1 Pinus pinea. 2 Abies picea. 3 Cycas circinalis. 4 Fritillaria imperialis. 5 Lycopodium cernuum. 6 Digitalis purpurea. 7 Narcissus poeticus. 8 Lycopodium alopecuroides 9 Do decatheon meadia

EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII.

Fia PINUS pinea. Stone-pine. The fir tribe. (Family Coniferæ.) A native of the south of Europe. The head low and branching. Leaves of a sea-green colour, acicular, forming an egret upon the summits of the branches. Strobilums large, ovate, thick; served up in desserts in Italy and France. This tree, according to Loudon, forms a distinguished ornament of the villas of Rome and Florence.

Fig. 2. ABIES picea. Fir-tree. (Coniferæ.) Trunk rectilinear, vertical. Branches forming a pyramid; sub-verticillate, very open. Boughs pendent. Leaves small, linear, acute. Strobilums cylindrical, pendent. A tree common to mountainous regions in the north of Europe, and in the United States.

Fig. 3. CYCAS circinalis. A small dioecious tree of India, resembling the palms in its aspect. Stipe vertical, cylindric. Leaves pinnate; leafets lanceolate-linear. Petioles spinose. Spines leafy. Staminate flowers in a catkin. Pistillate flowers in spikes. A fertile plant showing the fructification at a. The pith of this plant affords an article called Sago, superior to that brought from the West Indies under that name. This was placed by Linnæus in the family of the Palms, and afterward classed among Ferns. According to Mirbel's drawing and description; the first arrangement was most natural.

Fig. 4. FRITILLARIA imperialis. Crown-imperial. (Liliacea.) Bulbous plant, two or three feet in height; a native of Persia. Leaves radical, elongated, ensiform. Scape naked, vertical. Flowers large, terminal, peduncled, umbelled, pendent. Perianth six-sepalled, campanulate. Bracts numerous, elongated, leafy, erect, crowning. Fig. 5. LYCOPODIUM cernuum.t Stem erect, branching. Leaves scattered, setaceous, inflated. Spikes small, ovate, drooping. Cryptogamous.

Fig. 6. DIGITALIS purpurea. Fox-glove. (Scrophularia.) Biennial, native of mountainous and sandy regions of Europe. Stem generally simple, leafy below. Leaves alternate, oval-lanceolate; the radical leaves larger. Flowers in a spike, unilateral, peduncled, pendent. Corolla tubular, campanulate.

Fig. 7. NARCISSUS poeticus.§ (Narcissi or Amaryllidea.) Bulbous plant, ten or twelve inches in height. Native in the meadows of Italy and the south of France. Leaves radical, erect, riband-like. Scape naked, uni-flowered. Flower drooping, spathaceous.

Fig. 8. LYCOPODIUM alopecuroides. Native of South America. Branches fall and take root at their extremities. Leaves linear, subulate.

Fig. 9. DODECATHEON meadia. (Primulacea.) Herbaceous plant, eight inches high; originally a native of Virginia. Leaves radical, spreading, oblong. Scape naked, erect. Flowers pedicelled, umbelled, pendent. Corolla five-parted, the divisions reflexed.

This plant is the principal genus of an order not recognised by Jussieu, the Cycadeæ, first proposed by Ventenat and established by M. Richard. In the cylindrical stem and pinnate leaves, this order resembles the Palms; in many other characteristics, particularly in the organization of the fruit, it approximates to the Coniferæ; in the mode of developing leaves, it bears a relation to the Ferns.

This genus belongs to the natural order Lycopodiacea, being, according to Lindley, "intermediate be tween Ferns and Coniferæ on the one hand, and Ferns and Mosses on the other; related to the first of those tribes in the want of stamens and pistils; to the second, in the aspect of the stems of some of the larger kinds; and to the last, in their whole appearance." M. Brogniart supposes that in the primitive ages of the world, these plants attained a gigantic size, equal to the largest forest trees of the present day; this opinion arises from discoveries made in coal mines, where, along with Ferns, are found what appears like remains of species of this tribe. At present their habit resembles that of the Mosses; they are usually low, prostrate plants.

Lindley says, Digitalis forms a connecting link between Scrophularia and Solaneæ in its relation to Verbascum, both genera having alternate leaves.

This order is allied to Asphodeleæ and Liliaceae, in the appearance of various organs, but distinguished from them by its inferior germ. The corona or nectariferous cup of the Narcissus is considered by Lindley, to be nothing more than an organ formed of an extra amber of stamens, developed in a petaloid state. The same author remarks, that "there is in this whole order a strong tendency to form another set of sta miniferous organs between the perianth, and those stamens that actually develop."

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Fig. 1. VALLISNERIA spiralis. A dicecious aquatic plant of Europe, America, and New Holland. Leaves radical, riband-like. A, staminate flower. Peduncles short, terminated by a spike; ovate, spathaceous, remaining under water until the period for fertilizing the pistillate flowers. B, fertile plant, peduncles very long, spiral, uniflowered. Flower spathaceous, floating. This singular plant, in which the two kinds of flowers are entirely separate, is fertilized by a curious provision of nature. When arrived at a mature state, the spiral peduncles of the pistillate flowers untwist themselves, and the flowers rise to the surface of the water; the short spike of staminate flowers breaks off from its peduncle; the flowers light upon the other plant, and shower their pollen over it. After this period, the pistillate flowers disappear below the surface of the water, where their fruit is produced.

Fig. 2. PISTIA stratiotes. The Duckweed tribe. A floating, stoloniferous plant. Leaves radical, spreading, flabelliform.

Fig. 3. TRAPA natans.* (Onagre.) An aquatic plant. Stem sub-merged, producing radical filaments of two sorts; the one simple, filiform; the other ramified and pinnate; they appear to be transformed leaves. The leaves are terminal, diverging; petioles broad, dentate. A, a plant soon after germination; a, the fruit; b, petiole from one of the two cotyledons which remain enclosed in the fruit; c, the other cotyledon; d, root; e, stem. B, a plant more developed.

Fig. 4. BUTOMUS umbellatus.t Flowering-rush tribe. A plant which grows on the border of lakes and rivers. Leaves racal, erect, riband-like, pointed at the summit. Scape rectilinear. Umbel simpla, te...inal, involucred.

Fig. 5. POTAMOGETON compress. An annual, aquatic plant, common in brooks and ditches. Stem compressed, slender, leafy. Leaves alternate, linear. Spikes terminal, interrupted. Flower whorled.

Fig. 6. NELUMBO nucifera. An aquatic, perennial plant found in Egypt, India, and America. Leaves radical, peduncled, peltate, round, concave. Peduncle oneflowered. Calyx caducous. Corolla of many spreading petals. Stamens numerous; style, very short; stigma, like a cup; a, young leaves; b, flower; c, fruit.

Fig. 7. JUNCUs conglomeratus. The Rush tribe. (Junca.) Stem very simple, aphyllous, rectilinear, vertical, terminating in a point. Panicle crowded, unilateral. Fig. 8. Fucus articulatus. The Sea-weed tribe. (Alga.) A marine plant of the Atlantic Ocean. Frond cartilaginous, dichotomous, moniliform, articulated, each joint containing fruit.

Fig. 9. Fucus digitatus. Stem simple, cylindric. Frond compressed, digitate, flabelliform.

Fig. 10. Fucus natans. A marine plant which, detaching itself from the rocks where it originates, floats in vast quantities upon the surface of the sea, forming islands which retard navigation. Stem filiform. Frond branching, lanceolate, den

tate.

Fig. 11. Fucus obtusatus. A marine plant of Cape Van-Diemen. Frond compressed, coriaceous, branching, linear.

* This plant is in the order Hydrocaryes of De Candolle, called the Water-chestnut Tribe. It is considered, by the late modifiers of the natural method, to be nearly allied to Onagræ, distinguished from it only by solitary, pendulous ovules.

This is the leading genus in the order Butomeæ, of Lindley; by De Candolle and Mirbel, placed in Alismace, to which it is closely allied.

Of the order Naides of Jussieu, or Fluviales of more modern botanists. "In this order," Lindley remarks, we have the nearest approach, except in Pistiaceæ, to the division of flowerless plants. The perianth is reduced to a few imperfect scales, the habit is almost that of Coniferæ, and there is in some of the genera, either a total absence of spiral vessels, or that form of tissue exists in a very rudimentary state. The affinity of this order to Aroidea is manifest from the tendency of some species to produce a rudimentary spatha. Mirbel places this in the order Alismace.

§ In the order Nelumboneæ of De Candolle ;-by most writers united to Nymphæacea, with which it dif fers in the structure of the fruit, but agrees in the foliage and flowers. The fruit of one species of Nelumbium is thought to be the Egyptian bean of ancient writers.

"This plant," according to Lindley, "stands between Petaloideous and Glumaceous Monocotyledons, agreeing with the former in the floral leaves, having assumed the Verticillate state necessary to constitute a perianth, and with the latter in their texture. From Palms, independently of their habit, they are distin guished by the constant tendency to produce more than one ovule in each cell, and by the embryo never be ing remote from the hilum. Juncus is an instance of a monocotyledonous plant having a distinct pith' Lindley describes the order Alga as "aquatic, leafless, flowerless plants." He says, "Whatever in genuity may be employed in determining the relative degree of dignity in the vegetable creation between Fungi, Lichens, and Algae, it seems to me that the conclusion constantly arrived at is, that Algæ are only to be distinguished from the other two by their being in water, and that but for the influence which that ine dium exercises on them, they would be identical with Lichens on the one hand, and Fungi on the other. Those who have ever examined the surfaces of stones constantly moistened by water, the glass of hot-houses, the face of rocks in the sea, or of walls where the sun never shines, or the hard paths in the damp parts of gardens after rains, cannot fail to have remarked a green, mucous slime, with which they are covered. This slime consists of Algae in their simplest state of organization, belonging to the genera Palmella, Nostoc, &c. This slime is like a layer of albumen spread with a brush." This albumen, Lindley says, may be the origin of either vegetable or animal matter, according to the nature of the corpuscles which penetrate or develop themselves in it; and, according to some late discoveries, it seems to be ascertained that many of the seaweed consists of congeries of animalcule. Thus we see that the vegetable and animal kingdoms not only closely approximate, but that they do, in fact, exist in the most intimate union.