Trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants, harshly pubesc beak leaves; solid four-celled ovary; terminal style; ath velar CCLI. Ehretiacez. se ig fruit. Natives of tropical countries and the South of

herbaceous or sufrutuose mga with alternate non- yr late leaves;showy pesenpe they flow CCLII. Nolanacez. 3 frui enclosed in a permanent calyx

Herbs, shrubs or trees, with—— —— prvi often hairy; flowers “hermap hrodite; cir; Bongur-parted, CCLII. Boraginacez. acinar yponyaoes: 2stame nega une in’ a ef; stigma e

Herbaceous stemless plants, ea Biersme leaves; flowers regular fruit,a solitary nut. A single genus of CCLIV, Brunoniacez. and s New Holland ees the —

a plan -shrubs, withsquare stems;opposite non- Stipulate leaves, rohit pnts age ae for aromatic oil; calyx iaces. 7 sa a corolla monopetalous — four, inserted upon the Gent tae rola; irregularuns fio

Tre* Fr shrubs, sometimes herdianodiad plants, with opposite Rage stipu akg eaves; Sowers ri ian in opposite corymbs or S alternate eS sometimes in 4m heads; calyx tubular; corolla octal laacegeeccn hypogynous; fruita nut, sometim

Shrubs, with simplenon seas eaves; ‘Sette ae a Myoporacess. metrical; corelis monopetalous; petens four; fruit a dru) COLI. Myopa

Herbaceous plants or branching shrubs, with alternate leaves; spa-) ‘i — us calyx; corolla tubular, hypogynous;stamens four, didyna- s CCLVIIL. Selaginacez.

The Boraginacex are mostly natives of temperate regions. These plants are abundant in Southern Europe; their properties Forget-me-not The Bugloss and the pretty are unimportant. (Myosotis palustris) being, perhaps, the best known species

The common Comfrey (Symphitum officinale), Fig. 432, which we will take for a type of this family, isa herb angular, rough, the very stipules; leaves, without alternate heavy, with simple or lengthily petiolate; ovately-pointed,ample radicle leaves are the cauline leaves decurrent lanceolate, with rough and pubescent in cymes, are very large, flowers, disposedlimbs. The inclining white, yellow, or violet coloured; they are regular and hermaphro-sepals. The corolla is lanceolated ite. The calyx has five tubular, with campanulate urceolated limbs, and short triangular these five lobes the neck Underneathta reflex on the outside. lanceolated scales, forming a flat whiteisfurnished with five transparent crystallinecone, the sides of which are filled with upon the tube of the corolla, are inserted Five stamens papille. with its lobes. The fruit is composed of fourand alternate growing in in England, is common The Comfreyachenw. meadows, near rivers and ditches.

By the side of Symphitum are grouped other genera very like them, such as the Borage (Borago officinalis), the rose-like corolla of which, purple in the bud, becomes of a very pretty blue when fully expanded; the Bugloss (Anchusa officinalis), sometimes

Fig. 432.—The Comfrey (Symphitum officinale).

plant in waste places, the juice a common called Ox-tongue, of which was formerly in request as a cordial; Pulmonaria off now abandoned | medicine, in olden times in cinalis, employed to the kitchen in the north of Europe, where it is used as a culi-- nary vegetable; the Myosotis, which from its pretty blue colour and from its beauty and freshness has obtained the name of Forget-me-Not; the Viper’s Bugloss (Echium culgare); chiefly

remarkable for the strange irregularity of its corolla, and the unequal length of its stamens.

The Lasrarex, from labium, lipped, describes the peculiar form of the upper lip of the corolla in this important order. They are herbaceous, or half shrubby plants, usually yielding more or less quantities of aromatic essential oil..Their stems are four-sided, with opposite branches and leaves; flowers in axillary opposite clusters, sessile, or on short stalks; and the upper lip of the corolla, which is characteristic of the order, consists of two united petals opposite to the three united sepals of the bilabiate calyx, while the two united sepals are opposed to the three united pet of the corolla. The extent of the order has led to various attempts to class them in tribes; of these attempts we select the following:—

TRIBEI. MENTHOIDEX. Mint tribe; lobes of the corolla nearly equal TRIBE Ii. peo The Sages; corolla two-lipped; stamens two; sur three lobes separated by a filif.

TRIBE III. wesicoraiel Thymes; corolla two-lipped; stamens four, nearly equal, or lower pair aightlonger; in true Thymes stamens straight, diverging; in Melissa, stamens more or less bent, erging. TRIBEIV. LaMIoIpE®. Lamium tribe; stamens four, contiguous and parallel under the upper lip of the corolla, In Nepeetee the stamens on the lipshorter, gi the pony on the helmet. In the Stachys longer. In when the carpels are ri

TRIBE V, AJUGOIDER. The Ainge: upper lip ofthe ‘aati short or aa

The Labiatese are spread over the whole world, but are most abundant in temperate regions, diminishing in number towards the poles and the tropics; between the tropics they are Tare, and from polar regions of both hemispheres they are wholly absent. _ The White Dead Nettle (Lamium album) (Fig. 433) is a herbaceous plant, frequently met with in grassy places and by road-sides. It will serve as a type of the numerous family of the Labiatez. The stems and branches of the Dead Nettles are four-sided; the leaves simple, ovate, and opposite, long and acuminate, unequally dentate and slightly rugose. The inflorescence is composite,in small contracted cymes, with sessile flowers, thus forming what Botanists call glomerules, which spring from the axilla of the upper leaves. The flowers are hermaphrodite and irregular. the calyx is monosepalous. The corolla rather large, white, tinged with yellow inside, monopetalous, and bilabiate. The

stamens are four in number, of unequal length, two large and two small, inserted upon the corolla. The pistil consists of a superior ovary, the external and upper surface of which presents

hac, | a ‘ Seog

Fig. 433.—The White Dead Nettle. ieee four protuberances, and a style, which is inserted in the m eid of them, terminating in two branches covered with a 08 — papillw;each protuberance is a cell of the ovary, and each eae

contains an anatropal ovule; when at maturity, each cell becomes an achene. The seed encloses a straight embryo surrounded by a fleshy albumen, slightly developed.

All the Labiateze possess similar characteristic organs of vegetation to those described, with some slight differences, depending on the shape of the calyx, that of the corolla, or the number and relative dimensions of the stamens. For instance, the Sages and Rosemaries, instead of having a calyx with five equal or nearly equal. teeth, have a bilabiate calyx. They are campanulate or infundibuliform in shape, with nearly equal lobes. The sages have two stamens. These stamens have an anther of a very remarkable structure; the connective is very long, and is placed perpendicular to the filament, like the beam of a balance. At one extremity of this beam is a cell filled with pollen; at the other an appendage which represents the other cell, which is abortive. Most species of the extremely natural family of the Labiatex are endowed with stimulating properties, due to an essential aromatic oil, which resides in the glands placed under the epidermis. The Common Sage and many other species of the genus are thus gifted; so also is the Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), the Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), and the Common Balm (Melissa officinalis), from all which useful medicines are obtained by distillation.

The Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea), the Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), which are also consecrated to medical usage, are efficacious as bitters and aromatics. The Teucrium chamedrys is | also sometimes employed in medicine. The bitter principle exists almost exclusively in this plant.

BIGNONIALS, which conclude the series of perigynous Exogens, have dichlamydeous, monopetalous, unsymmetrical flowers, capsular or berried fruit, consolidated carpels, and embryo with little or no albumen.

baceous plants, leaves ite or alternate; flowers axillary,: en eonen oremfive ual parts; corolla monopetalous; t CCLIX. Pedaliacez. parietal placentze;bonyor arruik. \ hee ae fleshy pohor shrubs; JE oges fosne, Bons a ers sho’ in racemes or pani 3 calyx —e;: five-parted;tana hh i tubular;stamens two, didynamo CCLX. Gesneraces, anthers two-celled, cohering.

Smail trees; leaves alternate or clustered; flowers growing out of the old stems or branches; calyx free; corolla monopetalous, some- centiaces what two-lipped; stamens four, growing on th lla; fruit succu- CCLXL Crescent lent, hard-shelled.

Trees, shrubs, and: herbs,i often twiningrs or climbing; leaves oppo- } ’ site, without stipules; flowers terminal, somewhat panicled; calyx 4. divided or entire: spathaceous corolla; monopetalous stamens, five Se unequal; winged seeds; no albumen

Herbaceous or shrubby plants, with opposite leaves, rarely in fours, without stipules; flowers opposite in spikes, sometimes terminal; CCLXUTI. Acanthaces. calyx four or five-parted; corolla monopetalous; stamens two, both ating anthers; wingless exalbuminous seed

Herbs, shrubs, or undershrubs, with opposite, whorled, or alternate feaves; flowers axillary or racemose; calyx inferior; persistent CCLXIV. Serophulariacer. sepals, sometimes united; corolla monopetalous; stamens in single posite the sepals; seeds albuminous

side teats or sag ongsaipciohaiac. Geel nt: ots CCLXV, Lentibulariacess. id ee stamens two, within the corolla; minute }.

_ The Peparracez occur in small numbers in the tropics, chiefly in Africa. Sesasum, yielding an oil which is substituted for olive oil, and several other species have useful medicinal properties.

The GxsNERIAcEx are small bushes, frequently mere herbs, distinguished by their winged seeds, finely oblique veins, sometimes extending into long hairs, or even flattened wings, and the seed a large leafy cotyledon. Those which have forced their way into our gardens are natives of tropical America. Other genera are found in all patts of the world, from the cooler parts of Asia, the Cape of Good Hope, the warm valleys of the Himalayas, and Australia. They are generally trees of great beauty, yielding sweetish fruits.

The Crescentrace®, Bianonace®, and ACANTHACE® are’respectively natives of the tropics of both hemispheres. The Calabash-tree (Crescentia Cujete) bears a great gourd-like fruit, filled with a subacid pulp, much eaten by the negroes. The chief station of the Bignonias, whose trumpet-shaped flowers are the glory on the places they inhabit, extends from Pennsylvania to the southern provinces of Chili. The Acanthacem, distinguished by their large ay leafy bracts, which almost conceal their flowers, are almost tropical, although the typical genera Acanthus is found as far north as Greece, where it became the model for a graceful archi-_ tectural ornament. (ae _ The ScrorHuLartaces include a large number of well-known — favourites, of apparently anomalous structure and forms, which; at first glance would seem to belong to other orders. They sre.

distinguished from the Nightshades by the absence of a fifth stamen, or where the ewstivation of the corolla is imbricated. This serves to bring the Petunias into this order. The wstivation of the corolla, and a tendency to lose a part of the stamens, occurs in Verbascum. ‘The tendency of Antirrhinum is to form pouches, or spurs, as in c, Fig. 434, in which we observe the corolla taking an upward direction, when the spur is produced which

Fig. 434.—The Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). Fig. 435.—Antirrhinum, ¢, corolla; s, calyx of five sepals.. causes the Calccolaria to assume the slipper-like appearance; this brings a whole tribe of lovely flowers into the order. The species are generally acrid, bitter, and suspected. In the Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea, Fig. 434), and several other species, these qualities become dangerous.. ' Schizanthus, Calceolaria, Alonsoa, Antirrhinum, Murandia, Lophospermium, Rodochiton, Collinsia, Pentstemon, Tussellia, Mimulus, Hemianthus, Digitalis, present us with a galaxy of greenhouse and garden flowers such as scarcely any other order can produce. Il

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