary (fig. 1. c.) is inferior, and is marked
by eight ribs, of which four are more prominent than
the others; it contains four cavities, in each of which
is a great many seeds. The style is a long slender
body, rising within the tube of the calyx, as high as
the stamens, and then separating into four narrow
stigmas.
THE EVENING PRIMROSE TRIBE. 49
The fruit is a dry oval case, with four angles,
opening into four pieces, called vatves (fig. 6.).
Thus, you see all the parts of this plant, from its
calyx to its fruit, consist either of four, or twice four
parts; the like happens in all the genuine species of
the same natural order ; by which character they are
easily known. There are many plants of very diffe-
rent orders, that have four sepals, or four petals, or
some of their other parts of that number; but it is
only in the Evening Primrose tribe that all the parts
are in fours at the same time; or some multiple of
four, which is botanically the same thing.
There are no Evening Primroses, really wild, in
Great Britain, however frequent they may be in gar-
dens. But there is an exceedingly common wild flower,
called Willow-herb (Epilobium), one of the species
of which, called the ‘ great hairy,” is, perhaps, the
most noble of all our British herbs. Its stout shaggy
stems grow five or six feet high, and are terminated
by long clusters of bright red flowers. If you were
to compare it with the description of the Evening
Primrose, you would think it really must be a
species of that genus, only the flowers are not yellow.
This, however, is not the only difference. When the
fruit of the Willow-herb is ripe, it sheds seeds which
are furnished with a curious apparatus to enable
them to fly about, and spread themselves over the
land; each of them has a very long tuft of silk at one
end, which is so light, that the smallest breeze is
sufficient to buoy it up, and raise it aloft into the air,
there to be caught and carried to a great distance.
E
5O EETPTERGI(:
Nothing of this sort is found in the Evening Prim-
rose.
Another plant, of far greater beauty than either of
the foregoing, is the Fuchsia, an American genus, for
which no English name has been contrived, and which
is now one of the greatest of all the foreign ornaments
with which our gardens are embellished in the sum-
mer and autumn. Every body has Fuchsias; the
poor weaver grows them in his window; many an
industrious cottager shews them as the pride of the
little plot of ground before his door; and even the
suburban inhabitants of London itself, speak of the
beautiful Fuchsias they rear, with enthusiasm and
delight. You must, therefore, know very well what
the Fuchsia plant is. Examine its flowers; on the
outside of all, you have a deep crimson covering,
divided into four firm sharp-pointed leaves; this is
the calyx. Rolled up within it, and closely em-
bracing the stamens, are four little dark purple leaves,
which are not half so long as the calyx; they are the
petals. The other parts you will easily recognise.
But the fruit is not a hard dry case, or capsule,
bursting into four valves when it is ripe; it contains
four cavities indeed; but its rind is deep purple, fleshy
and juicy ; ina word, it isa berry. ‘This, then, is a
marked distinction from other plants of the Evening
Primrose tribe; but, as in all other respects the
Fuchsia agrees with them, it is not accounted suffi-
ciently different to belong to any other natural order.
The Evening Primrose tribe has little, except its
beauty, to render it imteresting to mankind; for
THE MYRTLE TRIBE. 5) |
there is not a single species which possesses any useful
property worth mentioning. Remember, that num-
ber four, throughout all the parts of the flower, is its
character; and you will be in no danger of either
forgetting it, or mistaking it.
I have already said that other orders have, occa-
sionally, four parts of the calyx, or corolla, or of some
other class of organs, and yet do not belong to the
Evening Primrose tribe. 1 will give you an instance
of this.
You know what a Myrtle is. Takea sprig of that
beautiful, but delicate evergreen, for your next sub-
ject. It has hard shining deep-green leaves, which
do not drop off when winter comes; but seem as if
they were intended to make us forget that winter has
power over vegetation; the stand opposite each other,
and if you bruise them, emit a fragrant aromatic
odour. If you hold them against the light, you will
see them look as if pierced with holes, closed up by
a green transparent substance; they are not, how-
ever, pierced: but the appearance is owing to their
containing a vast number of little transparent cells,
in which the aromatic matter, to which they owe
their fragrance, is laid up (Plate III. 1. fig. 10.).
The flowers have a calyx of five divisions; there
are five petals of a dazzling white; and from the
sides of the calyx, there arises, in a ring, a very con-
siderable number of slender white filaments, tipped
by little roundish anthers (fig. 2.).
The ovary, which is inferior, contains three cells,
and a good many ovules; from its flat top springs
E 2
52 LETTER Vim.
one style (fig. 2.), which ends in a stigma, so small
that it cannot be discovered without a microscope
(fig. 4.).
The fruit of the Myrtle is a purple berry, so like
a Fuchsia berry on the outside that you might mis-
take the one for the other; but it has only three cells,
instead of four, and has a strong aromatic taste, of
which the Fuchsia is entirely destitute.
You will, after reading this, ask me, perhaps, with
surprise, what resemblance [ can discover between
the Myrtle and the Evening Primrose tribe; for it
seems difficult to select two objects more unlike. I
although the Myrtle itself is not very
like an Evening Primrose, yet there are many of the
answer thus
Myrtle tribe, which, having only four divisions of the
calyx, and four petals, might be mistaken for plants
belonging to the Evening Primrose tribe, for they
have an inferior berry, like that of a Fuchsia; you
would however see that the number four could
not be traced further than the petals, and conse-
quently, the resemblance would cease with these parts.
The Myrtle tribe, like the last natural order,
abounds in beautiful plants; it also contains many
that are of great use. The spice you call Cloves, con-
sists of the young flower-buds of a tree found in the
East Indies (Caryophyllus aromaticus) ; and Adlspice
is the berries of a West Indian species (Myrtus Pi-
menta.) The pleasantfruits called the Rose Apple, and
the Jamrosade, in the Kast Indies, are produced by dif-
ferent kinds of Eugenia; Guava Jelly is prepared from
the succulent berries of trees of the Myrtle Tribe, found
THE MYRTLE TRIBE. 5a
in the West Indies; and, finally, the Pomegranate
is an example of another fruit-bearing kind, which
has migrated from Barbary into Europe.
All these are trees with berries for their fruit; and
they form the greatest part of the tribe. Others how-
ever there are which have dry fruits opening at the
top, and containing a great number of very minute
seeds ; these, the principal part of which are natives
of New Holland, have very often also alternate leaves.
It is therefore neither to the fruit nor to the position
of the leaves upon the stem, that you are to look for
the precise character of the Myrtle tribe. The infe-
rior ovary, the numerous stamens, the single style, and
the dotted leaves, are what you will know it by with
most certainty.
To that division of the tribe in which the fruit is dry
and many-seeded belong Melaleuca and Metrosideros,
with their long tassels of silken stamens, purple, or yel-
low, or crimson; and so dothe gigantic Gum Trees of
New Holland (Eucalyptus). These last are remarkable
for having no petals ; and for their calyx falling off like
a lid or extinguisher. I told you, m my first letter,
to observe what I said about the curious calyx of
Eschscholtzia, which was pushed off by the petals in
the form of a hutkin, in consequence of the sepals
not being capable of separating in the usual way. So
is it with the Eucalyptus; its calyx has all its parts
soldered together, as it were, into a hard fleshy lid;
when it is time for the stamens to unfold, they push
the calyx so forcibly, that it breaks away by its base
and drops off, leaving the stamens at liberty to ex-
pand as fully as may be necessary.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE III.
1. Toe EventnG Primrose Trise.—l. A flower of the Shrubby
Evening Primrose half unfolded ; a the tube of the calyx ; 4 the divi-
sions of the calyx ; c the ovary.—2. The same flower deprived of its
petals, and with itssepals divided from each other, shewing the stamens
and stigma.—3. The tube of the calyx cut open ; at the top are seen
the bases of the eight stamens that spring out of it.—4. A stamen.—
5. A cluster of pollen grains, with the threads by which they are held
together ; represented as they are seen when immersed in water.—
6. A ripe fruit, with the four openings at the top, through which the
seeds escape.—7. The ovary cut through, before it is ripe; it exhibits
the four cells, and the numerous seeds in them.—8. One of the valves
of the fruit separated from the others, with the seeds sticking to it.
—9. A seed.—10. An embryo, from which the seed-coat has been
stripped ; it is not surrounded by albumen, but is protected only by
the skin of the seed.
II. Toe Myrrie Trise.—l. A flower of the Common Myrtle,
much magnified.—2. The same cut perpendicularly, shewing two of
the cells of the ovary, and the origin of the style and stamens.—2*.
A cross section of the same.—3. Another with part of a filament.
—4. The tip of the style and stigma.—5. A ripe fruit.—6. The
same cut across, with the curved embryo seen lying within it, with-
out any albumen.—9. A leaf.—10. A portion of a leaf magnified,
shewing the transparent dots in it.
—
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LETTER IV.
THE CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE—DOUBLE FLOWERS—THE
VIOLET TRIBE—METHOD OF ANALYSIS.
i oead anne aamatemaamamendamaad
(Plate IV.)
wens
nan
I am pleased, but not surprised, to find from your
last letter, that Botany dees not prove, upon exami-
nation, to be either so dry and technical a science as
you imagined, or so little related to objects of daily
interest, as others had persuaded you. Depend upon
this truth, before all others, that knowledge is always
useful, and that when we are unable to discover its
utility, we have to blame our own short-sightedness,
or incapacity, or any other cause, rather than know-
ledge itself.
Sir John Herschel, in that admirable treatise of his
which should be in the hands of every human being
who has arrived at an age to be capable of under-
standing it,—Sir John Herschel has well remarked
that, ‘* the question to what practical end and advan-
tage do your researches tend? is one which the spe-
culative philosopher, who loves knowledge for its
own sake, and enjoys, as a rational being should
enjoy, the mere contemplation of harmonious and
mutually dependent truths, can seldom hear without
a sense of humiliation. He feels that there is a lofty
56 LETTER IV.
and disinterested pleasure in his speculations which
ought to exempt them from such questioning ; com-
municating as they do, to his own mind the purest
happiness (after the exercise of the benevolent and
moral feelings), of which nature is susceptible, and
tending to the injury of no one; he might surely
allege this as a sufficient and direct reply to those
who, having themselves little capacity, and less re-
lish for intellectual pursuits, are constantly repeating
upon him this inquiry. But if he can bring himself
to descend from this high but fair ground, and justify
himself, his pursuits, and his pleasures in the eyes of
those around him, he has only to point to the history
of all science, where speculations, apparently the
most unprofitable, have almost invariably been those
from which the greatest practical applications have
emanated. What, for instance, could be apparently
more unprofitable than the dry speculations of the
ancient geometers on the properties of the conic
sections, or than the dreams of Kepler (as they would
naturally appear to his contemporaries) about the
numerical harmonies of the universe. Yet these are
the steps by which we have risen to a knowledge of
the elliptic motions of the planets, and the law of
gravitation, with all its splendid theoretical conse-
quences, and its inestimable practical results. The
ridicule attached to ‘ Swing-swangs’ in Hooke’s time
did not prevent him from reviving the proposal of the
pendulum as a standard of measure, since so ad-
mirably wrought into practice by the genius and per-
severance of Captain Kater ;—nor did that which
UTILITY OF BOTANY. 57
Boyle encountered in his researches on the elasticity
and pressure of the air, act as any obstacle to the
train of discovery which terminated in the steam-
engine. The dreams of the alchemists led them on
in the path of experiment, and drew attention to the
wonders of chemistry, while they brought their advo-
cates (it must be admitted) to merited contempt and
ruin. But in this case it was moral dereliction
which gave to ridicule a weight and power not ne-
cessarily or naturally belonging to it: but among
the alchemists were men of superior minds, who
reasoned while they worked, and who, not content
to grope always in the dark, and blunder on their
subject, sought carefully in the observed nature of
their agents for guides in their pursuits ;— to these
we owe the creation of experimental philosophy.”
It perhaps would not have been amiss to have
begun this correspondence with the quotation I have
just made ; but I was anxious that a little interest
should be awakened in the subject before any thing
like a formal defence of its utility should be under-
taken by me. If I were disposed to add any Bota-
nical instance of important results arising from ap-
parently trifling causes, it would be easy enough to do
so. Tor instance, the microscopical investigations by
Grew of the nature and properties of the little cells
and bladders that are found beneath the skin of
plants, were the forerunners of all the valuable train
of physiological discoveries, by which the productive-
ness of the soil has been so much increased ; the cu-
rious but neglected inquiries of Kolreuter into the
58 LETTER IV.
possibility of intermixing the races of plants, laid
the foundation of modern improvements in the qua-
lities of cultivated species ; while the ingenious but
derided speculations of Camerarius upon the relation
that exists between the properties and structure of
species, have put the physician in possession of a
power of discovering the hidden uses of plants, the
limits to the application of which no one can
foresee.
It is mentioned, that in the voyage of Lord Anson
round the world, when new and unknown lands were
constantly discovered, the dread which his surgeon
entertained of the effect of strange herbs was so great
that, from fear of poisoning the crew, he would some-
times permit them to use no other kind of fresh ve-
getable food than grass. At the present day there
should be no navy surgeon who would not be able to
point out at once, in every place, an abundance of
plants, the use of which could not by possibility be at-
tended by any ill effects. You have already seen that
the Crowfoot tribe consists of burning and blistering
species, that the Poppy tribe produces stupefaction,
the Umbelliferous tribe is chiefly aromatic, but not
always to be trusted, Geraniums astringent, Evening
Primroses insipid, and Myrtles fragrant and aromatic.
Another example of the uniform prevalence of pe-
culiar properties in the same tribe or natural order,
is afforded by Cruciferous plants.
The healthy stimulating effects of Mustard and
Cress, and the nutritive properties of ‘Turnips and
Cabbages are well known to every body. These
THE CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE. 59
plants belong to an extensive tribe called Cruciferous,
or Cross-bearers, because their four petals are placed
in such a way as to resemble in some degree a Mal-
tese cross. Unfortunately for those who have little
power of observation, and less patience, their flowers
are usually very small; but I am convinced that this
circumstance will be far from deterring my young
friends from attempting their study; it will rather
operate as an incentive to their making themselves
acquainted with them.
They are already, I suspect, familiar with a mean-
looking weed, called Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella Bursa
pastoris), which is found every where at all seasons of
the year, except the severest part of the winter. Its
name was given it because it has a number of pouches
filled with very small seeds, which you might fancy
were fairy coms. Let us look at it botanically.
Its leaves are veined in that netted manner which
indicates the Exogenous structure ; and consequently
you know that if it were ever to form a woody stem,
its woody matter would be arranged in concentric
circles. The form of the leaves is like that of an
ancient arrow head, sitting closely to the stem, and
extended downwards at the base into a sharp barb on
either side (Plate IV. 1.).
The flowers are arranged regularly upon a central
stalk in the form of a raceme ; and, what is extremely
singular, they are uniformly destitute of bracts. “This
is so unusual a case that I do not remember any
other instance in the whole vegetable kingdom in
which bracts are so constantly absent; the absence of
60 LETTER IV.
these little leaves is hence a mark of the Cruciferous
tribe. Observe, I pray you, how very useful it is to
be aware of this. Imagine yourself cast away upon
a desert island; and there, surrounded by plants of
unknown forms and tempting looks, none of which you
dare use from fear of their proving poisonous. Among
them however you remark a good many of the same
kind, one of which is just beginning to bear its tufts
of flowers: the blossoms are too young to be examined,
but old enough to shew you that they grow without
bracts ; the leaves you would easily see were those of
Exogenous plants, and you would immediately know
that this species at least would be not only harmless,
but the very best kind of vegetable for you to consume ;
a salad which might be eaten with the utmost con-
fidence.
But it is not thus alone that Cruciferous plants may
be recognised. The structure of their flowers is of a
very peculiar kind. ‘The calyx is formed of four little
leaves or sepals; within which are four very small
white petals, arranged in the manner which I have
already stated gave rise to the appellation of Cross-
bearers (fig. 1.). | Within the petals are six stamens
(fig. 2.), of which two are a very little shorter and
more spreading than the other four. To this cha-
racter no parallel is to be found in any other than
Cruciferous plants, and consequently it is a second
essential character, by which they are to be known.
The pistil is an oval green body, shaped something
like a wedge, on the summit of which is a little
cushion of a stigma seated on an exceedingly short
THE CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE. 61
style (fig. 2.). If you cut open the ovary you will
find (fig. 3.) that it contains two cells, in each of which
is a number of young seeds or ovules hanging by
slender thread-like stalks,
The fruit (fig. 6.) becomes a wedge-shaped flat body,
composed of three pieces, two of which (fig. 6. a. a.),
the valves, separate from the third (fig. 6. b.), which
is named the partition or DISSEPIMENT (fig. 8.); it 1s
to the edges of this third piece that the seeds stick
by little threads (fig. 7.). In the inside of these
seeds the embryo is bent double, after a singular
fashion (fig. 10.), the seed-root being pressed close to
the back of the seed-leaves.
This has been rather a wearisome lesson, to one so
little accustomed to the use of the microscope, to
which you must already have had recourse several
times; but you have now the satisfaction of knowing
that you possess the secret of recognizing with cer-
tainty nearly a thousand species, scattered over the
face of the world, all of which are harmless, and
many highly useful.
What would the farmer do without Turnips and
Rape, which are Cruciferous plants? or the gardener
without Cabbages, Sea-Kail, Mustard, Cress, and
Radishes ? or how could the florist supply the place
of his Wall-flowers and Stocks? All these are such
common plants, that you can have no difficulty in
procuring specimens for examination; you will find
that while they are all unlike in trifling circum-
stances, they agree in having their parts arranged
exactly in the same manner as the Shepherd’s Purse ;
62 LETTER IV.
but you will remark a difference in their fruit, of this
nature ; in some of them, as the Shepherd’s Purse
itself, the pod is so very short, that there is not
much difference between its length and breadth; im
others, it is very long and slender, as in the Turnip
and Cabbage; to the former of these fruits the name
of Silicle is given; to the latter, that of Silique; and
by many Botanists the whole tribe of Cruciferous
plants is divided into two portions, of which one is
called Siliculose, and the other Siliquose. By the more
scientific Botanist of the present day, this distinction
is held in less estimation, and new divisions, founded
upon the structure of the embryo, are employed ;
but these are so obscure, that [ will not fatigue you
with them.
The most beautiful species in the whole tribe are
the Wall-flower, which sheds its sweetest odours over
the ruined buildings of England, and the Stock,
that, with its hoary leaves and gay flowers, gives an
air of green old age to the rocks and cliffs of the
Mediterranean. Both these, however lovely in their
wild and single state, are chiefly cultivated when
their flowers have become what is called double;
that is to say, when the parts which are usually sta-
mens, and pistils, and sepals, are all transformed
into petals; by which means the quantity of gaily
coloured parts is much augmented. There are those
who, with an air of scientific delicacy, pretend to
despise these beautiful objects, and call them mon-
sters; but I would not have you follow such an
example; for, in reality, double flowers, imdepen-
>
DOUBLE FLOWERS. 638
dently of their acknowledged beauty, afford the most
important evidence of the true nature of the different
parts of the floral system, as you may one day know.
To you, as to many others, it may be a subject of
wonder how these double flowers are increased, for if
the stamens and pistils are converted into petals, it
would seem that no means are left for multiplying
the race. ‘This would, doubtless, be so, if all the sta-
mens and pistils were really thus transformed ; but
among many flowers, some are found in which a per-
fect stamen or two remain; and others, in which a
perfect pistil or two can be found. If the stigmas
of the latter are touched with the pollen of the former,
ovules are fertilized, and seeds produced, which will
grow into other plants, the flowers of which will be
as double as those of their parents. No one knows
why double flowers should be capable of being thus
perpetuated; it seems as if any tendency which is
once given to a plant, may be carried on from genera-
tion to generation, by a careful attention to the stop-
page of all disposition to depart from the new cha-
racter: in the Stock any plant that produces flowers
less double than usual, must have a tendency to de-
part from the double state, and, therefore, should
not be allowed to bear seed, or to influence the seeds
borne by other plants, but should be carefully era-
dicated as soon as its flowers are sufficiently ex-
panded for their true character to be ascertained.
By attention to such rules, Turnip-rooted and Long-
rooted, White, and Scarlet, and Purple Radishes,
and all the different races of Turnips, have been pre-
64: LETTER IV.
served for years ; whereas, if great precautions to
maintain them in their purity had not been constantly
taken, they would long since have become thrown
together, and reconverted into the wild form from
which they sprang. I take it for granted, you are
so much interested in the pretty flowers of your
garden, that you would be sorry to see all the double
ones turn single ;—you will now be able to avert
such a sad catastrophe.
Candy tuft (Iberis), sweet Alyssum, the snowy Arabis
of spring, that pretty little tufted purple thmg which
is named after the French flower-painter Aubriet
(Aubrietia deltoidea), Honesty with its clusters of
broad bucklers, the modest Whitlow-grass (Krophila
verna), which springs up on the crest of every
wall, the earliest harbinger of spring, Watercresses,
Horse Radish, and a host of others, will be furnished
either by the garden, or the fields, to augment your
acquaintance with this natural order. Leaving it
now, as requiring no further explanation, we will
next proceed to another spring tribe.
Violets, sweet Violets, and Pansies or Heartsease,
represent a small family (Pl. IV. 2.), with the struc-
ture of which you should be familiar; more, how-
ever, for the sake of its singularity, than for its extent
or importance ; for the family is a very small one,
and there are but few species belonging to it in which
much interest is taken. As the parts of the Hearts-
ease are larger than those of the Violet, let us select
the former in preference, for the subject of our study.
The Heartsease is a little herbaceous plant, as you
THE VIOLET TRIBE. 65
know, with leaves cut, as you suppose, into several
deep divisions ; here, however, you are mistaken.
The true leaf is a narrow oblong blade, with netted
veins, rather notched at its edge, and tapering gra-
dually into a stalk (fig. A.a.); it is not slashed
or divided at all. But on each side of the leaf,
quite at the bottom of its stalk, there is a deeply-
cut stalkless part, which is of the same colour as
the leaf, but shorter (fig. A. b. b.); this is a sti-
pule (see page 37), and it is that which gives the
lobed and lacerated appearance to the leaf. Here
you have an exemplification of the care with which
you ought to look at plants if you would understand
their construction rightly ; it may be true indeed, as
theoretical Botanists say, that stipules are only little
leaves, but it does not follow that on that account we
may call them leaves; for it is quite clear that what-
ever their theoretical similarity may be, they are
stationed by nature in a particular place, in a particu-
lar form, for some good purpose or other. You will
some day know that the sepals of the calyx, and the
petals of the corolla, and the stamens, and the carpels,
are all leaves in different states; but you must not
on that account cease to distinguish them carefully,
and call them by their right names, when you find
them fixed by nature in the form of sepals, petals,
stamens and carpels. Our own foot is a sort of
hand, and our toes are fingers ; but we cannot on
that account dispense in practice with the use of the
words feet and toes.
The flowers consist of five sepals of a narrow
F
66 LETTER Iv.
figure and extended in a singular manner at the
base ; of these some are much larger than the others.
The corolla is formed of five petals, which are also
of unequal size; two of them, which are differently
coloured, stand erect and rather above the others ; a
third, standing in front of the rest, has a short horn
or spur at its base.
Then we have the stamens, also five in number, of
a singularly irregular form (fig. 1.); two of them,
which are in front of the others, have long tails,
which are hidden within the horn of the front petal ;
the other three have no tail, nor any particular irre-
gularity of figure, but they are all terminated by a
broad membrane of a rounded form (figs. 2. 3. a. a.),
and bordered by a fringe of hairs; filaments there
are none.
The pistil is a superior roundish pale-green body
(fig. 5.), terminated by a short fleshy style, which is
shaped like a narrow funnel, or a taper inverted
cone; at the top (figs. 7. 8.) it is of a bright green,
nearly spherical, slightly hairy, and hollow, with a
hole on one side, to which there is a minute lip;
through this hole there is access to the stigma; no
one has yet discovered for what purpose such a sin-
gular conformation has been provided. The ovary
contains but one cell; but, as in the Poppies, it has
three projecting lines running up its shell at equal
distances in the inside, and covered with young seeds
(fig: 6.).
When the fruit is ripe it is still surrounded by the
calyx (fig. 9.), although both petals and stamens have
THE VIOLET TRIBE. 67
dropped off; it is an oblong shining case, which splits
into three pieces or valves, in the middle of each of
which stick the pale chesnut-coloured shining seeds.
There is no material difference from this structure
in such other plants of the Violet tribe as you are
ever likely to meet with; and therefore I shall sup-
pose that the whole may be recognized by the cha-
racters I have explained.
Beautiful as they all are to look at, they would
produce anything rather than Heart’s ease if you
were to eat them: for their roots have the property
of producing sickness in so powerful a manner that
they are sometimes used in medicine as emetics. I
would therefore advise you to confine your admira-
tion to their beauty or their fragrance.
The Sweet Violet will have no rival among flowers,
if we merely seek for delicate fragrance, but her
sister, the Heartsease, who is destitute of all sweet-
ness, far surpasses her in rich dresses and gaudy
colours. She has become of late a special favourite
with florists, who cultivate I know not how many
distinct varieties, some of which have flowers of
yellow and purple, or all yellow, or all purple, or
nearly white, with every. gradation of tint and depth,
which one can well imagine. Methinks, I hear my
young friends exclaim, are these fine plants, indeed,
our humble Pansy, changed by cultivation? is it
possible that the little drooping weed, which we
have so often gathered among the stubble of corn-
fields in the autumn, can ever become the’ gaudy
flower of the florist? Even so indeed is it; the
FQ
68 LETTER IV.
savage woad-stained Britons, were not more different
from the well-dressed ladies of the present day, than is
the Heartsease from its wild state, since it hasattracted
the notice of the gardener. Those children of the
wild Pansy, which you see in the borders of the flower-
earden, have intermarried with strangers from other
climates, and especially with one from the Altaic
mountains (Viola altaica), where the race is finer and
more vigorous than beneath our northern sky.
Before I close this letter let me survey the ground
we have passed over. Eight distinct Natural Orders
have been examined, all of which are so very easily
known from each other, that it is almost superfluous
to repeat their characters; yet as there is no more
certain method of fixing these matters in the memory
than by recapitulation from time to time, I must not
only do so, but beg of you to endeavour to get the
distinctive characters clearly understood and remem-
bered by our little students.
Let me now vary the mode of distinguishing them,
and put their characters before you in a new form.
Of the eight orders, three have an inferior ovary,
and five have a superior ovary ; we will take this very
conspicuous character, as a preliminary mode of
distinction ; for thus we shall simplify the other dif-
ferences. Then, of the three which have the inferior
ovary, the Evening Primrose tribe has its parts of
fructification in fours, the Umbelliferous tribe bears
flowers in umbels, and the Myrtle tribe has a great
many stamens and aromatic dotted leaves. On the
ANALYSIS. 69
other hand, those with superior ovaries may be first
separated into such as have a great many stamens,
and such as have only a small and certain number.
Of the former you have the Crowfoot and the Poppy
tribe, the first of which has several distinct carpels,
and the last all the carpels grown together into a
hollow case ; of the latter the Geranium tribe has the
carpels separating from a long hard beak-like centre,
the Cruciferous tribe has six stamens of which four
are longer than the others, the Violet tribe has anthers
with a membranous crest, and a fruit splittmmg into
three valves, to the middle of which the seeds are
fastened. ‘This will be still clearer to you if put into
the shape of a table.
Parts in fours—Evening Primroses.
Ovary inferior P Flowersinumbels— Umbelliferous Plants.
arts not ; =
in fours Flowers not in umbels — Myrtles.
( carpels separate—Crowfoots.
a great many
stamens carpels joined into .
a hollow case Poppies.
Ovary superior carpels sepa- '
rating from ¢ Geraniums.
a long beak
few
~stamens ) carpels seta Five Stamens— Violets.
Separahing } siz stamens,
from a :
fens teat of which
are short
Cruciferous
Plants.
This table is of no other use than to shew you how
to analyse the characters of the subjects you examine ;
it does not give you, as you must remark, a correct
70 LETTER IV.
notion of the essential characters of any of the tribes,
but it states clearly how they differ from each other.
They differ from each other in many other respects,
but it was not necessary to express any thing further
in order to enable you to know them from each other.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV.
I. Tuer Cructrerovus Trise.—A sprig of Shepherd's Purse.—
1. A flower with all its parts in their natural position.—2. The same
flower without the calyx and corolla ; it shews the two side stamens,
which are the shortest.—3. An ovary cut across, exposing the par-
tition, the two cavities and the young seeds, or ovules.—4. An ovule
apart, with the end by which it hangs from the side of the partition.
5. The stigma, with the style and a portion of the shoulders of the
ovary.—6. A ripe silicle ; a a@ the valves; 6 the point of the par-
tition.—7. The partition, from which the valves have been removed,
shewing the numerous seeds which hang to it.—8. The partition seen
in front, with the marks of the places to which the seeds were
attached.—9. A ripe seed, covered with fine hairs.—10. The same
cut through perpendicularly, shewing how the embryo is doubled up
within it.—11. The same seed, cut through horizontally; a the
radicle ; b the two cotyledons.—12. An embryo pulled out of the
seed-coat and straightened.
II. Tue Viovter Trispe.—A. A piece of Heartsease ; a blade of
the leaf ; 6 4 stipules.—1. A view of the stamens and pistil in their
natural position, after the petals and sepals are pulled off.—2. One
of the horned stamens seen in face; and, 3. the same seen from
behind ; in both a represents the membrane, which is characteristic
of the natural order.—4. A regular anther, seen in face.—5. A
pistil.—6. The ovary cut through to exhibit the three elevated lines
on which the seeds are placed.—7. A front view of the hole that
leads to the stigma.—8. The head of the stigma split open, with a
view of the stigmatic interior.—9. A ripe fruit split into its three
valves.—10. A seed.—11. The same cut perpendicularly to shew the
embryo lying in the midst of albumen.
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LETTER V.
THE PASSION-FLOWER TRIBE—AFFINITY—THE
GOURD TRIBE—-THE TUTSAN TRIBE.
(Plate V.)
POLED ALLL ALLL LOLA LE OLD DD
Wuen the Spaniards discovered America they
found among other curious things, a flower, which
they thought was an allegorical representation of the
crucifixion and sufferings of our Saviour. In its
anthers they saw his five wounds, in the three styles
the nails by which he was fixed to the cross, and in
a column which rises from the bottom of the flower
the pillar to which he was bound; a number of little
fleshy threads which spread from its cup, they com-
pared to the crown of thorns. ‘There are cuts, says
Sir James Smith, to be found in some old books,
apparently drawn from description, like the hog in
armour upon our signs to represent the rhinoceros,
in which the flower is made up of the very things
themselves (ftees’s Cyclopedia).
Such travellers’ stories as this, would now find few
persons credulous enough to believe them ; the tale
is, however, not wholly fabulous. Like many others
of the same sort it is composed of truth mingled either
with falsehood or excessive exaggeration. There is
such a flower, and a highly curious one it is; and so
ee LETTER V.
far from rare, that you are probably already well
acquainted with it, for it is now frequently to be seen
trained even to cottage walls.
You are surprised at this, and I dare say wonder
what this strange flower can be that you have so often
seen without discovering in it any of the marvels of
the good Spaniards. ‘They called it, in allusion to
its mystical attributes, Flos Passionis, a Latm name
signifying—Passion-flower, which the moderns have
retained.
Many species with this remarkable character are
known in gardens; they are all Passion-flowers, and
are the representatives of the Passion-flower tribe.
In other countries, other singular plants are also
found, not exactly Passion-flowers, but belonging to
the same tribe; as you are never likely to meet with
them, I need not trouble you about the manner in
which they are distinguished. We will satisfy our-
selves with a botanical view of that to which so
strange a story is attached.
The Passion-flower is a twining plant which helps
itself to rise upon others by tendrils like those of
the Pea, with which it often scrambles to the tops of
high trees, or, if it misses its hold im the ascent, or
is by any accident separated from the prop it has
selected, hangs down among the branches in elegant
festoons. Its leaves are veined in the netted manner ;
and are often divided into deep lobes, but not always ;
their stalks bear here and there upon their upper
edge little hard dark-green shining warts, called
glands ; and they have a pair of stipules at their base.
THE PASSION-FLOWER TRIBE. 73
The stems when cut through, shew the Exogenous
structure ; a circumstance you would have known
by aid of the leaves alone, if you had not had the
stem to cut.
The flowers haye on the outside three large bracts
(Plate V. 1. fig. 1. a.), which together form an inyo-
lucre. Next these is a calyx, composed of five sepals
(fig. 1. 6.) which are generally green on the outside,
and differently coloured in the inside; sometimes
blue, sometimes purple, now and then yellow or some
other colour. Let me particularly call your attention
to this, which is a proof that the calyx, in other
plants as well as in the Fuchsia, is occasionally co-
loured like petals. When you are more of a Botanist
you will find that this fact is connected with a curious
tale of vegetable transformations, which I may some
day relate to you. At the base the sepals are joined
together in a shallow cup, from which the petals and
other parts arise.
The petals (fig. 1. c.) are always of the same colour
as the inside of the sepals; but are nearly alike on
both sides, are narrower, and are without a singular
little horn, which projects from the back of the sepals,
just as other horns spring from the corslet of certain
beetles.
Next the petals come—the stamens, you will
say:—not. at all. Next the petals come several
rings of beautiful fleshy threads, which spread from
the cup like rays, and are splendidly mottled with
azure and crimson and white. If there be one part
of a plant more beautiful than all others, it is this
74 LETTER V.
ray (or crown of thorns, as the Spaniards called it)
in the Passion-flower; the crimson blotches upon
it really do look like stains of blood. It diminishes
gradually in size towards the inside of the flower,
till at last it loses itself in some little rings, one of
which often surrounds the base of the column we
have still to examine in the centre (fig. 2. a.). Bota-
nists themselves are hardly agreed upon the real na-
ture of these singular rays; while some think them
imperfect petals, others think them imperfect sta-
mens: a question of very little moment, and which
you are, as yet, unprepared to discuss; they are,
probably, parts in a state of change from one to the
other.
In the very centre of the flower, from the bottom
of the cup, rises a column (fig. 2.), at the top of
which are five stamens, each with a narrow two-
lobed anther, swinging from the point of a flat fila-
ment ; you will wonder to see that these anthers in-
stead of turning their faces to the stigmas, like most
other anthers, are so contrived as to turn their backs
upon them; so that when they burst the pollen cannot
fall upon the stigmas. ‘This, however incomprehen-
sible an arrangement it may appear to us, is by no
means an event of unfrequent occurrence, as you will
hereafter discover; nobody has yet found out the cause
of it. What now is the column from which the stamens
seem to rise? The base of the filament, you say. To
a certain extent, you are right. ‘The outside of the
column, which is speckled like the filaments, is con-
structed, as you imagine; but if you cut it you will
THE PASSION-FLOWER TRIBE. rier
find it is only a hollow sheath surrounding a solid
slender cylinder, from the top of which grows the
ovary. It is an unusual thing to find ovaries that
have a stalk in the inside of the flower: but such a
structure isnot found in the Passion-flower alone.
The ovary is an egg-shaped part, which, when you
cut it, is seen to consist of a single cavity, from three
elevated lines in which spring the ovules, just as in
the Violet. It is surmounted by three styles, which
are thicker at top than at bottom, and terminated by
thick swoln stigmas. This peculiar form, no doubt,
suggested the idea of their representing the three
nails of the cross.
Thus you see, when this flower is stripped of all
that is fabulous, there is still enough left in it to ex-
cite our admiration.
The fruit is, in all cases, a fleshy egg-shaped body,
containing a number of pulpy seeds; but it varies
exceedingly in size and colour in different species.
In the common blue Passion-flower, it is about as
big as a hen’s egg, and orange-yellow; in others, it
is smaller, and quite round (fig. 3.); in others, it is
as large as a child’s head. Fruit of the latter size are
sometimes cultivated for the sake of the sub-acid pulp
they contain, and are called Giranadillas ; they are
more esteemed in tropical countries, where the
eatable fruits are generally bad, than in England,
where we have so many really delicious fruits of
our own.
If you were to look at the seed, you would say
it was merely covered by pulp; there is, how-
76 _-*‘ LETTER V.
ever, something even here, beyond what you at first
perceive. Were you to watch the ovule in its pro-
gress to become a seed, you would remark a fleshy
sort of jacket, gradually rising from the bottom of the
ovule, overspreading its surface day after day, till it
had completely enclosed it: and then, on a sudden,
becoming soft and pulpy. Such a part as this we
Botanists call the ar1LLus ; a part you have often seen
in another plant without knowing what it was. The
spice called Mace overspreads the Nutmeg, as its
jacket does the seed of the Passion-flower, and is the
arillus of that aromatic production.
The seed may be easily deprived of the pulpy
arillus, which will strip back (fig. 6.); and then you
will discover that the seed itself is a blackish body,
with a brittle sculptured shell (fig. 8.). 1 shall not
trouble you about the contents of the seed, further
than to say, that they are sweet like a nut, and as
good to eat.
The only plant belonging to the Passion-flower
tribe, which you will find in the gardens, besides
Passion-flower herself, is a genus named ZYacsonia
(see Botanical Register, tab. 1536.), which is also
found in South America, and is so like a Passion-
flower, that you will hardly distinguish it, except by
the very long tube of its flower. Its rays are short,
so that it has, in some respects, less beauty ; but
the richness of its colours, and the large size of all
its parts, amply compensate for this defect.
But, although there is no other genus of the same
tribe within your reach, there are several belonging to
AFFINITY. en
another tribe with which your children must be fami-
liar, without calling science to their aid. ‘They cer-
tainly have practical Botany enough to know a Melon,
and a Cucumber; and, probably, also a Gourd, a Ve-
getable Marrow, and a Spirting Cucumber. Those
things form part of a small natural order called after
one of them, the Gourd Tribe, which is in near affi-
nity, as we say, with the Passion-flowers. Now, this
word affinity is one of the great practical difficulties
in the way of the student of the Natural System of
Botany. Not that it need be made so; for I have no
doubt I could have taken you to the end of our in-
tended journey, without saying a word to you about
the matter. But to understand it is essential to those
who would form a higher notion of Botany than what
can be gathered from the mere power of distinguish-
ing one thing from another; and if it could be com-
prehended, would form a great aid to you in your
future progress. I shall, therefore, take the present
opportunity of saying something about the way in
which the word is applied, in the hope that I may
make it clearer to you than it seems to be to many.
Nevertheless, if you do not understand me, you may
skip all that follows upon the subject.
Arrinity signifies resemblance in most characters
of importance. It differs im degree just as resem-
blances between animals, which you can see and
understand more readily than those between plants.
Thus a monkey or baboon are very nearly related to
man, although totally distinct ; that is, they resem-
ble man in most characters of importance ; and
are therefore in affinity with him. Again, a cat and
78 LETTER ‘Vv:
a lion agree in a very great number of their principal
points of organization ; and are therefore in affinity
also. But a cat and a bird, although both of the
animal kingdom, disagree in the greater part of their
structure ; they therefore are not in affinity with each
other.
To take an illustration from plants you are now
familiar with, compare the Crowfoots with the
Myrtles; they both bear flowers composed of calyx,
corolla, numerous stamens and pistils, and they both
have leaves with netted veins and consequently an
exogenous structure; but here their resemblance
ceases.—Compared as to other circumstances they
are extremely different: as you will see by studying
the two following columns :—
Crowroors have
Lobed /eaves, with an acrid watery
juice, and usually with an alter-
nate insertion on the stem.
Numerous stamens, arising from
below the carpels.
A superior pisti/, consisting of
several carpels, either not at all
or but slightly adhering to each
other.
As many styles as carpels.
A very little embryo, which is
furnished with a great quantity
of albumen for its nourishment
when young.
They are chiefly herds.
Myrrtes have
Leaves not at all lobed, usually
with an opposite insertion on
the stem, and with a volatile
oily juice, which is lodged in
little transparent spots.
Numerous stamens arising from
the sides of the calyx.
An inferior pisti/, consisting of
several carpels, which are all
grown into one solid body at
the top of the fruit-stalk.
Only one style, whatever the num-
ber of carpels.
An embryo, which is supplied
with no albumen for its nou-
rishment when young.
They are all ¢rees or shrubs.
AFFINITY. 79
Thus in all these six important circumstances the
Crowfoots and Myrtles are extremely dissimilar ;
therefore they are not in affinity with each other.
Next let us compare Evening Primroses and
Myrtles, which we have seen disagree in the former
having the parts of the flower always divided by four,
no oil spots in their leaves, and but a small number
of stamens. Compared as to other circumstances
they are extremely similar, as the followmg columns
will shew :—
EveninG Primroses have Myrt tes have
Leaves sometimes opposite. Leaves usually opposite.
Stamens arising from the sides of | Stamens arising from the sides of
the calyx. the calyx.
An inferior pisti/ with many seeds. | An inferior pzst/ with many seeds.
Only one style. Only one style.
A fruit which is sometimes pulpy. | A /rwt which is usually pulpy.
An embryo with no albuminous | An embryo with no albuminous
provision for its infancy. provision for its infancy.
Thus in these important circumstances the Evening
Primroses and Myrtles essentially agree ; therefore
they are in affinity with each other. You will further
remark, that the points of difference between them in
structure are no greater than what I just now men-
tioned; so that the points of resemblance are much
more numerous than the points of difference.
Having thus given you an idea of the meaning of
the word affinity as used in Botany, let me resume my
account of the Gourds, which are in near affinity with
the Passion-flowers.
A Cucumber, which is one of the Gourd tribe, has
a twining, scrambling stem, and raises itself by ten-
SO LETTER V.
drils ; its leaves have a netted arrangement of the
veins ; its flowers have a calyx which is like petals in
colour ; its stamens grow into a central column; its
ovary has only one cavity, with the seeds attached to
three lines which pass up its sides; its ripe fruit is
succulent in the inside; and its seeds have a sweet
nutty taste. Al this reads as if I were really talking
of a Passion-flower ; it is these numerous points of
resemblance, in important points of structure, which
constitute the affinity between the tribes of the Pas-
sion-flower and Gourd. In other respects they are
materially different.
The Cucumber has very rough leaves; it has no
petals; its stamens grow in one flower, and its pistil
in another; the ovary is inferior; and there is no
trace of the beautiful rays of the Passion-flower. All
the Gourd tribe participates in these differences, which
thus become the essential characters of that natural
order.
The Passion-flowers are all harmless, and the fruit
of many of them is eaten. Here we have another
similarity, you will exclaim. Not quite so fast, if
you please; I would not advise you to adopt that
idea practically, for if you do you may share the
fate of the poor sailor, who lately perished, as the
newspapers tell us, from drinking out of a gourd-
shell. In some countries there are Gourds with a
very singular figure ; they resemble a Florence flask,
such as oil comes home in, and have a hard rind
filled with soft pulp. Very useful bottles are pre-
pared from such fruit, by cutting off the end of the
THE GOURD TRIBE. SI
narrow part which represents the neck of the bottle,
and then scooping out all the inside; but it is neces-
sary before using them that all the pulp should be
removed, and that water should be allowed to stand
in them, and be changed several times, till all the
bitterness in which the rind abounds be removed ;
owing to the purpose to which the fruit is then applied
the plant itself is called the Bottle-Gourd.
The bitter matter which is thus removed by wash-
ing, is not only unpleasant, but actually poisonous,
as the unfortunate accident I have alluded to suffi-
ciently proved. You will be surprised to hear that
it exists universally in the whole of the Gourd tribe,
even in the Cucumbers and Melons which you have
so often eaten without being poisoned; the truth is,
that in these fruits the bitterness is dispersed through
so large a quantity of pulp, and there is so little of it,
that we are not sensible of its presence; while in the
Bottle-Gourd and others, it is so highly concentrated
as to become dangerous. ‘That it is found even in
the Cucumber you may easily believe, if you call to
mind how often that fruit is bitter even when upon
the dinner table.
You will therefore recollect that the Passion-flower
tribe is universally harmless; but that the Gourd
tribe is so often unwholesome, that the two or three
instances you know of its fruit being eatable are to
be considered exceptions to the rule.
The length of this letter has already so much ex.
ceeded my intention, that I must bring it to a close
G
8Y LETTER V.
with a brief account of a little natural order of wild
flowers, which we may dismiss without giving you
much more to learn.
The old herbalists had a plant which they called
Tutsan( Hypericum); a corruptionof the French Toute-
sain, which we might translate ‘“ Allheal”; they also
named it Androsemum, which being translated signi-
fies “* Mans-blood,” an odd name, which originated in
the soft fruit staming the fingers red when bruised,
and in a deep red colour being communicated by the
leaves to oily or spirituous medicines in which the
plant was often employed. This and others of a
similar kind are common in meadows, and_ bogs,
on heaths, in groves and thickets, and by way-sides,
which they adorn with their bright yellow flowers.
The species which I have selected for examination is
a frequent inhabitant of shrubberies, but not a wild
plant; it is called “the tall” (H. elatum); if you
have it not at hand any other will do as well.
Its leaves have netted veins, are of an oval figure,
are placed in opposite pairs round the stem, upon
which they are seated without any stalks. If you
rub them they emit a strong penetrating disagreeable
odour ; the cause of which you may discover by
holding them against the ight. They will be seen to
be filled with transparent. dots, crowded together and
so minute that you perhaps may require a magnifying
glass to discover them. It does not always happen
that these dots are very small; on the contrary in
one of our wild species they are so large that the
leaves look as if bored full of holes, on which ac-
THE TUTSAN TRIBE. 83
count the species has acquired the name of “the
perforated.”
The flowers grow in loose clusters at the tops of
the shoots; their calyx consists of five sepals which
are unequal in size, and which overlap each other
curiously at the edges when the flowers are very
young. ‘To see this arrangement, cut a young flower-
bud across, and you will find that the two largest
sepals are on the outside of all (Plate V. 2. fig. 1**);
next one of these is a smaller, of which one edge is
covered by one of the large sepals, and the other lies
upon the edge of a still smaller one within it; the
last is matched by a fifth of the same size as itself,
standing on the opposite side of the flower.
The petals are five, of a bright yellow, and very
large for the size of the flower. At the base of the
petals, and from below the pistil, arises a great number
of stamens of unequal lengths, with very fine yellow
filaments, and small roundish anthers; if you take
hold of a few of these stamens with your fingers and
pull them, a cluster will separate from the rest (fig.
3.); and if you will pull the remainder they also will
come away in four other parcels; so that the stamens
are really united into five different parcels, although
till you began to separate them you did not discover
it to be the fact. This is a curious circumstance
to which you will find few parallels in other plants.
The pistil is an oblong body (fig. 4.) terminated by
three styles, each of which is tipped with a little
stigma. ‘The inside of the ovary contains three cells,
in each of which is a multitude of ovules; to speak
G 2
~
84. LETTER V,
very correctly this pistil is composed of three carpels
adhering to each other.
The ripe fruit is just hke the pistil, except that it
is darker-coloured, larger, and destitute of styles,
which drop off shortly after the ovules are fertilized ;
it finally ( fig. '7.) divides into three pieces or valves,
each of which is one carpel; so that the adhesion
between the carpels which took place when the flower
was exceedingly young, does not cease till the fruit
arrives at a state of dissolution. ‘The seeds are very
minute, but worth examining for their exceeding
beauty. ‘They are of an oval form, and up one side
runs a curious crest (fig. 8.) which gives the seed
something the appearance of an ancient helmet.
This plant represents the characters of an order
called the Zutsan tribe (Hypericacee), into which
enter few other genera besides that which compre-
hends our wild flowers. Among them, however, are
some, found in the tropical parts of America, called
Vismias, which yield a resinous substance resembling
gamboge. In fact, something of the same kind may
be traced in many of the ‘Tutsans themselves. ‘True,
gamboge is itself the produce of a tree of the
natural order Guttiferee, to which belongs, among
others, the Mangosteen tree, which bears the most
delicious fruit in the world; that natural order has
an exceedingly strong affinity with the ‘Tutsan tribe.
I need not recapitulate the characters of the orders
explained in this letter, as they are so very distinct
that you may safely be left on this occasion to your
own ingenuity. In my next letter I shall present you
with some very interesting subjects.
85
EXPLANATION OF PLATE V.
I. Tur Passton-FLower Trise.—1. A full-blown flower of the
Laurel-leaved Passion-flower ; a the involucre, b the sepals, ¢ the
petals.—2. A column of stamens; athe last ring of the rays.—3. A
ripe fruit of the Red-stemmed Passion-flower.—4. The same cut
through, to shew the manner in which the seeds are attached.—5. A
seed, natural size, with its arillus on.—6. The same, with the arillus
stripped back.—7. A seed magnified, with the arillus on.—8. The
samewith the arillus off; shewing the sculptured seed-coat.—9. A seed
cut through ; the embryo is seen lying in the midst of albumen in
small quantity.—10. An embryo extracted from the seed, with its
broad leaf-like cotyledons, and small tapering radicle. (N. B. These
are copied from drawings by Mr. Ferdinand Bauer.)
Il. Tae Tursan Tripe.—l1*. A flower-bud of Tall Tutsan, shew-
ing the calyx.—1**. A view of the manner in which the sepals are
respectively arranged when the bud isyoung.—2. A full-blown flower.
—3. One of the five parcels of stamens.—4. A pistil.—5. A fruit three-
quarters ripe.—6. The same cut through, to shew how the inside is
arranged.—7. The ripe fruit separating into its constituent carpels;
which leave behind three pieces of their edge, in the shape of three
narrow plates, to which the seeds once grew.—8. A seed very highly
magnified.—9. A section of the same, shewing the two cotyledons,
and a, the thickness of the crest.
LETTER VI.
THE MALLOW TRIBE—THE ORANGE TRIBE.
Ce ean need
(Plate VI.)
Wet do I remember the pleasure I used to have,
when a little fellow just sent to school, in gathering
cheeses out of the hedges: it was my first step in
Botany ; and it was not without pride that I found
myself able to shew my less learned companions how
to distinguish the plants that bore those delicacies.
Many years after, when the cares and pleasures of
life had blotted out all remembrance of the joys of
childhood, I was passing a few days in Normandy,
with my friend M. de P., when, one day, his little
girls came running to me with their hands filled
with fine plump fromageons ; 1 know not whether it
was the association of ideas that the well-remem-
bered word conjured up, or the sweet countenances
of those dear children, joy painted in their black
and sparkling eyes, and health in their rosy cheeks—
but I ate their fromageons with as much delight as
ever, and fancied them as superior to all the fruits
of the garden in flavour, as they are in perfect
symmetry of form. Only compare a vegetable cheese,
with all that is exquisite in marking, or beautiful in
arrangement in the works of man, and how poor
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THE MALLOW TRIBE. 87
and contemptible do the latter appear! Not only,
when seeing it with the naked eye, are we struck
with admiration at the wondrous perfection and
skill with which so obscure a point in the creation
is constructed; but, using our micrcoscope, sur-
prise is converted into amazement, when we behold
fresh beauties constantly revealed, as the magni-
fying power is increased, till at last, when the
latter reaches its limit, we find ourselves still re-
garding a lovely prospect, the horizon of which re-
cedes as we advance. Nor is it alone externally
that this mimitable beauty is to be discovered; cut
the cheese across, and every slice brings to view
cells and partitions, and seeds, and embryos, ar-
ranged with an unvarying regularity, which would be
past belief if we did not know, from experience, how
far beyond all that the mind can conceive, is the
symmetry with which the works of nature are con-
structed.
Look, then, who list your gazeful eyes to feede
With sighte of that is faire, look on the frame
Of this wide universe, and therein reade
The endless formes of creatures, which by name
Thou canst not count; much less their natures aime;
All which are made with wondrous wise intent,
And all with admirable beauty blent.
I perceive, I have been talking of these curious
productions, as if you were already acquainted with
them ; while it is quite possible that you are not. In
that case, step to the road-side, or to the first patch
of weeds you can meet with, and there you will be sure
88 LETTER VI.
to find what is called a Mallow; we have two very
common sorts ; one of which has small pink flowers ;
the other, large striped purple ones ; the latter is one
of our handsomest wild flowers, and is called * the
common,” or, the larger Mallow (Malva sylvestris) ;
it is that you are to take as the subject of your
study.
This plant (Plate VI. 1.) grows two or even three
feet high, in places where it is not cropped by cattle.
It has an erect branching stem, of a very pale
green, covered all over with longish hairs, which fre-
quently spring from the surface of the stem in starry
(or, as we pedantically say, stellate) clusters. ‘The
leaves are roundish, and divided into about five shal-
low lobes, the border of which is notched ; their veins
are netted. Atthe base of the leaf-stalk grows a pair
of small stipules, resembling scales.
From the bosom of the leaves spring the flowers
singly. Below the calyx are placed three small
bracts, forming an involucre (fig. 3. a.). The calyx
is composed of five sepals, joined together about
half-way; it is quite soft, with long delicate hairs.
Five large rosy-purple striped petals, each of which
has almost the figure of a wedge, and is notched at
the end, constitute the corolla, which spreads wide
open, when its proper time for unfolding arrives ;
before that time, its petals were curiously twisted
together.
The stamens are very different from any we have
yet examined; they consist of a hollow column,
at its upper end, a great number of anthers,
bearing,
THE MALLOW TRIBE. 89
each of which has a short filament (fig. 1.), and is of
a kidney shape, containing only one cell instead of
two, as is usual. Formerly Botanists were contented
to call this column, a column, and to inquire no fur-
ther ; as if they thought it was some new and special
organ found only in such plants as the Mallow. At
the present day we are too curious to be thus easily
contented, and we must have the exact nature of every
part explained. This column, then, is caused by the
filaments growing fast together, when they are very
young, without being able to separate afterwards,
except just at the top, where they look like filaments.
Suppose the stamens of the Tutsan were joined toge-
ther in this way, when young, you would have exactly
such a column as is constantly produced in the
Mallow.
The next object of examination is the pistil (fig.
2.) ; itis formed of several carpels, which grow toge-
ther in a circle round a common centre, and so form
a sort of flat plate, from the middle of which the
styles arise. Like the filaments, the styles also grow
together at the bottom into a column, but they soon
separate again, and then you may tell, by counting
them, that each carpel has its own style, for there is
exactly as many styles as carpels.
Last comes our acquaintance the cheese, in the
shape of the nearly ripe fruit ; we will suppose it to
be quite ripe (fig. 4.), for the sake of avoiding repeti-
tion. It consists of a number of dry carpels which
will separate readily from each other and from the
central body to which they were originally joined.
gO LETTER VI.
Each carpel (fig.5.) contams one seed, with an
embryo curiously doubled up and filling the whole of
the cavity ; hence as the carpels are all of the same
size, and arranged with the most exact regularity on
the same level, if a fruit is cut through it will present
a singularly beautiful arrangement of the parts, which
look like a vegetable star. In the centre, if the fruit
is not ripe, is a solid circle from which eleven rays
branch off at regular distances, each being sub-divided
into two. Between the rays le eleven embryos, the
various conyolutions of which, as cut through by the
knife, exhibit eleven areas of strange patterns. The
kaleidoscope itself can produce nothing prettier than
this, except in colour.
This account is that of all the Mallow tribe in most
respects; and is quite sufficient to enable you to
identify it: a power that it is useful to possess because
the species are all perfectly innocent. The columnar
stamens themselves suffice in a majority of cases.
The species yield a large quantity of a ropy transpa-
rent almost tasteless fluid, in all the green parts; and
it is for this that the cheeses are sought with so much
avidity. In India a daily use is made of the cheeses
of a Malvaceous plant called Ochro, or in some places
Gobbo (Hibiscus esculentus), the mucilage of which
is in great request for thickening soups: it is even
imported in a dry state into England. Marsh Mallow,
which possesses this mucilaginous quality in a high
degree, in all its parts, is a favourite material with
many physicians, especially the French, for poultices.
We are, however, far from exhausting the properties
THE MALLOW TRIBE. QI
of the Mallow tribe im talking of its mucilage. It has
many other and far more important good qualities.
In beauty it yields to no part of the vegetable world ;
many of the plants called Hibiscus, are trees or shrubs
or herbs bearing flowers of the largest size, the most
exquisite proportions and the most striking colours ;
the common Bladder hetmia for example. One of
them, conspicuous for the brilliant crimson of its
flowers (Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis), is a vegetable shoe-
black ; the petals communicate a black stain to any
thing they touch, and the Chinese actually black their
shoes with them. Many varieties of it are common
in our hot-houses, so that you may try the experiment
on your own shoes if you like.
Cordage is also produced by several species, from
the tough vegetable fibres of their stem. But it is
the hairy clothing of the seeds of different plants
belonging to a genus that Botanists call Gossypium,
which is of such pre-eminent importance as to claim
for the Mallow tribe a rank in the vegetable kingdom
second only to Corn. ‘That hairy substance is Cotton,
which for no conceivable purpose except to yield man
the means of clothing himself, is formed in prodi-
gious abundance upon the back of the seeds of the
Cotton plants, whence it is torn by machinery and
afterwards cleaned and spun into thread. Faithless
travellers and credulous readers for a long time
caused the existence of the Barometz, or Scythian
Lamb, to be believed in, a creature said to be half
animal half plant; the Cotton plant has far stronger
claims to the name of a vegetable sheep.
92 LETTER VI.
The simplicity of its characters and the remarkable
arrangement of its stamens, render it unnecessary for
me to dwell longer upon this natural order.
The next to which I shall direct your attention, is
that of the Orange, im which I hope to make your
little pupils take as much interest botanically, as they
already do in a more practical way.
Oranges, Shaddocks, Limes, Lemons, Forbidden
Fruit, and the like, are all produced by plants which
represent a tribe perfectly distinct from the rest of the
vegetable kingdom, and which we call the Orange
tribe. The are all natives of countries warmer than
this, and principally of the temperate parts of India;
their fruit is in all cases eatable, although not always
worth eating; their leaves and flowers all fragrant,
and they are universally evergreens of beautiful ap-
pearance. ‘The cells filled with oil, which you find in
cutting the rind of an orange, are met with in both
leaves and flowers, to which they often give the
appearance of being covered with little blisters ; and,
as usual, it is in them that the sweet odours are
stored up.
To understand the structure of this interesting |
tribe, let us take the common sweet Orange, a plant
or two of which is kept in every green-house, for the
sake of the delicious fragrance of the flowers. It has
leaves with netted veins, and filled with transparent
spots (fig. 6.); they are always jointed just above
the footstalk, so that each leaf will readily snap
asunder in two pieces. The calyx is a little cup
with five shallow teeth: so complete is the combina-
THE ORANGE TRIBE. 93
tion between the sepals of which it is composed.
Five white fleshy green-dotted petals are placed
within the calyx, and within them are ten or twelve
stamens that arise from under the pistil; these grow
together, in a way that explains well enough the real
nature of the column of the Mallow tribe, but that
is not characteristic of the Orange tribe itself.
The pistil ( fig. 4.) is a round dark-green part, ter-
minated by a thick style and stigma: around its
base is stretched (fig. 6. a.) a ring, out of the outside
of which the stamens originate. If you cut into the
ovary, you will find it contains several cells, in each
of which is a double row of ovules (figs. 5 and 6.).
Thus far there is nothing but a peculiar combina-
tion of parts, with all which you are already quite
familiar. But as soon as the ovary begins to grow
into a fruit, a great change comes over it: numbers
of the ovules perish; the thickest part of the rind
begins to separate from the lining, and finally be-
comes so loose that, as you know, it is easily peeled off;
and at the same time a great quantity of little pulpy
bags jut forwards into the cavity of each cell, be-
coming more and more watery, more and more acid,
and then more and more sweet, till at last the whole
substance of the fruit is a mass of sweet and delicious
pulp. The nature of these bags cannot be readily
seen in the Oranges of the shops, but if you examine
a bad Orange, such as is usually produced in a green-
house, the structure becomes most obvious.
Do not, however, suppose that the presence of
pulpy bags in the midst of the cells of the fruit is an
Q4 LETTER VI.
essential character of the Orange tribe; on the con-
trary, it is peculiar to the Orange genus (Citrus)
only. In all the other genera the fruit is fleshy and
fragrant, but not pulpy in the inside.
So few plants related to the Orange are ever likely
to be met with by you, that I should only fatigue you
unprofitably in repeating their names. Let us con-
clude, then, for this time with the essential character
of the Orange tribe, which, if reduced to its simplest
form, may be expressed thus :—
Leaves, flowers, and fruit, filled with transparent
receptacles of fragrant volatile oil. Leaves jointed,
once at least, above the footstalk. Stamens few and
hypogynous. Fruit fleshy.
To compensate for the length of some of my former
letters this is unusually short; for which I suspect
you will be inclined to thank rather than to blame
me.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI.
1. Tue Mattow Trise.—A sprig of the larger Mallow (Malva
sylvestris).—1. An anther with the upper part of the filament.—2. A
pistil, shewing the ovary, column-like base of the styles, and the
styles themselves—3. A calyx closed over the growing fruit, with
leaves of the involucre at a.—4. A ripe fruit ready to separate into
distinct carpels.—5. One of the carpels separated from the rest, and
seen from its side.—6. The same, split in halves, to shew the em-
bryo; from the position in which the embryo lies, only one of the
cotyledons can be seen at a; 6 is the radicle.
II. Tue Orance Trise.—A twig of the common sweet Orange.
—1. A flower shewing the calyx, the petals spotted with oil, and the
95
tips of the stamens.—2. A stamen, with the anther viewed in front.
—3. The same from behind.—4. A pistil, with its disk at @ ; at the
lower edge of the ring or disk are seen the scars caused by the sepa-
ration of the stamens.—5. A cross section of the ovary, shewing the
numerous cells and double lines of oyules.—6. A perpendicular sec-
tion of the same ; even at this young period you may see in the rind
of the ovary the receptacles in which oil is begmning to secrete; @
the disk.—7. A portion of a leaf magnified so as to shew the oil cells.
LETTER VII.
THE CHICKWEED TRIBE—METAMORPHOSES OF PLANTS
— THE PURSLANE TRIBE— SUCCULENT PLANTS—
BREATHING-PORES.
wrerrmerrere
(Plate VII.)
were:
From the earliest period of your familiarity with a
garden, you must have been acquainted with those
sweet aromatic flowers called Pinks, Piccotees, and
Carnations, and you must have admired their beau-
tiful stripes, and the symmetry with which their
petals are arranged. It is also not improbable that
you have some knowledge of a mean weed, called
Chickweed (Stellaria media), which inhabits every
neglected corner of your garden; Corn Cockle
(Agrostemma Githago), Bachelors Buttons (Lychnis
dioica), tagged Robin, (Lychnis flos Cuculi), and
many species of Catchfly (Silene) are also pretty
flowers, that you will easily procure either by hunt-
ing for them in the fields, or by inquiry after them
in gardens.
All these agree with each other in a number of cha-
racters which are so remarkable as to divide them
from all other plants, and to cause them to be esta-
blished as a distinct natural order called the Chich-
err.
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THE CHICKWEED TRIBE. Q7
weed tribe ; which is composed for the chief part of
plants of little interest or beauty, among which there
is not a single species with unwholesome properties.
Uninteresting as many of them are, they are so com-
mon that every one who pretends to botanical know-
ledge must learn how to recognize them, even if it
were not for the sake of the few kinds, which, like the
Pink, are our familiar acquaintances.
To understand the structure of the Chickweed
tribe, I shall not ask you to take the Chickweed
itself, because it is a plant with very small flowers ;
let us rather seek some species in which all the parts
can be easily seen ; as a Pink for instance. Here isa
pretty species, the glaucous Pink (Dianthus glaucus) of
Scotland; if you have it not in your garden, any
other will do as well, provided it is not double.
This little herb is called glaucous, from a Latin
word signifying blueish-grey, because its leaves, like
those of many other pinks, have such a colour in a
remarkable degree. Its stems are very much swoln
at the joints, where the leaves are set on. ‘The leaves
are exceedingly narrow, undivided, and rather rough
at their edge; they have only one single vein which
runs through them from one end to the other. How
then are we to ascertain whether this plant is Exo-
genous or not? for there is nothing here to shew
whether the veins have a netted structure; there is
apparently only one vein to examine. I must con-
fess this looks very like a difficulty; and I dare say
you will now suppose that the time has come when
you must have recourse to patience and a microscope,
H
‘OS LETTER VII.
to learn whether there are two cotyledons in the
embryo or only one (see page 13); believe me, how-
ever, we have not yet arrived at so disheartening a
point. ‘There are in fact many ways of shewing you
how to determine whether this is an Exogenous plant
or not, without counting the seed-leaves. ‘That
which I select is one of the easiest to understand;
but I must first mention a few matters that I have
not hitherto touched upon.
You are no doubt acquainted with some of the idle
tales that are told by the ancient poets, of people
being changed into trees, or animals, or rocks; one
young lady for example, not only cried her eyes out,
but was altogether changed into a running stream,
and another was transformed into a spider, be-
cause she dared to emulate the goddess of wisdom in
tent-stitch ; these occurrences they called Metamor-
phoses, a name which Botanists have borrowed for
something of a similar nature which really does hap-
pen in plants. Hitherto ‘I have always spoken of the
different parts of the flower as so many totally distinct
organs, and it is undoubtedly true that the petals,
stamens, and pistil have very different offices to per-
form. But, at the same time, it seems equally certain
that all those, and several other parts, are in a very
great degree constructed like leaves; that at a very
early period, when they were first formed, they were
absolutely the same as leaves of the same age; that it
is only after they have been growing for some time
that they begin to assume the characters under which
they finally appear; and that consequently they are
METAMORPHOSES OF PLANTS. Q9
very often found resuming the appearance of common
leaves if any thing occurs to interfere with their in-
tended structure before it is entirely fixed. “Thus we
find leaves in the place of petals, or as they say petals
metamorphosed into leaves, in some kinds of double
Tulips; sepals and pistils often changed to leaves in
double Roses ; all the parts of the flower turned into
leaves in other plants; and a multitude of similar
cases with which the Botanist is acquamted. You
will find all this so fully demonstrated in my Intro-
duction to Botany, Book vi., or in other works of a
like nature, that there is no doubt of the fact; and the
doctrine is now the foundation of modern views of
the real structure of flowers and fruit. It is not my
plan to enter into such questions in these letters, but
I could not avoid calling your attention to the cir-
cumstance.
Now mark the practical application of this know-
ledge. If the parts of the flower are only leaves
in a particular state, any of those parts in which
veins can be discovered will serve to shew the ar-
rangement of the veins as well as the true leaves
themselves. In the Pink the petals are fully ex-
panded, and full of veins; they are therefore fitting
objects to examine; and their structure will tell us
whether the Pink is Exogenous or not. You will
find them distinctly netted, and thus that question is
set at rest.
This then, which is an Exogenous plant, has oppo-
site undivided leaves seated on the swoln joints of the
stem. The calyx consists of a tube composed of five
100 LETTER VII.
sepals jomed together and separated only near the
points. Five petals arise from within them, each of
which has a stalk and a blade; the stalks, or claws
as they are called (ungues), are very narrow, and
stand side by side within the calyx; the blades are
much expanded, and irregularly lacerated at the
end.
Stamens there are ten, rising from beneath the
ovary, out of a short stalk (Plate VII. 1. fig. 2. a.).
The ovary is superior, and contains but one cell, in
the centre of which is a slender receptacle (fig. 3. a.),
covered with a great many ovules. The styles are
two, each terminating insensibly in very narrow
fringed stigmas.
The fruit becomes a dry case or capsule, opening at
the point with four teeth or valves (fig. 4.). The
structure of the seed is variable, and not important
for our present purpose.
Such is the character of the Pink, and such to a
great extent is that of the tribe it represents. It may
be said to consist in these marks. Stems swoln at
the joints ; leaves opposite and undivided ; stamens few
and hypogynous ; ovary with many styles, one cell, and
a central receptacle covered with ovules. Nothing
like this has been previously shewn to you. The
genera are very uniform in their structure, and
are distinguished by marks that every one may ob-
serve. Two divisions are formed, one of which has
the sepals united into a tube, the other has them all
distinct.
In the first division is found the Pik, which is
THE PURSLANE TRIBE. 101
known by the bracts at the base of its calyx (fig. 4.
a.); and some others, of which the following are the
most remarkable ; Silene or Catchfly which has three
styles and a crest at the top of the stalk of each petal ;
it derives its English name from its often secreting a
viscid matter in which flies are caught; the Cockle
(Agrostemma) which has five styles and undivided
petals; Lychnis, to which the Ragged Robin (L. flos
Cuculi), and Batchelors Buttons (LL. dioica) belong ;
to say nothing of the splendid Chalcedonian Lychnis of
the gardens, which has five styles and divided petals.
To the second division we refer Chichweed (Stellaria),
which has three styles and two-lobed petals, Sandwort
(Arenaria), which has three styles and undivided
petals, and Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerastium), which
has five styles and a curiously shaped taper seed-
case with ten teeth.
So little interest attaches to these plants that I leave
them here, and proceed to notice another order
which resembles them in many respects ; and which
is upon the whole more beautiful.
Imagine you have a Chickweed with two sepals and
one style, all the other points of structure in the flower
remaining the same; and you will have an order
that, while it seems to resemble the Chickweed tribe
so much as to be almost identical with it, neverthe-
less differs in several important particulars in the
manner of growth. Not only are the leaves alter-
nate instead of opposite, and the stem destitute of
swellings at the joints, but there is a constant dis-
position on the part of the stems and leaves to become
, £F £
102 LETTER VII.
fleshy, or as it is usually called succulent. Plants
thus constructed belong to the Purslane tribe, so called
because the now-forgotten Purslane, which was once
in much esteem as a salad, belong to it. They are
often remarkably beautiful on account of their bright
red or yellow flowers; are always harmless and
wholesome in their properties; but are sometimes,
when the petals are small, mean-looking herbs.
You cannot take a better specimen of the Purslane
tribe than the large-flowered Calandrima (Plate VII.
2.), a Chilian plant that is now a good deal culti-
vated. Its soft and succulent stems and leaves are
exceedingly dissimilar to those parts in the Chick-
weed tribe. The calyx is formed of two leaves (figs. 1.
and 4..); there are five petals which pay their homage
to the sun by unfolding their crimson drapery
beneath his earliest beams, and rolling up again as
soon as the light of his countenance is withdrawn.
A considerable number of stamens succeed the
petals ; and in the centre is an ovary with one cell
and a central receptacle covered with ovules; it is
surmounted with a style which ends in a broad hairy
lobed stigma. The fruit when ripe splits into four
valves (fig. 4.) ; which allow the escape of a number
of black seeds (figs. 5. and 6.), altogether resem-
bling in their internal structure the seeds of most of
the Chickweed tribe.
The obscure little Water Chickweed (Montia fon-
tana); aneat looking American genus of hardy plants
called Claytonia; the Purslanes themselves (Portulaca),
many of which are very handsome ; and the Chilian
>
BREATHING-PORES. 105
Calandrinia are the most common representatives of
the order.
While the principal part of the plants belonging to
the Chickweed tribe is found in meadows, or shady
spots, or in situations and climates where they are
abundantly supplied with moisture, the Purslane tribe,
on the contrary, chiefly rejoices in hot dry exposed
places, where they will flourish at a time when every
thing else has fallen a victim to drought and heat.
They owe this power to the peculiar nature of their
stems and leaves; which, as I have already men-
tioned, are succulent. They require, in consequence,
a peculiar mode of cultivation, which I will now ex-
plain to you.
When I gave you in my first letter a brief account
of the minute and beautiful arrangements by which
leaves are able to perform their vital actions, I omit-
ted to say anything about their breathing-pores or
stoMATA. ‘The time has now come when I must tell
you what they are.
All leaves are covered by an exceedingly thin and
delicate skin, which you may often peel off. If you
put a small piece of this in water, and look at it with
a microscope against the light, you will remark a
number of very small roundish or oval spaces, through
the middle of which a line passes. Andif you have
patience enough to look at a great many of them,
you will in time perceive some of them opening a sort
of mouth at the place where the line is. ‘These are
what are called breathing-pores; they are organs by
which the leaves inhale and exhale air, or vapour
104 LETTER VII.
suspended in air. In some leaves they are extremely
large and numerous, and such leaves perspire through
the breathing-pores in very great quantity, as the
Vine ; in others they are so small or so few, as to ad-
mit of scarcely any perspiration, as in the Purslane,
and in succulent plants in general. It is thought,
indeed, that the character of succulence is owing
to leaves being unable to get rid of the water ab-
sorbed by the roots, and so becoming, as it were,
dropsical.
Attention to this difference in the power of per-
spiring in different plants is one of the keys to a
knowledge of the right method of cultivating them
and it has been applied for years to succulent plants,
by keeping them in what is called a dry stove ; that is
to say in a hot-house, the air of which is kept dry by
refraining from watering the floors or earthen pots in
winter. Succulent plants are, when in a state of
rapid growth, so imperfectly supplied with the means
of perspiring, that they require all the assistance
which can be obtained from a dry atmosphere, to be
able to part, by the leaves, with the water that is im-
pelled into them through their roots; and conse-
quently, if ever, in a rapidly growing state, they are
kept in a damp atmosphere, they become dropsical
and unhealthy, or soon decay. But in the winter, 7
the little power of perspiration which they possessed
in the full vigour of their summer growth is very
much diminished, and is in fact reduced to almost
nothing. Their roots will nevertheless go on absorb-
ing moisture from the soil as long as the soil contains
SUCCULENT PLANTS. 105
any, and this, if the moisture is in much quantity, is
certain to produce decay and death, because the excess
of water, which cannot be afterwards parted with
by the leaves, becomes putrid. Such being the case,
it is found necessary to deprive succulent plants of all
water at their roots in winter, and to leave them for
support to the vapour which always will exist in the
air at that season in a climate like that of England.
It is for these reasons that succulent plants succeed
so much better than others in sitting-rooms. In such
situations, plants are killed by want of light, and
want of moisture in the air; for the air of all sitting-
rooms is necessarily very dry. But succulent plants
apparently require less light than most other plants,
and are certainly benefited rather than injured by a
dry atmosphere. I should therefore advise you, if
you are anxious to have a garden in your sitting
apartment, to fill it with succulent plants, to the ex-
clusion of all others.
The Purslane tribe is far from being the only one
in which succulent species are found; they might
exist In any, and in fact do ina great many natural
orders, the majority of whose species are not succu-
lent ; some orders, however, abound in them more
than others, as for example, the Houseleeks (Crassula-
cee), the Torch-thistles (Cactacee), the Asclepiadacee,
the Huphorbias (Euphorbiacee), and the Asphodels
( Asphodelee).
But it is time that an end were put to this letter,
especially as the next must, I fear, be a very long
one.
106
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII.
I. Toe Cuickweep TriBe.—A piece of the Glaucous Pink.—1.
A petal apart; on its stalk is a curious double raised plate.—2. The
stamens and two stigmas, as seen when the calyx and corolla are cut
off; a is the stalk of the ovary.—3. A perpendicular section of an
ovary, shewing the central receptacle, a, on which the ovules grow.
—4, The ripe fruit invested with its calyx, and having the bracts @
at the base.—5. A seed.—6. The same divided perpendicularly, so
as to shew the embryo.—7. An embryo taken out of the seed.—A.
a seed of another plant, Batchelors Buttons (Lychnis dioica), cut
through perpendicularly, and shewing the curved embryo; a albumen.
Il. Toe Purstane Trise.—A leaf and a portion of a flower-
branch of Large-flowered Calandrinia.—1. A flower-bud, with the
sepals, and the corolla peeping through it.—2. The stamens and
pistil—3. A perpendicular section of the ovary, shewing the central
receptacle on which the ovules grow.—4. A fruit beginning to open,
with the two sepals by which it is protected.—5. A seed, with a
portion of its stalk.—6. The same cut through, to shew the embryo
and the albumen, a.
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VAIO. pee 740 ae Lh Mhwreott's
LETTER VIII.
THE ROSE TRIBE—BUDDING AND GRAFTING——
THE PEA TRIBE.
POLL L ID LL LIL LL LDL POLL DA
(Plate VIII.)
POP RAL LEAL LOLOL O LOE
re
You, perhaps, remember, when you were begin-
ning to study Botany, how you fell into the error of
supposing that the Strawberry belongs to the Crow-
foot tribe, and that I then explained to you the cause
of your mistake. In this letter I propose to take the
Strawberry, for the purpose of illustrating the natu-
ral order to which it belongs, which we call the Lose
tribe, because the Rose is one of the genera com-
prehended in it. I am sure, that the mere mention
of this favourite plant, will ensure your attention to
the history of its relations.
The Strawberry (Fragaria) is a herb with three-
parted leaves, and a pair of large membranous sti-
pules at their base (Plate VIII. I. 1. a.). The
veins of the leaves are netted. When the Straw-
berry plant is about to multiply itself, it puts forth
naked shoots of two sorts: one of them is prostrate
on the ground, and ends in a tuft of leaves, which
root into the soil, thus forming a new plant; or, as it.
108 LETTER VIII.
is technically called, a runner; the other kind of
shoot grows nearly erect, and bears, at its end, a
tuft of flowers, which afterwards become fruit ; or at
least what is commonly called so.
The calyx of the Strawberry is a flat green hairy
part, having ten divisions ; it is, therefore, caused by
the union of ten sepals, five of which are on the out-
side of the others, and smaller. As you become
more and more acquainted with Botany, you will find
that it is an extremely common thing for the parts of
the flower to consist each of several rows. ‘This is the
first time I have mentioned it, and it is the first time
it has occurred in the calyx; but you have already
seen it in the rays of the Passion-flower, in both the
stamens and carpels of Crowfoots, and in the stamens
of many of the other orders we have passed by.
The corolla consists of five petals.
The stamens are very numerous, and are placed in
a crowded ring round the pistil, as in the Crowfoot ;
but, you will observe, that they grow out of the side
of the calyx (fig. 2.), and not from beneath the
carpels.
The pistil of a Strawberry is very much lke that
of a Crowfoot: it consists of a number of carpels,
arranged in many rows, and with great order, upon a
central receptacle ; each carpel has a style, which
arises from below its point (fig. 5.), and terminates
in a slightly-lobed stigma. In the inside of the ovary .
is one single ovule. With the flower, the resem-
blance between the Crowfoot and the Strawberry
ceases.
THE ROSE TRIBE. 109
You will almost wonder, now that you know how
the young flower of a Strawberry is constructed, how
so singular a fruit is to be formed out of such mate-
rials; especially if you should have chanced to meet
with the ingenious explanation given of it by some Bo-
tanist, whose name I forget, that it is a berry with its
seeds on its outside. Many and strange are often the
changes that take place in the organization of a pistil
in the course of its transformation into a fruit: and
they are highly curious in this case. If you would
really understand them, you should watch the Straw-
berry in the progress of its growth. You would then
see that the first occurrence after the petals have fal-
len off, and the calyx closed on the tender fruit, con-
sists in the receptacle of the carpels beginning to
swell; and, shortly after, in the carpels themselves
gaining a greater size and a more shining appear-
ance; while, at the same time, their styles begin to
shrivel up. At a more advanced stage, the carpels
are found but little augmented in size, while the re-
ceptacle has increased so very much in dimensions,
that the carpels are beginning to be separated by it,
and the surface of the receptacle can be distinctly
seen between them. A little older, and the carpels
seem scattered, in an irregular manner, over the sur-
face of the receptacle, which has become soft and
juicy, while they have remained almost stationary in
size. All along, the swelling receptacle has been
pushing the calyx aside, as being no longer of use
to it; and, at last, you scarcely remark the calyx,
in consequence of the much greater size of the re-
110 LETTER VIII.
ceptacle. This part finally gains a crimson colour,
swells more and more rapidly, acquires sweetness and
softness, and at last is the delicious fruit you are so
well acquainted with:—in that, its final state, the
carpels are scattered over its surface in the form of
minute grains, looking like seeds, for which they are
usually mistaken. You, however, know better than
to fall into this common error; for you have seen,
that, at first, they had each a style and stigma, which
seeds never have ; and you can now, by cutting them
open (fig. 8.) detect the seed (fig. 9.) lying in the
inside of the shell of the carpel. The Strawberry is,
therefore, not exactly a fruit; but is merely a fleshy
receptacle bearing fruit; the true fruit being the ripe
carpels.
Cinquefoils (Potentilla), are little herbs, usually
with pretty yellow flowers, found growing on banks
and on commons, among the short grass; one of them
is called Silver-weed (P. anscrina), on account of the
white, and almost metallic, appearance of the under-
side of its leaves. They are so like the Strawberry in
flower, that there is no Botanist who could tell you
how to distinguish them in that state. But they do
not bear Strawberries ; that is to say, after their fower
is withered, the receptacle does not become soft and
pulpy; but it always remains hard and dry, and is
completely hidden by the carpels. ‘This plant, then,
must be very nearly related to the Strawberry.
The Raspberry and Bramble (Rubus), also claim
kindred with the Strawberry, because of their like-
ness to it. They are shrubby plants, having their
THE ROSE TRIBE. is
stems covered with hard hooked prickles ; in this re-
spect they differ from the Strawberry. Their leaves
are divided, in various ways, according to their
kinds, and have large stipules at the bottom of their
stalks; here they agree with it. Their calyx has
only five divisions instead of ten; which is a diffe-
rence; but their petals are five; the stamens nume-
rous, and arising out of the side of the calyx; and
their pistil composed of a number of carpels arising
out of a central receptacle ; these, again, are resem-
blances with the Strawberry in important points.
Let us examine the fruit. The Raspberry has a dry
core, off which you may pull the little thimble-like
fruit, and you will not find any of the dry grains which
stick upon the outside of the Strawberry. But, look
again; what are the little dry threads that you see
rising from the centre of a multitude of little projec-
tions with which the whole surface of the Raspberry
is covered? Surely they are styles; and, if so, the
projections out of which they grow, must be carpels
in aripe state. ‘This is really the case; the carpels
of the Raspberry, instead of remaining dry as they
become ripe, swell and acquire a soft pulpy coat,
which, in time, becomes red: they are crowded so
closely, that, by degrees, they press upon each other,
and, at last, all grow together into the thimble-shaped
part which you eat; in order to gain this succulent
state, they are forced to rob the receptacle of all its
juice, and, in the end, separate from it, so that when
you gather the Raspberry, you throw away the re-
ceptacle under the name of core, never suspecting
112 LETTER VIII.
that it is the very part you had just before been feast-
ing upon in the Strawberry. In the one case, the
receptacle robs the carpels of all their juice, in order
to become gorged and bloated at their expense ; in the
other case, the carpels act in the same selfish manner
upon the receptacle.
Another plant very like Cinquefoil is Avens (Geum),
one species of which, called the Herb Bennet (G.
urbanum), is common enough in hedge-rows. It
grows a foot or two high, and has the leaves upon the
stem in three lobes, while those at the bottom of it
are in many divisions. ‘The flower of this plant is so
extremely like that of Cinquefoil, that you could not
distinguish the two. But its fruit is a sort of bur,
composed of innumerable stiff bristles, which all
spring from one common centre, and are terminated
by hooks at the point. The bristles are the styles
which, like those of the Geranium, have grown stiff
and long; and the hooks are the hardened points of
them where they have curved back, and separated
from an upper portion which drops off. The central
part is a mass of carpels, the receptacle of which is
hard and dry.
A beautiful mountain plant, frequently met with in
the Alps of Europe, called Mountain Avens (Sieversia
montana), and often seen in gardens, where it is cul-
tivated for its large yellow flowers, and its diminu-
tive stems covered with large deeply-lobed leaves,
offers a further imstance of the changes which the
fruit of the Rose tribe undergoes between youth and
old age. When the fruit of Mountain Avens is ripe,
THE ROSE TRIBE. 13
it looks like a silken plume springing out of the cup
of the calyx, and as it waves about in the wind one
may almost fancy it a tuft of feathers accidentally
fastened to the flower-stalk. A botanical examina-
tion dispels the illusion, and shews that the appear-
ance is caused by the carpels having preserved their
styles, which become very long and are covered all
over with loose silky hair, which has grown since
they were young. A similar phenomenon occurs in
the Virgin’s bower (Clematis), and in the Pasque flower
(Anemone); but the most remarkable instance of the
production of hairs so as to change the whole ap-
pearance of a part, is met with in the Venetian Sumach
(Rhus Cotinus), which the French call Arbre a per-
ruque or the Wig Tree. You have perhaps seen this
plant, which is by no means uncommon in shrubbe-
ries, ‘shaking its hoary locks” at you as the breeze
waved the branches, and set the wigs in motion, in
the midst of a crowd of blood-stained leaves; if you
have not, I would advise you to seek for it in the
autumn, at which season only it wears its wig ; in the
spring and summer it does not want it and will not put
iton. The explanation of its strange appearance I
cannot give better than in the words of Professor De
Candolle. ‘The panicle (that is the cluster of
flowers) of Rhus Cotinus is almost entirely smooth at
the flowering season ; after that period all the flower-
stalks which bear fruit, continue to remain smooth
or scarcely downy; but, on the contrary, on those
whose fruit is not formed, and they constitute the
greatest number, there appears a great quantity of
i
114 LETTER VIII.
scattered hairs, which give them a shaggy aspect, on
which account gardeners have named the plant the
Wig Tree ; it is probable that this excessive production
of hairs is caused by the sap, which was destined to
nourish the fruit, not having any employment in those
stalks the fruit of which is not formed, and expending
itself in the production of this extraordinary quantity
of hair.”
The genera hitherto mentioned are upon the whole
better adapted to give a student a correct notion
of the character of the Rose tribe, than the Rose
itself. It is now necessary that we should examine
this charming flower, in the construction of which
you will find as much to admire as in its external
attractions. ‘The leaves and stems of Roses are
sufficiently like those of the Bramble, to render it
unnecessary for me to insist upon any peculiarities
in those parts. In the flower much seems to differ,
although in reality but little essential difference
exists between Roses and other Rosaceous plants. It
has a calyx of five divisions, some of which are very
like small leaves. ‘To these succeed five petals; and
within the latter is a great number of stamens, which
grow from the side of the calyx. You will not at
first sight perceive any pistils: in the centre, indeed,
is a tuft of stigmas, but no ovaries are visible; upon
further search, however, you may discover, espe-
cially if you press the flower forcibly between the
finger and thumb, that the styles project through the
neck of an oblong green body, which being below
and on the outside of the calyx, looks like an inferior
THE ROSE TRIBE. LS
ovary. If you split the flower perpendicularly, you
will then perceive that this body, that looks like an
inferior ovary, is in reality the tube of the calyx,
which is contracted at the place where the stamens
originate, into a narrow orifice, through which the
tops of the styles protrude; and that the ovaries are
included within that tube, forming as usual the bot-
tom of the styles. Perhaps you will gain a clearer
notion of this if you suppose that part of the tube of
the calyx of the Strawberry, which is included
between the letters 6 and ¢ in the accompanying
figure (fig. 2.) to be lengthened very much, while
all the other parts retain their size and position; in
that case the carpels, with their receptacle, might
become much shorter than the tube of the calyx,
instead of being longer, and if the latter were con-
tracted at its mouth, no part of the carpels would be
visible except the tops of the styles and the stigmas.
The ripe fruit, or hep of the Rose, is nothing more
than the same tube of the calyx turned red and
fleshy, the sepals, and petals, and stamens having
dropped off; in its inside will be found the carpels
changed to bony grains, covered with coarse stiff
hairs. :
Thus are constructed those plants which most
exactly belong to the Rose tribe. ‘They are all
harmless, and when they are sufficiently agreeable to
the palate, eatable ; very often, however, their juice
is so very austere and astringent that no use can be
made of them except in medicine. ‘They have some-
times been employed in domestic medicine, especially
12
116 LETTER VIII:
Herb Bennet, the roots of which have been found by:
some physicians as valuable in the cure of fevers as
the Jesuit’s bark itself.
Very nearly allied to the Rose tribe are two other
sets of plants, which by some are reckoned mere
subdivisions of it, though by others they have been
considered distinct natural orders. We need not
trouble ourselves with that imquiry; I dare say you
will prefer to know what they are, and how they are
characterized.
The first of these is the Apple tribe, to which belong
all those plants which agree with the Rose tribe m
every thing but the carpels being distinct and supe-
rior ; in lieu of which they have the carpels united
and adhering to the tube of the calyx. Take an
Apple tree in flower, as an example of this. It is a
plant with leaves having netted veins, and stipules
at their base. ‘The calyx has five divisions, the
petals are five, and there is a great many stamens
growing out of the sides of the calyx. In the centre
you will find five styles; but their ovaries, instead of
being merely enclosed within the tube of the calyx,
adhere and form one body with it. It is this cireum-
stance that gives rise to all the difference that you
find in the fruit itself. An apple is a large fleshy
body having at one end what is called an eye ; which
is in reality the remains of the calyx surrounding the
withered stamens. ‘The principal part of the flesh is
the tube of the calyx, but the central part is the
carpels, also grown fleshy, and at this period undis-
tinguishable from the calyx itself; that their number
THE ALMOND TRIBE.
was five is shewn by the five cavities in the centre of
the fruit, each of which contains one or two seeds.
Now it is obvious, if this description be carefully con-
sidered, that the fruit is the only thing by which the
Apple is known from a Rosaceous plant. ‘The same
kind of structure is found in the Pear, and the
Quince, and the Mountain Ash. In the Medlar and
the Hawthorn it seems as if the fruit contained two
or three stones instead of the open cavities of the
Apple; but in reality the only peculiarity in those
fruits consists in the lining of their cavities being
bony instead of thin and papery, as you may easily
satisfy yourself by looking at their flowers. All the
plants of this tribe are as harmless as the genuine
species of the Rose tribe itself.
The other group to which I have referred is the
Almond tribe. ‘This is less different in structure
than the Apple tribe, but more dissimilar in sensible
properties. It consists of species which have all the
essential parts of structure of a common Rosaceous
plant, but which bear fruit like that of a Plum. The
Plum-tree itself, for example, has leaves with netted
veins and stipules at their base; a calyx of five
parts; five petals; and a great number of stamens
arising out of the sides of the calyx. But in room of
many carpels, there is only one, and that one changes
to a fleshy body, containing one single seed, enclosed
ina hard stone. The hard stone is the lining of the
cell of the carpel, separated from the fleshy rind
that is on the outside. This kind of fruit is called
a Drupre. What is found in the Plum exists
118 LETTER VIII.
equally, and but little modified, in the Apricot, Peach,
Nectarine, Almond, and Cherry, all which are species
of the Almond tribe. They would not perhaps be
separated by Botanists into a distinct natural order,
upon so slight a character, as the fruit being a Drupe,
if that circumstance were not accompanied by a differ-
ence in the qualities of such plants. Instead of being
perfectly wholesome, they are in many cases highly
poisonous, as the Common Laurel (Prunus Laurocera-
sus), the leaves of which yield the dangerous infusion
called laurel-water. This is owing to their yielding
a volatile principle called Prussic acid, which in its
concentrated state is one of the most dangerous of
poisons. It is it which gives the well known flavour
to Almonds, Ratafia, and the liqueurs called Ma-
raschino, Kirschenwasser, and Mandel amara, and
which is so often employed to mix with creams. Do
not however suppose, that on this account there is any
real danger in eating the fruit of Cherries, Plums,
Peaches, and the like; in those fruits the prussic
acid exists in such very minute quantity, as to be in-
capable of producing any deleterious effects. Nature
has provided amply against the ill effects of such an
insidious enemy, by rendering its presence instantly
perceptible by an intensity of flavourthat cannot be mis-
taken. Thereare those, indeed, who have condemned
the whole tribe for the qualities of a few, and who have
gone so far as to assert, that the dried leaves of the
common Sloe were poisonous. It is not probable that
the green leaves of that plant would produce any
seriously bad effect ; and it is certain that when dried
BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 119
they would lose what little poison they may have pos-
sessed when green, because the prussic acid principle
is so volatile as to be immediately dispersed by the
mere exposure of the leaves to heat.
Plants of the Almond tribe have also this peculiarity
in which they differ from the Roses; their bark yields
gum; as you may see by the cracked branches of dis-
eased Cherry and Peach trees. Like the Roses them-
selves, they have also a great deal of astringency ; and
their bark has been used in the cure of agues and
fevers with considerable success.
If you analyze the characters of these three orders,
you will find that their differences may be expressed
thus :—
many Carpels.—The Rose Tribe.
one Carpel.—The Almond Tribe.
Ovary inferior - : : The Apple Tribe.
The woody species of these three natural orders are
Ovary superior . ;
objects of such universal cultivation, Roses for their
odour and beauty, Peaches, Apples, &c. for their
utility as fruit-trees, that I cannot do better than
explain to you the principles upon which the opera-
tions of budding and grafting, by which they are
propagated, are conducted. If you do not care for
multiplying Apples and Pears, I dare say you would
at least be amused in making one kind of Rose
grow upon another, and in converting the wild Briars
of the neighbouring hedges into objects of greater
beauty.
The gardener’s operations of budding and grafting,
depend for success upon the fact, that a portion of
120 LETTER VIII.
one tree will grow upon another if skilfully applied to
it. There are those who have believed that a piece
of one plant would grow upon any other; and that
Roses might be budded upon Black Currant bushes
or Pomegranates; this, however, is untrue. It is
a certain fact, that one tree will grow upon another
only when the two are very closely allied in structure.
Thus a Pear will grow upon a Medlar or a Mountain
Ash, but not so well as on some other Pear; a Rose
will grow upon any other Rose, but not upon an
Apple. This is a fundamental rule.
In the next place, the stems of all plants consist of
buds, and of the part that bears them; the latter has
no power of growing without the former, but the for-
mer can grow without the latter. or example, if I
plant a portion of a stem deprived of its buds, it will
die, notwithstanding all the care I can take to pre-
serve it; but if I take the bud of a plant without
any stem, and place it in earth, it will grow, if due
precautions are employed; this shews, that the pro-
perty of increasing a plant resides in the buds ex-
clusively. It is not, however, necessary to separate
the bud from the stem; on the contrary, the two
taken together are frequently employed, when they
are called cuttings; if the bud alone is employed, it
retains its own name. ‘These are the next points to
attend to.
Thirdly, both cuttings and buds will grow in other
media than earth, as for instance, in water, or damp
moss, or in any material which is capable of furnish-
ing them with a constant supply of moisture and
BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 121
food. Nothing is more proper to furnish this than
the stem of a tree in which the sap is in motion ;_ be-
cause sap is moist, and at the same time, is the food
of plants ready prepared for them to consume it.
Hence, if a cutting, or a bud be carefully planted
in the stem of a tree, they will grow; their roots will
be insinuated beneath the bark, and form new wood,
and so strong an adhesion will take place between
them, that no force can afterwards separate them.
Thus, if you would bud one plant upon another,
the plan is this; it must be done when the sap is most
in motion, and when the bark can be easily divided
from the wood; you then cut a narrow slice off the
branch which you wish to increase, taking care that it
has a well-formed bud upon it; with a smart jerk, the
small quantity of wood that adheres to the slice may
be taken off, leaving nothing but the bud attached to
the bark. Then, with a sharp knife, an incision must
be made lengthwise through the bark of the plant in
which your bud is to grow, and at the upper end of
that incision, a transverse cut, so that the two will
together form the letter T. The bark is next to be
lifted up on each side of the longitudinal incision, and
the bud, with its adhering bark, is to be slipped in.
If the whole is then bound up with worsted or matting,
a union will take place between the bud and the
branch into which it is inserted, and a new plant will
be created.
If you would graft one plant on another, you must
follow a different plan ; for grafting is effected with
cuttings, and cuttings cannot be so conveniently slipped
122 LETTER VIII.
beneath bark, except at one end. ‘There are many ways
of performing the operation of grafiing, one of which
is the following :—You cut off the upper end of the
branch on which you wish to insert a cutting; and
you then pare the end of the branch flat, equally on
both sides, till it resembles a long wedge. ‘This done,
you slit the lower end of the cutting, and pare away
its wood to two flat faces, which correspond with the
faces of the branch on which it is to be made to grow,
You are then to fit the cutting accurately to the
branch, taking care that the bark of both touches
exactly, and if they are bound together with worsted
or matting, as before, the operation is completed. As
however by this method the cutting is less readily
supplied with sap than in the case of buds inserted
beneath the bark, it might perish before any union
between itself and the branch could take place; to
prevent this, it is usual to surround it with a thick
coating of clay, which adheres to the surface of both
‘branch and cutting, prevents evaporation, and also
keeps the two more firmly applied to each other.
These are the simple means by which such impor-
tant operations as the multiplication of rare and valu-
able plants, by making pieces of them grow upon those
which are worthless, are performed. If we possessed
no such power, it would be almost useless to occupy
ourselves with improving the quality of fruit trees,
for we should be unable to perpetuate them.
Here I would recommend you to pause for the pre-
sent ; and when what relates to the Rose ‘Tribe is fully
THE PEA TRIBE. 123
mastered, to proceed to the second half of this long
letter.
There is, perhaps, no natural order which is more
easily recognized than the Pea tribe, nor one in which
greater interest is usually taken; it is so rich in
plants useful for food, as the Pea, Bean, &c. or for
forage, as Clover and Lucerne ; or dyes, as Indigo and
Logwood ; or timber, as Brazilwood, Rosewood, and
the American Locust Trees ; or medicine, as the Senna
plant; or gums, as the Arabian Acacia; and attrac-
tive for their beauty, as Lobinias, Laburnums, Bladder
Sennas,and the noble tropical species of Butea, Jonesia,
and Bauhinia, that it would be difficult to point out
any group of plants in which there is more to instruct
and delight the student.
The Pea tribe is so vast that the last enumeration
of the species by Professor De Candolle, occupies
between four and five hundred closely printed octavo
pages. It will, therefore, be impossible for me to do
more than give you asketch of the general character
by which this extensive assemblage is held together.
It consists of plants bearing pods, formed upon the
same plan as that of the Pea, and called Lecumess ;
this is the great essential character, and the only one
which is universal. It is, therefore, necessary to
teach you, in the first instance, how you are to know
a Legume with certainty. Imagine to yourself a carpel
which grows long and flat, and usually contains seve-
ral seeds, and which, when ripe, separates into two
valves or halves; recollect, also, that the seeds all
grow to one angle only of the inside of the carpel ;
124 LETTER VIII.
in a word, study a Pea-pod, and you will know what
a legume is. You must not expect, however, that it
will always be exactly like a Pea-pod; on the con-
trary, it is longer or shorter, larger or smaller, harder,
thinner, or differently coloured, contains more or
fewer seeds; or, in short, may vary in many ways:
but it will always be formed upon the same plan.
This is what you are to take as the character which
holds together all the subdivisions of the Pea tribe.
The most striking feature in these plants, next to
the legume, is the singular arrangement of the petals,
which gives to a very large proportion of the whole
natural order the name of Papilionaceous, or Butterfly-
flowered. By this title, we distinguish the first divi-
sion of the Pea tribe; as an example of which a
common Pea flower would answer the purpose. I
however, send you a sprig of the narrow-leaved
Restharrow (Ononis angustifolia, Plate VIII. 2.).
It has leaves the veins of which are at first sight
ribbed rather than netted; you will, however, find,
that the netted structure is what they really possess ;
at their base is a pair of stipules as in the Roses and
their allies. The calyx is formed of five sepals, that
unite in a short tube (figs. 2. & 3. a.). The corolla
consists of five petals, one of which is larger, and
stands at the back of all the others, wrapping them
up before the flower expands (figs. 2. & 3. b.); this is
the standard, or vexillum. In front of the standard
are two smaller petals (figs. 2. & 3. ¢.), which are
placed nearly parallel with each other, converging a
little at the point; they are the wings, or ale, and
THE PEA TRIBE. 125
are carefully folded over a boat-shaped curved part of
the corolla, which is placed in front of all the rest ;
this part, called the eel, or carina (figs. 2. & 3. d.),
is formed of two petals, which are slightly united at
their lower edge, as you may discern by pulling the
keel away from the calyx, when you will see their
two stalks ( fig. 4.); the corolla is, therefore, formed
of the same number of parts as the calyx, but so
masqued that you would not have at first suspected
such a thing. This is what is called a butterfly-
shaped flower; some poetical Botanists having fan-
cied a resemblance between the expanded flower and
a butterfly at rest.
Let us miss the stamens for the present, and pass
on to the ovary (fig. 6.), which is a tapering green
hairy part, gradually narrowing into a style which
ends ina minute stigma. Its legume is a short flat
body (fig. 7.), to which the withered style sticks.
When ripe it splits into two halves, to each of which
a seed or two (fig. 8.) 1s attached.
Papilionaceous flowers may be themselves separated
into those which have their stamens united, and those
which have their stamens separate. To the first belongs
the Restharrow ; which has nine of the stamens joined
together about half-way (fig. 5.), and a tenth a little
separated from the others. It is here, also, that are
found nearly all those species of the Pea tribe with
which you are likely to be acquainted. Peas, Beans,
Vetches, Clover, Trefoil, and Lucerne, are known to
every body; all these you can easily procure for
examination. Laburnum, too, with its branches of
126 LETTER VIII.
golden flowers, Furze (Ulex europeus), and Broom
(Spartium scoparium), which are almost too beautiful
to be inhabitants of northern countries, French Ho-
neysuckles (Hedysarum coronarium), with their crim-
son clusters; and the singular Bladder Senna (Colutea
arborescens), the pods of which explode with a loud
report when smartly pressed between the fingers, are
species of Papilionaceous plants of frequent occur-
rence: all which it would be well for you to study,
and compare with the characters you will find im
systematic works. Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria), which
has proved so valuable as a dye, you will not meet
with easily in this country ; but you may procure the
Laquorice plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra), the roots of which
are so exceedingly sweet.
Ths second group of Papilionaceous flowers, with
the stamens separate, comprehends the chief part of
the showy New Holland shrubs, called Pultenea,
Gompholobium, Daviesia, &c., but not a single Eu-
ropean species, nor any thing worth pointing out for
its utility.
The next division of the Pea tribe consists of the
Cassias and their allies, which are remarkable for not
having Papilionaceous flowers ;—in place of which
they have their petals spreading equally round the
pistil, as in other plants; their stamens are also
usually spreading and separate. The irregularity of
growth which causes the Papilionaceous appearance in
the last division, also exists among these plants, so
that you will generally find them with some of the
petals or the stamens larger than the remainder.
THE PEA TRIBE. £37
Few of them are ever seen in this country, but in
foreign climes they are exceedingly abundant. Cassias
themselves, some of which yield the well-known medi-
cine called Senna, are common in all parts of the
tropics; the Logwood, the Tamarind, the Barbadoes
flower-fence (Poinciana), the brilliancy of whose
orange-coloured flowers is too intense to be steadily
looked upon, the fragrant Asoca Tree of India
(Jonesia), which Botanists have consecrated as a floral
monument to one of the most learned of Oriental
scholars, and the Judas Tree (Cercis siliquastrum),
which makes all Turkey put on a violet robe, in its
flowering season, belong to genera of the Cassia
division. ‘To these may be added, as other remark-
able plants, the horrid Acacias (Gleditschias), whose
trunks are covered with stiff branching spies, and
which are so very remarkable in cold countries for
the airy Mimosa-like appearance of their foliage ;
the Carob Tree, or Algaroba (Ceratonia Siliqua),
the sweet pods of which are used for food in Spain,
and whose seeds are supposed to have been the ori-
ginal carat weight of the goldsmiths, the Tonga-bean
plant (Dipterix odorata), with the perfume of whose
seeds you are doubtless acquainted; and, finally,
Bauhinias, those large climbers which hang among
the trees of tropical forests, like enormous cables,
twisting round trunks and branches till they utterly
destroy them.
The third division of the Pea tribe is that of Mi-
mosas. Figure to yourself a plant with the sepals
and petals of the Cassia group, only so small as
128 LETTER VIII.
scarcely to be visible; the flowers growmg in com-
pact clusters; and the stamens not only very nu-
merous, but so long and slender and delicate as to
resemble silken threads tipped with very little an-
thers. If you can imagine such a structure you will
have a sufficiently correct idea of the Mimosa divi-
sion, the beauty of which, on account of the multitude
of flowers they bear, and the gay colours in which
they are invested, is of so peculiar an appearance,
that one of them, a nearly hardy tree (Acacia Juli-
brissin), is actually called by the Persians, in whose
country it grows, the Gul ebruschim, or Rose of Silk.
Here belong the curious Sensitive plants (Mimosa),
whose many parted leaves shrink from the touch of
the very wind that blows upon them, which close up
and appear to go to sleep at night, and which seem
as if struck with sudden death if they receive any
rude shock; of these plants the balls of flowers are
peach-coloured. ‘To the genus Acacia, of which
great numbers are found in New Holland, where:
they are called Wattle Trees, also belong the spiny
gum trees of Arabia and Senegal; the greater part of
the species have yellow flowers, and many of them
broad dilated leaf-stalks, in room of the many-parted
leaves which they bear when young.
The differences of these three divisions of the Pea
tribe may be expressed thus :—
Flowers papilionaceous . . Papilionaceous Plants.
§ Stamens few—Cassias.
Flowers not papilionaceous *
Stamens numerous—Mimosas.
129
With this I take my leave of you for the present,
promising that my next letter shall be shorter, if it is
not more interesting.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII.
1. Tue Rose Trise.—!l. A leaf, a few flowers, and fruit of a
Strawberry Plant ; « stipules.—2. The calyx and pistil cut through
to shew the origin of the stamens; @ sepals, /—e tube of the
calyx.—3. A stamen seen in front.—4. The same seen from the
back.—5. A carpel; a the ovary, J the style, ¢ the stigma.—6. A
fruit cut through perpendicularly to shew the fleshy receptacle, and
the grains, a, sticking to it. Compare this with fig. 2.—7. A ripe
grain.—8. The same cut through to shew the seed.—9. A seed
extracted from the grain.—10. An embryo, with the radicle at the
upper end.
Il. Toe Pea Trise.—l. A piece of the Narrow-leaved Rest-
harrow (Ononis angustifolia).—2. A flower seen from the side ;
a sepals, 5 standard, c wings, d keel.—3. The same flower seen in
front ; the letters refer to the same parts.—4. A keel apart, shew-
ing the two stalks of the petals which form it.—5. Stamens.—6.. A
pistil—7. A ripe legume, with the calyx adhering to it.—8. A seed;
a the cord by which it was attached to the receptacle.—9. The same
cut open, shewing the position of the embryo, of which one cotyle-
don only is visible.
LETTER IX.
THE PROTEA TRIBE—THE AMARANTH TRIBE.
weer
(Plate IX.)
Ir you cast your eye back over the various tribes
we have passed in review, you will remark that
they all agree in one circumstance, however diffe-
rent they may be otherwise. They all have both
calyx and corolla: that is, two distinct rows of parts
on the outside of the stamens; and the petals are
never joined together: on this account they are
called Polypetalous, a name which is made by many
Botanists to designate the large portion of the vege-
table kingdom to which they belong. By and bye you
will learn that another portion of considerable extent
is called Monopetalous, because the petals are united
by their edges into one tube or body; and I have now
to explain that a good many natural orders, which
have either a calyx without any petals, or no calyx
at all, receive the name of Apetalous. ‘They are often
also called imperfect or incomplete, with reference to
their want of petals; it is to some of these that I
wish next to direct your study.
The first with which we shall begin, is what is
called the Protea tribe, a group of exotic plants very
much cultivated in green-houses for the sake of their
beautiful or singular foliage, and the great masses of
t ee ota ‘ Fiabe
Lowe oon Checileng.
LIBRARY
ee a en
JUNIVERSITY OF 1ULINOIS
THE PROTEA TRIBE. 131
minute flowers which are borne by some of them; but
totally unknown in a wild state in Europe. It would
be easy to name some kind with which you might
make a personal acquaintance, by inquiring of your
gardener after Hakeas, or Persoonias, or G'revilleas ;
but you will probably prefer that I should in this
instance send you a copy of a drawing by Mr. Ferdi-
nand Bauer of one of the handsomest of the kind
found by him in New Holland, and named Si Joseph
Banks's G'revillea (Grevillea Banksii).
The leaves of this plant, like those of the whole
tribe, are exceedingly dry and hard; they are divided
into many narrow lobes, but this is not by any means
universally the case; on the contrary, they are fre-
quently perfectly simple and undivided. The calyx
(Plate IX. 1.) is a long narrow tube, slit on one side
( fig. 1*.), and turned down at the point so as to give
the border a very oblique and bagged appearance ; by
disturbing the bag with the point of a pin it will
divide into four concave lobes, each of which (fig. 2.)
allows an anther to nestle within its cavity. ‘The
pistil consists of a long hard style, rather abruptly
bent above the middle, terminated by a thickened
one-sided stigma (fig. 1**. & 1* b.), and arising from
a hairy one-celled ovary having a jagged scale at its
base (fig. 4. a.). This scale is one of the things
which used to be called nectary, under the idea that
it was formed for the purpose of secreting honey or
nectar ; but that term is now abandoned. ‘The style
is so long that you would wonder how it could ever
have been confined within the calyx ; and the stigma
K 2
132 LETTER IX.
is so far off the anthers that you will find it yet
more difficult to imagine how the pollen is to touch
it; both these are arranged ina very simple way.
Before the flower opens, the stigma, as the style
lengthens, is pressed against the point of the calyx;
but here the sepals adhere so firmly that they will not
open; the consequence of which is that as the style
goes on lengthening it gradually takes a bend up-
wards, and pressing forcibly against the upper side
of the calyx, splits it open, by separating the two
sepals upon whose line of union it is forced. The
pressure of the stigma upon the point of the calyx
causes the latter to be moulded into a sort of socket,
in which the anthers actually lie; so that as soon as
the stigma begins to be loosened, by the growth of
the style after the latter has slit the calyx, the pollen
is gently taken out of the anthers by the cup of the
stigma; which, when it finally separates altogether
and rises up, carries the pollen away along with it.
In time the calyx falls off, and the ovary grows
into a hard dry fruit (figs. 5. & 6.), which opens like
a legume, and exposes to view a couple of seeds.
Other Proteaceous plants are formed upon a similar
plan: their calyx is often separated into four distinct
sepals, and then no socket is formed to hold back the
stigma; or there are other variations of minor impor-
tance, but in the absence of petals, in the origin of
stamens from the face of the sepals, and in the peculiar
fruit, they all agree.
What causes the most striking difference in their
appearance, is the flowers of some growing singly
THE AMARANTH TRIBE. Soa
among the leaves, and of others being collected into
compact heads. ‘Those genera which have the latter
structure, are the handsomest and most usually cul-
tivated; the Proteas which are found at the Cape of
Good Hope, in dry, barren, stony, exposed situations,
are most noble looking objects, in consequence of their
beautiful feathery flowers being half hidden by large
red, or white, or black-edged bracts of the purest
colours. Banksias and Dryandras are chiefly valued
for their handsome leaves ; some of the latter are so
fringed with long hairs as to resemble the plumes of
birds. They are applied to scarcely any useful pur-
pose; but appear to be perfectly harmless: their seeds
are sweet, and are eaten sometimes as nuts, both
in Africa and South America; one of them, called
Witteboom (Protea argentea), is the common fire-wood
at the Cape of Good Hope.
But let us leave these showy and useless strangers
for a tribe that is known to every one who has a
garden. Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus),
Prince’s Feathers (Amaranthus), G'lobe Amaranths
(Gomphrena globosa), 7’ricolors (Amaranthus tricolor),
and Cockscombs (Celosia coccinea), have been culti-
vated as long as gardens have been prized ; they form,
along with some others of a similar structure, what is
called the Amaranth tribe. This natural order, like
the last, has: no corolla. Its calyx consists of five
crimson sepals (figs. 2. & 3.), of so dry a texture, that
you would say they were really dead; these are sur-
rounded by a number of bracts, of the same colour
and texture as themselves. It is owing to the dry-
134. LETTER IX:
ness and thinness, and usually gay colours of these
parts, that Cockscombs and the like owe their glossi-
ness and beauty, and also the property they possess of
remaining for months without fading. ‘The remain-
der of their organs are constructed upon the simplest
plan. A few anthers, usually five (fig. 2.), and an
ovary with two or three styles (fig. 4.), having but one
cell and one ovule, complete the apparatus by which
such a plant is increased. When the fruit is ripe, the
shell of the ovary becomes very thin, and bursts in the
middle by a horizontal opening (fig. 4. a.); the seed
(fig. 5.) is a little flat body, with a slender embryo
(fig. 6.), coiled round some mealy albumen.
It is difficult to mention an order much more simply
constructed than this, and yet how perfectly are all
the parts adapted to the end for which they are
created. Even a provision for a beautiful appearance
is not neglected, for in order to compensate for their
smallness, we find the flowers developed in large
masses, and aided by multitudes of shining bracts
which contribute very essentially to their fine appear-
ance.
With an assurance that these plants are all as
harmless as they are beautiful, I take my leave of you
till another day.
135
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IX.
I. Tur Protea Trise.—l. A flower of Sir Joseph Banks's Gre-
villea, seen in front, of the natural size.—1*. The same magnified
and viewed from the side ; a the socket of the calyx, 6 the stigma.—
1**, The upper end of the style and the stigma viewed in half profile.
2. The upper end of a sepal, with the anther a nestling in it.—
3. An anther.—4. An ovary, with the scale, a, its base.—5. A
ripe fruit, natural size.—6. The same burst open.—7. The seeds taken
out, with a moveable partition that separates them just brought into
view.—7*. The same magnified.—8. An embryo.—9. The same with
the cotyledons divided a little. (All these are after a figure by Mr.
Ferdinand Bauer.)
II. Toe AMARANTH TrisE.—l. A bit of the inflorescence of
Love-lies-bleeding, of the natural size.—2. A calyx containing stamens;
a bracts.—3. A calyx containing a pistil; @ bracts.—4. ripe fruit;
a the horizontal line where it opens.—5. A seed.—6. The same cut
perpendicularly ; a the radicle, and 4 the cotyledons of the embryo.
LETTER X.
THE MARVEL OF PERU TRIBE—THE OAK TRIBE—
STRUCTURE OF DICOTYLEDONOUS WOOD.
nnn nennnnrere
(Plate X.)
wn
So accustomed are people to identify gay colours
with the corolla of a flower, that it is always difficult
to make them believe the ovary and red striped part
of the Marvel of Peru, to be really a calyx. Such,
however, is undoubtedly the fact.
The Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis Jalapa) is the re-
presentative of a tribe named after it, belonging,
like the subjects of my last letter, to the Apetalous
division of Dicotyledonous plants. It has fleshy pe-
rennial roots ; jointed stems, which perish at the first
attack of frost; and broad opposite leaves, with
netted veins. Its flowers appear in compact clusters ;
and are each surrounded at the base by a green invo-
lucre, divided into five segments, so as to resemble a
calyx, for which it would be certainly mistaken, if it
did not sometimes bear two flowers within the same
involucre ; a kind of structure that never is found in
a true calyx.
Each flower consists, firstly, of a funnel-shaped
calyx (Plate X. 1. fig. 1.), divided at the end into
five orange and red plaited lobes, and contracted at
| he Ma reel pe Leri , So
THE MARVEL OF PERU TRIBE. 137
the base (fig. 1. a.) into a roundish fleshy ball ;
secondly, of five stamens of unequal lengths, arising
from below the ovary (fig. 3. a.), round which they
form a fleshy cup, and then adhering to the sides of
the calyx ; so that they are actually perigynous and
hypogynous at the same time.
The ovary ( fig. 4. c.) isa superior body, containing
a single ovule, which grows from the bottom of the
cavity; it is terminated by a long thread-shaped
style, which ends in a cluster of little round warts
( fig. 3. b.), forming astigma. ‘Thus far the structure
is as simple as that of the Amaranth and Protea
tribes; nor will it be found more complex in the
fruit.
As soon as the flower begins to fade, the roundish
fleshy ball at the bottom of the calyx, swells and
grows harder, contracting at the top, and in time
throwing off the thin and coloured part. At last it
acquires a woody texture, shrivels round the veins,
and becomes an oblong brown nut (fig. 6.), with a
little hole at its poimt (a.), where the upper coloured
part of the calyx fell off. Upon opening it, you will
find the fruit, with a very thin shell, and the remains
of the style at the top (fig. 7. ¢.). Within it lies a
single seed having an embryo (fig. 7. a. 6.), rolled
round a quantity of mealy substance, which is the
albumen (d.).
Such is the character of the natural order that
contains the Marvel of Peru, which is by far the most
handsome genus it comprehends. Generally, the
order consists of obscure weeds, which are rarely
138 LETTER X.
seen in gardens, although they are common enough
in tropical countries. It differs obviously from the
Protea tribe in the stamens being hypogynous ; from
the Amaranth tribe in the calyx being all in one
piece ; and from both in the singular circumstance of
the lower part of the calyx becoming hardened and
forming a sort of spurious shell to the fruit. ‘This
last is the essential character of the Marvel of Peru
tribe, or Nyctaginee; which I only introduce to you as
a striking instance, firstly, of the highly coloured
condition often assumed by the calyx, and secondly, of
the singular manner in which one part is occasionally
employed by nature to perform the part of another.
Very different from these, although also belonging
to the Apetalous division of Dicotyledonous plants, is
that most interesting natural order, which includes
the Oak, and the Sweet Chesnut, the Beech, the
Hlornbeam, and the Hazel; in short, the larger part
of our common European trees. In consequence of
its containing the Oak it bears the name of the Oak
tribe. Until I shall have explained to you the real
origin of all the parts you find in these plants, and
the singular manner in which they change between
the infancy of their flowers, and their old age, you
will have had but a feeble idea of the wonderful
power the parts of plants possess of assuming un-
usual forms after they have been once developed. If
it be true that flowers are generally seen in a mas-
querade dress, as some Botanists poetically assert, it
certainly is here that their disguise is the most im-
penetrable.
THE OAK TRIBE. 139
The Hazel is one of the most accessible to you
when it is young, and a good illustration of the struc-
ture of the others. At the earliest period of the
spring you must have remarked the branches of the
Hazel loaded with little yellow tails, which swing
about as the wind disturbs them, and fill the air with
a fine and buoyant powder, the particles of which
may be seen glittering in the sunbeams like motes of
gold. ‘These tails are called carxins (Plate X. 2.
jig. 1. a.), and are composed of a great number of
little scales, which are arranged one behind the other
with the utmost regularity, as you may easily discover
by inspecting them, before they separate. Each
scale has on its inner face about eight anthers, that
seem to arise out of a two-lobed flat body, which ad-
heres to the scale (fig. 2.); no other structure is to
be found ; apparently neither calyx, nor corolla, nor
pistil; nothing but the two-lobed body sticking to
the scale and bearing the stamens. Botanists con-
sider the scales bracts, and the two-lobed body a
calyx in an imperfect state.
This then is an instance of a simpler kind of orga-
nization, than any you have before met with in a
flower. It is, however, not quite characteristic of
the Oak tribe, for the Hornbeam has no calyx what-
ever, while the Oak, and the Beech, and the Sweet
Chesnut have a much more perfect one than the
Hazel.
If the Hazel had none but stamen-bearing flowers,
you would never have any nuts in the autumn; for
there is nothing in those flowers which could by any
140 EETTER(“X:
possibility change into a nut. In this plant not
only are the stamens and pistils in different flowers,
but in different parts of the plant, and organized upon
quite a different plan. If you observe attentively
those buds of the hazel which grow near the catkins
(fig. 1. b. b.), about the time when the stamens are
shedding their pollen, you will perceive some little
red threads protruding beyond the points of the buds,
and spreading away from the centre; those are the
stigmas, and the pistils are enclosed within their
scales, where they are safely protected from accident
and cold. At the earliest moment when the stigmas
can be discovered, let the scales be removed (fig. 3.),
and you will find the flowers clustered together among
a quantity of soft hair, which seems provided as an
additional means of shielding them from the weather,
and to serve the same purpose as the warm lining of
down, which the birds provide for their young when
they first break the shell and before they are fledged.
Kach of these flowers is surrounded by a jagged sort
of cup (fig. 4. & 5.), which is originally much shorter
than they are, but which in time grows considerably
longer ; that cup is the involucre. The flower itself
consists of a jagged superior calyx (fig. 5. a.); an
ovary with two cells and two seeds (fig. 6.), and
two long thread-shaped crimson stigmas. ‘Thus you
see the calyx of the pistil-bearmg flower is much
more perfect than that of the other kind of flower ;
but it is still very imperfect.
The pistils and the stamens being thus separated,
there would be no chance of the pollen of the one
THE OAK TRIBE. 141
falling on the stigma of the other, and fertilizing it,
unless an unusual quantity of stamens was provided ;
hence it is that in a fine day in spring the whole air
is, as I have just said, so impregnated with particles of
pollen, that they cover every thing as with a fine dust.
By degrees, as warm weather advances, the pro-
tection of the scales of the bud ceases to be necessary
to the young flowers, which swell and burst through
them; the involucre daily grows larger; the stigmas
having fulfilled their destiny, shrivel up; the ovary
enlarges; one of its ovules grows much faster than
the other, and gradually presses upon it till it smo-
thers it; the shell hardens, an embryo makes its
appearance, and by degrees fills up the cavity; and
at last you have a perfect nut, with its husk (fig. 8.),
or involucre. At the point of the nut is to be seen
the remains of the calyx (fig. 9. b.); but no trace
can be found of the cell and ovule which were smo-
thered; so that a one-celled fruit is produced by a
two-celled ovary. You will now know why nuts
sometimes grow in clusters, and sometimes singly ;
if cold or accident should destroy any part of the
cluster of pistils in the bud, but a very few nuts, per-
haps only one, will grow and ripen; but if they are
mostly saved, you will then have the large clusters
which are so common in seasons which haye been
preceded by mild springs. The nut itself affords an
excellent illustration of the structure of a dicotyle-
donous embryo; the two great fleshy lobes into which
the nut separates when freed from its skin (fig. 9. ¢.),
142 LETTER X.
are the cotyledons; the little conical part at one end
(e.) is the radicle, and the small scale-like body which
lies between them in the inside (d.) is the plumule,
or young stem.
Still more curious than those of the Hazel are the
changes that occur during the growth of the fruit of
other genera of the Oak tribe. In the Oas itself the
involucre is formed of a great many rows of scales,
which gradually grow larger and harder, and more
numerous, and at last become what you call the cup
of the acorn; a part you would never have guessed
could have been made out of a number of little leaves,
if you had not watched their successive changes.
The ovary at first contains three cells, and each cell
two young seeds; but in obedience to the constant
command of nature, one of the seeds grows faster
than the rest, presses upon the other cells and seeds,
gradually crushes them, till at last, when the acorn
is ripe, all trace of them has disappeared.
In the Beech, the involucre originally consists of a
vast quantity of little thread-like leaves, which en-
close a couple of pistils. These leaves gradually grow
together, and over the pistils, so as to form a prickly
hollow case, which completely encloses the nuts ; at
last, the case rends open spontaneously into three or
four woody pieces, and makes room for the nuts, or
mast, to fall out. As in the Oak, one of the ovules
destroys all the others, so that out of six young
seeds, but one is found in the ripe nut; here, how-
ever, you may generally find the five that have
THE OAK TRIBE. 143
perished remaining like little brown specks, sticking
to the top of the cell of the nut.
In the Sweet Chesnut, alterations in character, and
the destruction of one thing by another are carried
still further. In that plant, the imvolucre, which,
when full-grown, is a hollow case, covered over with
rigid spines, was in the beginning a number of little
leaves which gradually grew together as in the Beech ;
they kept acquiring with their age a greater degree of
rigidity ; their veins separated, and formed clusters
of spines, till at last the whole surface of the husk
was covered with little spiny stars; each star was
in the beginning a leaf, and its rays the veins of the
leaf. ‘The pistils each contained six or seven cells,
with a couple of ovules in each; yet the ripe nut has
only one seed: so that in the course of the growth
of a chesnut no fewer than six cells, and thirteen
ovules are destroyed by the seed which actually
grows.
I feel sure you will now agree with me, that if any
plants can be said to exhibit themselves in a masque-
rade dress, these are they; for without this expla-
nation, who could have supposed that the husk of
the filbert, of the beech, and of the chesnut, were
all of the same nature, and constructed upon the
same plan as the cup of the acorn; and especially,
who could have supposed that the chesnut, with its
single seed, could ever have originated from an ovary
of seven cells and fourteen ovules.
It is among these trees that you will find the best
specimens of the Exogenous structure of the wood of
144 LEDTER: xX.
Dicotyledonous plants, a subject upon which I as yet
have said almost nothing. Get a branch of Hazel,
Beech or Oak, and divide it horizontally, so as to
have a view of the whole of the inside from one side
to the other, the section forming a circle which is
bounded by the bark. Let the section be rendered
smooth bya sharp knife or a plane, so that all the
parts may be distinctly seen; you will then remark
in the centre a pale roundish spot, which a glass will
shew to be formed of a soft spongy substance: it is
the piru, a cellular provision of nature for the support
of the young buds when they are too weak to obtain
food from more distant sources. Next the pith follow
several rings of woop, each of which is composed of
an infinite number of tubes, and was the produce of
one year’s growth, so that the number of the rings
tells you the number of years the branch has been in
acquiring its present size; the most external of the
rings is the youngest, and also the palest, while the
most internal or the oldest is of a deep brown colour ;
the pale is called the sarwoop, the brown the HEARt-
woop ; the latter, which is much more durable than
the former, is filled with a substance of a hardening
nature, which was originally formed in the leaves,
and which is stored up by Providence in the centre of
the stem, where it lies beyond the reach of accident
or injury, until old age comes and produces decay ;
originally the heartwood was sapwood, and that
which is sapwood now, would have become _heart-
wood in a few years, if you had not cut off the
branch. It is in the sapwood chiefly that the vital
STRUCTURE OF DICOTYLEDONOUS WOOD. 145
energy of the stem resides, and it is through it that
the sap rises in the spring for the supply of the buds
and leaves ; an Exogenous tree can therefore lose the
whole of its inside without suffering much diminution
of growth, so long as the sapwood remains uninjured,
and this is the reason why trees that are hollow go on
growing century after century, just as if their inside
were still sound. On the outside of the wood is the
bark, which binds up and protects all the other parts,
and down which the returning current of sap descends
towards the roots.
Next carry your eye attentively over the section,
from the bark to the pith, and you will remark that a
number of fine pale lines are drawn as it were from
one to the other, forming delicate but broken rays ;
these lines, which are composed of flattened cells,
and named MEDULLARY RAYS, are in reality the ends
of extremely thin plates connecting the pith and
the bark together; they perform an important part
in the system of vegetation, for it is they which con-
vey the descending sap from the bark to the centre
of the stem ; it therefore is they which are the cause
of the production of heartwood, and all trees without
them must be destitute of it; as is the case with
monocotyledonous plants, which are always softest
in the centre.
Thus you see the sap, which rises from the roots is
carried upwards in the sapwood, down again in the
bark, and latterly into the hidden recesses of the
trunk, by the medullary rays, all three currents
L
146 LETTER X.
moving at the same instant, but without the slightest
interference with each other.
Can any thing be more admirably adjusted than all
this? By means of a system of tubes and cells va-
riously arranged, the whole of the important business
of the conveyance of food to the leaves, and of the
peculiar properties formed there from the leaves to
the centre of the stem, and down to the extremest
roots, is carried on in the most certain and effectual
manner, even in the loftiest and most gigantic forest
trees. Only conceive what a wonderful combination
of powers must be provided to enable a tiny leaf, not
perhaps half an inch long, on the highest branch of
a tree, to procure its food from roots sometimes 250
feet off, or at a distance equal to six thousand times
its own length.
But I must not dwell further upon this subject, in-
teresting as it is; to works on Vegetable Physiology
you must refer for a full elucidation of all such
matters.
Bearing in mind, that the Oak tribe is constantly
known by its imperfect apetalous flowers, and its
singular involucre, you are in no danger of forgetting
it. Formerly, the Birch and Alder, the Poplar and
Willow, and the Plane, were considered as also be-
longing to it; and the whole were called Amentaceous,
because of their stamen-bearing flowers being con-
stantly arranged in catkins, or amenta, as they are
technically designated. But these trees are so ex-
tremely dissimilar in other respects, that they now
form several independent tribes.
147
Of the distinctions of these I shall by and bye give
you some account ; for the present, I must leave you
till you have examined for yourself, as you easily
may, the highly singular phenomena I have explained
to you.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE X.
I. Tae Marve or Peru Trise.—l. A flower of the Common
Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis Jalapa); a the thickened base of the calyx.
—2. The same part magnified, with the upper part of the calyx cut
away.—3. The fleshy base of the stamens a, from within which rises ~
the thread-shaped style, terminated by the stigma 6.—4. A perpen-
dicular section of the fleshy base of the stamens and pistil; @ the
base of the separate parts of the filaments; 6 the base of the style; ¢ the
ovule seen in consequence of a part of the shell of the ovary being cut
away.—5. Anthers.—6. A ripe nut; @ the closed up orifice of
the calyx.—7. A perpendicular section of the nut, shewing the fruit
standing erect in the inside of the hardened base of the calyx; ¢ the
base of the style; « the radicle, and 4 the cotyledons of the embryo
rolled round the mealy albumen d.
I]. Tue Oak Trise.—l. A twig of Hazel (Corylus Avellana); @
the stamen-bearing catkins; } the buds containing the pistils.—2. A
scale of the catkin, shewing the two-lobed body, and the stamens.—
3. A cluster of pistils bearing flowers, in a very young state, with only
one of the scales by which they are protected remaining.—4. A pistil-
bearing flower, inclosed in its involucre.—5. The same cut open; @
the calyx.—6. An ovary divided perpendicularly; @ the calyx.—7.
The same divided horizontally.—8. A ripe nut in its husk, or in-
volucre.—9. A nut cut through perpendicularly; @ the remains of
style; 5 remains of calyx; ¢ cotyledons; @ plumula; e radicle.
LETTER XI.
THE NETTLE TRIBE—WOODY FIBRE—THE BREADFRUIT
TRIBE—THE WILLOW TRIBE.
we
(Plate XI.)
rere terre ererercerecrereccrcerrere
Tue tribes of Dicotyledonous Plants, with only a
calyx to their flower, are far from being exhausted
with those we have already seen. On the contrary,
there is a great many races, the structure of which
is extremely curious. I must, however, be content
with selecting three of the commonest for further
illustration, and with referring you for a knowledge
of the remainder to the systematic works of Bota-
nists.
Let one of these be the Nettle Tribe ; we will not,
however, select the Nettie itself, because of its stings,
but begin with a harmless plant called Common Pel-
litory (Parietaria officinalis), which you may find
every where on old walls, or in dry waste places.
This species grows either prostrate, or erect, 1s very
much branched, has reddish stems and leaves, and
clusters of minute reddish-green flowers in the bosom
of the leaves (Plate XI. fig. 1.). Over all its surface
are scattered stiffish hairs, which do not sting, but
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THE ‘NETTLE TRIBE. 149
which would if they were stiff enough. At the base
of each leaf is a pair of shrivelled brownish sti-
pules.
The flowers of this plant are of three sorts, those
which have stamens only, those which have stamens
and a pistil, and those which have a pistil only. As
the first and second are constructed alike, let us
consider them as essentially the same; especially as
their pistil is seldom perfect. To each of these flowers
there is a calyx with four hairy divisions (fig. 2 & 3.) ;
opposite to each division is a stamen ; and in the centre
is a pistil more or less imperfect. The filaments are
worthy of examination; their lower end is firm,
smooth and fleshy; but it abruptly alters to a
withered shrivelled part, so dissimilar in aspect that
you would think it must be a distinct organ. Before
the flower opens the shrivelled part is pressed down
by the segments of the calyx, which are finally forced
asunder by the filaments with force, so that the
flower opens with some degree of elasticity; a pro-
vision, in all probability, to secure the scattering
of the pollen, by which the distant pistils may be
reached.
The flowers that contain the pistils are mixed
among the others, and like them consist of a calyx
with four divisions ; but as this contains no stamens,
its figure is not roundish, but sharp-pointed, like
that of the ovary, to the surface of which it is closely
applied. The pistil consists of one ovary containing
a single seed (fig. 7.), of a thread-like style, and of
a pin-headed stigma, the little fringes of which
150 LETTER Xi
spread in all directions, and are admirably contrived
to catch the grains of pollen floating in the air.
The fruit is an oval shining blackish lenticular grain
(fig. 8.), which contains a single seed, with an in”
verted embryo lying in the midst of fleshy albumen
(fig. 9.)-
Such is essentially the manner in which all the
remainder of the Nettle tribe is organized. Pistils
and stamens in different flowers, leaves covered with
rough or stinging hairs, elastic stamens, and lenticular
grains, are common to them all.
Nettles, which are so remarkable for the intolerable
pain, and even the sometimes highly dangerous ef-
fects caused by their stinging hairs, differ from Pel-
litory chiefly in their pistil-bearing flowers having a
calyx of two sepals.
Hops have not only a twining stem, and their
pistil-bearing flowers collected in leafy heads, but
are also known by having five stamens in each sterile
flower, and the pistils and stamens on different plants.
Finally, Hemp, which also belongs to the Nettle
tribe, has the calyx of the pistil-bearing flowers slit
on one side, two unequal styles, and five stamens in
the sterile flowers. ‘The peculiar tenacity of the stems
of Hemp is not uncommon in other plants of the same
natural order, and may even be considered charac-
teristic of it.
Considering the many important purposes to
which the Hemp is applied, and the prodigious
strength that it possesses when twisted into ropes,
you will probably be curious to know something of
WOODY FIBRE. tsk
the exact nature of the part which is capable of
being converted to these great purposes. In that case
you must have recourse to your microscope; be-
neath which you may place a little tow, the threads
of which are separated, and float in water. At first
sight, with a weak magnifying-glass, you will discern
no distinct organization in these threads; they will
look like dark lines of about the thickness of a fine
human hair; but if you bruise them and tear them
about in the water with the point of a couple of
needles, you will in time succeed in separating each
of the threads into a very considerable number of
exceedingly fine parts, which you may discern, by
increasing the magnifying power of your microscope,
to be transparent tubes, composed of a tough mem-
brane, and tapering to each extremity like bristles ;
these are glued together in bundles which constitute
the finest threads that are visible to the naked eye.
Their business is not simply to grow in the inside of a
plant, in order that man may pull them out and ap-
ply them to his own purposes; they have a far higher
and more important office to fulfil. It is they which
give strength and toughness to every part, and which
enable the stem and the leaf to wave about in the
breeze or to bend before the storm without breaking ;
they are placed as a sort of sheath all round such
tender parts as the spiral vessels, which are enabled
within their safeguard to perform their delicate func-
tions with certainty and security ; and, finally, it is
they which act as so many water-pipes to convey the
fluids of plants with rapidity from one part to‘ano-
52 LETTER Gu
ther; up the wood, along the veins of the leaves to
their extremest points, back again into the stem, and
down the bark towards the roots. When plants have
no woody fibre, they are universally so delicate and
weak as to be unable either to raise themselves in the
air, or to withstand any violence, as we see in mosses,
lichens, mushrooms, and such plants.
You will probably be surprised when I tell you
that the ig TZree is so nearly the same in structure
as the Nettle, that many Botanists consider it to
belong to the same tribe; and you may possibly be
tempted to exclaim with some who have not considered
the subject very attentively, ‘‘ How absurd to place
the Nettle and the Fig together in the same natural
group!” J must admit that this does appear strange
until the reason is pointed out; and I trust you will
admit that itis clearly right when the reason shall
have been explained to you.
Let us then see what a Fig Tree is. It is an Exo-
genous plant with leaves covered with very stiff short
hairs, and with a pair of stipules at their base ; so isa
Nettle. It has flowers with stamens and pistils sepa-
rate: so has a Nettle ; its flowers have no corolla, and
the pistil is a little simple body, which changes, when
ripe, to a very small flat grain; all which is exactly
what we find in the Nettle. In the essential parts of
their structure the two plants then are alike. But
where are the flowers of the Fig, you will inquire ;
you can see nothing but a thick oval green body,
which you know will turn to fruit, and which there-
fore ought to be the flower; here, however, you must
THE BREADFRUIT TRIBE. 153
again be prepared to meet with natural wonders.
The thick oval green body is a hollow box, or recep-
tacle ; within it in darkness and obscurity are reared
the flowers, which, like the beggars’ children in the
caverns among the fortifications of Lille, are so de-
formed and pallid as hardly to be recognised. Cut a
young fig open; the whole of its inside is bristling
with sterile and fertile flowers, the former having five
stamens, and the latter a jagged calyx, with a little
white pistil sticking up in the midst of it. ‘This
pistil, when ripe, becomes a flat round brown grain,
which is lost among the pulp of the fleshy and juicy
receptacle, where you eat it, and call it a seed.
The difference then between the Nettle and the
Fig Tree consists not in the structure of the stem, or
of the leaves, or of the calyx, or stamens, or pistils,
or fruit properly so called ; but in the hollow fleshy
receptacle within which the flowers are forced to pass
through their different stages. This kind of differ-
ence is, however, of a very unimportant kind; and
not greater than you find between the Strawberry and
the Rose, about whose relation to each other every
one is agreed.
For these reasons, both the Fig and the Nettle
are by some considered to belong to the same natural
order; there is, however, a difference that I have
not mentioned, and which is important; the juice of
the nettle is watery, while that of the Fig is milky ;
on which account other Botanists consider the Fig to
be the representative of a natural order, distinct from
that of the Nettle, but in the closest affinity with it.
154 LETTER XI.
To this natural order belong the Breadfrwt tree
(after which it 1s called the Breadfruit tribe), the
Mulberry, and many other exotic trees. For their
milkiness they are all most remarkable ; it is usually
of a somewhat acrid nature, as you may find in the
Fig itself; sometimes is highly poisonous as in the
Upas tree of Java and some Indian species of Fig ;
or is again quite harmless and even nutritious in the
Cow tree of South America, to the trunks of which
the Indians repair in the morning with their jugs
and pails, just as the milkmaids of Europe to their
cows. It is, however, probable that in this instance
the milk is harmless only at a certain period of the
year, before the venomous principle is formed ; for a
West Indian plant called Brosimum, the young shoots
of which afford a wholesome food for cattle, 1s very
nearly the same as the Cow tree, and its old shoots
are poisonous. ‘The Fig itself would not be fit to eat
if gathered green, because at that time the fruit
abounds in milk ; but when it is ripe all the milk has
dispersed, and then only it becomes the wholesome
fruit with which we are so well acquainted.
Let this be a lesson to you never to judge hastily
of the affinities of plants, but to remember that it is
structure alone, and not vague external resemblances
or differences by which their relations are determined
botanically.
The last of the tribes without corolla, which I shall
be able to lay before you, is one that is constructed
with still more simplicity than the last. They had
at least a calyx, but this has neither calyx nor corolla,
THE WILLOW TRIBE. 1535
nor any sort of covering to the stamens, beyond the
seale-like bracts, out of the bosom of which the sta-
mens or the pistils arise. ‘These plants are Poplars
and Willows, which together form the Willow tribe
(Plate XI. 2.). Their flowers grow in catkins (figs.
1 & 4.)—those beautiful silky bodies, glittering as
it were with gold and silver, which are hailed by
northern nations as the earliest harbingers of spring,
and gathered for festivals under the name of Palms
near London, and of gostlings in some part of Eng-
land. The stamens are upon one plant, the pistils
upon another. ‘The former are one, or two, or three, or
five, or more, to each bract (figs. 2. & 3.); the latter
are seated singly within a bract, and consist of an
ovary, having one cell with many seeds, and a lobed
stigma (fig. 5.). The fruit consists of hollow cases,
which split into two valves (fig. 6.), and discharge a
multitude of small seeds, covered with fine hair or
wool (fig. 7.), like the seeds of the cotton plant. On
these downy pinions the seeds will fly to great dis-
tances and scatter themselves over the whole face of
the country. The Willow is absolutely without any
trace of calyx; the Poplar has a sort of membranous
cup, which may be considered the rudiment of one.
In taking leave of these imperfectly formed orders,
I would recommend you to reduce their characters to
an analytical form, in order to see their differences the
more distinctly. You may do this in many ways,
of which the following will serve as an example.
Two of them have the sepals combined into a tubu-
lar calyx, namely, the Protea and Marvel of Peru
156 LETTER XI;
tribes; of which the former has hard leaves and
stamens placed opposite the sepals, and the latter
soft leaves, with the bottom of the calyx forming a
bony covering to the ripe fruit.
Two others have their male flowers arranged in
catkins, namely the Oak and the Willow tribes, of
which the former has closed fruit seated in an in-
volucre or cup, and the latter opening fruit without
any inyolucre.
Finally, the three that are remaining, namely, the
Amaranth, Nettle, and Breadfruit tribes, are at once
known by the first having smooth leaves, without sti-
pules, while the two last have rough or stinging leaves
with stipules.
These peculiarities may be expressed in a tabular
form thus :—
leaves hard, calyx all dropping off
seu The Protea tribe.
or withering away.
Calyx '
tubular ) jeaves soft, calyx forming with its | The Marvel of Peru
base a bony covering to the fruit tribe.
i i6 rey an taveluere ¢ The Oak tribe
flowers in in an involucre
catkins 4
Aint wa eres : The Willow tribe.
Calyx without an involucre
not leaves smooth, ;
tubular without stipules The Amaranth tribe.
flowers not juice watery—The
in catkins ( Nettle tribe.
leaves rough, or
stinging, with ” juice milky—The
stipules Breadfruit tribe.
Our next visit will be to far more beautiful subjects.
157
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XI.
I. Tue Netrie Trisr.—l. A piece of Common Pellitory (Pa-
rietaria officinalis).—2. The calyx of a sterile flower, with the sta-
mens projecting.—3. The same cut open.—4. An anther.—5. A
fertile flower.—6. A pistil.—7. An ovary cut through perpendicu-
larly, shewing the position of the ovule-—8. A ripe fruit.—9. The
same cut through perpendicularly, shewing the position of the
embryo within the albumen.—10. An embryo.
Il. Toe Wittow Trise.—l. A catkin of sterile flowers of the
Monandrous Willow.—2. A single sterile flower of the Fellow Osier
(Salix yitellina), with the gland, a, at its base.—3. The same with
the bract that belongs to it.—4. A catkin of the fertile flowers of the
Yellow Osier.—5. The pistil with its gland, a, and its bract, 6.—
6. A seed-vessel ejecting the seeds.—7. A seed with its down.—
8. A seed without the down.—9. An embryo with the cotyledons
separated.
LETTER XII.
THE HEATH TRIBE—THE BINDWEED TRIBE.
(Plate XII.)
One
Ler me now introduce you to an extremely beau-
tiful set of plants, in which you will find nothing but
the most charming colours, set off by so clear a com-
plexion, and such perfect forms, that there is little
comparable to them in the whole vegetable kingdom.
Very different from the tribes we have lately seen, so
far are they from wanting a corolla that they possess
that part in a most highly expanded state; not, how-
ever, consisting of several distinct petals,:as in all
the natural orders we at first examined, but having
the petals grown together into a cup or bell or hol-
low body of some kind, and only separate at their
upper ends. These corollas are technically named
-monopetalous, or one-petaled ; a very bad designation
because the corolla consists in reality of many petals
in a united state; but the word was invented when
the real nature of such a corolla was unknown, and
custom has established what error first promulgated.
It is to the various tribes of Monopetalous Dicotelydons
that we are now to direct our attention.
The Heath tribe, which iswhat I at first alluded
to, stands pre-eminent among such plants for its love-
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THE HEATH TRIBE. 159
liness; and it is very easily known. We will say
nothing about its leaves, firstly, because they are va-
riable in appearance ; and, secondly, because it is now
time we should leave off testing the Dicotyledonous
character of a plant at every step; for you must by
this time have begun to recognize, with certainty, the
features of that primary class, without attention to
its technical distinctions. It is in the flowers that
the great peculiarities of the tribe are conspicuous.
Let us take any Heath for an examination; that which
I have at hand is the “ Hispid’ (Erica hispida),
so called on account of the little stiffish hairs with
which it is covered on every part. Like nearly the
whole of the genus, it is a native of the Cape of Good
Hope, where extensive tracts are covered with count-
less species of all manner of forms and colours. ‘The
Hispid Heath has a calyx of four sepals (Plate XII. 1.
fig. 2. a); and a corolla looking like a hollow globe,
with four short teeth at one end; it is of the clearest
pink; you may see its veins through the skin, so
transparent is every part; and their arrangement will
reveal to you the fact of this hollow globe being in
reality composed of four petals, so completely united
at their edges that nothing but their points is to be
distinguished.
Arising from beneath the ovary, and perfectly sepa-
rate from the corolla, are eight stamens ( fig. 3.), each
of which has a slender filament, and a singular pur-
ple anther, with two distinct lobes, shaped like the
two prongs of a fork, and opening by a hole at their
upper end. ‘This character of holes in the end of the
160 LETTER’ XH.
anther is one of those that are essential to the Heath
tribe.
The ovary (fig. 6.) is a hairy body containing four
cells and a great many ovules ; it is termimated by a
style having a flat purple stigma, with four little
projections on it, corresponding with the number of
cells in the ovary. ‘This in time changes to a dry
fruit that bursts into valves, for the escape of a count-
less multitude of seeds as fine as grains of sand,
they are frequently terminated by delicate crests or
wings of different figures ( figs. 8. & 9.), and are beau-
tiful microscopic objects.
Now in this description you are to consider the
hypogynous stamens, and the anthers with pores im them,
as the most essential characters of the natural order,
and they will, in fact, enable you to distinguish it
from all others. It is principally in the breadth of
the leaves, in the size and form of the flowers, in the
texture of the fruit, and in the number of divisions
of the corolla and stamens that the genera vary :
they all agree in those common characters.
For instance, the Ardutus is like a Heath, but it
has broad leaves, ten stamens, and fleshy fruit, which
gives rise to its common name of the Strawberry tree,
and which renders it so noble an ornament of the
romantic waters of Killarney.
Andromeda again, with her countless blushing or
snow-white flowers, and glossy or powdery evergreen
leaves, is like the Arbutus, only the fruit is a dry
capsule, opening by valves.
Rhododendron and Azalea, on the contrary, have
THE BINDWEED TRIBE. 161
corollas that spread open at the mouth, with unequal
divisions, and with stamens bent towards one side ;
while Kalmia has cup-shaped corollas with ten little
niches in which the anthers are nipped up, so that
when the flower expands, the filaments are all curved
downwards away from the pistil, as if the corolla
was unwilling to allow them to touch it; but stir the
filament with a pin, at the time when the anther is
ready to shed its pollen, and in an instant the
stamen starts up, and approaches the anther to the
stigma.
All these plants are so well known, from being
the pride of the American garden, that I have
only to name them to recall them to your memory.
Considering how very handsome they are, and how
innocent is their aspect, you would scarcely sup-
pose that venom lurked beneath their charms ; they
will, however, serve as an instance of how little you
may trust to appearances, even among flowers; for
both the Rhododendron, the Kalmia, and the An-
dromeda, have not only noxious leaves and branches,
but their very honey is poison; as has been too
fatally experienced by those who have fed of the
produce of the hives of Trebizonde.
Extremely different from these is the tribe of Bind-
weeds (Plate XII. 2.), of which the wild Convolvulus,
at once the pride and pest of our English hedges, and
the not less beautiful but more harmless Jpomea of
the gardens are the representatives. These plants,
like the Heath tribe, are monopetalous, but they have
a twining stem, and corollas that are neatly plaited
M
162 LETTER XIt.
when they close, like the paper purses that are made
for children. These corollas open and close under
the influence of light or darkness, some opening
only in the day, others only in the night, and in one
case (Ipomoea sensitiva) they are so sensitive, that
they contract beneath the touch like the leaves of
the Mimosa. ‘The calyx of the Bindweed consists of
five sepals, which overlie each other so sompletely,
that you can seldom perceive more than the two
outermost. The fruit (fig. 5.) contains three or four
cells, and a very small number of seeds, the embryo
of which ( fig. 7.) is doubled up in the most curious
way, just as if there were not room enough within
the seed for it to grow. The roots of many of them
are large and fleshy ; they possess powerful medicinal
properties, and are fit for food only in the case of the
Sweet Potatoe (Convolvulus Batatas), which was so
much esteemed before the common Potatoe displaced
it in Europe.
To this tribe also belongs an odd little plant called
Dodder (Cuscuta). Have you never remarked upon
the stems of the Heath, or Nettles, or of the Furze,
clusters of stout reddish cords which are so twisted
and intertwined that you would take them for a knot
of young snakes, if the colour first, and then their
touch did not undeceive you. If ever you have ob-
served so strange an appearance you have seen
Dodder, which, originally earth-born, soon lays hold of
some neighbouring plant, twists her leafless shoots
around it, fixes them firmly to the branches, quits her
hold of the soil, and thenceforward, as if ashamed of
THE BINDWEED TRIBE. 163
her humble origin, feeds only upon dews and rain,
till the frost comes, nips her tender frame, and leaves
her dead and shrivelled form still clinging to its place :
a monument of the punishment of vegetable ambi-
tion. ‘This strange plant is of the Bindweed tribe ;
but is extremely imperfect; leaves it has none, except
a few stunted scales, and its flowers are little white
things collected in close clusters. The fruit consists
of membranous capsules, in each of which are two
cells and four seeds.
I must now leave you to hunt for Dodder, and to
study her singular habits if you can find her, till I
have leisure to resume my pen.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII.
I, Tae Heatu Trise.—l. A shoot of Hispid Heath (Erica
hispida).—2. A flower; a, the sepals.—3. The stamens and pistil—4.
and 5 anthers.—6. A pistil cut open, shewing the arrangement of the
ovules within the ovary.—7. The ripe fruit of Rhododendron, natural
size; a, a central receptacle of seeds, from which the valves separate.
—8. A seed very highly magnified; a, the hilum, or scar where the
seed separated from the receptacle——9. The same cut through per-
pendicularly, shewing the embryo lying in the midst of albumen.
I]. Tae Brnpweep Trise.—1. A shoot of Dwarf Convolvulus
(Convolvulus tricolor).—2. The stigma.—3. A stamen.—4. The ovary
divided perpendicularly, shewing the manner in which the ovules
grow.—5. The ripe fruit.—6. A seed.—7. The same cut through
perpendicularly; a, the radicle of the embryo ; 4, the hilum, or scar
where the seed separated from the receptacle.
M2
LETTER XIII.
THE GENTIAN TRIBE—THE OLIVE TRIBE—
THE JASMINE TRIBE.
(Plate XIII.)
Ir there is any one tribe of plants in nature, the
colours of whose flowers are more intensely vivid,
and the foliage neater, and the whole aspect prettier
than any other, it is that which comprehends the
different species of Centaury, and the beautiful Alpine
Gentians with their flowers of azure or yellow, ‘This
which is called the Gentian tribe, belongs to the Mono-
petalous division of Dicotyledonous plants, among
which it is usually known by the leaves, which are
opposite each other on the stem, being ribbed (that is,
having two, or four, or more strong veins parallel
with the midrib), and extremely bitter. The flowers
are also constructed upon a peculiar plan. The
calyx consists of four or five sepals more or less
united, the corolla has the plaited appearance that I
mentioned in the Bindweeds, with all its divisions
equal to each other ; there are four or five stamens,
and a superior ovary, with two many-seeded cells,
and a two-lobed stigma.
All this you will find in the Gentianella (Gentiana
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THE GENTIAN TRIBE. 165
acaulis, Plate XIII. 1.), a plant that you can-
not fail to procure from the first good garden you
enter. It indicates the presence of the bitter sto-
machic qualities for which the Gentian of the shops
is so much employed, and you may be quite sure
that they exist in any wild species in which a similar
structure is discoverable. Thus we have in our
marshes what is called the Calathian Violet (Gentiana
Pneumonanthe), with narrow leaves, and a corolla
greenish externally, but a lovely azure within; and
on our hills, or sea-cliffs, a branchy dwarf plant with
rose-coloured blossoms (Erythrza Centaurium), called
Centaury ; in both these the same bitterness occurs,
and they both may be used just as well for domestic
bitters as the exotic drug of the shops.
The Gentian tribe is not a very extensive one; the
principal part of it is met with in the tropical coun-
tries of South America ; a few species, called Chironias,
from the Cape of Good Hope, exist in green-houses ;
another group, of almost uncultivable habits but
great beauty, called Sabbatias, is found in North
America; and the remainder, which are chiefly
Gentians, are found all over the milder and more
alpine parts of Europe and Asia; in the Swiss Alps,
on Caucasus, and on the Himalayan mountains of
India, they enamel the sward with blossoms of such
intense brilliancy, that the eye can scarcely rest
upon them.
From some unexplained cause the plants of this
tribe are generally so difficult to manage in England,
that with the exception of three or four robust species,
166 LETTER XIII.
the most skilful gardeners cannot keep them alive :
were it otherwise, there are none which it would be
so easy and so desirable to procure from foreign
countries.
Brief as my remarks upon this tribe have been,
you will find that they are sufficient to enable you to
recognize it. Let me now turn to another.
It is a very unusual circumstance for monopetalous
plants to have only two stamens, unless the corolla is
irregular: that is to say, unless the parts of the corolla
are of unequal size. ‘There are, however, two natural
orders of which the essential character consists in the
presence of two stamens within a regular corolla.
Of these the Olive tribe is the more remarkable, and
that which I shall take for illustration. The Olive
itself is so uncommon in England, that it will be more
convenient to select the Privet for the plant by which
your notions of the tribe are to be formed.
The Prwet is a Dicotyledonous shrub, with opposite
leaves. Its calyx is a four-toothed cup: being com-
posed of four sepals united, except just at the tips
(Plate XIII. 2. fig. 4.). The corolla consists of four
equal petals, united half-way into a tube (fig. 1.),
and joining, before they expand, by their edges only.
The stamens are two, of a very common appearance.
The ovary is superior, and contains two cavities, from
the top of each of which hang two ovules (fig. 5. & 6.);
it is terminated by rather a thick style, and a two-
lobed stigma. To this succeeds a small round black
succulent fruit (fig. 7. & 8.), which usually contains
but one seed. This is all that you find im any others of
THE OLIVE TRIBE. 107
the Olive tribe, the organization of whose flowers is
remarkably uniform.
For example, the Olive has a shorter corolla and a
hard bony nut in its fruit; the Phillyrea, with its
beautiful deep-green leaves, is exactly like the Olive
in the structure of its fructification, but its nut 1s
brittle instead of bony; and the fragrant Lilac
(Syringa) differs from all these in its longer corollas,
and in its fruit being dry, and splitting mto two
valves.
Simple as is the character of the Olive tribe, and
uniform as the genera usually are in their structure,
there is one most remarkable exception, which I should
not omit to notice. The Ash (Fraxinus), which you
know by its smooth and graceful trunk, and by the
airy appearance of its light and elegant foliage, is a
plant without any corolla, and yet it belongs to the
Olive tribe. It may seem exceedingly strange that a
plant which has no corolla should be classed with
those which have a perfect monopetalous one, and if
such a thing were to happen in an artificial system it
would be extremely improper, but in a natural ar-
rangement all sengle characters are subordinate to the
mass of characters, and, when they do not accord with
the usual structure, form exceptions to general rules.
Thus, as the Ash agrees with the Olive tribe in every
character except the absence of the corolla; that
absence is only reckoned an exception to the general
fact that the Olive tribe has a monopetalous corolla.
It happens that we possess a striking proof, beyond
what the fructification affords, that the Ash and Olive
168 LETTER XIII.
are both very nearly related to each other. It is well
known that no tree can be either budded or grafted
upon another, unless they are extremely nearly related
by natural ties; the Olive may be grafted upon the
Ash, and consequently the inference that is drawn
from the construction of the flowers is confirmed by
the physical properties of the two plants.
I told you but a short time since that there were
two monopetalous natural orders with regular flowers,
in which there are only two stamens. The one
to which as yet no allusion has been made, is the
Jasmine tribe, to which belong the many fragrant
plants which bear that name. These are known by
a most simple character from the Olive tribe; the
edges of the divisions of their corolla, instead of being
exactly fitted to each other before the flowers ex-
pand, overlie each other m the bud, and slide off
each other when they unfold. These differences
give rise to two technical expressions which I cannot
do better than explain to you on the present occa-
sion.
We call the manner in which the parts of the
flower are folded up in the bud the estivation ; and
we apply the term either to the calyx or corolla, or
stamens, or pistils, with some qualifying adjective.
When two parts are placed together, edge to edge, so
that one does not lie at all upon the other, those parts
are said to be valvate, and when they do lie upon each
other, they are said to be imbricated, or tiled, im al-
lusion to the manner in which tiles (called in Latin
imbrices) are placed upon the roof of a house. These
169
terms are frequently coupled in speaking of the
corolla: of which the Olive and Jasmine tribes afford
a striking example. The former is said to have a
valvate estivation, the latter an imbricated estivation.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIII.
I. Toe Gentian Trise.—A plant of Gentianella (Gentiana
acaulis).—1. The lower part of a corolla, with the five stamens at-
tached to it.—2. A pistil—3. An anther.—4. A ripe fruit dividing
into two valves a, and invested with the withered remains of the
calyx and corolla.
II. Toe Oxive Trise.—l. A flower of the Privet (Ligustrum
vulgare).—2. The face of an anther.—3. The back of one-—4. A
calyx with its pistil—®5. The same cut through perpendicularly,
shewing the ovules hanging in the cells of the ovary.—6. A horizon-
tal section of the same.—7. A cluster of ripe berries.—8. A fruit eut
through, with a view of the single seed and the embryo within it;
a the second cell, which is nearly obliterated by the pressure of the
seed upon it.—9. A seed extracted from the pulp.—10. The same
cut across.—11. The embryo taken out.
LETTER XIV.
THE HARE-BELL TRIBE—THE LOBELIA TRIBE—THE
HONEYSUCKLE TRIBE—THE COFFEE TRIBE.
rene
(Plate XIV.)
From the Olives of Italy, with their dingy foliage,
and imperishable wood, let us turn to our own innocent
native Hare-bells, whose modest beauty amply recom-
penses us for the absence of the gaudy, scented, and
often venomous flowers of more southern climates.
In this plant we find the representative of an exten-
sive natural order, the species of which are scattered
over all Europe and the cooler parts of Asia and
America, dwelling in dells and dingles, by the banks
of rivers, in shady groves, on the sides of mountains,
and even on the summit of the lower Alps, where the
last lingering traces of vegetation struggle with an
atmosphere that neither plant nor animal can well
endure.
We know the Hare-bell tribe only in its humblest
state, bedecked with no other ornament than a few
blue or purple nodding flowers; but in foreign
countries, it acquires a far more striking appearance.
On the mountains of Switzerland, there are species
with corollas of pale yellow, spotted with black; on
a AES eS
Fics LE tokls
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THE HARE-BELL TRIBE. 171
the Alps of India are others of the deepest purple
that can be conceived: on the rocks of Madeira lives
one which was formerly not uncommon in our gar-
dens (Musschia aurea), whose corollas are of a rich
golden yellow ; and finally, in the pastures of the Cape
of Good Hope are Roellas, the flowers of which are
elegantly banded with streaks of violet or rose passing
into white.
Let us, however, confine ourselves, in the first in-
stance, to the true Hare-bell genus. In every shady
lane there grows a diminutive herb, with little grassy
leaves, and a few blue bell-shaped nodding flowers ;
this is the real Hare-bell, which Botanists call the xound-
leaved Campanula ; you will wonder why it is so called,
since its leaves are narrow, like those of a grass; but
if you pull it up by its roots, you will then find that
the lowest of all the leaves have a roundish outline,
from which circumstance it derives its name. You
who live in the country will take this species for ex-
amination; but I am obliged to step into a garden
for a subject, and I have selected a species found in
thickets in the Ukraine, from which it is named
Campanula ucranica; either will answer the purpose
equally well.
The calyx of the plant has five deep divisions
(Plate XIV. 1.), which spread regularly away from
the base of the corolla, and from the top of the ovary.
The corolla has very regularly the figure of a bell,
except that it is too narrow at the base ; its borders is
divided into five lobes, which shew that it is made
up of five petals, and it is veined in a pretty and
L772 LETTER XIV.
peculiar manner. From the base of the corolla, and
consequently from the summit of the ovary, spring
five stamens (fig. 1.), whose filaments are broad,
firm, and fringed (fig. 2.), curving inwards at the
base, and bending over the top of the ovary, as if to
guard it from injury; their points touch the style,
and keep the anthers parallel, and in contact with it,
till they shrivel up and fall back, which happens
immediately after the flower unfolds. The style is a
taper stiff column, about the length of the corolla,
and longer than the stamens. It is covered all over,
up to the very tips of the stigma, with stiff hairs (fig.
4.) which nature has provided to sweep the pollen
out of the cells of the anthers, as the style passes
through them in lengthening; if it were not for this
simple but effectual contrivance, as the anthers burst
as soon as ever the corolla opens, their pollen would
drop out of the nodding flowers and be lost before the
stigma was expanded and ready to receive the ferti-
lizing influence; the hairs of the style catch the
pollen and keep it till insects, wind, or accident brush
it down upon the inverted stigmas.
Next let us look at the ovary. ‘This organ is in
the Hare-bell a case containing three cavities or cells
(fig. 3.), surrounding a central axis; im each cell
there is a large fleshy receptacle, over which is
spread a multitude of ovules. After the stigma is
fertilized, the corolla and the stamens drop off, the
sepals harden, enlarge, and collapse, all the parts
become browner and thicker, stout ribs appear im the
substance of the ovary, which droops still more than
THE HARE-BELL TRIBE. 173
the flower itself ( fig. 5.), and at last a general dryness,
hardness, and brownness, announce that the ripening
of the fruit is accomplished. But how are the dust-
like seeds ever to find their way out of this lidless box,
or to penetrate its tough sides? Considering what
happens in so many other plants, we should natu-
rally expect that it would take place by a separation
of the edges of the three carpels into valves, near
their points; but upon looking at the top of the
ovary between the sepals, we find that part still
tougher than the sides, and without the slightest ap-
pearance of an opening. It is by a rending of the
thinnest part of the sides of the fruit, in the fork of
the three principal ribs (fig. 5. a.), that these
valves are produced, and that nature provides for |
the escape of the seeds; the rending takes place
upon the final drying of the sides of the fruit,
when every part becomes stretched so tight, that
any weak portion must of necessity give way. As
the stretching takes place with uniformity, and as the
skin at the forks of the ribs 1s always more tender
than any other part, the opening of the valves will
consequently occur with the same invariable certainty
as the formation of the seeds.
Do not, however, suppose that this curious contri-
vance is characteristic of the Hare-bell tribe: on the
contrary, it is only characteristic of the Hare-bell
genus ; for in other genera, the fruit opens by-a sepa-
ration of the points of the carpels in the usual way ;
the tension of the sides consequently does not take
place, and no lateral openings being necessary, none
are ever formed.
174 LETTER XIV.
Among the commoner genera, allied to the Hare-
bell, should be distinguished Phyteuma, some very
pretty species of which are found on the Alps of
Europe, and two, even in hedges in the south of
England, although very rarely ; this genus is known
from the Hare-bell by its corolla not being bell-shaped,
but split into five very long and narrow segments.
Wahlenbergia also, with the corolla of a Hare-bell, but
with the fruit opening at the points, is found in the damp
groves of Cornwall and Devonshire, in the shape of a
charming little ivy-leaved plant, creeping among the
turf, above which it raises its blueish drooping bells
(Wahlenbergia hederacea) ; and finally in corn-fields,
often enamelling the stubble im harvest time, appears
the hybrid Looking-glass flower (Specularia hybrida),
the corolla of which spreads flat round the stamens,
forming little rays with its petals ; its fruit sheds its
seeds through three slits in its angles.
The Hare-bell tribe is as harmless as it is beau-
tiful; the roots of some species are eaten under the
name of Rampion, the leaves of others are used in
Salads, and the bells afford an abundant supply of
honey to the bee. ‘The stems and roots abound in a
milky juice, which although in this case innoxious,
is usually a symptom of poisonous properties, and
which, in a neighbouring tribe, indicates the pre-
sence of the most fearful venom. As the gardens
contain many species of the deleterious group, called
_the Lobelia tribe, I cannot do better than take this
opportunity of explainmg to you how you may know
them.
Imagine a Hare-bell with its corolla split mto an
THE HONEYSUCKLE TRIBE. P75
irregular form, and its anthers grown together into a
cylinder through which the stigma projects, and you
will have a Lobelia, many of the species of which,
such as L. Cardinalis, fulgens and splendens, are the
admiration of gardeners, on account of their velvety
scarlet flowers. Put not your faith in these, for they
are all acrid in the most intense degree, and fatal
alike to animals and man. ‘They are very common
in tropical countries, and are chiefly American; some
of them are herbs like those we see in the gardens,
others are bushes, or even small trees. Two of the
rarest of British plants are the burning Lobelia (L.
urens) of Devonshire, and the water Lobelia (L.
Dortmanna), which inhabits the very bottom of moun-
tainous or northern lakes.
Resembling the Hare-bell tribe in its inferior ovary,
but far different in its essential characters, is the tribe
which takes its name from the Honeysuckle. ‘To
understand the structure of this, you cannot do better
than study the Honeysuckle itself (Plate XIV. 2.).
The leaves of that plant are placed opposite each
other with great uniformity ; the uppermost even
grow together at their base ; im no case do you find
even a trace of stipules, or any thing like them; a
material point, which I must beg you to remark.
The flowers have a roundish green inferior ovary
(fig. 1. a.), terminated by a very minute five-toothed
calyx, and containing three cells (fig. 3.), in each of
which hang two or three ovules. The corolla is a
tube, the end of which divides into two lips (fig. 1.),
one of which is narrow and undivided, the other cut
176 LETTER XIy.
into four rounded lobes: in reality, it 1s composed of
five petals, one of which is separate for about a quarter
of its length, and constitutes the undivided lip, while
the other four are united nearly to their very points,
and form the upper lip. Five stamens arise from the
tube of the corolla; the style is long and thread-
shaped, and ends in a pin-headed stigma. ‘The fruit
is a succulent berry, containing one or two bony seeds
( fig. 6.).
Such is the Honeysuckle, the essence of whose
character, consisting in having an inferior, many-
celled, few-seeded ovary, and monopetalous flowers,
is found in Symphoria, one of whose species bears
balls of snow-white fruit, whence it has gained the
name of Snow-berry ; and in the St. Peter’s Wort
(Diervilla), the fruit of which is dry and tapering.
It is here also that is stationed the interesting Linnea
borealis, with its delicate rosy bells, and creeping
stems; by which it is said that the humble and
neglected fate and early maturity of the great Swedish
naturalist, whose name it bears, were typified, at the
time it received its modern title.
Do not imagine that because the Honeysuckle
twines, and Linnea trails, all the tribes are twiners,
or trailers. On the contrary, if you are acquainted
with either the Snow-berry or the St. Peter’s Wort,
already mentioned, or with the Zartarian and Fly
Honeysuchles of the gardens, you will already be
aware that many species are upright branching
bushes. This is more particularly the case with
some other genera. The Elder, of which I long
THE COFFEE TRIBE. 177
since gave you a description (page 35), warning you
not to mistake it for an Umbelliferous plant, belongs
to the Honeysuckle tribe; and so do the Wayfaring
tree (Viburnum Lantana), and the Guelder Rose
(Viburnum Opulus), both of which are to be met with
in every shrubbery. At first sight, these plants seem
to be unlike the Honeysuckle, but study their struc-
ture carefully, remembering what it is that I have
told you is essential to the tribe, and you cannot
mistake their affinity. In fact, if they were twining
you would never have doubted it.
In North America there grows a plant of this tribe
with broad leaves, clusters of flowers sitting close in
their bosom, and yellow berries, called ‘Triosteum
perfoliatum, the seeds of which have proved the best
of all substitutes for Coffee. Knowing nothing of the
latter plant, you cannot have suspected that it was in
any way allied to the Honeysuckles; but the fact I
have now mentioned may excite a suspicion that it
may be so, as in reality it is.
Coffee (Coffea Arabica), the infusion of whose
seeds forms the beverage which is probably the most
universally grateful of all that the luxury of man
has prepared, belongs to a very extensive natural
order, almost confined to the warmer parts of the
world, comprehending the meanest weeds and the
most noble flowering trees, obscure herbs with blos-
soms that it almost requires a microscope to detect,
and bushes whose scarlet corollas are many inches
long ; and producing drugs invaluable to man for
their important medicinal properties. Ipecacuanha,
N
178 LETTER XIV.
Coffee, and various kinds of fever barks, especially
that of Peru, are among its useful products. Now, if
you gave the Honeysuckle tribe well defined stipules
at the base of the leaves, you would convert them into
plants of the Coffee tribe ; for, notwithstanding many
other differences in particular instances, the two
natural orders, viewed in a general manner, can
hardly be said to be absolutely distinguishable by
any other character. I would, therefore, recommend
you to take this as the true distinction, and not
to trouble yourself about further differences, unless
you intend to study Botany minutely. Coffee itself
consists of the seeds of the plant, divested of their
skins, and of a dark purple fleshy rind that enveloped
them. They are formed almost entirely of albumen,
in the base of which a very small embryo is placed.
A seed of any commom Honeysuckle (figs. 6. & 7.
Plate XIV. 2.) will shew you this; for, in all that
regards the seed, the Coffee tribe and the Honey-
suckles agree. I have said that Triosteum has proved
the best of all substitutes for Coffee; a circumstance
that will not now surprise you; but it is probable
that other plants of either the Honeysuckle or Coffee
tribes, would answer the purpose equally well, pro-
vided their seeds are large enough, and their albumen
of a hard horny texture.
179
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV.
I. Toe Hare-sett Trise.—A few flowers of the Ukraine Hare-
bell (Campanula ucranica).—1. The ovary a, with the stamens and
style, in the state in which they are found after the corolla has ex-
panded.—2. A stamen with its broad thick base.—3. A horizontal
section of the ovary, shewing the three cells and many seeds.—4. A
view of the hairy style and stigma, before the lobes of the latter sepa-
rate.—5. Aripe fruit; a, the holes through which the seeds escape.
—6. A seed.—7. The same cut perpendicularly, shewing the embryo.
Il. Tae Honeysuckie Tripe.—A piece of the Minorca Honey-
suckle (Caprifolium implexum).—1. A flower, with the inferior ovary.
—2. An anther, with the upper end of the filament.—3. A horizontal
section of an ovary, with the three cells, and the ovules cut through as
they hung in them.—4. A perpendicular section of an ovary, shew-
ing how the ovules hang from the top of the cavity.—). A little
cluster of fruit.—6. A seed.—7. The same cut through perpendicu-
larly, shewing the embryo.
LETTER XV.
THE BORAGE TRIBE—THE NIGHTSHADE TRIBE—
THE PRIMROSE TRIBE,
(Plate XV.)
ORAL LLL DOL ILS
I nore that you will have found the distinguishing
characters of all the Monopetalous orders we have
examined up to this time sufficiently clear and defi-
nite to be understood and remembered; and that as I
have been proceeding, you have been analysing their
distinctions after the plan of which some instances
have been already given you. Tor I am convinced
by long experience that this is the only sure way of
fixing such matters in the memory. As it is my In-
tention, after we shall have gone through the whole of
them, to analyse for you such of the Monopetalous
orders as I may select for illustration, it is unnecessary
for me to dwell as yet upon their mutual distinctions.
Let us, on the contrary, proceed, for the present,
steadily in our examination of other natural orders.
Of all the groups into which Botanists have di-
vided the Vegetable Kingdom, there 1s none which
combines uniformity of general appearance with
similarity in structure in a greater degree than
those rough-leavyed plants, which Linnzus used, on
Or Ge Of ay
She Lorage Aube
Black Nughlshade
LIBRARY.
OF [Ht
Aer see
weft ELF
THE BORAGE TRIBE. 181
that account, to call Asperifoliz, and which we know
by the name of the Borage tribe. Leaves covered
with rigid hairs, a regular monopetalous corolla, and
a four-lobed ovary, which changes into four seed-
like grains, form the peculiar character of this natu-
ral order, of which the Violet Alkanet (Anchusa ita-
lica) isa common and good illustration. In Botanic
gardens, or in collections of biennial plants, this is
an extremely common plant, so that I anticipate no
difficulty in your procuring it. Should you, how-
ever, be unable to procure it when this letter reaches
you, take a shoot of Morget-me-not, by which you
may also follow me. My reason for selecting the
Alkanet, is the large size of all its parts of fructifi-
cation.
The leaves of this plant have a fleshy texture and
a mucilaginous pulp; but their skin is covered with
hairs so stiff and sharp that they will prick the
fingers if drawn over them against the hairs. A
miscroscope will shew you that this is owing not so
much to the stiffness of the hairs themselves, as to a
hard stony base from which they arise, and which
if your magnifying power is strong enough, will be
found to consist of a cluster of very hard cells of
cellular tissue. When the leaves are young, this
hardness is less remarkable ; but as they grow old,
it becomes very conspicuous. ‘The leaves are placed
alternately on the stem, and the latter is round—two
facts which I will beg you to recollect.
The flowers are arranged in a singular manner.
The stalk which bears them is coiled up (Plate XV. 1.)
182 LETTER XV.
at the point, so that the youngest flowers are quite
hidden by its folds; but it gradually uncoils as the
flowers expand, till at last it becomes nearly straight.
In consequence of this singular arrangement, the
flowers are all forced towards one side, and when they
are expanded, look as if they actually grew from one
side only ; this, however, is not the fact—they are
only turned towards one side. I think I have al-
ready explained to you that we call the arrangement
of the flowers upon their common stalk the wmfto-
rescence ; and that different adjectives are added to
this word to explain its nature. Thus, in Umbellife-
rous plants, the inflorescence was umbelled; in
the Borage tribe it is what is called gyrate; a fine
word expressive of being coiled. Now this gyrate
inflorescence will of itself enable you to recognise
the Borage tribe, and the families most immediately
allied to it, without recourse to any thing further.
The calyx, which is covered with hairs, like the
leaves, consist of five sepals jomed to each other
more than half way, so as to form a tube (jig. 2.).
The corolla has its border divided into five lobes,
opposite which, at their base, are five hairy convex
scales, which converge and close over the mouth of
the tube, so as effectually to prevent any intruder
from entering it (fig. 1.). From the side of the tube
of the corolla, below the scales, spring five stamens,
which sit close upon its surface, without any visible
filament. The ovary is divided into four deep lobes
(fig. 3.), from the middle of which rises a taper
style, terminating in a double stigma.
THE BORAGE TRIBE. 183
When the fruit is ripe it is invested with the calyx,
which remains green for a long time (fig. 4.), only
contracting at the point, so as to cover the fruit. Cor-
responding with the four lobes of the ovary, are four
grains, or rather rugged bony nuts (fig. 5.), which
finally separate from each other, when they look like
so many seeds, for which they used to be mistaken.
These, along with the gyrate inflorescence, are the
great characters of the Borage tribe, as distinguished
from all other Monopetalous Natural Orders.
Many of the genera of the Borage tribe are ex-
tremely common. The most beautiful of all our wild
flowers, Viper’s Bugloss (ichium vulgare), is one of
them. It is known by its corolla having an unequal
and irregular margin, and a sort of bell-shaped
figure. ‘The deep red or purple spots and hairs of that
plant are very remarkable.
Then there is Forget-me-not (Myosotis), whose
various species ornament ditches and dry banks with
their pretty blue blossoms. It is known from Alka-
net only by the scales of the mouth of its corolla
being more rounded and shorter.
Borage, too (Borago officinalis), occasionally makes
its appearance upon banks, and in waste places; it is
conspicuous for its azure flowers, whose corolla is
deeply divided into five spreading lobes, which are
much longer than the tube.
Besides these, we have Hound’s-tongue (Cynoglos-
sum), with long grey leaves, and dingy reddish brown
flowers, succeeded by broad fruit, covered all over
with stiff hooks ; Zungwort (Pulmonaria), with leaves
184 LETTER. XV;
spotted with green and white, and flowers of a lovely
blue, shaped like a funnel; the mean-looking Grom-
well (Lithospermum), which seems as if conscious of
its worthlessness, by constantly dwelling with weeds
and rubbish; whose very fruit is so like a stone, that
it derives its Botanical name (Lithospermum signifies
literally stone-seed,) from that circumstance; and
finally Comfrey (Symphytum), with tall coarse stems,
and tubular flowers, the scales of whose mouth seem
as if made expressly to teach us what the real nature
of those singular parts are in other genera. In
the Comfrey, the scales are so exactly like the
filaments, that if you cut off the anthers, you can-
not tell one from the other; and consequently, as
all other circumstances confirm the opinion of
their being abortive stamens, the scales are so con-
sidered.
Not one of the Borage tribe is otherwise than harm-
less; the young shoots of Comfrey have even been
eaten as Asparagus, but they have too little taste to
be worth cultivation; and Borage itself was once an
ingredient in a favourite beverage of our forefathers,
called a cool tankard. It is however for their dyeing
properties that they are really valuable. The dye
called Alkanet, or others of a similar quality, is fur-
nished by the roots of Anchusa timctoria, Lithosper-
mum tinctorium, Onosma echioides, and several other
species.
From this harmless natural order, let us turn to
one, the properties of which are too often dangerous.
Henbane, Nightshade, and ‘Tobacco, the narcotic
THE NIGHTSHADE TRIBE. 185
Thorn-apple, with the half fabulous Mandrake,
whose roots were said to shriek as they were torn
from the earth to give effect to magical incantations,
form, with a number of other plants, a large natural
order, the prevailing quality of which is to be poison-
ous. Many of them are common wild plants, and
none more so than the species called black Night-
shade (Solanum nigrum), which is sure to spring up
wherever a spot of ground is neglected, and suffered
to become waste. It is to this plant I shall trust
for explaining the general character of the Night-
shade tribe.
Black Nightshade is a plant with broadly lance-
shaped leaves, slightly toothed at the edge, and
seated alternately upon the stem (Plate XV. 2.). Its
flowers consist of a short five-toothed calyx, of a mo-
nopetalous corolla, with five equal divisions (fig. 1.),
of five equal stamens, and of an ovary (fig. 2**.)
with two cells, in each of which is a number of
ovules. The style of the ovary is thick and shagey
at the bottom, and terminated by a thickened undi-
vided stigma. The fruit is a small black berry,
containing two cells, and a number of yellowish
seeds, whose skin is covered closely with little pits
(fig. 4.) ; inthe inside is an embryo, which is coiled
up upon itself in the middle of a quantity of fleshy
albumen (fig. 5.). Of these characters, the most es-
sential ones are the superior ovary with two cells, the
regular flower, and the alternate leaves. ‘The last point
distinguishes the Nightshade tribe from the Gen-
tians, and you will find, by and bye, that the two
186 LETTER XV.
former separate it from other orders you have still to
examine.
The genus Solanum is known in its tribe by the
anthers opening by two holes or pores at their points
(fig. 1. a.); besides Black Nightshade, it contains
the itter-sweet (S. Dulcamara), whose red and tempt-
ing berries present a dangerous decoy to children ;
the Love Apple (S. Lycopersicum), or Tomato, the
pulp of which is so much esteemed in sauces; the
Egg-plant, or Aubergine (S. Melongena), whose fruit,
when fried in slices, forms a delicacy in French cook-
ery; and above all, the Potatoe (S. tuberosum).
Here, you will imagine, is a singular assortment of
eatable and poisonous plants in the same genus ;_ but
in truth, the fruit of these is in all cases deleterious
till it is cooked; ‘Tomatoes are stewed, Ege-plants
are washed and fried before they are eaten, and it is
not to be doubted that they would all prove mju-
rious, if used in araw state. The fruit of the Potatoe
is notoriously unwholesome ; and if its roots are not
so, that circumstance is to be ascribed in part to their
being cooked, and in part to their being composed
almost entirely of a substance like flour, which in
no plant is poisonous, if it can be separated either
by heat or by washing, from the watery or pulpy
matter it may lie among.
Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) belongs
to a genus resembling the last in its berries, but hav-
ing a bell-shaped flower, and anthers which open by
slits in the usual way. ‘he fruit of this plant is the
most venomous of all our wild berries ; it is of a deep
THE NIGHTSHADE TRIBE. 187
shining black, and follows a livid brown corolla.
The Mandrake is aspecies of the same genus (Atropa
Madragora), but it has whitish flowers veined with
purple; and scarcely any stems; it is only found in
the southern parts of Europe.
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) lives on commons,
especially where the soil is chalky, near old cities and
upon banks. Its broad pale leaves have a fetid
smell, are irregularly lobed at the edges, and are
covered all over with greasy hairs. ‘The flower sits
close upon the stem, and have a large dirty-yellow
corolla, veined with brownish purple, which gives
them a peculiar livid appearance.
The Thorn-apple (Datura Stramonium), so cele-
brated for its narcotic properties, is distinguished by
its fruit being dry and covered with stiff spines; and
Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum) by its long tubular
corolla and smooth dry fruit bursting into two valves.
To enumerate any greater number of these delete-
rious plants would be to occupy a larger space than
I have room for; what I have already mentioned
will suffice to make you understand their general
nature ; and for the rest you must consult systematic
works. All that I beg you to recollect is, that plants
of the Nightshade tribe, are not only monopetalous,
but have a superior two-celled ovary, regular 5-lobed
flowers, and alternate leaves. ‘The fruit of all such
avoid, until it has been ascertained by the experience
of others, that they can be eaten with safety.
You will scarcely suspect that those prettiest of |
spring flowers, Primroses, Oxlips, and Cowslips, can be
ad
188 LETTER XV.
in any way related to the venomous plants I have just
mentioned; nor do they in fact belong to the same
tribe ; but they are so similar in many respects that
I shall have no opportunity more fitting than the
present, to say a word to you about them. Endeared
as they are to us all by some of the sweetest recollec-
tions of infancy, it would almost amount to a crime
to pass them by with neglect. Like the Nightshade
tribe they have regular monopetalous flowers with
five stamens, and a superior ovary; they are some-
times similar in habit, as in the case of the Mandrake,
which resembles a gigantic Primrose with white
flowers marked by purple veins, and they also possess
slight narcotic properties. ‘They are distinguished
by one circumstance in particular, by which they
may be at all times known among our wild flowers
with certainty,—their stamens are not placed between
the lobes of the corolla, as in the Nightshade tribe, but
are opposite to them, a very curious and permanent
difference.
This you will instantly discover by the examination
of the Primrose, the Auricula, or the Polyanthus.
The ovary is also constructed on a different plan :
you will find that of the Primrose to contain only one
cell, with the ovules collected in the centre: in the
Nightshade tribe there are two cells; on the outside
of the ovary of the latter, you will discover two fur-
rows on opposite sides of it, indicating that it is con-
stituted by the growing together of a pair of carpels :
on the outside of the ovary of the Primrose are five
furrows, slight indeed, but sufficiently apparent, and
THE PRIMROSE TRIBE. 189
indicating its formation out of five carpels. The pe-
culiarity in the stamens is, however, sufficient without
referring to the fruit, except when the corolla has
fallen off.
With this character agree the beautiful pigmy
Alpine plants called Aretia and Androsace ; here also
are referred Soldanella with its little bells of blue so
prettily notched on the border and Cyclamen or
Sow-bread, whose fruit is forced, by the rigid coiling
up of the flower-stalk, down upon the earth, where it
lies concealed by the broad ivy-like leaves. Here
too are arranged the Pimpernel (Anagallis), one of
whose species is called the Poor Man’s Weather-glass,
because it 1s found in every piece of waste ground,
and will only open its tiny brick-red flowers in fine
weather, closing them at the approach of rain; and
Loosestrife (Lysimachia), whose creeping stems, little
yellowish-green leaves, and brilliant yellow flowers
are the brightest ornaments of the moss and short
herbage that springs up in woods and shady places.
Interesting as are the British species of this natural
order, they are far inferior in beauty to their relations
which live on the mountains of other countries : for the
Primrose tribe most frequently prefers Alpine stations
to all others. It is in the higher regions of the
mountains of Switzerland and Germany, on the
Pyrenees, and upon those stupendous ridges, from
which the traveller beholds the vast plains of India
stretching at his feet in a boundless panorama, that
the Primrose tribe acquires its greatest beauty.
Living unharmed beneath a bed of snow during the
190 LETTER XV.
cold weather, where it is protected alike from light
and from drying winds, as soon as the snow is melted
it springs forth bedecked with the gayest tints imagi-
nable ; yellow, and white, and purple, violet, lilac,
and sky blue are the usual colours of its flowers ;
while its leaves, nursed by the food descending from
a thousand rills of the purest waters, and expanded
beneath an ever genial and cloudless sky, acquire a
green which no gem can excel in depth or bright-
ness. It is in those regions only that the Primrose
tribe can be studied to the greatest advantage.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XV.
I. Toe Borace Trise.—A portion of the inflorescence of Violet
Alkanet (Anchusa italica), shewing its gyrate disposition.—l. A co-
rolla opened, exhibiting the stamens and the scales which close its
throat.—2. A calyx.—3. The four-lobed ovary, style and stigma.—
4, The calyx of the fruit.—5. The four-lobed fruit with the withered
style still remaining.—6. One of the seed-like lobes of the fruit
divided perpendicularly; a, the part which separated from the recep-
tacle; 64, the organic apex; c, the organic base: these are inverted
in the drawing so that the section may correspond with the position
of the lobes in fig. 5.
Il. Tue NiegutsHape Tripe.—A twig of Black Nightshade
(Solanum nigrum).—1. A corolla laid open; a, the holes through
which the pollen is discharged by the anthers.—2*. The pistil and
calyx.—2**, A horizontal section of the ovary, exhibiting the nume-
rous seeds lying in the two cells.—3. A cluster of ripe fruit.—4. A
seed.—5. The same divided perpendicularly, shewing the manner
in which the embryo is coiled up.
“LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
¢ y Mant. TOSS,
¢ hoe y Hotehot nil.
La — ‘
Lupe le ; oxy Lowe :
LETTER XVI.
THE MINT TRIBE—THE FOXGLOVE TRIBE.
eaaae
(Plate XVI.)
One of the easiest of all natural orders to recog-
nise is the Borage tribe, which formed the subject
of part of my last letter. Its coiled or gyrate inflo-
rescence and four-lobed ovary are so peculiar, as never
to escape the observation of the most careless in-
quirer. ‘There is only one way in which a mistake
may be made by a beginner, and that I shall now
teach you how to avoid.
Of all the weeds of common occurrence, that which
is perhaps the most universally distributed, and which
appears by the strength of its constitution the best
adapted to flourish in situations where little else can
erow, 1s Black Horehound (Ballota nigra). Even by
the sides of the high road, in the midst of the hot-
test and dryest weather, when it becomes literally
cased in a thick coating of dust, that plant flowers,
regardless of the elements and their effects. You
may know it by its dull dusty disagreeable smell, its
roundish indented wrinkled dull grey leaves, placed
opposite each other on a square stem, and its whorled
clusters of dull purple flowers. ‘The ovary is split
192 LETTER XVI:
into four lobes ; its fruit consists of four black grains,
which are the divisions of the ovary in a hardened
state, and in fact it is so very like the fruit of a plant
of the Borage tribe, that I am quite sure when you
look at its monopetalous corolla, you will believe that
it belongs to that natural order.
But pursue your examination of it a little further,
and see whether its other characters are also im ac-
cordance with those of the Borage tribe. Its leaves
for example—are they covered with stiff hairs? no—
are they placed alternately on the stem? no—have
they the insipid taste, &c. of the Borages ? no—are
the flowers arranged in a coiled or gyrate inflores-
cence ? is the corolla regular ? are there five stamens ?
to all these questions the answer still is no, no, no.
The Black Horehound does not belong to the Bo-
rage tribe.
Look then rather more exactly into the structure
of the flowers ; for there can now be no doubt that it
is a part of some natural order you have not yet ex-
amined. Its calyx (Plate XVI. 1. fig. 1.) is a tube
with five sharp-pointed teeth (a.), and is consequently
formed of five sepals. ‘The corolla is hairy and tubu-
lar at the base (fig. 1.), and divided at the top into
two unequal parts called lips ; of these lips the upper
is narrow and concave (0.), the lower is flat, and di-
vided into three lobes (c.), of which that in the middle
is much larger than the two side ones ; this corolla
is therefore very irregular. ‘To see the stamens dis-
tinctly, the best plan is to slit open the corolla (fig.
2.); you will then find that there are four of them,
THE MINT TRIBE. 193
two being shorter than the others; their anthers
consist of two lobes which diverge very much, and
are only connected just at the tips (fig. 3.). The
structure of the ovary and fruit (figs. 4. & 6.) is like
that of the Borage tribe ; but the style is uniformly
forked at its upper end, and has a very minute stigma
on each point of the fork (fig. 5.).
Plants thus constructed, and there is a considerable
number of them, form what Botanists term Labiate,
and which may be called in English the Mint tribe.
They are known from all, except the Borages, by their
four-lobed ovary; and from the Borages they are
distinguished by their opposite leaves, square stems,
irregular flowers, and several other characters ; espe-
cially by a total difference in their sensible proper-
ties. While all the Borages are insipid and _ scent-
less, the Mint tribe consists of aromatic herbs, whose
leaves and flowers are both impregnated with a vola-
tile matter which is continually exhaling, and which
becomes exceedingly perceptible when the parts are
rubbed. For instance, Lavender, Thyme, and fose-
mary, Mint, Basil, Sage, Marjoram, and Clary, the
common aromatic herbs of the Kitchen Garden, are
all relatives of each other, and belong to this natural
order.
Of our wild flowers the most remarkable genera,
besides those above mentioned, are the Dead Nettles
(Lamium), with their strong-smelling leaves and flow-
ers of purple or white; Bugles (Ajuga), with blue
flowers and creeping stems ; Ground Ivy (Glechoma),
that crawls over the bottoms of dry ditches and up
0
194 LETTER XVI.
the sides of banks among the grass; Woundwort
(Stachys), which owes its name to the blood-red
stains upon its corolla; Self-heal (Prunella), peeping
up among the sward of commons and old pastures ;
and Gipsy-wort (Lycopus), with its minute pale rosy
flowers, which inhabits the banks of rivers and lakes,
and yields a deep brown stain when its leaves are
bruised in water.
All these and a thousand more agree in having
perfectly harmless properties, and are for the most
part aromatic; their favourite places of resort are
hedges, woods, and shady lanes; they spring up on
the sloping face of chalky downs, and enamel the
meadows of subalpine regions; even the scorching
sun of Syrian deserts they can endure, but they are
unable to support the most intense cold in which
vegetation can exist. In Melville Island, for instance,
situated in the Arctic Ocean, none of the tribe were
found by Captain Parry’s officers, although Saxifra-
ges, little Potentillas, and many other pretty flowers
appear in the summer through the thin coating of
soil which conceals the everlasting ice of that deso-
late region.
Far removed from these in their qualities, for
many are poisonous, and all suspicious, although ex-
tremely similar in most points of organization, are
the beautiful plants which form the Foxglove tribe
(Plate XVI. 2.). They are known by their fruit not
consisting of four seed-like lobes, but being a hollow
case, or capsule (fig. 7.), contaiming two cells (fig.
9,), and a great number of seeds. In the irregu-
THE FOXGLOVE TRIBE. 195
larity of the corolla and stamens, they exactly agree
with the last, only it is carried much farther in the
Foxglove tribe than in the Mint tribe: for the pe-
tals are sometimes so irregularly combined, that one
can scarcely make out their real number and nature
by any of the ordinary tests; as in the charming
genus Calccolaria, the lower lip of whose corolla is
inflated like the foot of a clumsy slipper, and in the
still more remarkable Chilian Schizanthus, whose
corolla is cut and slashed as if it had been clipped
with a pair of shears.
No better example of this order can be selected
than the common Foxglove (Digitalis), which is so
striking an ornament of many parts of England. Its
corolla (fig. 1.) is a large inflated body, with its throat
spotted with rich purple, and it border divided ob-
liquely into five very short lobes, of which the two
upper are the smaller; its four stamens are of un-
equal length (fig. 2.); and its style is divided into
two lobes (fig. 6.) at the upper end. A number of
long glandular hairs cover the ovary (fig. 5.), which
contains two cells, and a great quantity of ovules.
This will show you what the usual character is of
the Foxglove tribe; and you will find that all the
other genera referred to it in books agree with it
essentially, although they differ in subordinate points.
It is chiefly in the form of the corolla, in the number
of the stamens, in the consistence of the rind of the
fruit, its form, and the number of seeds it contains,
and in the manner in which the sepals are combined,
that these differences consist.
02
196 LETTER XVI.
Thus Figwort (Scrophularia) has a globular corolla,
with a large upper, and a very small lower lip;
Speedwell (Veronica), with its spikes of blue, has only
two stamens; Snapdragon(Antirrhinum) has the throat
of the lower lip so prominent as to press against the
upper ; Monkey flowers (Mimulus) have the angles of
the calyx winged ; and the woolly AZulleins (Verbas-
cum), a corolla with scarcely any tube. No genus is
more remarkable than Pentstemon, of which so many
fine American species adorn our gardens; in that
plant there are actually five stamens, four of which
are of two different lengths, as is usual, while the fifth
is long and slender, very hairy at the point, and
projects into the very mouth of the corolla; it is,
however, notwithstanding its size, imperfect: for it
bears no anther. This plant is interesting, as shew-
ing that in such irregular flowers as those of the Mint
and Foxglove tribes, there is a tendency to become
regular, which is sometimes very strongly manifested.
To render a Foxglove regular, it should not only have
the divisions of its calyx and corolla of the same
size, and of the same number; but the stamens
should agree in number with those; that is to say,
as there are five sepals and five lobes to the co-
rolla, there should also be five stamens, instead
of four, to constitute perfect regularity. It is con-
sidered that in those plants in which there are only
four stamens, the fifth is abortive or undeveloped,
and that when two stamens only appear, the three
others are abortive. This will explain to you why a
fifth stamen appears in Pentstemon ; and also the
THE FOXGLOVE TRIBE. 197
nature of a little scale which is very often found at
the back of the corolla in these two-lipped corollas ;
the scale is a stamen in a rudimentary state.
If you next compare the structure of the Foxglove
tribe with that of the Nightshade, you will remark
that the resemblance between them is quite as great as
between the Foxglove and the Mint tribe; only ina
different way. ‘They both have monopetalous flowers,
five divisions of the calyx and corolla, and an ovary
with two cells; but in the Nightshade tribe the
stamens uniformly correspond in number with the
lobes of the calyx and corolla ; while in the Foxglove
tribe they are uniformly fewer; in a word, the flowers
of the former are symmetrical and regular, of the
latter, unsymmetrical and irregular, and this is the
ereat distinction between them.
With this I must abandon the explanation of the
Monopetalous Dicotyledonous natural orders, which
have more than one carpel in each flower; my next
letter will be confined to those, the carpel of which is
absolutely solitary and simple.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVI.
I. Tae Mint Trise.—l. A flower of Black Horehound (Ballota
nigra) ; a, a lobe of the calyx; 6, the upper lip of the corolla; ¢, the
lower lip.—2. A corolla split open to shew the position of the sta-
mens.—3. The top of a filament, with its anther.—4. A pistil; a,
a fleshy disk, out of which springs the four-lobed ovary.—5. The
two lobes of the style.—6. A ripe fruit before the lobes separate.~—
7. One of the lobes apart.—8. A fruit cut through horizontally,
shewing the four embryos at a.
198
If. Tae Foxciove Trise.—l. A flower of Purple Foxglove
(Digitalis purpurea).—2. The stamens projecting from the base of
the corolla.—3. An anther.—4. The pistil, after the corolla has
dropped off.—5. The same without its calyx.—6. The top of the style
and the stigma.—7. A ripe fruit, burst into two valves, and leaving
the receptacles of the seeds in the middle.—8. A perpendicular see-
tion of the same, with the receptacles left.—9. A horizontal section
of a half-grown fruit, shewing the precise shape of the receptacles
of the seeds.—10. A seed.—11. A perpendicular, and 12, a hori-
zontal section of the same, exhibiting the embryo lying in the midst
of albumen. (N. B. These details are after a drawing by Mr. Francis
Bauer).
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LETTER XVII.
COMPOSITE FLOWERS—THE RIBGRASS TRIBE.
rere nares cone crane rence eeoronrorercmrece rece
(Plate XVII.)
Berore I come to my promised analysis of the
orders of Monopetalous plants I must beg you to
give your attention to two more tribes, in which there
are many singular points of structure, and which in
particular differs from all that have gone before in
having only one carpel in each flower; a simple
and obvious difference, which you will be sure to
remember.
“Take,” says Rousseau, whom I shall here follow
very closely, ‘‘ Take one of those little flowers which
cover all the pastures, and which every body knows
by the name of Daisy. Look at it well; for I am
sure you would have never guessed from its appear-
ance, that this flower, which is so small and delicate,
is really composed of between two and three hundred
other flowers, all of them perfect, that is, each of
them having its corolla, stamens, pistil, and fruit ;
in a word, as perfect in its species as a flower of
the Hyacinth or Lily. Every one of those leaves,
which are white above and red underneath, and
form a kind of crown round the flower, appearing to
200 LETTER XVII.
be nothing more than little petals, are in reality so many
true flowers; and every one of those tiny yellow things
also, which you see in the centre, and which at first
you have perhaps taken for nothing but stamens, are
real flowers. If your fingers were already exercised
in botanical dissections, and you were armed with a
good glass, and plenty of patience, I might convince
you of the truth of this; but at present you must begin,
if you please, by believing me on my word, for fear
of fatiguing your attention upon atoms. However,
to put you at least in the way, pull out one of the
white leaves from the flower ; you will think at first
that it is flat from one end to the other; but look
carefully at the end by which it was fastened to the
flower, and you will see that this end is not flat, but
round and hollow, in form of a tube, and that a_
little thread ending in two horns, issues from the
tube; this thread is the forked style of the flower,
which, as you now see, is flat only at top.
“ Next, look at those little yellow things in the
middle of the flower, and which, as I have told you,
are all so many flowers; if the flower is sufficiently
advanced, you will see some of them open in the
middle, and even cut into several parts.
‘These are monopetalous corollas, which expand,
and a glass will easily discover in them the pistil,
and even the anthers with which it is surrounded.
Commonly the yellow florets towards the centre are
still rounded and closed. ‘These, however, are flowers
like the others, but not yet open; for they expand suc-
cessively from the edge inwards. ‘This is enough
COMPOSITE FLOWERS. 201
to shew you by the eye, the possibility that all these
small affairs, both white and yellow, may be so many
distinct flowers; and this is a constant fact. You
perceive, nevertheless, that all these little flowers are
pressed, and inclosed in a calyx, which is common to
them all, and which is that of the Daisy. In consider-
ing then the whole Daisy as one flower, we give it a
very significant name, when we call it a composite flower.
Now, there are many genera and species of flowers
formed, like the Daisy, of an assemblage of other
smaller flowers, contained in a common calyx. This
is what constitutes the sixth tribe, of which I pro-
posed to treat, namely, that of the Composite Flowers.”
Thus, in his admirable gossiping manner does Rous-
seau set about explaining the structure of a composITE
or compound flower; I shall not continue to follow him,
but take my own way of illustrating the subject fur-
ther ; stopping, in the first place, to notice two inac-
curacies into which he has fallen, in common with
all writers of the same day. The cluster of little
flowers or florets, which he calls the flower of the
Daisy, although qualified by the addition of com-
posite, leads unnecessarily to a confusion of ideas,
and is much better designated by the term flower-
head (or head of flowers), which it really is; the
other error is that of calling the little leaves that
surround the florets a calyx ; he should have said
they were an involucre. The word calyx strictly
belongs to a single flower, and not to a collection of
flowers ; while involucre is precisely the term that
expresses an assemblage of little leaves or bracts
202 LETTER XVII.
round a number of flowers. You have already had
an excellent instance of it in Umbelliferous plants,
and this is another.
Rousseau took the Daisy to explain the structure
of Composite flowers, because it is so very common a
plant; but it has the defect, as a means of illustration,
that its parts are so very small, as to be distinguished
with difficulty, and that it does not comprehend so
many points of structure as some others. For these
reasons, I will recommend you to take a plant equally
common in gardens in the autumn, the french Ma-
rigold (Tagetes patula, Plate XVII. 1.), an old-
fashioned, but pretty flower, which is not lable to
the same objections.
Its flower-head (fig. 1.) is surrounded externally by
an olive green cup, formed of several bracts which
have grown together at the edge (fig. 6.); this cup
is the involucre. Next the involucre are placed
several florets (figs. 1. & 2.), whose corolla is a broad
yellow blade, rounded at the end, and striped with
wide streaks of chocolate brown (fig. 2. d.); it is all
turned one way, spreading away from the flower-
head, and only tubular at the bottom; Rousseau says,
such corollas look as if they were gnawed off on one
side. Technically, they are named ligulate, which
signifies strap-shaped, because in the greater part of
Composite flowers they are long and narrow ; they
are also said to form the ray of the flower-head. At
the base of the tube of the corolla you will find a few
little narrow hairy scales (fig. 2. 6.), which stand on
the top of the ovary, in the place of the calyx. Bo-
COMPOSITE FLOWERS. 203
tanists choose to call them the parrus; although in
reality they are the calyx, which is only stunted and
starved in consequence of its being developed amidst
the constant pressure of the florets against each other:
the pappus is often altogether absent, as in the Daisy
for instance; but it sometimes forms a_ beautiful
plume of feathers, which catches the wind and ena-
bles the seed to soar into the air, and to scatter itself
to a distance. ‘The delicate feathery balls of the
Dandelion which children amuse themselves with
blowing away into the air, are the fruit of that plant
crowned by the pappus. Below the pappus is the
ovary (fig. 2. a.), containing one single ovule; it
terminates in a slender style, which passes through
the tube of the corolla, and forks at the top into two
stigmas (fig. 2. e.). In time the ovary becomes a dry
hairy fruit (fig. 8.), crowned with the pappus, and con-
taining one single seed (fig.9.). Such are the florets
of the ray.
The middle of the flower-head (fig. 1. b.), included
within the ray, is called the pisk; it consists of
florets constructed very differently from those of the
ray. ‘To examine them conveniently you should pull
one of them out (fig. 3.). In the ovary you will
find no difference worth naming; the pappus is also
like that of the ray, only it is more perfect, and one
of its scales is a sort of stiff bristle (fig. 3. b.). The
corolla is of quite another kind ; it is tubular from
the bottom to the top; towards the top it widens,
and at last separates into five little divisions which
are covered all over with hairs in the inside; this
204: LETTER XVII.
kind of floret is called tubular. The stigmas are two
( fig. 7.), and project beyond the mouth of a little
hollow cylinder, which is found at the orifice of all
the tubular florets of the disk (fig. 4. a.). At first
sight you may be at a loss to determine what the
cylinder is: but if you use a magnifying glass, you
will presently discover that it is formed of five anthers,
which grow together by their edges, im the same
manner as petals grow by theirs, when they form a
monopetalous corolla. It is easy to slit this cylin-
der (fig. 5.), and then you will see that each anther
has its filament, and two lobes containing the pollen.
The broad flat part, out of which the florets grow
(fig. 6. a.), is called the RECEPTACLE; it is some-
times covered with scales, or hairs, or is even pitted
with hexagonal depressions, which look like the cells
of honeycomb. Can you guess to what, in other
plants, this receptacle is analogous? for you may be
sure it is only some very common part masqued and
disguised, to the eyes of an ordinary observer. ‘To
understand it, you should first compare the flower-
head of a composite flower, with an umbel (See
Letter II.). In the latter the flowers are all on long
stalks, that proceed from a common point, which
is the termination of the stem or branch; their point
of origin is wider than the stem itself, because of the
number of stalks, for whose bases room has to be
found; the stalks, however, are very slender, and
do not occupy much room. But suppose the flowers
of an umbel had no stalks, but were seated close upon
the stem, as sometimes happens ; it is obvious that as
COMPOSITE FLOWERS. 205
they are much stouter than their stalks, the stem
would, in such a case, have to be expanded much
more in order to receive them; in fact it would
become a receptacle such as you find in a Daisy.
The receptacle of a composite flower is therefore an
expanded part of a stem.
You may also look at its structure in another way.
Take a spike of Ribgrass, an exceedingly common
weed, about which I shall say something at the end
of this letter ; place it by the side of a flower-head of
French Marigold; let the letter e in both cases re-
present the base of the inflorescence, and b the top
of the spike of Ribgrass (Plate XVII. 2. fig. 1.),
and the centre of the disk of the French Marigold
(Plate XVII. 1. fig. 1.). Suppose the spike of Rib-
grass to be very much shortened, the number of
flowers upon it remaining the same; the distance
from b to e will be proportionably diminished, and the
flowers will be much more crowded. Let this shorten-
ing be carried still further, the number of flowers
still remaining the same, and it is obvious that in
order to make room for the flowers, side by side, the
stem must expand horizontally; a receptacle will
then be produced, and a little reflection will shew you
that the letter 6 will then indicate precisely the same
parts in both plants: the centre of the French Mari-
gold being the same as the point of the spike of Rib-
grass. The receptacle of a compound flower is there-
fore both a contracted and expanded stem.
With regard to the involucre, Rousseau has well ob-
served, that it has generally the property of opening
206 LETTER XVII.
when the florets expand, of closing when the corollas
fall off, im order to confine the young fruit; and
lastly, of opening again and turning quite back to
give more room to the fruit, which increases in size
as it grows ripe. ‘This is particularly remarkable in
the Dandelion.
Let us now pass from these considerations to a
view of the sections into which Composite Flowers
are naturally divided.
If you gather a head of Dandelion (Leontodon
Taraxacum), you will find that both the ray and the
disk are composed of ligulate florets, to the total ex-
clusion of tubular ones. Such plants are called Sue-
cory-headed (Cichoracee), and are remarkable for
their stems yielding a white milk, which, when con-
centrated, has a soporific quality. The other sections
are destitute of this property. Here are arranged num-
bers of our wild flowers, such as Goat’s beard (‘Trago-
pogon), Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), Wall Lettuce
(Prenanthes), Hawkweed (Hieracium), and the shabby
Succory (Cichorium Intybus), with its ragged leaves,
and pale blue florets. It is also to this section that the
Lettuce and Endive of the garden belong.
From the last you will easily distinguish what
is called the Thistle-headed section (Cinaracez).
These plants have no ligulate florets; all the florets
are tubular, generally very wide at the mouth, and
so much spreading beyond the involucre as to give
the flower-head almost an hemispherical form. The
leaves of the involucre are also, in most of the species,
hard and spiny. It is in this section that you will
COMPOSITE FLOWERS. 207
find all the Thistles, Saw-worts (Serratula), and Blue
Bottles (Centaurea); it is also remarkable for con-
taining the Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus), the bottom
of which you have probably often eaten without
thinking much about Botany. The next time you
have one on the table, remember that the scales,
which you suck are the imvolucre, the bottom is the
receptacle, and the choke, which is thrown away, is
a collection of florets, separated from each other by
numerous stiff hairs, growing out of the receptacle.
The third section has heads composed of both sorts
of florets; tubular ones in the disk, and ligulate ones
in the ray; hence they are called Radiate (Corym-
biferee). It sometimes happens that these have no ray,
and then the young student might naturally confound
them with the Thistle-headed section ; but this need
not be done if you remark that the florets of the Thistle-
headed section are very wide in the mouth, and spread
over the sides of the involucre, the scales of which are
usually hard and spiny, while the florets of the Radiate
section are narrow in the mouth, and not longer than
the scales of the imvolucre, which are usually soft and
leafy. A very little practice will soon prevent your
falling into any such error. By far the greater part
of Composite flowers belong to the Radiate section ;
Sunflowers, Asters, Daisies (Bellis), Chrysanthemums,
Marigolds, Wormwood (Artemisia), Cudweed (Gnapha-
lium), Coltsfoot (Tussilago), Groundsel (Senecio) and
Chamomile (Anthemis), with thousands of others, for
this section is of prodigious extent, form a most strik-
ing feature in the vegetable kingdom.
208 LETTER XVII.
When we were talking of Umbelliferous plants I
cautioned you against committing the error of sup-
posing that all plants with their flowers in umbels
belonged to that natural order. In like manner I
must now explain to you that although the arrange-
ment of florets in heads is universal in Composite
flowers, yet that there are many plants in the world
whose florets are placed in the same manner, but
which do not belong to this tribe. For instance,
Eryngo, which is an Umbelliferous plant, has its
flowers in heads, so has Sanicle, another genus of the
same order; and Yeasel (Dipsacus) and Scabious
(Scabiosa) are so extremely like Composite flowers
in appearance, that you would never suspect them of
being strangers of another family, if you were not
apprized that no plants belong to the tribe of Com-
posite flowers, which have not their anthers united
into a cylinder. ‘This it is which, taken with the dis-
position of the florets in heads, alone gives a positive
character to the plants I have been speaking of.
This remembered, you are mistress of the key to six
or seven thousand species.
A few words upon the plant called Ribgrass, to which
I have already alluded, and I pass at once to my promis-
ed analysis of the Monopetalous Dicotyledonous orders.
Ribgrass (Plantago) is a weed common at the foot
of walls, by the side of pathways, and in moist places
generally. It derives its name from its leaves having
remarkably strong ribs passing from the bottom to
the top: it has no apparent stem, but the leaves lie
flat on the ground. The flowers (Plate X VII. 2. fig. 1.)
THE RIBGRASS TRIBE. 209
are white and green, disposed very closely in a
long spike, and remarkable for their long stamens,
the filaments of which soon become too weak to
support the heavy anthers. Each flower has a hol-
low bract on its outside (fig. 2. b.), and a calyx of
four green sepals, which are also concave, and overlie
each other very much at the edges. The corolla is a
thin, almost transparent, greenish-white body, divided
at the end into four lobes (fig. 2. c.) which fall back
on the sepals. our stamens arise from the tube of
the corolla, bearing on their filaments inverted
arrow-shaped anthers. ‘The ovary (fig. 6.) contains
two cells, in each of which are many seeds (figs. 7,
8.), but it terminates in a simple hairy stigma; on
this account it is considered to be formed of a simple
carpel, notwithstanding its two cells. In the course of
time, the receptacle of the ovules separates from the
sides of the ovary, and becomes covered all over with
seeds of a pale chesnut colour (fig. 10.); at the same
time the style drops off the ovary, which changes to
a little hard dry brown case or capsule (fig. 9.), sur-
rounded with the sepals, and separating transversely
into two parts, by giving way at its base.
These characters entitle the Ribgrass to be con-
sidered the representative of a very distinct, although
very small natural order, called the Ribgrass tribe ;
which is, however, of too little importance to make
it worth detaining you longer about it.
Now let us again consider the most essential distinc-
tions of the Monopetalous orders, I have recommended
P
210 LETTER XVII.
to your study. Although they form only a part of what
really exist, yet a clear knowledge of them is a great
step towards that of the remainder. I think the dis-
tinction will be sufficiently well expressed in a tabu-
lar form, without any preliminary explanation, beyond
this, that the number of the carpels, out of which the
ovary is formed, is the most important fundamental
distinction to employ.
* Ovary formed of more carpels than two.
Flowers regular—The Borage tribe.+
Flowers wregular—The Mint tribe.
Erect bushes—The Heath tribe.
Climbing plants—The Bindweed tribe.
Ovary split into four lobes }
Ovary not split into lobes ;
** Ovary formed of two carpels.
Milky Anthers all separate—The Harebell tribe.
Ovary plants Anthers all united —The Lobelia tribe.
inferior ) Not Milky sates tl UE stipules—The Honeysuckle tribe
plants Leaves with stipules—The Coffee tribe.
” Flowers irregular : : The Foxglove tribe.
Ovary Stamens two : : The Olive tribe.
Superior ) Flowers :
riamiies Leaves opposite § The Gentian
gular ; i
= ( ( ribbed tribe.
Stamens five 3
" Leaves The Night-
alternate shade tribe.
#%* Ovary formed of only one carpel.
Anthers united inacylinder_ . ; Composite Flowers.
Anthers distinct : ‘ The Ribgrass tribe.
+ I hope the learned reader will pardon my having placed these
two orders among those whose ovary is formed of more carpels than
two. My reason for doing so is that they seem as if so constructed,
and it would be difficult to make a beginner understand that they
are not.
Cae
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVII.
I. Composite FLrowers.—1. Halfa flower-head of French Mari-
gold (Tagetes patula); a florets of the ray ; 4 florets of the disk ; ¢
section of involucre; d receptacle; e flower-stalk.—2. A floret of the
ray; @ ovary; b pappus ; ¢ tube, and d bladeof the corolla.—3. Floret
of the disk ; @ ovary; 4 pappus; ¢ corolla.—4. Cylinder of stamens.
—5. The same slit open and unrolled.—6. Half an involuere ; a
the receptacle.—7. The two stigmas.—8. A grain, ripe and crowned
by the pappus 4.—9. A section of a seed, shewing the embryo.
II. Toe Riscrass Tripe.—1. A spike of flowers of Broad-leaved
Ribgrass (Plantago major).—2. A separate flower; athe calyx; 6a
bract; ¢ the corolla.—3. A section of the calyx to shew the relative
position of the sepals to each other; 6 the bract.—4. A sepal.—s.
An anther with a part of a filament.—6. A pistil—7. An ovary cut
perpendicularly.—8. The same divided horizontally.—9. A ripe fruit
invested by its calyx.—10. A cluster of seeds upon the receptacle, as
they are left when the shell of the fruit falls off—11. A seed.—12,
The same cut through to shew the embryo.
PQ
LETTER XVIII.
DISTINCTIONS OF EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS,
AND OF ENDOGENOUS OR MONOCOTYLEDONOUS
PLANTS—THE NARCISSUS TRIBE—-THE CORNFLAG
TRIBE.
(Plate XVIII.)
In my last letter I took leave of Dicotyledonous
plants, whieh I am persuaded you are by this time
able to recognize by their general aspect, as well as
by the technical distinctions to which I have chiefly
called your attention. It is not their netted leaves,
nor the concentric circles in their stems when woody,
nor the two-seeded lobes of the embryo alone, by
which they are known, but also other characters
in combination with those. Their leaves are usually
jointed with the stem, so that they are thrown off at
certain seasons: in deciduous trees in the autumn,
in evergreens in the spring or summer ; their flowers,
if perfect, or nearly so, are mostly divided by four or
five; that is, have four or five sepals, and four or five
petals, either distinct or combined ; and finally, their
mode of growth is, in general, by branching re-
peatedly to form round-headed trees, or broad
spreading bushy herbs. All these circumstances are
characteristic of Dicotyledonous plants ; but most of
them are occasionally subject to exceptions. When
exceptions occur in regard to any one circumstance,
NVI/T. 7.
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LIBRARY
"OF THE
“UNIVERSITY OF iLLiNGts
DISTINCTIONS OF CLASSES. 913
attention should then be paid to others, for the pur-
pose of ascertaining, whether, although a plant
may appear in some one point of structure not to
be Dicotyledonous, it may not upon the whole
possess the characters of that great division. For
instance, the common garden Pink, has leaves which
are not netted; you might suppose on that account
that it is not Dicotyledonous; but when you find
that it is a branching plant, with five divisions of the
calyx, five petals, and ten stamens, you may be sure
that it is Dicotyledonous, notwithstanding the ap-
parent deviation of the leaves from the general rule
of structure.
All this will be more clear to you, when you be-
come acquainted practically with monocoryLEDONOUS
plants; which are quite different things. They often
shoot up into the air without any branches, and con-
sequently have a sharp-headed appearance when
they form trees; there is only one seed-lobe to their
embryo; and their stem has no trace, whatever, of
concentric circles ; on the contrary, it presents, when
cut across, one uniform dotted surface, as you may
see if you take a piece of the common cane, which is
split for the bottoms of chairs, and which is in reality
the stem of a sort of Palm. Instead of enlarging
their stems by the addition of new wood to the out-
side of the old, Monocotyledonous plants only add
new matter to the centre of that which previously
existed, on which account they are named ENDo-
GENOoUS (or growers inwardly). The veins of their
leaves run in nearly parallel lines from the base to
214 LETTER XVIII.
the point of the blade, without branching, or forming
a kind of net work, as in the leaves of grasses or
lilies; so that in this respect they are immediately
known from Dicotyledonous plants. ‘Their flowers,
moreover, are almost always divided by three, instead
of by four or five ; you will, for instance, generally find
three sepals, and three petals, and three, or twice
three stamens, and an ovary made up of three car-
pels; so that there are abundant means of dis-
tinguishing Monocotyledonous plants, whether you
have only their stem, or their leaves, or their
flowers, or even their fruit to examine. Now just
observe, how important this is; suppose you saw a
simple-veined leaf of some plant, and nothing further ;
although you might not be able to tell the name of
the plant which bore the leaf, nor even its natural
order, yet you would know that its stem must have
grown by addition to its inside, that its embryo had
only one seed-lobe, and that its flowers would in all
probability be divided into three sepals, and three
petals. Nor is this all; nearly the whole of Monoco-
tyledonous plants are harmless; the chances would
therefore be, that your leaf belonged to some harm-
less plant; and if it were the leaf of a tree, you
would be perfectly certain that it came from some
hot climate ; for no Monocotyledonous trees are found
in cold couutries. The inspection of a mere leaf
would therefore lead you to a number of useful and
interesting conclusions, at which you could never
arrive if you studied Botany according to an artificial
system.
DISTINCTION OF CLASSES. 215
As much of the facility of distinguishing Mono-
cotyledonous from Dicotyledonous plants depends
upon a familiarity with the appearance of their
leaves, let me recommend you, before we proceed
any further to procure those of Corn or Grass, of the
Pine Apple, the Hyacinth, the Tulip, or the Daffodil,
and compare them with any of the Dicotyledonous
plants, you are now familiar with. In the mean-
while I will sketch a comparative view of Monocoty-
ledonous and Dicotyledonous plants, which you can
afterwards study at your leisure.
DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. MONGCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.
Stems generally branched, & when | Stems generally quite simple; and
old covered with cracked bark. when old covered with smooth
| bark.
Wood, consisting of concentric Wood, not consisting of concentric
circles; the central part the circles; the central part the
oldest and hardest; the bark youngest and softest; the bark
connected with a central pith,,; not connected with a central
pith by means of medullary
by means of thin plates called
medullary rays. rays.
Leaves, with veins arranged in a | Leaves, with simple parallel veins,
netted manner; usually jointed which are not netted; usually
with the stem. not jointed with the stem.
Flowers, usually with the parts ar- | Flowers, usually with the parts ar-
ranged in fours or fives. | ranged in threes.
Embryo, with two or more seed- | Embryo, with only one seed-lobe,
lobes, or cotyledons. | or cotyledon.
Found wild as trees all over the | Found wild as trees only in hot
world, except in thevery highest _—_ climates, and chiefly within the
latitudes. | tropics.
|
These preliminary observations will, I trust, have
conveyed to you some general notions of the nature
216 LETTER XVIII.
of Monocotyledonous plants: among which you will
find that many of the commonest and most useful
tribes are arranged. You will scarcely, however,
have suspected that Lilies, and Palms, and Bananas,
with Hyacinths, Squills, Daffodils, and Orchises, were
associated with Grasses, Rushes, and Sedges; the
natural affinity of all these is what we have now to
study. In order to entice my young friends onwards,
and to prevent their getting weary of their pursuit at
a time when I am most anxious that their attention
should be fixed, I shall begin with a natural order,
the species of which are so generally admired, that I
am sure they will wish to understand it botanically.
The Daffodil, called by Botanists Narcissus, repre-
sents a group of plants, having fine gay flowers,
and long narrow strap-shaped leaves arise from
bulbs which grow under ground. It is called in Eng-
lish the Narcissus tribe. We will not, however, take
the Daffodil to illustrate it, for reasons that I shall
mention by and bye. A_ beautiful Chilan plant,
called the sharp-leaved Alstromeria, of which I send
you a drawing (Plate XVIII. 1.), and which is now
not very uncommon in gardens, will shew you the
general structure of this tribe in a more satisfactory
manner.
Its leaves are of a firm and rather fleshy texture,
gradually tapering to the point, and are filled with sim-
ple veins. It has an inferior ovary (fig. 1. a.) with
three angles, three cells, and many seeds in each
cell. From the upper end of the ovary rises a richly
coloured reddish-orange calyx of three sepals, mside
THE NARCISSUS TRIBE. 217
which are three orange-coloured petals, shaped ex-
actly like the sepals; these are all rolled together
so as to form a kind of bell. ‘The stamens ( fig. 2. a.)
are six, and are remarkable for bearing blueish-
purple anthers; a very uncommon colour for those
parts. From the top of the ovary springs a three-
cornered style, terminated by a three-lobed stigma
(fig. 3.). Finally, a dull greenish-brown capsule is
ripened, which is marked externally by six ribs (fig.
4.), and a horizontal line, which indicates the place
whence the calyx, corolla, and stamens fell; when
perfectly ripe it separates into three concave valves
(fig. 5.), each of which carries away with itself
a portion of the receptacle (a.) of the seeds. The
seeds are spherical (fig. 6.), and consist of a great
mass of albumen, in which les a little cylindrical
embryo (fig. 7.). This form of embryo is the most
common in Monocotyledonous plants. Its upper
end is the cotyledon, its lower the radicle, and the
plumule or rudiment of a stem les concealed in the
former.
Of these characters a part is confined to the genus
Alstromeria, and a part peculiar to the Narcissus
tribe. The latter is briefly this: an inferwr ovary,
calyx and corolla of the same form, and six stamens
(or more).
To this definition answers the Daffodil im all
respects ; but it has, in addition, a long cup, which
is a row of abortive stamens; and this circumstance
marks its genus. Some very fragrant hot-house plants,
called Pancratiums, or Sea-side Lilies, also have a
218 LETTER XVIII.
cup, but their anthers arise from its border, which at
once distinguishes them from the Daffodil.
It is to this order that also belong the golden
Sternberqna of autumn, the scarlet Amaryllises of Bra-
zil, the Belladonna Lilies of the Cape, and Crinums,
with their long and relaxed petals, sometimes of the
French white, and sometimes deeply stained with
crimson. Snow-drops, too (Galanthus), and Snow-
flakes (Leucojum), whose names so well express their
colour, the ruby-petaled Werines, to which belongs
the Guernsey Lily ; and Blood-flowers (Hemanthus),
whose juice is a mortal poison, are all allies of the
Narcissus.
We have often seen that venomous properties lurk
beneath the fairest forms, and that external appear-
ance offers no beacon to warn tue traveller of the
plants in which danger lies concealed. The Nar-
cissus tribe affords another instance; the bulbs of the
Daffodil are emetic, those of the Blood-flower yield a
deadly gluey poison, with which the African savages
smear their arrow-heads, and the bulbs of the whole
tribe are suspicious. Fortunately, however, its bota-
nical characters are so precise, that there is no diffi-
culty in distinguishing it from all others.
So like is a Crocus to some of the Narcissus tribe,
that a student would naturally suppose it to belong
to it, especially when he found that it also had an in-
ferior ovary, with three cells, and its sepals and petals
so much alike, as to be distinguishable only by one
being rather differently coloured, and placed on the
outside of the other. It differs, however, in having
4
THE CORNFLAG TRIBE. 219
only three stamens instead of six, and in the anthers
being turned with their faces towards the sepals, in-
stead of towards the style; a singular peculiarity,
which in this case is found to indicate a total absence
of poisonous properties ; so that while the Narcissus
tribe is dangerous, the natural order, called the
Cornflag tribe, to which the Crocus belongs, is per-
fectly harmless.
These plants vary a great deal in their general ap-
pearance, owing to the different shapes of the calyx
and the corolla, and to the size of the stem, which is
sometimes round and subterranean, as in the Crocus,
and sometimes long, scarred, and creeping on the
surface of the ground, as in the Cornflag or Iris; of
which the Orris rout which babies suck is a pre-
paration, and the name a corruption. They may,
however, be always known by their agreeing with
the Narcissus tribe in every thing except their three
stamens with the anthers turned away from the style.
and the want of bulbs. ‘Their leaves are also very
unusually thin, and shaped like a straight sword-
blade, with the edge turned to the stem, on which
account they used to be called Hnsate, or sword-
leaved plants (Plate XVIII. 2. fig. 1.).
Along with the drawing of the Alstromeria you
have another, which represents a most singular plant,
the colour of whose flowers resembles a lizard’s back.
{It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and called
the Wavy Ferraria (Ferraria undulata). Its flowers
consists of three sepals and three petals, all of which
are so wavy and curly at their edges, and so much
2920 LETTER XVIII.
alike that you can hardly distinguish them ; below a
kind of cup, formed by the union of these parts, is a
long ribbed ovary (fig. 1. a.), which contains three
cells and many seeds ( fig. 6.). The three stamens are
in this genus grown into a column (fig. 2.) like the
column of a Passion-flower; but in other genera they
are distinct ; each at its pomt curves away from the
stigma as if to convey its anther (fig. 2. d.) as much
as possible out of the reach of it, averting from it
its face (fiy. 2. d.). The style is a small cylinder,
divided at its end into three broad lobes (fig. 2. e.);
each of which is separated into two parts (fig. 3.) cut
cut up into five hair-like segments: these lobes are
the stigmas.
In Iris, the genus from which the tribe takes its Latin
name (Lridacee), the structure is more curious than in
Ferraria; the three sepals are broad and spreading,
and often ornamented with a beautiful feathered crest ;
the three petals stand erect, and curve over the
centre of the flower; while the stigmas are broad
richly coloured parts, resembling petals, and curve
away from the centre, as in the Ferraria. At first
sight you would suppose the Iris was altogether des-
titute of stamens; but if you lift up the stigma you
will find the runaways snugly hidden beneath their
broad lobes, and lying close to a humid lip through
which the influence of the pollen is conveyed to the
ovules. This widening of the stigma is a very com-
mon event in the Cornflag tribe ; even in the Crocus
it occurs, only the stigmas are so rolled up that you
do not discover it until you unroll them; they are,
THE CORNFLAG TRIBE. 2921
in fact, so much heavier than the power of the style
can support, that in the Saffron Crocus, in which they
constitute the substance called Saffron, they hang
down on the outside of the flower like an orange
tassel.
It is to this natural order that belong those count-
less species of Ixia, Gladiolus, Watsonia, Babiana, &c.
which spring up at the Cape of Good Hope upon
the commencement of the rains, and soon cover the
parched and half naked karroos with a robe of the
deepest green, adorned with all manner of gay and
sparkling colours.
Having studied these plants in the order I have
mentioned, compare them in your mind with the
numerous Dicotyledonous tribes you have already be-
come acquainted with, and see whether you can
anticipate any difficulty in recognising other tribes of
Monocotyledonous plants, by the external characters
I have pointed out; without the slightest necessity
for having recourse to the examination of their stems
or seeds.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVIII.
I. Toe Narcissus Tripe.—1. A shoot of the sharp-leaved Alstro-
meria (A. acutifolia); @ the inferior ovary.—2. An ovary deprived of
calyx and corolla, but with the stamens in their place.—3. An ovary
without even the stamens; shewing the style and stigmas.—4. A ripe
fruit of Alstromeria psittacina (the Parrot Alstromeria), just before
it separates into valves; @ the scar whence the stamens, calyx, and
222
corolla dropped.—5. One of the valves, with a part of the receptacle
of the seeds a adhering to it.—6. A seed.—7. A section of the same;
exhibiting the embryo a lying in the midst of the albumen.
Il. Tue CornriaG Trise.—1. A piece of the Wavy Ferraria
(F. undulata); @ the ovary.—2. A column of stamens; a@ the base
of the sepals and petals; 4 the column; e the fore part of the fila-
ments; d the anthers; e the stigmas.—3. One of the stigmas sepa-
rated from the style-—4. An anther.—5. An ovary; a the place
whence the sepals and petals have been removed; 6 the base of the
column of stamens.—6. A horizonal section of the ovary.
LIERARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
< ny / , a 4
, V hts hiphodel S b4Ae 4
ef a Ulta.
LETTER XIX.
THE ORCHIS TRIBE—THE ASPHODEL TRIBE.
(Plate XTX.)
Tue last natural order of Monocotyledonous plants,
with an inferior ovary, which I propose to mention
to you, is the Orchis tribe, one of the most extensive
and curious of the Vegetable Kingdom. In the end
of May, or beginning of June, you will meet with
great numbers of a fine common species in the pastures
and meadows, where they rise with their spotted
leaves, and spikes of purple or rosy speckled flowers,
conspicuous among the herbage that surrounds them.
The country people call them Cuckoo-fiowers, because
they make their appearance when the cuckoo begins
to call. Of these the commonest of all are the Male
Orchis(Orchis mascula), and Fool’s Orchis (O. Morio),
either of which you may gather for the purpose of
examination.
Suppose we take Fool’s Orchis. It has a little fleshy
root, composed of two oval knobs, and a number
of succulent fibres; its leaves spread at the sur-
face of the ground, are of a light green, of a narrow
strap-shape, tapering to a blunt point, with a soft,
rather fleshy texture. and the usual simple-veined
structure of Monocotyledonous plants. The stem is
294, LETTER XIX.
erect, and about nine inches high, sometimes less, but
seldom more; it is covered by two or three leaves
wrapped round it, so as to form a sort of sheath; at
its top it bears a spike of flowers, coloured with green
and white, and having the followmg most remarkable
structure.
From the bosom of a narrow wavy lance-shaped
bract (Plate XIX. 2. fig. 2. f-), springs an angular
twisted body, pure green at its lower end, but often
stained with red near the top (fig. 2. e.); this is an
ovary, containing only one cell, and an inconceivable
multitude of minute ovules, arranged in double rows
upon three narrow receptacles ; at its point it is grace-
fully bent forward, as if to present you with its sin-
gular green and pink flower.
The first thing that usually strikes an observer, is
a broad roundish notched leaf (fig. 1. and 2. a.), hang-
ing from out of a sort of casque or helmet, the two
sides of which expand and retreat a little (fig. 1. ¢. ¢.),
so that they may set off the lively rose colour and
rich crimson blotches with their own dull green
stripes; this leaf is called the trp (labellum), and
separates a little into three divisions, of which the
side ones are the most notched and the largest; at
its base is a hole (fig. 1. e.) which will prove, upon
examination, to be the mouth of a rose-coloured horn,
that seems to swing lightly behind the flower (figs.
1. and 2. b.); it is usually called the spur. The
other leaves of the flower are thus: two are concave,
spreading, a little turned in at the point, and charm-
ingly striped with green veins, both within and with-
THE ORCHIS TRIBE, 225
out (figs. 1. & 2. c.); another stands quite at the
back, coloured with pure rose, and projecting for-
ward over the lip (figs. 1. & 2. c*.); below this he
two other leaves, narrower, and more delicate than
the last, forming, together with it, the casque out of
which the lip seems to hang (figs. 1. & 2. d. d.).
These are the parts which answer to the calyx and
corolla in other plants; at first sight, you will be at
a loss how to determine which belongs to the one, and
which to the other; and especially to know what the
lip is with its spur; look, however, more attentively,
and remark, firstly, that the whole number of leaves
in the flower is six; and secondly, that three of them,
namely, the lip, and two narrower and more delicate
leaves, which form part of the casque (figs. 1. & 2.
a. & d. d.), are placed within the three others. The
first of these (c. c. and c*.) form the calyx, and the
last (a. and d. d.) the corolla; a very irregular one,
certainly, but nevertheless conformable to all the
rules of organization ; as for their irregularity, that is
characteristic of the Orchis tribe. A little study and
examination by yourself, will satisfy you that, this is
the true view of their nature, and all the strange ap-
pearance which puzzled you at first, was caused by the
unusual manner in which the sepals and petals are
shaped and directed, and the disproportionate size of
one of them.
The next object that is to engage your attention,
is far more singular and difficult to understand. In
the centre of the flower, in the place of stamens and
style, just at the back of the hole that leads down
Q
296 LETTER XIX.
into the spur, half hidden by the petals, stands a
crimson flat body (fig. 3.) having a deep furrow in
its front. I should quite despair of explaming the
structure of it, without the assistance of a drawing,
which I accordingly send you: the parts are a good
deal magnified, as is usual in the dissection of flow-
ers by Botanists, in order to bring every thing dis-
tinctly into view. If you look attentively at the front
of the central body (fig. 3. a.), you will remark, in
the first place, that it is separated into two lobes, by a
deep channel drawn down its middle; and secondly,
that each lobe will open, if pressed, by a suture (fig.
3. g.) running through it from one end to the other.
Pull asunder the two sides of each lobe, so as to lay
open their inside (fig. 4.), and in each there will be
seen an olive-green granular mass (fig. 4. g.), tapering
gradually into a thin stalk, at the end of which is a
viscid semi-transparent gland (fig. 6. a.). If you
squeeze a portion of the olive-green granular mass in
water, beneath a very powerful microscope, you will
be surprised to see that it consists of infinite multi-
tudes of grains of pollen stickmg together in threes
or fours; it is therefore a mass of pollen in a sin-
gular state; and this fact being taken as the basis of
your reasoning as to the nature of the other parts
connected with it, it will result as a necessary conse-
quence, that the central body is an anther, and its
sutures the lines of dehiscence, or of opening. At the
foot of the anther is a pale whitish-green fleshy cup
( fig. 3. d. and 4. a.), in which the glands at the end
of the stalk of the pollen-masses are concealed; this
THE ORCHIS TRIBE. 227
which is botanically called the Hoop, or pouch (cucul-
lus, or bursicula), is peculiar to some of the Orchis
tribe, and is caused by a doubling upwards of the
upper edge of the stigma.
The stigma itself is a broad viscid shining space
( fig. 3. e.) lying just below the hood, between it and
the mouth of the spur.
These things being thus made out, it follows, you
see, that the column of an Orchis is a body formed
of a stamen, a style, and a stigma, all grown into one
solid body ; and this is the great peculiarity of the
Orchis tribe. Its genera vary amazingly in the
structure of the anther, the column, the lip, and in-
deed of all the parts, but in the consolidation of the style
and stamen. They are all agreed. This then is the
characteristic of the Orchis tribe.
If, however, there was really only one stamen, this
curious natural order would be more at variance with
the usual structure of Monocotyledonous plants than
its conformity in the calyx and corolla would lead
one to expect; and accordingly we find, that al-
though only one stamen is perfect, there are distinct
traces of two others in an extremely imperfect state.
On each side of the anther, near its base, you will
find a roundish granular knob (fig. 3. }. c.), which has
been ascertained to be the rudiment of another
anther; so that in reality the column is composed of
one perfect stamen, standing between two imperfect
ones ; a most striking proof of the harmony of design
which is manifested in all these Monocotyledonous
tribes.
Qa2
228 LETTER XIX.
If you consider the mutual relation which all the
parts of the Orchis bear to each other, you will scarcely
fail to be struck with one circumstance above all
others, namely, the apparent want of any means of com-
munication betwen the pollen and the stigma. Not
being in fine powder the pollen is not able to be scat-
tered in the air, like that of other plants ; if it were to
fall out in a mass it would hardly touch the stigma ;
and even the possibility of this seems to be purposely
prevented by the glutinous gland to which the stalk
of the pollen-mass adheres, and which is itself con-
fined within the pouch. To account for the manner
in which the necessary contact between the stigma
and the pollen takes place, two explanations have
been given; one that insects, inserting their pro-
boscis into the flower in search of honey, disturb
and pull out, or unintentionally carry away with
them the pollen-mass which sticks to them by means
of the gland, and that in the latter case, buzzing from
flower to flower they leave it behind them on the
stigma of some neighbouring blossom ; the other ex-
planation, which has been offered by the celebrated
Mr. Bauer, is that the influence of the pollen is not
communicated to the stigma, by actual contact of the
pollen, as is usual in other cases, but that it passes
down the stalk of the pollen-mass, into the gland,
and thence to the humid surface of the stigma; and
he has shewn that great probability attaches to this
opinion, in consequence of the existence in such
plants as the Orchis itself, of a beautiful contrivance to
secure such a communication. He discovered that in
THE ORCHIS TRIBE. 229
the bottom of the pouch, just below the glands, are
two little passages (fig. 4. d.), which open directly
over exactly that part of the stigma which appears
the best adapted for receiving the influence of the pol-
len: and that hence the pouch, which seems to the
superficial observer a means of preventing communi-
cation between the pollen and the stigma, is in fact a
most admirable contrivance of nature to ensure it. I
leave you to form your opinion, as to which of these
two explanations is the more plausible.
In this country the more common or remarkable of
the wild plants belonging to the Orchis tribe, are the
Bee Orchis and Fly Orchs (Ophrys), whose lips re-
semble the insects after which they are named; the
Man Orchis, and the Lizard Orchis (Aceras), with
their yellow or purple strap-like lips ; Neottia, with her
russet flowers, and scaly stems, springing from a
cluster of entangled roots, which have given her the
name of Bird’s Nest; the Butterfly Orchis (Platan-
thera) with its long and taper cream-coloured lip ;
and the Ladies Slipper (Cypripedium), with its large
yellow bladdery flowers, and twin anthers. They
all grow on the ground in meadows, or marshes, or
wood; and have always been considered the most
curious and beautiful plants of a European Flora.
But it is in tropical countries, in damp woods, or on
the sides of hills in a serene and equal climate, that
these glorious flowers are seen in all their beauty.
Seated on the branches of living trees, or resting
among the decayed bark of fallen trunks, or running
over mossy rocks, or hanging above the head of the
230 LETTER XIX.
admiring traveller, suspended from the gigantic arm
of some monarch of the forest, they develope flowers
of the gayest colours, and the most varied forms, and
they often fill the woods at night with their mild and
delicate fragrance. For a long time such plants were
thought incapable of being made to submit to the
care of the gardener, and Europeans remained almost
ignorant of the most curious tribe in the whole
vegetable kingdom. But it has been discovered of
late years that by care and perseverance they may be
brought to as much perfection in a hot-house as they
acquire in their native woods, and they now, under
the name Orchidaceous Epiphytes, form the pride of
the collections of England.
Unfortunately they are of very little known use.
Vanilla, which you eat in creams and other sweets, is
the pod of a kind which, in the West Indies, creeps
over trees and walls like ivy; and a nutritive sub-
stance called Salep is prepared from the tubercles of
some kinds of Orchis ; a most meagre catalogue of use-
ful properties in a tribe of near two thousand species,
but one to which little can be added, if we except
what is called the Shoemaker plant (Cyrtopodium
Andersonii), whose stems afford a glutinous extract
employed by the Brazilians for sticking together thin
skins of leather,
This order, like the two preceding has, as we have
seen, an inferior ovary, a character by which they,
and several others which I have not time to mention,
are readily known. In your study of Monocotyle-
donous plants you cannot do better than take this
THE ASPHODEL TRIBE. 231
circumstance as a fundamental distinction from which
your analysis may be continued. Let us now proceed
to some orders in which the ovary is superior.
The Hyacinth, Squill, Onion, Star of Bethlehem
(Ornithogalum) and Asphodel, belong to a natural
order, called the Asphodel tribe, which is remarkable
for the extreme simplicity of the structure of all its
parts. Three sepals, and three petals of similar form,
size, and colour, six stamens, and a superior three-
celled ovary, which changes to a fruit containing seeds
with a black brittle skin (Plate XIX. 1.), form the
essential character, and combine a large number of
plants, generally quite harmless, and in the majority
of cases remarkable for either their use or their
beauty. It is difficult to single out any one species
better fitted than another to illustrate the Asphodel
tribe, so uniform are they in the more important
points of organization. I happen to have at hand
the Streaked Onion (Allium striatum), but you may
take with equal advantage the common Onion, or any
of the others, I have above named, for the purpose
of study.
The leaves and flowering stems of this plant, rise
from a subterranean roundish fleshy body, formed of
scales wrapped closely over each other. ‘The scales
are of the same nature as those of a bud, namely, the
rudiments, or the bases of leaves ; and the body itself,
called a BULB, is a kind of underground bud; hence
you will perceive that when one talks of Hyacinth
roots which are placed in glasses, or of the roots of
Onion, Garlic and Shallots, an incorrect kind of
932 LETTER XIX:
language is made use of. In one respect, the bulb
differs essentially from a bud: it is not a perishable
part, intended merely as a protection to the young
and tender vital point, from which new growth is to
take place: this indeed is a part of its object, but it
also serves as a copious reservoir of nutritive matter
upon which the young leaves and flowers feed. On
this account its scales are not thin and easily withered
up, as in a common bud, but succulent, and capable
of retaining their moisture during long and severe
drought. In this we again see a direct manifestation
of the all protecting care of the Deity; for bulbous
plants are generally natives of situations which at
certain seasons of the year are quite dried up, and
where all vegetation would perish if it were not for
some such provision as we find in the bulb; in places
like the hard dry Karroos of the Cape of Good Hope,
where rain falls only for three months in the year, in
the parched plains of Barbary, where the ground is
rarely refreshed by showers, except in the winter, and
on the most burning shores of tropical India, beyond
the reach of the tide, and buried in sand, the tempe-
rature of which often rises to 180°, bulbous rooted
plants are enabled to live, and enliven such scenes
with their periodical beauty.
You must not, however, imagine, either that all
the Asphodel tribe have bulbs, or that all bulbs
belong to the Asphodel tribe; of the inaccuracy of
the latter notion you must already be aware, if you
remember the Narcissus tribe ; the former would be
not less a mistake; all that I meant, m thus connect-
THE ASPHODEL TRIBE. 233
ing the bulbous structure with the Asphodel tribe,
was that it is an exceedingly common characteristic.
The Asphodel genus itself has a fleshy fingered root,
without any trace of bulb, and some of the genera con-
tain trees of considerable size.
The leaves are long narrow green straps, and have
the simple parallel veins you have been led to expect.
The flowering stalk rises directly from the bulb,
without any intermediate stem; as it is long, and
destitute of leaves, and rather different in appear-
ance from a common flower-stalk, it is technically
named the scape. At its top it bears an umbel of
flowers, at the base of whose long stalks are a
number of membranous satiny scales, or bracts ( jig:
1. a.); they are a sort of involucre, but are occa-
sionally called a sparne. ‘The three sepals are very
evidently placed on the outside of the petals (fig. 2.),
but excepting in this respect, they are absolutely the
same both in colour, size, form, and direction. Of
the six stamens, three are a little smaller than the
others; their anthers open by two slits which are
turned towards the style. The ovary (fig. 5.) is an
oblong body, with three furrows, a single style, and
a stigma which exhibits no sign of beimg divided.
Inside the ovary you will find three cells, in each of
which is a number of ovules (fig. 6.). Last of all
comes the fruit; a little brown dry case which splits
into three valves (fig. 6*.), to allow of the escape of
the angular black seeds, whose skin is of a very
brittle nature. This last circumstance of the black
934 LETTER XIX.
brittle coating of the seed, is one of the most impor-
tant characters in the Asphodel tribe, as you will find
in my next letter.
The principal differences of appearance in the
Asphodel tribe are caused by two circumstances, the
growing together of the sepals and petals into a tube,
and the formation of a stem covered with leaves; the
former alters the look of the flowers, the latter changes
the whole aspect of the plant. You must therefore
pay attention to this, before you discontinue your study
of the tribe.
To understand the first of these two circumstances
you should endeavour to trace the gradations by
which the growing together of the sepals and petals
occurs. In the Onion you have seen that they are
all distinct ; they are equally so in the Vernal Squill
(Scilla bifolia), or in the Nodding Star of Bethlehem
(Ornithogalum mutans) ; but in the wild Blue Hya-
cinth, or Blue-bell, as it is often called (Hyacinthus
non scriptus), they converge so as to form a tube; and
in the curious Starch Hyacinth (Muscari) they are
completely glued together. These gradations exem-
plify most perfectly the passage from a spreading
flower with separate segments to a tubular flower with
all the segments united.
The second peculiarity, that of forming a leafy
stem, gives a much more different aspect to a part of
the tribe. In the Asparagus, for example, which you
perhaps only know in the state in which it is brought
to table, the stem when full grown is repeatedly
SP
THE ASPHODEL TRIBE. 235
branched and covered with little taper green leaves ;
the Asphodel itself has a simple stem clothed with
very long blueish green channeled leaves; and cer-
tain exotic plants called Dragon trees (Dracenas),
form trees of considerable size, with stems having
tufts of long broad leaves at their ends, in the manner
of Palms.
The latter, however, you are not likely to meet with,
unless you should travel into countries more southern
than Europe ; so that I do not anticipate any proba-
bility of your being embarrassed by them in your
notions of the Asphodel tribe.
Our next subject will be Lilies, the most gorgeous,
and Rushes the most mean, of Monocotyledonous
plants.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIX.
I. Tae AspHopeLt Trispe.—1l. An umbel of the Streaked Onion
(Allium striatum); a the spathe.—2. A flower spread open.—3. An
anther viewed in front.—4. The same viewed from behind.—5. A
pistil; a the place where the sepals and petals were cut off; 5 the
ovary.—6. An ovary cut through horizontally.—6*. A ripe capsule,
separated into valves; @ the remains of the flower.—7. A seed.—8.
The same cut through, shewing the embryo, a, lying in the cavity
of the albumen.
II. Tue Orcuis Traise.—l. A flower of Fool's Orchis (O. Morio)
seen in front; a the lip; 4 point of spur; ce lateral sepals; c* upper
sepal; dd petals; e mouth of the spur; / bract covering the ovary.
2. The same viewed in profile; a lip; 4 spur; ce lateral sepals;
e upper sepal; d petals; e ovary; / bract enveloping the ovary.—3.
Column of Orchis Mascula; « the anther; 4 ¢ abortive anthers; d
236
pouch of the stigma; e the glutinous face of the stigma; / the mouth
of the spur; g the suture by which the lobe of the anther opens.—4.
An anther with its lobes forced open; apouch; &c abortive anthers;
d passages in the pouch through which the pollen is supposed to
communicate with the glutinous surface of the stigma; g g pollen-
masses.—5. Back of an anther; a the passages in the pouch of the
stigma; 4 the part where the anther was cut off.—6. A pollen-mass;
a the gland.—(These are after drawings by Mr. Bauer.)
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LETTER XX.
THE LILY TRIBE—THE COLCHICUM TRIBE—
THE RUSH TRIBE,
(Plate AX 2)
Tue characters of the Asphodel tribe are so simple,
that I see no probability of your misunderstanding
their application in more than two cases. Let your
next inquiry then be how to avoid committing those
errors.
If you examine the flower of a Tulip (Plate XX.
1.), you will find so great a resemblance between its
structure and that of the Asphodels, that you will not
doubt of its belonging to their tribe. It has three
sepals (fig. 1. b. b b.), which are of the same size
and colour as the three petals (c. c. c.); from within
these arise six stamens (fig. 2.), and in the centre
of all is an ovary with three angles, three cells (fig.
3.), and a number of ovules in each cell. All this
is quite in accordance with the structure of the As-
phodel tribe. ‘The leaves, too, are extremely similar ;
they are narrow strap-shaped things, with simple
parallel veins; the underground bodies, moreover,
from which the leaves and flowers shoot up, are true
bulbs. Surely, then, the Tulip must belong to the
Asphodel tribe.
238 LETTER XX.
If the same accordance existed in the structure of
all their other parts, it is clear, that to distinguish the
Tulip from the Asphodel tribe would be unnecessary ;
but there are distinctions in parts to which I have not
yet adverted, and these distinctions are considered
important.
In the first place, the flowers of the Tulip are much
larger, and more showy than you find in the Aspho-
dels; and secondly, its seeds have not the same hard
black brittle coat; but in its room you have a soft pale
spongy integument. These are the two pomts upon
which Botanists rely for the separation of the Tulip
and its relations.
It is to the Lily tribe that the Tulip belongs, toge-
ther with the speckled Fritillaries, Crown Imperials,
Day Lilies (Hemerocallis), and true Lzlies (Lilium),
Dog’s-tooth Violets (Krythronium), and Twuberoses
(Polyanthes), the most odoriferous of flowers.
That the Lily tribe may be easily distinguished by
the large size of its flowers, must be obvious, after
naming such well known plants as the above, compared
with which, the Asphodels, pretty as they are, sink
into comparative insignificance. But the difference
would be still more striking, if we added to the list the
gigantic Lilies of Nipal, one of which is described by
Dr. Wallich as growing ten feet high, with flowers
large in proportion.
It is, however, certain, that, notwithstanding the
distinctions I have pointed out, the Lily tribe is very
closely allied to that of Asphodels, with which it also
coincides in its harmless qualities. We only know
YW UL
fi *
THE COLCHICUM TRIBE. 239
its beauty ; it is in the eastern parts of Asia, among
the Kamtchadales, &c. that it is applied to useful
purposes. By those people, the bulbs of certain
Lilies are used as a common food, and are stored up
as an important part of their winter stock of pro-
visions.
The fibres of the leaves of both Asphodels and
Lilies are sometimes strong enough to be manufac-
tured into hemp. Among the former is classed the
New Zealand Hemp (Phormium), of which such ex-
tensive use is now made in the navy; and with the
latter are stationed the plants called Adam’s Needle
(Yucca), because their strong sharp-pointed leaves
have been fancifully compared to a gigantic needle.
A better name would have been the Needle-and-thread
Plant, for by soaking in water, the fibres of the leaves
may be separated from the pulp, without being torn
from the hard sharp point, so that, when properly
prepared, the leaves do really become needles, ready
provided with a skein of thread.
Since both the Asphodel and Lily tribes are so
generally harmless, it becomes highly important that
all possibility of confounding them with a poisonous
order, which they in some respects resemble, should
be guarded against. Meadow Saffron, called by Bo-
tanists Colchicum, White Hellebore (Veratrum), and
some other plants, have a structure very analogous to
theirs. A calyx and corolla, each of three leaves of
similar form and texture, half a dozen stamens, and a
superior three-celled ovary, also characterise in part
the natural order called the Colchicum tribe, to which
24.0 LETTER XX.
those plants belong. Colchicum itself is very like a
Crocus in flower, but its superior ovary prevents its
being confounded with the tribe in which the Crocus
is included. The species of Melanthium and Helo-
nias are so similar in appearance to many of the
Asphodel tribe, that they would no doubt be referred
to the latter by a young Botanist. They, however,
Meadow Saffron, and all the rest of the Colchicum
tribe, may be recognised at once by three marks ; in
the first place, they have no bulbs, but in their stead
a solid knob or subterranean stem; secondly, their
anthers are turned away from the stigma, splitting,
and emitting their pollen on the side next the petals ;
and lastly, the three carpels out of which the three-
celled ovary is constructed, are separated at their
points, so that there are always three styles instead
of one style. These signs are what you must trust
to in your determination of the Colchicum tribe;
they may appear slight, and you may wonder why
such trifling distinctions should serve to distinguish
poisonous from wholesome orders; but with consi-
derations of the causes of such a fact, we have no
concern; all that it imports us to know is, that
Providence has distinguished them by such minute
marks, and has thus provided man with safe and
unerring guides, if he will but learn-how to follow
them.
Between many other tribes of Monocotyledonous
plants the distinctions are no stronger than those we
have already examined, a proof of which I am now
about to give you.
THE RUSH TRIBE. 241
Rushes have so little apparent resemblance to Lilies,
or Asphodels, or Meadow Saffron, that no one would
ever dream of placing them all in the same natural
group; and yet, if you examine a Rush, you will
be surprised to see how slight is the difference that
really exists between them. Some Rushes are humble
rigid leafless herbs, with stiff slender wiry stems, and
little clusters of dingy flowers: others are still more
dwarfish in stature, but have weil formed leaves. An
exceedingly common plant of the latter description is
the Field Luzula (Luzula campestris, Plate XX. 2.).
From a fibrous root rises a stem not more than five
or six inches high, and which you can hardly distin-
guish from the grass that it generally grows among in
the meadows. Its leaves are narrow and grassy, and
clothed with remarkably long hairs. At the top of
the stem grow a few heads of chesnut-brown flowers,
the structure of which you will hardly make out, ex-
cept the sun shines, for it is then chiefly that the parts
unfold. But if at that time you watch one of the
brown clusters, you will be able to perceive, that
each flower has six chesnut-coloured leaves, which
spread like a star (fig. 3.), of which three are sepals,
and three are petals. On their outside are two or
three bracts (fig. 2. a. a.), so like them, as to be only
distinguishable by their position. From within the
flower rise six stamens ; and from between the latter
an ovary (fig. 4.) with three angles, one style, and
three stigmas. It fruit (fig. 5.) is an ovate body,
containing only one cell, and three seeds (fig. 6. 7.),
with a pale soft skin.
24.2 LETTER. XX.
Now you will observe that in all that relates to the
sepals, petals, and stamens, there appears to be
nothing to distinguish a Rush from the Asphodel
tribe; the fruit would seem essentially different,
because of its haying only one cell; but in the true
Rushes (Juncus) the fruit has three cells, so that that
difference is unimportant. In fact if we neglect the
texture, colour, and imperfect degree of develope-
ment of the calyx and corolla, there will be hardly
any means of separating Rushes from Asphodels,
except the softness of the skin of their seeds. That
the former do represent an inferior order of vegeta-
tion, there can, however, be no reasonable doubt; we
accordingly consider them among the most imperfect
of regular Monocotyledons, Asphodels being an inter-
mediate degree of developement, and Lilies the
highest degree.
Rushes are of so little use in any of the ordinary
affairs of life, that it is scarcely worth occupying more
time with their study. ‘The plants from whose stems
are made what are called rush-bottomed chairs, rush-
mats, and the like, are usually species of Club-Rush.
and belong to the Sedge tribe, to which we shall now
come very shortly.
The orders of Monocotyledonous plants which we
have examined, and several others that have not been
mentioned, form what may be considered a natural
subdivision, characterised by the perfect and com-
plete manner in which their flowers are organized.
In no case do they exhibit fewer than six divisions, of
which three belong to the calyx, and three to the
ANALYSIS. 943
corolla. If you examine with care the distinctions by
which they are separated from each other, you will
find that they are of this nature.
Stamens & style separate 5 Stamens 6—The Narcissus tribe.
Ona ( ¢ Stamens3—The Cornflag tribe.
sfc ce < Stamens and style grown )
{ together into a solid co- /.
lumn . a ie
The Orchis tribe.
Seed-coat, soft and ¢ The Lily
pale. Flowers large. tribe.
Anthers with their ) Seed-coat black an¢Q 140 Asphodel
facesturned towards kat d alc See 5 tribe.
the ovary. Carpels ‘
f
Ovary firmly united. Seed-coat soft and ) 77, push
superior pale. Flowers mi- Sie
nute, brownand dry I
Anthers with their faces turned away from { The Colchi-
the ovary. Carpels partially separate § cum tribe.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XX.
Tue Liry Trise.—l1. Leaf and flowers of Ecluse’s Tulip (Tulipa
Clusiana); abract; 4 sepals; ¢ petals.—-2. Stamens and ovyary.—3.
The ovary cut through horizontally, shewing the ovules.
Il. Toe Rusu Trispe.—l1. Stem, leaves, and flowers of the Field
Luzula (Liuzula campestris).—2. A flower separate; @ a bracts.—3.
An expanded flower seen from above.—4. A pistil, with its single
style and three stigmas.—5. A ripe fruit—6. A seed.—7. The same
cut through perpendicularly.
LETTER XXI.
THE BULLRUSH TRIBE—THE ARROW-GRASS TRIBE
—THE DUCKWEED TRIBE.
(Plate XXI.)
In my last letter I mentioned that all the orders
we have hitherto examined among Monocotyledonous
plants have their flowers organized in a complete and
perfect manner. ‘This letter will relate to some that
are incomplete and imperfect. You will find that
there are three degrees of organization in Monocoty-
ledons, of which we have passed over one, are about
to enter upon a second, and shall very soon arrive
at the third.
Bullrushes (Typha) are narrow flat-leaved tall
plants, growing in marshes or pools of stagnant water,
having their stems terminated by a dark cylinder, sur-
mounted by a more slender yellow spike. ‘These plants
represent a natural order, named after them, the
Bullrush tribe, to which belongs a common wild marsh
plant, called Bur-reed (Sparganium). The latter will
furnish you with the means of studying the peculiarities
of the natural order.
If you regard the Bullrush ever so attentively, you
will fail to discover, at any period of its growth, a
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THE BULLRUSH TRIBE. Q4.5
trace of flowers like those of the plants that have
gone before. Upon the whole surface of the plant
you find nothing different from leaves, except the
dark cylinder, and the yellow spike on the top of it.
It is at these parts that in reality the flowers are col-
lected ; but they are so minute, and their organs are
so delicate, that it requires a microscope, and a care-
ful separation of them, to determine their real nature.
The dark cylinder consists wholly of flowers contain-
ing pistils only, or being fertile, and the yellow spike
is composed of flowers containing nothing but sta-
mens, or being sterile. I do not, however, propose
to fatigue you by obliging you to anatomize a Bull-
rush ; the same purpose will be effected, if you take
the Bur-reed, which is similar in structure, but larger
in all its parts.
Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium ramosum, Plate
XXI. 1.), is a wild plant, frequently found growing
in ditches or pools, or by the wet banks of rivers.
It rises to the height of two, or even three feet, and
branches from the very ground. Its leaves, which
are narrow, and shaped like a short straight sword-
blade, have near the top of the stem a remarkably
broad sheathing base. At the extremities of the
branches appear round balls of flowers, some of which
(b. b. fig. 1.), are bright green, and others (a. a.)
bright yellow ; the latter being the most numerous,
and placed above the others. The yellow heads
consist of stamen-bearing, or barren flowers, and the
green heads of pistil-bearing, or fertile florets. What
happens in this case, occurs also in all instances in
24.6 LETTER XXI.
which the stamens are separated from the pistils in
different flowers on the same plant; we invariably
find that the stamens are placed on the uppermost
parts of the branch above the pistils, an arrange-
ment which is no doubt provided, to facilitate the
scattering of their pollen upon the stigmas. If they
were placed below the pistils, it would be much more
difficult for the pollen to reach the stigma, and con-
sequently, the great end of the creation of the stamens
would be almost frustrated. We find, however, that
every thing is foreseen, and provided for by Provi-
dence, with the same care in these little plants, as in
the most exalted and perfect of the works of nature ;
and that even so apparently useless and insignificant
a weed as the Bur-reed, contains the most convinc-
ing evidence of the worthlessness of the opinions of
those who, denying the existence of the Deity, would
have the world believe that livmg thimgs are the
mere result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, at-
tracting and repelling each other with different degrees
of force. .
If we open one of the yellow balls, we find it con-
sists of a great number of separate flowers, each of
which has a calyx of three long-stalked jagged sepals
( fig. 2. a. a. a.), and six wedge-shaped anthers, which
are heavier than the little slender filaments can well
support.
In the structure of their calyx, the flowers of the
green heads do not materially differ from the latter
(fig. 3.), the sepals are three in number, but broader
and shorter, rolled round the pistil, and seated close
THE ARROW-GRASS TRIBE. Q4'7
upon the receptacle, without any stalk. The pistil is
an oval body, terminated by a deeply lobed stigma
(fig. 3.), and having in its ovary but one cell, from
the summit of which hangs a single ovule. The fruit
contains one seed (fig. 6.), consisting of a mass of
albumen (jig. 7.), at the further end of which lies a
minute embryo (ig. 8.).
It is obvious that this is an organization much more
imperfect than that of the Monocotyledonous orders
we have before examined; in room of an evident
calyx and corolla, we have nothing but three scales,
there is no trace of the number three im the ovary,
aud the stamens and pistils are separated from each
other. In the Bullrush itself, the imperfection is yet
greater ; even the scales, which in the Bur-reed re-
present the calyx, are wanting, and no hing appears
in their room but a quantity of delicate black hairs.
Nearly allied to the Bullrushes, like them useless
to man, as far as we know, and equally inhabiting
wet and spongy soils, are some little inconspicuous
plants, called by the learned Triglochin, and by others
Arrow-grasses. ‘These, and some allied genera, form
an order called the Arrow-grass tribe (Juncaginee,
Plate XXI. 2.), in which incompleteness of structure
exist in a less degree than in the Bullrushes, for they
have a calyx and corolla, and the usual number of
stamens; but the former are more like scales than
sepals and petals, and the ovary, although it has the
usual ternary structure of Monocotyledons, is never-
theless in an imperfect state.
Marsh Arrow-grass (Triglochin palustre), is a little
248 LETTER XXI.
inconspicuous plant, which does not grow above
eight or nine inches high, and, both its leaves and
stems being remarkable slender, is easily overlooked.
Its curious structure will, however, amply repay
the trouble of finding and examining it. It is
common enough in wet meadows, or in other moist
places, where the ground is covered with a sward of
grass, from which you will never distinguish it, with-
out employing all your power of observation. It is
said to send out scaly runners, which end in little
knobs, shaped like a scorpion’s tail. Its very narrow
succulent leaves are of just the length and colour of
those of many grasses, but they are taper, and not
flat. When about to flower, it throws up from the
midst of its leaves a little slender undivided stem
(fig. 1.), which bears at its upper end a good many
green flowers, loosely arranged at some distance
from each other. Each of these flowers is constructed
thus: On the outside are three concave blunt scales
(fig. 2. a. a. a.), which constitute the calyx ; in the
cavity of each of these there lies a roundish anther
( fig. 4. 6.), the face of which is next the scale,
and consequently in the most unfavourable position
possible for discharging its pollen upon the stigma.
Within the calyx are three other scales, which are
pressed close to the ovary, and which in like manner
contain three anthers in their hollows; these scales
are the petals; so that an Arrow-grass has three
sepals, three petals, and six stamens. Its ovary is a
long three-cornered body, having no style, and for
a stigma nothing but a tuft of little hairs (fig. 2-
THE DUCKWEED TRIBE. IAG
& 3.6.). It may be separated with care into three
carpels, at the bottom of each of which lies a single
erect ovule, a great deal smaller than the cavity in
which it is placed (fig. 3.). The fruit is a narrow
three-cornered dry case, which divides into three
slender parts, each of which is partly filled with a
taper seed (fig. 7.). In almost all Monocotyledonous
plants, a considerable quantity of albumen is provided
for the nutriment of the young embryo, but the Ar-
row-grass tribe is one of those which form an excep-
tion to this rule. The embryo of these plants lies
immediately below the seed-coat, and consists of a co-
tyledon (fig. 8. ¢.), having near its base a small slit
(a.) through which the young stem is protruded when
the plant begins to grow.
It is evident that this kind of structure is so unlike
what we find in the Bullrushes, as to require no
further explanation. What does require elucidation
is the reason of the singular arrangement of the
anthers, which I have just described; it does not at
all appear for what cause they are so carefully embo-
died in two hollows of the calyx and corolla, nor
indeed how, under such circumstances, their pollen
is ever to reach the stigma. I must confess my inabi-
lity to explain the matter: you cannot do better
than reflect upon it, until you hit upon some solution
of the mystery.
Far more simple than the previous tribes is that to
which the Duckweed (Lemna) gives its name. In the
former, whatever deficiency there might be in the
parts of fructification, there was at least a stem and
250 LETTER XXI.
leaves. But in Duckweed there is nothing but a
fleshy floating green body, which looks like a green
scale, and which is in reality a compound of both
root and stem. Most people fancy that Duckweed
never flowers: and many are they who have watched
it all their lives without succeeding in discovering
its blossoms. If, however, you will fix your eyes at-
tentively upon a mass of it, on a still sunshiny day in
the months of June or July, you will probably dis-
cover exceedingly minute straw-coloured specks here
and there on the edges of the plants; they have a
sparkling appearance, and notwithstanding their mi-
nuteness readily catch the eye. These are the anthers,
and they being found, you have only to carry home
the plants, and place them under a microscope, when
all the secrets of their flowering stand revealed.
Where the anthers have caught the eye, will be seen
a narrow slit, out of which they peep; if you widen
this slit (Plate XXI. 3. fig. 2.) with your dissecting
instruments, you will be able to extract the blossom
entire (fig. 3.); and you will have before your eyes
the simplest of all known flowers, as Duckweed itself
is the simplest of all known fiowermg plants. The
flower consists of a transparent membranous bag,
shaped like a water caraffe, and split on one side;
within it are two stamens, and one ovary with a style
and simple stigma. The fruit (fig. 4.) contains but
one cell, in which are one or more seeds (fig. 5.)
its shell is a thin cellular mtegument.
Such are the simple means that Duckweed pos-
sesses of propagating itself; means, however, which
THE DUCKWEED TRIBE. Q51
appear to be abundantly sufficient, if we are to judge
from the immense quantities which rise every year to
the surface of our ponds. In Europe we have no
other plant belonging to the same natural order ; but
in tropical countries its place is occupied by a plant
called Pistia, which is a sort of gigantic Duckweed,
with broad lobed leaves Hke some Lichens, and a
more highly organized flower.
With these examples of imperfect Monocotyledo-
nous plants, I must dismiss that part of the subject ;
in my next letter I shall introduce you to the more in-
teresting and important tribes which furnishes us with
bread.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXI.
I. Toe ButtrusH Trree.—l. A shoot of Branching Bur-reed
(Sparganium ramosum); @ a heads of barren flowers; 4 4 heads of
fertile flowers.—2. A barren flower; aa a sepals.—3. A fertile flower.
—4. Ananther seen from the side.—5. The same viewed from the
edge.—6. A seed.—7. The same divided perpendicularly, with the
embryo in one end of the albumen.—8. The embryo extracted.
Il. Toe Arrow-Grass Trise.—1. A flower-spike of Marsh Ar-
row-grass (Triglochin palustre.)—2. A flower; aaasepals; 6 stigma.
—3. A perpendicular section of one of the cells of the ovary; 0 stig-
ma.—4. A scale of the calyx a; with the anther, 4, lying in it.—5.
An anther seen on the side by which it discharges its pollen.—6. A
ripe fruit.—7. A perpendicular section of one of its cells, shewing
the manner in which the seed hes in it.—8. An embryo; a the slit
through which the stem is finally protruded; 4 the radicle; c the
cotyledon.
Ill. Tae Duckweep Trise.—1. Plants of furrowed Duckweed
(Lemna trisulea) floating on water.—2. A plant magnified, and in
flower at a.—3. A flower extracted from the slit in which it laid; a
the membranous bag.—4. A fruit.—5. A seed.
LETTER XXII.
GLUMACEOUS PLANTS—THE GRASS TRIBE—THE
SEDGE TRIBE.
Plate XXII.
wee
For the natural orders forming the two different
degrees of developement we have now considered,
there is no collective name ; but for the third we have
one in such general use, that we must not pass it by
in silence.
There are certain plants which are called GLiuma-
cEous, because in place of calyx and corolla they
have nothing but green or brown scales, named glumes,
arranged alternately round a common centre. ‘The
most remarkable of such plants are Grasses and
Sedges, to the former of which I propose first to call
your attention.
The most common and the most useful of all the
natural orders of plants is beyond doubt the Grass
tribe ; wherever we cast our eyes, we are sure to see
blades of grass springing up, if any vegetation at all
can exist ; it is they that form that universal verdure
which gives the northern parts of the world their
peculiar charm, and which alone may console the
inhabitants for the want of those other advantages
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GLUMACEOUS PLANTS. 2538
which a brighter sun and more cloudless sky are
capable of supplying. Bread is exclusively prepared
from the flour or albumen of the seeds of various
kinds of corn, chiefly from wheat, and the richness
of pastures depends essentially upon the species of
Grasses that inhabit them. If it were not for the
creeping subterranean stems of maritime Grasses,
which can vegetate amidst dry and drifting sand, the
banks which man heaps up as a barrier against the
ocean would be blown away in the first hurricane ;
but the Sea-reeds (Ammophila), Lyme-grasses (Kly-
mus), Wheat-grasses (Triticum), and others, vege-
tate rapidly on such embankments, and, piercing
the soil in every direction with their tough under-
ground stems, presently form an entangled web of
living matter, which is spontaneously renewed as fast
as it is destroyed, and which offers a resistance to the
storm which is rarely overcome. Finally, the Bamboo
alone is capable of supplying all the wants of savage
man ; with its lightest shoots he makes his arrows,
thin strips of the wood form bow-strings, and from
the larger stems he fabricates a bow; a long and
slender shoot affords him a lance shaft, and he finds
its hardened poimt a natural head for the weapon.
With the larger stems he builds the walls and roof
of his house: its leaves afford him an impenetrable
thatch; split into narrow slips it gives him the
material for weaving his floor mats, and other articles
of domestic convenience; its fibre furnishes him with
twine, and its leaves provide him with paper, when
he becomes sensible of the utility of such a material.
254 LETTER XXII.
Would he commit himself to the waves, the stems
form the hull of his boat, which a few skins stretched
over it render water tight; they also give him masts ;
and thin slips of wood become cordage or are woven
into sails.
In tropical countries Grasses are far more gigantic
than in England; we usually see them at their
largest, two or three feet high, when in flower in the
hay fields; and the reeds that in marshes or ponds
gain a stature of seven or eight feet, are probably the
noblest specimens of the tribe with which you are ac-
quainted. But in equinoctial regions, where the air 1s
damper, and the sun far more powerful and brilliant
than with us, Grasses acquire such surprising dimen-
sions as to rival Palms themselves in majesty of
appearance. In Brazil we are told that the hay will
grow seven or eight feet high, the Sugar-cane plant
(Saccharum) averages 20 feet, and Bamboos, with
their light imperishable stems, lance up into the air
to the height of 30 or 40 feet. It is in such regions
alone that we can really behold the perfection of the
Grass tribe.
Let us, however, be contented with examining one
of our own species for a knowledge of the structure
of this singular tribe ; we shall find every peculiarity
of structure that tropical species afford, and we can
easily imagine all that difference of size is likely
to produce.
One of the commonest of British Grasses is the
Soft Brome-grass (Bromus mollis, Plate XXII. 1.);
a plant which you will be almost certain to meet
THE GRASS TRIBE. Q55
with in the first piece of waste ground. It is an
annual with an erect stem, about two or three feet
high, and covered all over with soft hairs. The stem
requires more than mere external examination. Strip
it of its leaves, so as to lay bare all its surface; and
you will find it hard and thickened at every joint
where a leaf has been torn. Split it, and instead of
the solid centre of other plants, you will see that it is
hollow, and consists of nothing but a cylindrical shell
(fig. 2.); at the joints, however, the sides of the
cylinder meet, and form a firm partition which com-
pletely separates one part of the stem from the other.
It is this structure that renders the Bamboo so useful
for forming cases to hold rolls of paper: in India
they cut a truncheon of a stout Bamboo, and scrape
away all the partitions except one; it then becomes
a cylinder open at one end, where the partition is
destroyed, and closed at the other end. A short piece
of a Bamboo of the same diameter, having a complete
partition at one end, is then formed into a lid by scrap-
ing away its inside, and a capital case is produced
without farther trouble. We sometimes see such
cases, as much as two feet in circumference.
The leaves of Brome-grass are hairy, narrow and
sharp pointed at their lower end, which, notwith-
standing its breadth, is considered to be their stalk ;
it rolls round the stem, forming a kind of sheath,
which sometimes is not very easily unrolled. At the
upper end of the sheath you may remark a thin
white membrane, such as you have nowhere met
with before; Botanists call such a membrane a LIGULA.
256 LETTER XXII.
Thus far then we have two peculiarities in Grasses ;
their hollow round stems, with partitions at the joints,
and the lgulate leaves.
The flowers are still more unlike what you have
before seen. At the top of the stem of the Brome-
grass, a number of slender branches appear, turned
chiefly towards one side, and by their weight giv-
ing a somewhat nodding appearance to the parts
they bear (fig. 1.); those parts (a. a. a.) are oblong
green bodies, apparently composed of scales after the
manner of aleaf bud; in reality they are little col-
lections of flowers, whence they are named spikelets
(or spiculz or locuste, as they say in Botanical Latin).
Each spikelet is constructed as follows. Firstly,
at its base (fig. 3. a. a.) are two green scales, each of
which has about five ribs; these are the GLUMES
strictly speaking ; there is no trace of either pistils or
stamens in their bosom, on the contrary they are al-
ways found to be perfectly empty. When the glumes
are removed you come to some other parts, which at
first sight look like glumes; but on a more careful
inspection you will remark that they are composed of
more scales than one, have a stiff bristle at their back,
and contain some stamens, &c. in their bosom. ‘These
are called rLoreTs ; in the Brome-grass there is about
ten of them placed one above the other in two op-
posite rows ( fig. 3. 0.).
Each floret consists of two scales called paLEx
( fig. 4. a. & b.); of which the more external (a.) is the
larger, is covered all over the outside with soft hairs,
and bears at its back a little below the end (c.) a stiff
THE GRASS TRIBE. 957
bristle, called the BEarD, or AwN (arista); the beard
is in reality the midrib of the palea, partially sepa-
rated and lengthened out. ‘The inner palea (0.)
originates from above and within the base of the
outer, is much smaller and more membranous, has
its edges abruptly doubled inwards, and bears a row
of stiff bristles on the angles (d.) formed by the
doubling. ‘These two are the lower or outer, and
upper or inner palee.
Next the palez come, on the side of the outer
palea, two exceedingly small scales (fig. 5. a. a.),
which are much shorter than the ovary; they are
called HypoGyNoUs scALES, and are supposed to be
the rudiments of a calyx or corolla.
From the base of the ovary arise three stamens
(fig. 4.), whose filaments are white, and so weak and
slender, that the long narrow anthers hang in a state
of oscillation, in consequence of the inability of the
filaments to support them.
The ovary is a wedge-shaped body, apparently con-
sisting of nothing but pulp, and crowned by a tuft of
long hairs ( fig. 5.) ; two styles, bearing singular brush-
like stigmas, spring from its summit.
In this instance you have all the parts that are
usually present in Grasses; and you cannot avoid
remarking how widely different the whole organiza-
tion is from any thing you have witnessed in other
plants. The structure of the fruit is not less pe-
culiar.
I have said that the ovary seems as if it were com-
posed of nothing but pulp; it does, however, consist
S
258 LETTER XXII.
of an ovule, and of a shell that includes it, but both
are so soft that they grow together, and cannot be
distinguished. Immediately after the styles wither,
the ovary swells, gradually loses its softness, and at
last when ripe is nearly bald, having gained a sallow
appearance, and become longer and thinner. At the
period of maturity (fig. 6.) there is still no means of
separating the shell of the fruit from the skin of the
seed, so completely are they grown together; the
fruit looks therefore so like a seed, that it is no
wonder it should popularly be called so; it is better,
however, to designate it a Grain. If you crush the
ripe grain you will find its contents of a hardish
horny consistence, but easily reduced into the state
of flour: from what you have seen in other instances
you will easily recognize this for albumen. It is
possible, that you may search in vain for an embryo,
amidst all this flour; and I dare say, if I do not tell
you how to look for it, you will waste a great deal of
time in finding it, even if you should recognize it
when found. Follow me attentively, and I shall
easily relieve you of this difficulty. The ripe grain
is much narrower at one end than the other, and
more convex on one side than the other; turn the
grain on its flat side, so that the convexity is upper-
most, and then carry your eye to the narrowest end ;
there you will espy a minute oval depression ( fig. 6. a.);
if you carefully lift up the skin at this part, you will
detect the embryo lying snugly half buried in albu-
men. It will appear like a greenish-yellow plano-
convex oval body, in which you can discern no marks
THE GRASS TRIBE. 259
of organization. But if you will divide it perpen-
dicularly with a sharp knife, you will then be able
to see that it has a most complete and highly de-
veloped structure. You will find (fig. 7.) that it
consists of a thickish scale (c.) upon which lies a little
conical body (a.), composed of several minute sheaths
fitted one over the other; the scale is the cotyledon,
and the conical body the plumule or young stem. At
the lower end of the embryo may also be made out a
sort of sheath lying within its extreme point (0.); it
is the rudiment of the root.
When the embryo first begins to grow, the coty-
ledon (c.) swells a little and attaches itself firmly to
the albumen by the whole of its highly absorbent
surface: the albumen at the same time softening and
becoming partially dissolved by the moisture it has
taken up from the soil; by this means the nutritive
matter of the albumen is conveyed into the cotyledon
as quickly as it is formed. ‘The food thus poured into
the cotyledon by thousands of invisible mouths, causes
it to swell and all its parts to lengthen. The radicle
(b.) is pushed downwards into the soil on one hand,
and on the other the plumule rises upwards into
the air; both these parts are abundantly supplied
with the materials of growth by the cotyledon, until
the roots have established themselves in the soil, and
are able to pump up food for themselves, and for
the nascent stem. By the time this happens the coty-
ledon has shrivelled up, the albumen is exhausted
of its nutriment, aud all these temporary parts cease
to exist.
s2
260 LETTER XXII.
Such is the provision that nature has contrived to
ensure the perpetuation of Grasses; for there is but
little variation from this arrangement throughout the
species of the tribe.
Here let us pause for an instant to admire the
beautiful adaptation of all the parts to the functions
they have to perform. Grasses spring up with
rapidity as soon as the earliest rains have fallen upon
the dry ground where their grains have been de-
posited; it is necessary that they should do so in
order that, however imperfect the supply of rain may
be, the earth may at all times be clothed with ver-
dure. To ensure this, Providence has given them a
young stem which is almost formed in the very seed,
and which is ready upon the slightest stimulus to
spring forth into life; but if the young stem were to
sprout with such rapidity, the roots would be unable
to supply it fast enough with food, and it would pre-
sently wither and die, unless some special means were
provided of meeting this difficulty; accordingly, a
great abundance of albumen is stored up, as a certain
supply of food till the roots can themselves obtain it
from the earth. The supply of the albumen would,
however, be useless unless some means existed of
conveying it with rapidity to the plumule, and ac-
cordingly we find the broad thin cotyledon, a highly
absorbent body, placed with its whole surface applied
to the albumen, and ready to transfer the nutritive
fluid to the plumule as quickly as the former can
be formed.
Grasses are so numerous and so verv simple in
THE GRASS TRIBE. 261
their structure that you may well believe there is some
little difficulty in distinguishing them into genera ;
especially as their parts are so small. Although it is
no part of my plan to teach you much of the distinc-
tions of genera, that being left you to acquire from
systematic works, when the difficulties of this intro-
duction are mastered; yet I may as well explain how
a few of the very commonest genera are known from
each other.
What has already been said of the Brome-grass
explains its characters. Very nearly related to it are
Fescues (Festuca), the species of which, whether high-
landers or lowlanders, are so much and advantageously
employed as pasture Grasses; they differ from the
Brome-grasses only in having their beard proceeding
from the very point of the palea, instead of from below
its pomt. Like both these are the Meadow-grasses
(Poa); but they have no beards at all, and are usually
much smaller: the little annual Grass which grows
every where, and flowers at all seasons of the year,
lying almost prostrate upon the ground, is a kind of
Poa (P. annua). Quaking-grasses (Briza) are Poas
with their palez inflated. All the above have a loose
inflorescence, and several florets in each spikelet.
Others, haying also a branched inflorescence, are
known by each spikelet containing but one floret;
such as Bent-grasses (Agrostis), with thin delicate
silken panicles and wiry stems; they have often only
one palee instead of two, or if they have two, the
upper one is very minute. ‘To Grasses with a similar
structure also belong the /eather-grass (Stipa), with
262 LETTER XXII.
its long and plumed beards, and Catstail-grasses
(Phleum), with two equal sharp-pointed glumes ;
Canary-grass (Phalaris), too, with whose grains your
Canary birds are fed, and whose glumes have each a
flat keel like a little boat, and Foxtail-grasses (Alope-
curus), which differ from the Catstails in having a
beard to their single palea. In the Catstails, Canary-
grasses, and Foxtails you will not recognize at first a
branched inflorescence, for two of them derive their
names from the compact appearance their flowers pre-
sent. But if you separate the flowers gently, you will
find that they are in reality seated upon little branches,
which are pressed so closely together that you do not
see them.
Another group of Grasses has the spikelets really
seated close to the stem; as for instance Wheat, Barley,
and fye ; while a fourth kind has the stamens in one
kind of flower and the pistils in another: of this kind
is Maize, or Indian Corn. In that plant the barren
flowers are loose yellow branches, growing at the top
of the stem, and covered with anthers, while the fertile
flowers are hidden among the lower leaves, and are
only discovered by their long shining styles, which
hang down in tufts like silken tassels.
The other natural order of Glumaceous Monocoty-
ledons, which I propose to mention to you is that
which comprehends Sedges, after which it is named.
In its general appearance it resembles Grasses; but it
is known by its stems being solid, not hollow (Plate
XXII. 2. fig. 2.), and by its leaf-stalks, when they
roll round the stem, growing together by their edges
THE SEDGE TRIBE. 263
into a perfect sheath. These distinctions are the
more important, from being accompanied by others
im the parts of fructification, and also by an ab-
sence of all those useful properties for which Grasses
are remarkable. The most common genus of the
whole order is the Sedge (Carex); a species frequent
on wet commons, called ‘the hairy” (C. hirta), will
supply us with an illustration. Its solid triangular
stem (fig. 2.), and its hairy leaves agree with what
has just been mentioned. Its flowers are arranged
in heads, and are of two kinds; one sort occupying
the upper end of the stem (fig. 1. a. a.) consists of
barren flowers only; each flower (fig. 2.) has an
oval brownish membranous scale and three stamens,
and the heads are composed of nothing but such
flowers. The other kind of head (fig. 1. 6.) appears
a little below the others, is green, and consists of
fertile flowers only. Like the barren heads this is
chiefly composed of imbricated scales, but in place of
the stamens you find (fig. 4.) a hairy bottle-shaped
body, split at the end into two lobes, from between
which three stigmas project. Open the bottle and
you will discover that the stigmas are connected with
a single style, springing from the top of a three-cor-
nered ovary. This is all that the fertile flowers
consist of ; the bottle is formed by two scales which
are placed opposite each other, and grow together
at their edges, and is a mark of the genus Carex ;
most others of the Sedge tribe are without it, and
contain nothing but a naked pistil. When the fruit
(fig. 6.) of the Carex is ripe, it is still enclosed in the
264 LETTER XXII.
bottle (fig. 5.), but it has become a hard 3-cornered
brown nut, with a thickish shell, and one seed stand-
ing erect in its cavity (fig. 7. a.). As for its embryo
it is totally different from that of Grasses, it neither
lies on the outside of the albumen, nor is it shaped at
all like it; it is a minute roundish undivided body
(jig. 8.), which is buried in the lower end of the
albumen. It really would seem as if the small com-
parative utility of these plants was indicated by the
little care that nature has taken to ensure the growth
of their seeds by extraordinary precautions.
It is to the Sedge tribe that most of those plants
belong,
which afford the materials of the manufacture of
which are popularly considered Rushes, and
candles, mats, and chairs; the Club-rush im parti-
cular (Scirpus lacustris), which sometimes grows as
much as nine feet high, is the species that is collected
for such purposes. ‘They are chiefly found on wet
commons, or in marshy, or swampy places. The
most remarkable of the wild kinds is the Cotton-qrass
(Eriophorum), the long silky white hairs of whose
fruit look exactly like tufts of cotton blowing about in
the wind.
Here ends my explanation of the organization of
those plants which, because they are increased by the
action of an apparatus consisting of calyx, corolla,
stamens, and pistil, and forming what we call a flower,
are called FLOWERING.
The remainder of the Vegetable Kingdom consists
of species wholly destitute of flowers, and increased by
organs totally different in their nature from fruit and
205
seeds. For an explanation of the characters of these,
I must refer you to the succeeding letter.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXII.
I. Tue Grass TriBpE.—1. A piece of the inflorescence of Soft
Brome-grass (Bromus mollis) ; a a spikelets.—2. A perpendicular
section of a portion of the stem, shewing the partition at a.—3. A
spikelet ; a a glumes; 6 0 @ florets.—4. A floret half open; a the
lower palea; 4 the upper palea; ¢ the beard; d the angles of the
upper palea covered with stiff hairs——5. A pistil ; a a hypogynous
scales; 6 stigmas.—6. A ripe grain; a the place where the embryo
lies ; 4 the piece which is cut out, and seen magnified at 7, where a
is the plumule; 4 the radicle; c the cotyledon, and d the albumen.
IJ. Tur Sever Trise.—l. A portion of the upper end of the
Hairy Sedge (Carex hirta) ; a a barren flower heads ; 4 fertile flower
head.—2. A portion of the solid stem.—3. A barren floret seen from,
the inside, with its three stamens.—4. A fertile floret.— 5. A ripe
fruit, as seen when enclosed in the bottle.—6. The true fruit taken
out of the bottle—7. A perpendicular section of the same, shewing
its erect seed a.—8. An embryo.
LETTER XXIII.
CELLULAR, FLOWERLESS, OR CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS—
THE FERN TRIBE—THE CLUB-MOSS TRIBE.
Plate XXIII.
We have now arrived at the frontiers of the third
great province into which the Vegetable Kingdom
is divided; we are about to visit races far less per-
fectly organized than those of the two other provinces;
and we shall no longer be delighted by beautiful form,
or astonished at stupendous size, or interested by the
many useful purposes to which the species are applied:
We here lose sight of all traces of flowers, and of the
singular parts that belong to them; in their room we
find a different mode of propagation, and along with
it, a plan of organization which is always far more
simple than in flowering plants, and which gradually
diminishes in complexity, till at last the component
parts of the vegetable texture are separated, and
nothing remains but little bladders, which are hardly
to be distinguished from the simplest forms of
animals.
Plants of this sort are called rLowERLESs ; they
are also named Cryptogamic, because the parts by
which they are by some thought to be increased
are hidden from view; and they have, in addition,
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THE FERN TRIBE. 267
the designation of ceLLtuLar plants, because their
stems rarely contain vessels, but usually consist of
cellular substance only. You, perhaps, do not know
that, in nearly all plants which bear flowers, there
are present those curious air-pipes, called spiral ves-
sels, of which I long ago gave you an explanation
(p. 38.); such, however, is the fact. On the other
hand, in these flowerless plants, spiral vessels are uni-
versally absent; some of the most highly organized
tribes, such as those which form the subject of the
present letter, have a particular kind of vessel in lieu
of the spiral; but all the other tribes are destitute of
vessels of any kind.
Ferns, which are the most completely organised of
Flowerless plants, and which approach nearer than
any others to the Flowering tribes, are those to which
I would first call your attention. In the northern
parts of the world, they are green leafy productions,
which die down to the ground every year; and they
are seldom more than two or three feet high; one of
the larger kindsis the Brake (Pteris), which is so much
esteemed as covert for game. But, in tropical coun-
tries, many of them far surpass these pigmy dimen-
sions; they acquire real trunks, resembling those
of Palms, and often rise to as high as forty or fifty
feet without a leaf; even a more considerable sta-
ture is spoken of by travellers. At all times they
are graceful objects, from the slender wiry stems
on which they bear their leaves, which wave in
the breeze like plumes of feathers, and from the
multitude of leaflets into which they are cut with
2608 LETTER XXIII.
the most exquisite regularity. But the Tree Ferns ofthe
Tropics are said to be most superb objects, combining
the grace and agreeable colour of their European
kindred with the majestic aspect of the Palms.
It is usual to call the leaves of Ferns by the name
of FronD, as if their leaves were not analogous to
those of other plants. But J see no use in continuing
this old fashioned word, which was coined at a time
when the leaf of a Fern was thought to be a sort of
compound between a branch and a leaf. It is much
better, on every account, to call it by the name that
the same part bears in other plants.
For the purpose of studying the organization of
Ferns, | recommend you to take a leaf of Hart’s-tongue
(Scolopendrium officinarum, Plate XXIII. 1.), a
plant which is common on most damp and shaded
banks, and within old open wells, the mouths of which
are almost choaked up by it. All that you will
find of the plant, is a brown scaly rootstock, from
which grow a number of handsome lance-shaped
leaves, of a deep green colour, placed upon a shining
ebony-black stalk. If the leaves are newly formed,
you will, by holding them up against the light, readily
see their veins, which are dissimilar to those of all
other plants. They neither resemble Monocotyledons,
nor Dicotyledons ; are neither netted nor parallel ;
but have a simply forked structure. You will re-
mark, that, although now and then, one vein may
be found running straight from the midrib nearly up
to the margin, without dividing, yet, that the prin-
cipal part fork very soon after the vein has left the
THE FERN TRIBE. 269
midrib, and that, sometimes, one of the branches
forks again. This kind of vein is peculiar to Ferns,
and will enable you, at all times, to recognise them
whether their reproductive parts are present or not.
After the leaf has been growing some little time,
you may remark a number of narrow pale bands
appearing at pretty equal intervals upon some of the
veins, and following their direction (fig. 1. a.). Pre-
sently afterwards the whole of the skin of the leaf,
where these bands are, separates from the green part
below it: in course of time, something swells and
raises up the skin, till at last it bursts through it,
separating the skin into two equal parts, one edge of
which remains adhering to the leaf (fig. 2.a.a.). At
this period this cause of the swelling is discovered ; it
consists in a multitude of brown seed-like grains that
are crowded together very closely, and form a brown
ridge (fig. 3. a. a.). Botanists call the skin which
separates from the leaf the 1npusrum, the ridge sorus,
and the seed-like grams THeca. In order to gain a
distinct view of all these parts, you should cut through
the leaf across the sorus, just after the indusium has
burst ; and then the edges of the indusium will be dis-
tinctly visible (fig. 4. a. a.), with the ridge-like recep-
tacle of the thece rising up between them (fig. 4. b.).
The only means of propagating itself, which the
Hart’s-tongue possesses, resides in the thece. It has
no calyx, corolla, stamens, or pistillum, and conse-
quently neither fruit nor seed; nevertheless it can
perpetuate its kind with the same certainty as the
most perfect plant. ‘The theca (fig. 5.) is not a seed,
270 LETTER XXIII.
nor is it a body whose functions are of a nature similar
to those of the seed; you require a pretty good mi-
croscope to examine it correctly, but with such an
instrument you will make it out to be a roundish
compressed body, seated on a jointed stalk, which runs
up one side of the theca (fig. 5. a.). Upon examin-
ing a good many of the thece, you will no doubt
remark some of them burst open (fig. 6.); and then
you will find that they are hollow bodies, containing
a quantity of extremely minute oval grains (fig. 6. a.),
called spores, by Botanists. It is in the spores that
the power of increase resides; every one of them
will form a new plant, and consequently they are
analogous to seeds; but, as they do not result from
the action of pollen upon a stigma, they are not real
seeds, but only the representatives of those organs
amongst Flowerless plants.
How simple is all this; how different from every
thing we have seen in other plants! and yet no
doubt as perfectly adapted to the multiplication
of Ferns as any more complete contrivance. How
prodigious too is the power that these plants possess
of disseminating themselves! Hart’s-tongue, owing
to its small size, is one of those in which the power
resides only in a small degree; and yet a little com-
putation will shew even its means to be prodigious.
Each of its sori consists of from 3000 to 6000 thece ;
let us take 4500 as the average number. Then each
leaf bears about 80 sori; which makes 360,000 thecz
per leaf; the thece themselves conta about 50
spores; so that a single leaf of Hart’s-tongue may
THE FERN TRIBE. BA.
give birth to no fewer than eighteen millions of young
plants.
The form and situation of the sori is not, in other
genera, the same as in the Hart’s-tongue; on the
contrary, it is upon differences in those respects that
the genera have been established. For example in
Shield-ferns (Aspidium) the sori are round and covered
with a kidney-shaped indusium; in Polypody (Poly-
podium) they are round and have no indusium; and
in the graceful Maiden-hair-ferns (Adiantum) they
are oblong bodies arising from the edges of the leaf.
The most curious arrangement of their parts is in the
Brake itself (Pteris); no matter at what time of the
year you examine the leaves of that plant you will
probably discover no trace of sori, and yet it would
be difficult to find a Brake-leaf in the autumn, which
does not abound with them. The truth is that in
this plant they occupy so singular a position, that one
could almost be tempted to believe that they were de-
signedly hidden where none but the curious Botanist
should find them. Look attentively at the under
side of the leaves: you will remark the margin to be
turned in and thickened, like the hem of a lady’s
gown in which a cord in run; there lurk the thece
you are in search of. With the point of a knife lift
up gently the edge of the leaf, and you will at once
discover a ridge of thece running all round it; in this
instance the margin of the leaf acts the part of
indusium.
Another singular form of Ferns is that in which
the whole of the segments of a leaf are contracted and
eye LETTER XXIII.
curled up round the thece, so as to lose entirely the
natural appearance, and to resemble a sort of inflo-
rescence. A striking instance of this is not uncommon
in bogs, in the form of a plant called the Osmund-
royal, or Flowering Fern (Osmunda regalis); a minute
species found in woods, and called Adder’s Tongue
(Ophioglossum), because of its narrow inflorescence,
is another British example.
Such is the first and highest degree in the scale of
organization among Flowerless plants. Possessing a
system of vessels, frequently attaining a considerable
size, having leaves intersected by veins, and having
their surface provided with breathing pores. Ferns
may be considered to differ from Flowering plants in
little except in the manner in which they are propa-
gated, and in the organs assigned them by nature for
that purpose. Next to them is arranged a small tribe
also possessing a system of vessels in the stem, and
breathing pores on the surface, but destitute of veins,
and having a remarkably different mode of repro-
duction; you will find, indeed, that there is this
great peculiarity in Flowerless plants, independently
of all others, that no two tribes agree exactly in the
nature of their organs of propagation. While in|
Flowering plants one tribe is distinguished from
another by slight variations in the form, or number,
or proportions of a few organs that they all possess in
common, you will find among Flowerless plants, on
the contrary, that every tribe has an independent and
peculiar provision of its own for the perpetuation of
the species.
THE CLUB-MOSS TRIBE. 273
This is the case in the Club-moss tribe (Lycopo-
diacee, Plate XXIII. 2.), to which I have alluded.
Club-mosses, in some parts of England called also
Snake-mosses, are humble plants which grow on moors
or heaths, or half-drained bogs, over which their scaly
stems creep and interweave. ‘There are no veins
in their leaves, which are for the most part narrow,
and taper-pointed. When about to reproduce them-
selves, they emit from the ends of their branches,
which are usually forked like the veins in a Fern-
leaf, a slender shoot of a paler colour than the re-
mainder, and terminated by a yellowish thickened
oblong, or club-shaped head. Among the hair-
pointed leaves of the head lie, one in the bosom of
every leaf, pale yellow cases, opening by two or three
valves (fig. 1.), and containing either a fine powdery
substance, or a few large grains or spores. These are
all the means such plants have of propagating them-
selves; and it is uncertain what the exact difference
is in the purposes to which the powder and the spores
are severally destined. The latter, no doubt, grow
like seeds, but it is not quite certain that the powder
grows also; there are those who say they have seen
the powder grow, but their observations require to be
repeated.
Such plants seem to occupy an intermediate place
between Ferns and Mosses, to the latter of which my
next letter will refer. I will not detain you about them
further than by remarking, that although they are now
seldom more than three or four feet long, and are ge-
nerally much smaller, it is probable that either similar
T
Q74 LETTER XXIII.
plants, or races very closely allied to them, grew in
ancient days, long before the creation of man, to a size
far beyond anything that the present order of things
comprehends; this is, however, a geological matter,
with which we had better not interfere.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIII.
I. Toe Fern Tripe.—l|. The upper end of a leaf of Hart’ s-Tongue
(Scolopendrium officinarum), seen from the under side; a sori.—2. A
portion of a leaf magnified, to show the veins and the structure of the
sori, @ a, more distinctly.—3. A similar portion, further advanced;
a asori.—4. A section of a portion of a leaf across the sorus; a a
the two valves of the indusium; 6 the sorus itself, covered with
theeze.—5. A theca; a its elastic back.—6. Another theca burst, and
scattering its sporules, a.
Il. Tar Cius-moss Trise.—A plant of common Club-moss (Ly-
copodium clavatum).—1. A theca, with its two valves open, and the
leaf out of whose bosom it grows.—2. The same leaf seen from be-
hind.—3. A theca, as seen when closed.
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LETTER XXIV.
THE MOSS TRIBE—THE JUNGERMANNIA TRIBE.
OLLI LOL IODA D
Plate XXIV.
RR rn nt
Striuu lower in the scale of creation, than Ferns and
Club-mosses are the true Mosses; plants destitute of
all traces of vessels and of breathing pores; with no
true veins in their leaves, and so pigmy in growth,
that the most gigantic of them hardly equal the smal-
lest of the Club-mosses.
Up to the present moment, a microscope has rarely
been necessary in our studies; whenever I have re-
commended you to employ it, the subject would
usually have admitted of your dispensing with its
aid, if you had pleased. But from this time forward
it must be constantly im your hand, and every obser-
vation must be made with it. You will, however,
find abundance of most curious and interesting re-
sults, to idemnify you for the trouble it will give
you.
Mosses are among the smallest of plants with true
leaves; they are often so minute that the whole spe-
cimen, leaves, stem, fruit, and all, would escape the
eye, if they did not grow in patches ; and they never,
in the largest kinds, exceed the height of a few
inches. Nevertheless, they are organized in a man-
T2
276 LETTER XXIV.
ner far more complete than Ferns, or Club-mosses,
although they are destitute of air vessels and breath-
ing pores. Mosses are usually the first plants that
shew themselves on rocks, or walls, or barren places,
where no other vegetation can establish itself; pro-
vided the air is damp they will flourish there, and in
time, lay the foundation of a bed of vegetable mould,
in which the roots of grasses, and other stronger
plants may find support, till they, in their turn, have
decayed and prepared the way for shrubs and trees.
This is the usual order observed by nature in con-
verting the face of rocks into vegetable mould, and
thus you see Mosses have to perform the office of
pioneers to larger plants, an office for which one
would have thought their Lilliputian size would
hardly have qualified them.
Mosses are formed upon precisely the same plan
as flowering plants, as far as the arrangement of their
organs of vegetation. They have, in all cases, a
stem, or axis, however minute, round which the
leaves are disposed with the greatest symmetry—
(Plate XXIV. 1. fig. 2.); they have the parts that
answer to seeds, enclosed im a case, and this case is
elevated on a stalk, which arises from among the
leaves. But, beyond this, analogy ceases; in all
other points of structure, the Moss tribe is of a most
singular nature.
Mosses are said to be in fruit when the stems are
furnished with brown hollow cases, seated on a long
stalk (fig. 1. 2.). It is chiefly of this fruit, or theca,
or sporangium, and its modifications, that we make use
THE MOSS TRIBE. 277
in distinguishing the genera. Let it, therefore, engage
our attention the first. No species can be more common
than Wall Tortula (Tortula muralis), dark tufts of
which are found every where upon the north side of
walls, growing out of the mortar. ‘The theca of this
plant wears a little cap, not very unlike that of the
Norman peasant women (fig. 2. a.), with its high
peak and long lappets; this part is called a cazyp-
TRA; When young it was rolled round the theca, so
as completely to cover it over like an extinguisher,
but when the stalk of the theca lengthened, the ca-
lyptra was torn away from its support, and carried up
upon the tip. After a certain time, the calyptra drops
off; and, at that time, the theca is in the best state
for examination. You will find it terminated by a
conical lid (fig. 3. a.), or opERCULUM, which is thrown
off when the spores, or reproductive parts, are fit to
be dispersed (fig. 4. b.). When the lid has been thus
spontaneously thrown off, a new and peculiar set of
parts come in view; you will find that the lid cover-
ed a kind of tuft of twisted hairs, which at first look
as if they stopped up the mouth of the theca. But,
if you cut a theca perpendicularly from the bottom to
the top, you will learn from the sectional view that
you will then obtain of the parts, that, in reality, the
hairs arise from within the rim of the theca, in a
single row (fig. 5.). These hairs are named in Bo-
tany, the reeru of the fringe, or PERISTOME ; the lat-
ter term designating the ring of hairs. ‘The nature of
the fringe varies in different genera; sometimes it
consists of two rows of teeth, differmg from each
278 LETTER XXIV.
other in size or number, or arrangement ; some have
only 4 teeth, others 8, or 16, or 32, or 64; in all
cases, their number is some multiple of four ; a curi-
ous circumstance which shews the great simplicity of
design that is observed in the construction of these
minute objects. The fringe is not, however, always
present ; there is a small section of the Moss tribe,
all the genera of which are destitute of that singular
organ. What office it may have to perform, we can
only guess; it seems to be connected with the dis-
persion of the spores, and often acts in the most
beautiful hygrometrical manner. If you take the
theca of this Tortula, for example, when dry, and
put it im a damp place, or in water, its teeth will un-
coil, and disentangle themselves with a graceful and
steady motion, which is beautiful to look upon.
It is in the side of the theca that the spores are
confined. ‘They lie there in a thin bag, which is open
at the upper end, and which surrounds a central
column, called the cotumeLLA. They are exceed-
ingly minute, and not unlike the spores of Ferns.
A superficial observer would remark no further or-
ganization than this; but the accurate Investigations
of Botanists, have led to the discovery, that there
is a more minute and concealed system of organs,
which, in many cases, precedes the appearance of the
theca. It has been thought that these organs re-
present pistils and anthers of an imperfect kind ; but
you will see that, if they are to be so understood,
they are so much more imperfect and so differently
constructed from the parts that bear those names in
THE MOSS TRIBE. 279,
flowering plants, as to render it extremely doubtful
whether they can really be considered of the same
nature.
At the end of the shoots of some Mosses such as
Hairmoss (Polytrichum), the leaves spread into a
starry form, and become coloured with brown. Among
them lie a number of cylindrical whitish-green bodies
(fig. '7.) which are transparent at the point, and filled
with a cloudy granular matter, which it is said that
they discharge with some degree of violence. ‘These
are considered to be anthers. But they appear to
exist in some Mosses only, and not to be universally
present, as they would be if they were really necessary
to produce fertilization.
The second kind of apparatus is universally pro-
vided, and is in reality the forerunner of the theca. In
the bosom of other leaves you may find, a short time
after Mosses have begun to grow, a cluster of little
greenish bodies (fig. 6.), which are thickest at their
lower end, then taper upwards into a slender pipe,
and at last expand into a sort of shallow cup. After
a certain time the pipe and the cup, which, by some,
are considered style and stigma, shrivel up, and the
lower part, or ovary, swells, acquires a stalk, and
finally changes into a theca.
The study of the distinctions of Mosses requires
great care and attention, and much skill in the use
of the microscope. It has sometimes occupied the
undivided attention of Botanists, and cannot be at-
tended to without much leisure and patience. ‘The
best work we have upon the subject is the Muscologia
280 LETTER XXIV.
Britannica of Drs. Hooker and Taylor, a valuable
book, in which are accurate figures of nearly all the
species found in this country. To it I refer you, if
you wish to prosecute this branch of Botany.
Of about the same rank in the scale of organization
are the plants called Jungermannias, which look very
much like Mosses (Plate XXIV. 2. fig. 1.), and
which like them have little roundish bodies called
anthers (fig. 4. & 5.) and a theca (fig. 2. c.) elevated
on a stalk. They are distinguishable ; firstly, by their
theca bursting into valves, and secondly, by their
spores being mixed with tubes, formed of curiously
twisted threads (fig. 9.), and called ELaTers. They
grow in tufts and patches, in damp and shady places
all over Great Britain, occupying the bark of trees,
and the surface of rocks and stones, or creeping among
the herbage on the banks of rivers, on heaths, marshes,
and in shady woods, and even inhabiting gloomy
caverns where scarcely any other vegetable can exist.
A noble illustration of these tiny plants was pubished
some years ago by Professor Hooker; it forms the
most complete local monograph of any genus ever pub-
lished, and is indispensable to all those who would
occupy themselves with an inquiry into the habits
and differences of the tribe.
28 |
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIV.
I. Tue Moss Trise.—l. A patch of Wall Tortula (Tortula mu-
ralis) of the natural size.—2. A single plant magnified; a calyptra.—
3. A part of a theca with the lid a.—4. A theca from which the lid
6 has been removed; a@ the twisted fringe.—5. A portion of the
theca viewed from within; shewing the teeth of the fringe.—6. A
cluster of the young thece of Encalypta vulgaris, intermixed with
succulent fibres. —7. A cluster of the bodies supposed by some to be
anthers, in the same plant.—The two last figures are after Hedwig.
II. Tar JuNGERMANNIA TrIBE.—1. A plant of the Grove Junger-
mannia (J. nemorosa), natural size.—2. A portion of the same mag-
nified; a leaves; 6 the sheath of the theca, sometimes called the ca-
lyx; c the theca emitting its spores.—3. A leaf, bearing little warts,
aa, which break up into reproductive particles 4; and are called
gemme,—A, 5, 6.—One of the bodies supposed to be anthers, in dif-
ferent states, with the succulent filaments that are intermixed with
them.—7. The calyptra of the theca, a little broken at its side.—8.
Imperfect young theca.—9. Two of the elastic elaters, with the
spores that are mixed among them.—These figures are copied from
Hooker’s British Jungermannie, Tab. 21.
LETTER XXV.
THE LICHEN TRIBE—THE MUSHROOM TRIBE-—
THE SEAWEED TRIBE.
Plate XXV.
rower
Ar last we have nearly reached the limits of the
vegetable world, and find ourselves upon the confines
of that mysterious region where animal and vegetable
natures become so blended, that the philosopher is
obliged to admit the weakness of his systematical dis-
tinctions, and to abandon the attempt at drawing a
line between vitality and volition. In explaining to
you the structure of the three lowest tribes in the
vegetable kingdom, I do not propose to fatigue your
attention by the minute, and specific details in which
they so peculiarly abound ; but I shall content myself
with sketching out the great features by which they
are usually distinguished.
When we quit Mosses and Jungermannias, with
the other plants of a similar nature, we find ourselves
among beings in which all traces of stems and leaves
have disappeared, and which consist of nothing but
thin horizontal expansions of vegetable matter in
which a few harder, and differently formed kernels
or shields are imbedded. In some of these the colour
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THE LICHEN TRIBE. 283
is yellow, brown or green, the texture of the ex-
pansion leafy, and the margin cut up mto many
lobes; these are the most nearly related to leafy and
more perfect plants (Plate XXV. 1. fig. 1. & 2.); m
others the expansion is merely a thin crust, which
readily crumbles in pieces, the species having scarcely
vital energy enough to keep the cells of which they
are composed in a state of cohesion. Such plants as
these are called Lichens. ‘They are found chiefly in
the temperate or colder regions of the earth. Some
of them (Gyrophoras) crawl upon the surface of the
earth, spreading their dingy, cold, and damp bodies
over whole plains in the desolate regions of the
north; others (Usneas, Ramalinas, &c.) spring up
on the branches of trees, and hang down from
them like grey and netted beards, giving the unfor-
tunate plants of which they take possession, a hoary
wintry aspect even in the summer; some (Parmelias,
Lecideas, &c.) overrun old walls, stones, and rocks, to
which they communicate those mild and agreeable
tints, which render ancient ruins so peculiarly pleas-
ing to the eye; and finally a fourth description of
Lichens (Opegraphas) establish themselves upon the
bark of living trees, occasionally burying themselves
beneath the skin, through which their shields alone
peep forth in the strange form of the letters of some
eastern tongue.
Plants of this tribe have no parts in the smallest
degree resembling flowers; they have no certain
mode of multiplying themselves except by the dis-
persion of little spores, which are nothing but ex-
984 LETTER XXV.
ceedingly minute cells that are lodged in the centre of
the shields. These are very difficult to find; you
may, however, make them out if you observe the
following directions. Take the full grown shield of
any Lichen ; that of the Yellow wall Parmelia (P.
parietina) is a good one for the purpose (Plate XXV.
1. fig. 2.); with a sharp razor divide it perpendicu-
larly ; then shave off the thinnest possible slice of one
of the faces, and drop it into water; place it on the
glass stage of a microscope, and illuminate it from
below. You will then be able to perceive that the
kernel consists of a crowd of minute compact fibres,
planted perpendicularly upon a bed of cellular sub-
stance (fig. 3.); and that in the midst of the fibres
there is a great number of little oblong bags (fig. 3.
a.) filled full of transparent cells (fig. 4.); the bags
are thece, the cells are spores ; and it is to the latter
that the Lichen has to trust for its perpetuation.
The study of Lichens is probably the most difficult
of any part of Botany; the species are scarcely to be
distinguished, the limits of the genera are uncertain,
and the characters by which they are separated are
obscure. If, however, you are curious to make
yourself acquainted with these, the best book I know
of to recommend to you, is the fifth volume of the
English Flora, by Professor Hooker.
Notwithstanding their minuteness and uninviting
appearance, several of them are of considerable im-
portance to man and animals. The Arctic Gyro-
phoras called by the Canadians Tripe de Roche, were
the only food that the daring travellers Franklin,
THE MUSHROOM TRIBE. 285
Richardson, and Back, were for a long time able to
procure in the horrible countries they so fearlessly
visited in the cause of science ; Leindeer Moss (Cla-
donia rangiferina) is the winter food of the Rein-
deer of the Laplanders ; Jceland Moss (Cetraria is-
landica) furnishes a nutritive food to the invalid ;
and finally the production of Orchil, by Roccella
tinctoria is an indication of the value of some species
to the manufacturer as dyes.
Very closely related to Lichens, and standing
almost parallel with them in the scale of organization,
are Fungi, or the Mushroom tribe (Plate XXV. 3.),
plants with which we are best acquainted from our
knowledge of the common eatable Mushroom, but
which have almost an endless diversity of form and
organization. In this, however, they are all agreed,
that while the thece of Lichens are placed in shields
or receptacles, which are exposed to the air, those of
Fungi are in all cases concealed by a covering of
some kind. To give you any thing like an accurate
notion of the many different appearances of Fungi,
would be wholly impracticable in a work of this
kind; Dr. Greville’s Scottish Cryptogamic Flora
should be your guide, if you would dip deeply into
the mysteries of their organization. They vary from
simple cells that hardly adhere, to chains of cells
which resemble a necklace, thence to hollow balls,
infinitely minute, that are generated in the living
substance of leaves and stems, which they afflict
under the names of mildew or blight, these again are
developed in subterranean masses of cellular sub-
286 LETTER XXV.
stance, such as the Truffle, and finally arrive at their
most perfect state in the Agarics, or Mushrooms,
that we eat, and in the Boleti, which grow like huge
fleshy excrescences on the trunks of trees, or project
from their trunks in long and ugly lobes, which have
in one case been compared to the claws of some gi-
gantic demon.
Instead of occupying you about the particulars of
all these matters, I shall content myself with explaming -
to you the nature of the developement of one of the
most completely formed fungi, the veiled Agaric (Aga-
ricus volvaceus). In the beginning this plant is no-
thing but a thin layer of cobweb-like matter, spread-
ing among old tan; by degrees, on the surface of the
cobwebs appear little protuberances of a whitish
colour (Plate XXV. 3. fig. 1.); they gradually
lengthen, and acquire a sort of stalk, and up to a
particular period consist of only a fleshy mass of
fibres and minute cells; if they are cut through
at that time in a perpendicular direction (fig. 2.),
they present one uniform face. But in a short time
a minute cavity is formed in the fungus at the thicker
end (fig. 3.), within which a sort of cap is gradually
elevated upon a stalk (fig. 4.); the cap and stalk
keep progressively enlarging (figs. 5, 0, 7, 8.), and
stretching the skin within which they are enclosed,
till at last the skin eracks (fig. 10.); the cap and its
stalk rapidly enlarge, and tear a way through the
skin (fig. 11.) and at last burst forth into light, a
perfect mushroom (fig. 12.), with numerous cinna-
mon brown gills or LAMELL& radiating from the
THE MUSHROOM TRIBE. 287
stalk underneath the cap, and concealing the spores
within their folds. When the Mushroom has gained
its full size, its stalk is surrounded at the base by a
thick fleshy sheath, called the voLva, or wrapper ;
from what you have seen of its gradual progress,
you will have observed that the wrapper is nothing
but the remains of the skin within which the fungus
was formed. I send you a copy of a beautiful illus-
tration of these phenomena by Professor Th. Nees
v. Esenbeck, of Bonn, by whom they were observed.
So simple is the growth of this and such plants,
and so remarkable are the circumstances under which
they are formed, as to have given rise to the belief
that they are not propagated by the agency of spores,
which are always sure to reproduce the plant from
which they originate, but are dependent for their
peculiar appearances upon the different circumstances
under which they are developed. Professor Nees v.
Esenbeck has proved that whatever error there may
be in such opinions generally, they are at least well
founded in the case of the Veiled Mushroom; for
he ascertained, by careful observation, that the same
cobwebby matter which gave birth in hothouses to
the Mushroom, in long and bright days when there
is plenty of light, produced nothing but a plant called
Sclerotium Mycetospora, in the autumn, winter, and
spring, when the hothouses abounded with heat and
moisture, but when the days were short, the sky
cloudy, and light deficient.
The last and lowest of all the tribes of plants are
the Sea-weeds and their allies; these productions
288 LETTER XXV.
which inhabit water exclusively, and appear at one
end of the scale of their developement in the form of
enormous Fuci, many fathoms in length, but at the
other as merely simple bladders sticking together in
rows, are those to which I referred at the beginning
of this letter, as forming the link between the Animal
and Vegetable worlds. Like Lichens and Fungi, they
have reproductive organs of the most simple construc-
tion; in those species which have the most complex
organization, the spores are stored up in peculiar re-
ceptacles, as in the larger and more perfect sea-weeds ;
but in others they are distributed vaguely through the
whole substance of the plant, and start into life when
liberated from their nests by the destruction of the in-
dividual that generated them. In the Zavers, whether
of fresh or salt water, they lie clustered in threes or
fours, in the substance of a green membrane; in the
true Conferve they are nothing but granular matter,
locked up in little transparent tubes (Plate X XV. 2.).
It is of a vegetation of this latter kind that consist the
green slimy patches you see floating in water, or ad-
hering to stones and rocks from which water has re-
ceded. In Dr. Greyille’s Alge Britannice, and in the
fifth volume of the English Flora, you will find a full
account of the genera and species of these singular
productions.
What is most remarkable in them is their ap-
proach to the nature of animals, an approach which
is not only indicated by the apparently spontaneous
motions of the kinds called Oscillatoria, but in a much
more unequivocal manner by other kinds, if we can
THE SEA-WEED TRIBE. 289
believe the concurrent testimony of several French
and German Botanists. No one has investigated the
subject with more unwearied assiduity than Mons.
Gaillon, from whose ‘“ Observations sur les limites
qui séparent le regne Végétal du regne Animal,” I
shall translate some details that I think cannot fail to
amuse and surprise you.
On the rocks that are found at low-water mark on
the coasts of Normandy and Picardy, there grows a
production called by Botanists Conferva comoides ; it
consists of fine brownish-yellow threads, collected in
the form of a hair-pencil, half an inch or an inch in
length, and at low water spreads over the surface of
the little round calcareous stones, to which it gives
something of the appearance of the head of a new-
born child. ‘These threads are loosely branched, and
are finer than the most delicate hair; the plant owes
its apparent solidity to the clustering and entangle-
ment of many such threads. Viewed under a mi-
croscope that magnifies 300 diameters, the threads
seem to be rounded, slightly compressed, and about
as large as fine packthread. They are of a mucous
nature, and contain immersed within their substance
a number of small yellowish bodies, which look at
first like dots, afterwards become oval, and end in
acquiring something the shape of a radish, having the
ends transparent, and the centre marked by a patch
of yellowish matter. If they are at that time sepa-
rated from the mucous matter in which they are
pressed and packed like herrings in a barrel, you may
see them moving, expanding, contracting, advancing
U
290 LETTER XXV.
gravely and slowly, retreating in like manner, altering
their direction, and finally possessing a spontaneous,
incessant, measured, voluntary motion. These little
creatures, which at most are not more than the 1000th
of an inch long, and at the smallest hardly exceed the
5000th, when once they are separated from the thread
that contains them, fall down in countless multitudes,
in the form of a chocolate-brown deposit, on the
neighbouring rocks. Once there, they distend, and
emit a globule of coloured particles, which are evi-
dently their fry. Each particle gaims motion and
volume, and the little globular mass, lengthening and
branching, reproduces, by the developement of the
germs that are collected together, the long green pen-
cilled appearance, which has led Botanists to consider
this being as a plant.
In another production, green ditch-Laver (Ulva
bullata, or minima, or Tetraspora lubrica), still more
astonishing circumstances have been observed by M.
Gaillon and others. ‘This plant appears, to the naked
eye, a thin green membrane, within which the mi-
croscope reveals a number of green granules, arranged
in fours. Let this membrane be kept in quiet water,
and at a high atmospheric temperature, and the
granules may be seen, under a powerful microscope,
to present at their surface certain convexities and
depressions, which are the effect of the repeated con-
traction and distension of these granules. If they are
carefully watched for several days, the granules will
be seen to be reciprocally displaced; after a certain
time they separate from the membrane, and may
THE SEA-WEED TRIBE. 201
then be perceived to have a rapid and regular move-
ment, as if in chase of each other; cool with a drop
of water, that in which the granules are floating, and
their motions will become slower, they will attach
themselves by some part of their circumference, and
will acquire a swinging motion from right to left and
from left to right. In this sort of imperfect reeling
and twirling, one sees the granules approach in
pairs, just touch each other, retreat, approach again,
and glide away to the right or left, staggering, as it
were, and trying to preserve their balance; at last,
instead of pairs, fours combine to execute the move-
ments of the dance. Imagine the field of the mi-
croscope covered, shortly after, with a hundred of
these animated globules, whose diameter is not, in
reality, more than the 4000th of an inch, chasing
each other, retreating, and intermingling, as if exe-
cuting the mazes of a fantastic reel, and you have
one of the most curious spectacles that the microscope
can exhibit. When great numbers of the granules
are collected, the motion ceases; they then collect
in fours, and form a new membrane, and in this
state they are considered by Botanists as a kind of
vegetable.
Such are, in part, the wonders revealed by the
microscope in these ambiguous productions; many
others of equal interest might be named, but what
has been said will suffice to shew you how mar-
vellous a store of curious facts remains to be col-
lected by those whose time and disposition are fa-
vourable to such inquiries. ‘To these may be applied
2902 LETTER XXV.
the lines of the French poet Delile, even better than
to the zoophytes to which allusion was more particu-
larly made :—
Voyez vous se mouvoir ces vivans arbrisseaux
Dont l’étrange famille habite dans les eaux,
Et qui, de deux états nuance merveilleuse
Confondent du savoir ignorance orgueilleuse.
De Vhumile séjour ces douteux habitans
A l ceil inattentif échapperent long-temps;
Ils vivaient inconnus, et sujets de deux mondes,
En se multipliant voyageaient sur les ondes.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXV.
1. Tue Licnen Tripe.—1. A specimen of the Yellow Wall Par-
melia (P. parietina), growing on a piece of pale.—2. A section of the
same magnified.—3. A perpendicular section of a shield; a a, thece,
with the spores in them.—4. The spores.
Il. Tue Sea-weep Tripe.—1. A mass of Capillary Conferva (C.
capillaris),—2. A thread highly magnified.—1*. Palmetta Sea-weed
(Rhodomenia palmetta), natural size, with its masses of reproductive
matter.—2*. A portion of the plant with reproductive particles col-
lected in clusters of 3 or 4.—3*. A portion of the last highly mag-
nified.—3**. Clusters separate.—4*. A bit of the plant with one
of the masses of reproductive matter.—5*. Spores.—The latter after
Greville.
I. Taz Musnroom Trise.—}. A patch of tan, on which young
plants of the Veiled Agaric (Agaricus volvaceus) are growing.—
2—8. Progressive developement of a young plant.—9. A plant
just ready to burst its wrapper.—10. The same bursting its wrapper.—
11. A plant emerging from the wrapper, a.—12. A perfect plant; a
the wrapper, or volya.—(After Th. Nees von Esenbeck.)
ACACIA ‘
Acacia Julibrissin
Aceras
Aconite
Adam’s N. Badia.
Adder’s-tongue
Adiantum a
Adonis
ZEstivation A
Ethusa Cynapium
Affinity
iiticas volvaceus
Agrostis
Agrostemma Githago . 96
INDEX.
THE NUMBERS REFER TO THE PAGES.
Ajuga . 193
Ale 124
Albumen 10
Alder - 146
Algaroba 127
All-heal 82
Allium A 231
Allspice : 52
Almond ; 118
Almond Tribe ; 117
Alopecurus - 262
Alstromeria . 216
Alyssum . 64
Amaranth Tribe 133
Amaryllis 3 218
Amentaceous 146
Ammophila - 253
Anchusa - 181
Anagallis 4 189
Andromeda : 160, 161
Androsemum 2 - 82
Androsace 189
Anemone - r 113
Anemones 15
Anther 6
Antliemis - 207
Antirrhinum 196
Apetalous 130
Apricot
Apple Tribe
Arbre 4 Perruque
Arbutus 5
Arabis
Arenaria
Argemone
Aretia
Arillus
Artemisia
Arrow Grasses
Artichoke
Asoca
Asphodel Tribe
Asphodelez
Asclepiadaceze
Ash 5
Asters ~
Asparagus .
Asperifoliz
Aspidium .
Atropa
Aubergine
Aubrietia deltoidea
Auricula
Avens
Avens, Mountain
Awn -
Azalea °
Babiana
Bachelors’ Buttons
Ballota
Bamboo
Banksias A
Barbadoes Flower-fence
Barley .
Barometz e
Basil :
Bauhinia
Bean 5
Beard r
96,
118
116
113
160
64
101
22
189
76
207
247
207
127
231
105
105
167
207
239
181
271
186
186
64
188
112
112
257
160
221
101
189
254
133
127
262
91
193
123
123
257
294
Beech
Belladonna Lily
Bellis
Bent-grass 5
Bindweeds, Tribe of
Birch
Bitter-sweet
Black Horehound
Black Nightshade
Bladder Senna
Bladder Ketmia
Blanching
Blood-flower
Blue-bell c
Blue-bottle
Boleti 4
Borage .
Bottle Gourd
Bracts
Brake
Bramble
Brazil-wood
Bread-fruit Tribe
Breathing-pores
Briza 5
Broom
Brome-grass
Brosimum
Budding
Bugle °
Bulb
Bullrushes
Bur-reed
Bursicula
Butea
Buttercup
Butterfiy-flowered plants
Cabbages 2
Cactus
Calandrinia
Calathian Violet
Calceolaria
Caltha
Calyptra
Calyx
Campanula °
Canary-grass
Candy-tuft °
Capsella Bursa Pastoris
Capsule
Carex
Carina
Carnations
Carob-tree
Carpels
Carrot
Caryophyllus ‘aromaticus
Cassia
Catchfly
INDEX.
138 Catkin
218 Cat’s-tail
207 Celandine :
261 Celery
161 Celosia
146 Cellular Plants
186 Centaury
189 Cerastium
185 Ceratonia
123 Cercis
91 Centaurea
33 Cetraria falandien
218 Chamomile A
234 Cheeses
207 Chelidonium Majus
286 Cherry
181, 183 Chesnut
81 Chickweed Tribe
5 Chickweed
267 Chickweed, Water
110 Chironias
123 Christmas Rose
152 Chrysanthemum
103 Cichoraceze
261 Cichorium
126 Cinarocephale
254 Cinquefoil
154 Citrus :
120 Cladonia rangiferina
193 Clary
231 Claytonia °
244 Clematis
244 Clover
227 Cloves
123 Clnb-moss Tribe
5 Club-rush
124 Cockscomb
Coffee a
58 Colchicum
105 Columella S
102 Coltsfoot :
165 Colutea ‘
195 Conferva comoides
16 Comfrey
277 Commissure
6 Compound Flowers
171 Confervee 3
262 Convolvulus
64 Corn :
59 Corn Cockle
19 Cornflag Tribe
263 Corolla
125 Cotton :
96 Cotton-grass
127 Cotyledons 5
7 Cowslips .
32 Cow-tree
5g Crane’s-bill
126 Cress
96, 101 Crinum
96,
Crocus =
Crowfoot -
Crowfoot Tribe
Crown Imperial
Cruciferous Plants
Cryptogamic Plants
Cucumber
Cucullus
Cuckoo-flowers
Cudweed
Cuscuta
Cyclamen
Cyme
Cynara
Cynoglossum
Cypripedium
Cyrtopodium
Daffodil
Daisy
Dandelion
Datura
Daviesia
Day Lily
Deadly N ightshade
Dead Nettle -
Delphinium
Dianthus glaucus
Diervilla
Dicotyledonous
Didiscus cceruleus
Digitalis
Dipsacus ‘
Dipterix
Dissepiment
Disk
Dodder :
Dog’s-tooth Violet
Draceena :
Dragon-trees
Dropwort
Drupe
Dryandra -
Duckweed .
Echium A
Egg-plant -
Elaters 2
Elder
_ Elder Tree -
Elymus
Endive
Ensate
Embryo
Epilobium
Eranthis °
Erica
Eriophorum °
Erodium 5
Erophila Vulgaris
INDEX.
218 Erythrea
5 Erythronium -
13 Eryngo -
238 Eschscholtzia
58 Euealyptus
266 Eugenia
CE, Eulophia
227 Euphorbias ;
223 Evening Primrose "Tribe
207 Exogenous
162
189 Feather-grass
36 Fennel
207 Ferns
183 Ferraria .
229 Fescues
230 Festuca
Fig =
216 Figwort 5
199 Filament ‘
206 Flowering Fern °
187 Flowerless Plants
126 Fly Honeysuckles
238 Fool’s Parsley
186 Forbidden Fruit
193 Forget-me-not
17 Foxglove Tribe
97 Foxtails
176 Fragaria
13, 215 Fraxinus
32 French Honeysuckle
195 French Marigold
208 Fringe of Mosses
127 Fritillary
61 Fromageons
203 Frond
162 Fuchsia
238 Fuci
234 Fungi
234 Furrows
32 Furze
117
133 Galan‘ hus
249 Garlic :
Geranium
183 Geranium Tribe
- 186 Gentian Tribe =
280 Gentianella
176 Geum :
35 Gills
253 Gladiolus
206 Glaucium
219 Glechoma -
10 Gleditschias .
49 Globe Amaranth P
16 Globe-flower
159 Glumaceous Plants
264 Glumes
4] Glyeyrrhiza
64 Goat’s-beard
181,
296 INDEX.
Gnaphalium - ; 207
Gobbo 5 3 90
Gompholobium ° 126
Gostlings : : 155
Gossypium - ol
Gourd 5 a 77
Gourd Tribe 4 : 79
Grafting ° : 120
Grains 5 : 9
Granadillas : 75
Grasses 253
Grevillea ; 131
Gromwell : : 184
Ground Ivy ; : 193
Groundsel : 207
Guava Jelly - i 52
Guelder Rose é : 177
Guernsey Lily . : 218
Gul ebruschim é 128
Gum-trees 5 Z 53
Guttiferse 4 : 84
Gypsy-wort : - ) 194
Gyrophoras ° 283, 284
Hairs E A 181
Hair-moss 3 ¢ 279
Hare-bells 5 Ae! (7A?)
Hart’s-tongue . . : 268
Hakeas F A 131
Hawthorn ° 3 117
Hawkweed : -/ 206
Hazel A . 138
Heartsease . - 64, 67
Heartwood : 144
Heath Tribe 4 5 158
Hedysarum : 126
Helleborus . ; 16
Helonias Ss 240
Heemanthus . . 218
Hemerocallis : 5 Be)
Hemlock Fi Pe 32
Hemp 5 sy)
Hemp, New Zealand . 239
Henbane : 184, 187
Herb Bennett : 112
Hepaticas . ° 16
Hibiscus 2 c 91
Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis : 91
Hibiscus esculentus 3 90
Hieracium é ~ #206
Hornbeam : . 138
Horseradish . e 64
Honesty : . 64
Hood é o) 227
Hops : : 150
Honeysuckle - . 175
Horned Poppy C 21
Horned Acacia é « 127
Hound’s-tongue : 183
THouseleek 4 - 105
Hyacinth
Hyacinthus
Hybridizing
Hyoscyamus
Hypericum
Hypericineze
Hypogynous
Hypogynous scales
Iberis
Iceland Moss
Incomplete
Indigo .
Indigofera
Indusium
Inferior ovary
Inflorescence
Involucre
Ipecacuanha
Ipomcea
Ipomeea sensitiva
Trideze
Tris :
Ixia
Jamrosade
Jasmine Tribe
Jonesia
Judas Tree
Juncagineze
Jungermannia
Kalmia .
Keel
Kirschenwasser
Labiate
Laburnum
Ladies’ aw
Lamellee
Lamium
Larkspur °
Laurel
Lavender
Laver
Laver, Green Ditch
Leaves
Lecidea c
Legume
Leguminos
Lemon
Lemna
Leontodon
Lettuce
Leucojum
Lichens
Lilac
Lily Tribe
Lime
Linnea
Liquorice
Lithospermum
Lobelia
Locust
Locust-tree
Logwood
Looking-glass flower
Loosestrife
Love-apple
Love-lies-bleeding
Lucerne .
Lungwort
Luzula
Lychnis dioica
flos Cuculi
Lyme-grass
Lycopodiacez
Lycopus
Lysimachia
Mace
Maiden-hair Fern
Maize :
Malva sylvestris
Mallow
Mangosteen
Mandel amara
Mandrake :
Man’s-blood
Maraschino 5
Marigold
Marjoram :
Marsh Marigold
Marsh Mellow
Chalcedonian
Marvel of Peru Tribe
Meadow-grass
Meadow-saffron
Medlar
Melaleuca
Melanthium
Melon :
Metrosideros
Mint
Mint Tribe
Mirabilis
Mimosa
Mimosas
Mimulus
Monocotyledonous
Monopetalous
Montia fontana
Monkey-flower
Mosses .
Mountain Ash
Mouse-ear Chickweed
Mulberry
Mullein
Muscari
Mushroom Tribe
123,
96,
180,
INDEX.
126
184
174
256
123
127
174
189
186
133
123
183
241
101
96
101
253
273
194
189
76
271
262
~ Musschia aurea
Mustard
Myosotis
Myrtle Tribe
Myrtus Pimenta
Narcissus Tribe
Nectarine
N eedie-and-thread Plant
Neottia ;
Nerine :
Nettle Tribe
Nicotiana
Nightshade
Nightshade Tribe
Nutmeg
Oak Tribe
Ochro :
CEnothera fruticosa
Olive Tribe
Onagrarize
Onion
Ononis
Onosma
Opegrapha
Operculum
Opium Poppy
Ophioglossum
Ophrys
Orange Tribe .
Orchil 5
Orchis :
Ornithogalum .
Orris root
Oscillatoria
Osmund Royal
Ovule :
Ovary ° °
Oxlips
Palez 3 c
Palms .
Pancratium
Pansies -
Papaver somniferum
Papilionaceous ° °
Pappus
Parietaria : -
Parmelia
Parsley
Partition
Pasque-flower
Papaveraceze
Passion-flower
Passion-flower Tribe
Peach - -
Pear
Pea Tribe
Peristome
X
298
Petals
Pzeonies
Pelargonium
Pellitory
Pentstemon
Pericarp
Perigynous
Persoonia
Phalaris
Pheasant’s-eye
Phillyrea
Phleum
Phormium
Phyteuma
Piccotees
Pimpernel
Pinks .
Pistia 5 ®
Plane
Plantago
Platanthera
Plum
Poa
Poinciana 5 ,
Pollen . P
Polyanthes
Polyanthus
Polypetalous
Polypody
Polytrichum
Pomegranate
Poor Man’s Weather-glass
Poplar
Poppy Tribe
Portulaca
Potatoe
Potentilla
Prenanthes
Prince’s Feather
Prickly Poppy
Primroses
Privet
Protea Tribe
Prunella
Prunus Laurocerasus
Prussic Acid
Pteris
Pulmonaria
Pultenza
Purslane Tribe
Quaking- grass
Quince
Raceme
Radish
Radicle a
Ragged Robin
Ramalina
Rampion
INDEX.
6 Ranunculaceze
18 Ranunculus A
36, 41 Ranunculus sceleratus
148 Ranunculus acris
196 Rape
9 Raspberry
26 Ratafia
13l \| Ray
262 Redweed
15 Rein-deer Moss
167 Restharrow
262 Ribgrass
939 | Ridges
174 Rhododendron
96 Rhus Cotinus
189 Robinia
96 Roccella tinetoria
251 Roellas ;
146 Rose Apple ¢
208 | Rosemary
229 ~;~~ Rose of Silk
118 Rose Tribe
261 Rosewood
127 Roots
7 Rubus ,
238 Runner A
188 Rushes
130 Rye
2 |
279 Sabbatias
53 Sage :
189 St. Peter’s Wort
146 Sandwort
19 Sanicle
102 Sapwood
186 | Sawwort
110 | Seabious
206 | Scape °
133 Schizanthus
22 | Scilla
187 | Scirpus
166 | Selerotium
130 | Scolopendrium
194 Scrophularia
118 Scythian Lamb
118 Sea-kail
267 Sea-side Lilies
183 Sea-reeds
126 Sea-weeds
102 Sedges
Self-heal
261 Sempervivum
117 Senecio
Sensitives
59 Sepals 3
61 Serratula
10 Shaddock
96 Shade
283 Shallots :
174 Shepherd’s Purse
160,
Shield-fern
Shoemaker-plant
Sieversia
Silene
Silique
Silicle
Silver-weed
Snake-mosses
Snap-dragon
Snow-berry
Snow-drop
Snow-flake
Solanum
Soldanella
Sonchus -
Sorus
Sow-bread
Sow-thistle
Sparganium
Spartium
Spathe
Specularia hybrida
Speedwell
Spiculz
Spiral vessels
Spores
Squill
Stachys
Stamens
Standard :
Star of Bethlehem
Stellaria media
Sternbergia
Stigma
Stipa
Stipule
Stocks
Stomata
Stork’s-bill
Strawberry :
Strawberry Tree
Stripes
Style
Superior ovary
Succory
Sugar-eane
Sunflower
Sweet Potatoe
Symphytum
Syringa
Tacsonia
Tagetes :
Tamarind .
Tartarian Honeysuckles
Teasel ;
Teeth of Mosses
Tetraspora lubrica
Thece 3
Thern-apple
INDEX.
271 Thyme
230 Tobacco
112 Tomato
96, 101 Tonga-bean
62 Torch-thistle
60 Tortula
110 Tragopogon
273 Trefoil
196 Triglochin
176 Triticum
218 Triosteum
218 Tripe de Roche
185 Trollius
189 Truffle
206 Tuberose
269 Tulip
189 Turnips
206 Tussilago
244 Tutsan Tribe
126 Typha
233
174 Ulex 3
196 Ulva bullata
ae | Ulva minima
a Umbel !
23] | Umbelliferous Tribe
194 | Ungues
6 | Upas Tree °
124 Usnea
231 |
96 | Vanilla
21g +|~ # 2Vallecule
7 | Valves
262 Veiled Agaric
37 Vegetable-marrow
61 Venetian Sumach
103 Veratrum
41 Verbascum
107 Veronica
160 | Vetches
31 | Vexilluam
7 | Viburnum
28 { Violet Alkanet
206 Violet Tribe
254 | Viper’s Bugloss
207 Virgin’s Bower
162 | Vismia °
184 } Vittz A
167 | Volva
76 | Wahlenbergia
202 | Water-cresses
127 | #£«}Wattle-trees
176 | Wall-flowers
208 Wall Lettuce
277 =| + Wall Tortula
290 ; Watsonia °
269 + Wayfaring-tree
184, 187 W heat -
- 221
300
Wheat-grass
White Hellebore
Whitlow-grass
Wig-tree
Willow
Willow-herb
Willow Tribe
Wings
Winter Aconite
INDEX.
253 Witteboom
239 Wood -
64 Woody fibre
113 Wormwood
146 Woundwort
49 Wrapper
155
124 Yueca
16
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