31. VEPRECULE. (Vepres, a bramble.) Corollas monopetalous, coloured; berry superiour, one-seeded. c Mezereon, Daphne; Leather-wood, Dina.

с

32. PAPILIONACEE. (Papilio, a Butterfly.) Flowers butterfly-shaped. Bean; Pea; Locust-tree, Robinia; Clover, Trifolium.

33. LOMENTACEÆ. Corollas not perfectly butterfly-shaped. Stamina distinct, fruit leguminous; as Cassia; Sensitive plant, Mimosa; Milk-wort, Polygala.

34. CUCURBITACEE. (Cucurbita, a gourd.) Gourdlike plants; as Pumpkin, Cucurbita ; Cucumber and Melon, Cucumis; Passion-flower, Passiflora.

35. SENTICOSE. (Sentis, a briar.) Prickly plants. Mostly Pentapetalous and Icosandrous. Raspberry ; Strawberry; Rose; Avens, Geum; Cinquefoil, Potentilla.

Observation. Nearly allied to POMACEE.

36. POMACEE. (Pomum, an apple.) Plants with a pulpy, esculent fruit; as Apple and Pear, Pyrus; Currant; Peach; Plum.

37. COLUMNIFERE. (Columna, a pillar, & fero, to bear.) Plants whose stamens and pistils have the appearance of a column or pillar in the centre of the flower. Hollyhock, Alcea; Mallows, Malva.

Observation. Many of them monadelphous.

38. TRICOCCE. (Tges, three, & xoxxos, a grain.) Capsule 3-cornered, 3-celled, cells 1-seeded; as Box, Buxus; Palma-Christi, Ricinus.

39. SILIQUOSE. (Siliqua, a pod.)

Flowers cross

shaped. Tetradynamous, seed-vessel a silique. Radish; Mustard; Cabbage.

40. PERSONATE. (Persona, a mask.) Flowers personate; as Toad-flax, Antirrhinum; Snake's-head, Chelone.

41. ASPERIFOLIE. (Asper, rough, & folium, a leaf.) Leaves rough. Corolla monapetalous, stamens 5,

seeds 4, naked. Borage, Borago; Comfrey, Symphy

tum.

42. VERTICILLATE. (Verticillus, a whorl.) Flowers in whorls, corollas labiate, as Hyssop; Mint; Marjoram, Origanum; Sage, Salvia; Thyme, Thy

mus.

43. DUMOSE. (Dumus, a bush.) Bushy plants, with small flowers. Stamens 4, 5, 6 or 10. Elder, Sambucus; Sumach, Rhus; Snowball, Viburnum ; Stafftree, Celastrus; Holly, Ilex.

44. SEPIARIÆ. (Sepes, a hedge.)

Ornamental

shrubs, with few stamens. Lilac, Syringa; Privet, Ligustrum.

45. UMBELLATÆ.

Flowers in umbels, corollas 5petalled, stamens 5, styles 2, seeds 2 naked. Carrot; Parsnip; Carui.

46. HEDERACEE. (Hedera, Ivy.) Petals 5, stamens 5, fruit berry-like. Vine, Vitis; Aralia; Ginseng, Panax.

47. STELLATE. (Stella, a star.) Leaves whorled, seeds 2, naked. Dogwood, Cornus; Madder, Rubia; Galium.

48. AGGREGATE. (Aggregare, to assemble.) Flowers aggregate; as Teazel, Dipsacus; Boerhaavia. 49. COMPOSITE. Compound flowers; as Dandelion ; Thistle; Sunflower.

Observation. Belonging to class Syngenesia.

50. AMENTACEÆ. Bearing aments; as Oak; Chesnut; Willow; Alder.

Observation. Principally trees.

51. CONIFERA. Consisting of cone-bearing plants; as Pine, Hemlock-tree, and Spruce, Pinus; Juniper, Juniperus; Cedar, Cupressus.

Observation. Mostly trees.

52. COADUNATE. (Coadunare, to join together) Several seed-vessels united somewhat at their base,

forming a sort of cone; as Tulip-tree, Liriodendron ; Magnolia.

53. SCABRIDE. (Scaber, rough.)

Leaves rough, flowers destitute of beauty; as Elm; Nettle; Hop; Hemp.

Observation. Rougher than those of the 41st order, Asperifolia. 54. MISCELLANEÆ. Plants unconnected.

55. FILICES. Ferns, Brakes, Polypod, &c.

56. MUSCI. Mosses.

57. ALGE. Flags, Liverworts, Lichens, and Seaweeds.

Observation. These four last constitute the Linnæan class Cryp. togamia, which see.

PART V.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY of VegetabLE S. THIS Comprehends an account of the internal organs, and the functions they perform.

Plants are organic bodies, containing cells, vesicles, absorbents, tubes, &c. which being disposed in regular order and qualified with the principle of vitality, are the laboratory in which nature produces the phenomena of vegetation.

Plants as well as animals then are endowed with the principle of life or vitality, a principle which minerals do not possess; "they are living organized beings."

If it be asked what this principle of life or vitality is, we must own our complete ignorance. We know it, as we know its omnipotent Author, by its effects.

The effects of vitality are stupendous beyond conception, in the operations constantly going on in every organized body, from our own elaborate frame to the humblest moss or fungus.

Those different fluids which compose the eye, so fine and transparent, separated from each other by membranes as fine, all retain their proper situations (though each fluid individually is perpetually removed and renewed) for sixty, eighty, or an hundred years or more, while the principle of life remains.

So do the infinitely small vessels of an almost invisible insect, the fine and pellucid tubes of a plant, all hold their destined fluids, conveying or changing them according to fixed laws, but never permitting them to run into confusion so long as the vital principle animates their various forms. But no sooner does death happen, than without any apparent alteration of structure, any apparent change in their material configuration, all is reversed. The eye loses its form and brightness; its membranes let go their contents, which mix in confusion, and thenceforth yield to the laws of chemistry alone. Just so it happens, sooner or later, to the other parts of the animal as well as vegetable frame.

Chemical changes, putrefaction and destruction immediately follow the total privation of life, the importance of which instantly becomes evident when it is no more.

I humbly conceive therefore, that if the human understanding can, in any case, flatter itself with obtaining in the natural world, a glimpse of the immediate agency of Deity, it is in the contempla tion of this vital principle, which seems independent of material organization, and an impulse of his own divine energy.➡ Smith.

CHAP. I.

GERMINATION.

GERMINATION is a term applied to that part of vegetable physiology, which explains the process by which a seed becomes a plant.

For the terms applied to the various parts of a seed, see p. 59.

When a seed is committed to the earth, under the proper conditions of air, heat, and moisture, it first swells by the fluids absorbed by its vessels. According to Dr. Thomson of Edinburgh, a chemical action next takes place; oxygen gas is absorbed, and carbonic acid evolved; by this process, the carbon in the farina of the lobes being diminished, and the oxygen increased in proportion, it is, in part, converted into sugar. The cotyledons thus prepared, convey nourishment through vessels, fitted for the purpose, immediately to the embryo or chick. Thus supplied with nourishment, the chick sends its radicle downward, taking such root as finally to be supplied with nourishment from the earth, and its plume upward, to unfold itself into herbage. In this process. the integuments of the seed are ruptured and presently decay. The radicle makes its appearance rather before the plume.

Observation. The chemical action, mentioned above, is attend. ed with an evolution of heat which results from the absorption of oxygen

The evolution of sugar is precisely what takes place in malting, in which the seed is exposed in a warm place and moistened until germination commences, when the process is stopped by drying it. It is then found to have become sweet, and is used to impart saccharine matter to beer.