The Vegetable World: Being a History of Plants, with Their Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties

Epicynous ExoGeEns.

The term Epigynous—derived from em, on, and yvvn, the ovary —alludes to the position of the stamens and other outer floral appendages in respect to that organ. When the stamens are placed on the ovary, their insertion is said to be epigynous, which generally indicates the complete adhesion of the tube of the calyx to the ovary through its whole length, or to the style or disc, as in the case of the Umbellifere. This and bi-sexual flowers are the most distinctive mark of this sub-class. It includes many important natural groups and orders, beginning with

THE CAMPANALS,

probably the most extensive natural group in the whole Vegetable World.

ee ous plants orunder-shrubs, with simple, almost always alternate leaves, without stipules; flowers single, in racemes, spikes, or panicles, henge & blue or white; calyx superior, five-lobed; corolla CCLXVI. Campanulacee. monopetalous, inserted into the top of the calyx; — s ins erted into the calyx} ovary two.or more celled;free or half-u cE: naked stigma,

Herbaceous or shrabhyplants, oe leaves without stipules; flowers axillaryor valvate; termin alyx; five-lobed corolla, irre- Lobeliacex. gular, Sisnopelsions, cape eeby re Bas ded‘ pene inserted alter- CCLXVII. nately with the lobes of the corolla; ovarytwo or more celled;

TS syngenesious, ggceetioneous, rarely shrubby, plants, with scattered, often lobed leaves; flowers distinct. ull hiresores calyx superior; corolla LX VIII, crag _ superior; ee five, eyer oto segments of the corolla; ve ope nicieaad more —— lants! tener ne with scattered, rnin ‘ entire, ves; flowers es, racemes, or corym yx CLXIX. Stylidiacee. adherent;coro onopetalous, ga Sc stamens two, united. with the _ see atea FeteahdEat Annual or herbs, sometimes twining leaves in rosettes;:: ‘fowes Seexealy peecn superior; ovary caballed; corolla imbri- t CCLXX. Valerianacex cated; anthers free;ovale pendulons, without albumen. Pescepoll woahaceite mag with opposite whorled leave 4) e: oh @ ae arrang: wea rape agc; Cal erent; corolla mono- ‘LX XI. Dipsacace®. = pelos,a pantieae the calyx;Tormey one-celled; anthers re;: if ule pendu Herbaceous shine leaves alternate, a: 5 in heads; calyx superior, of|five ‘unequal parts e-celled; t CCLXXIL peer ao corollaane: seeds Herbaceous plants pasate chicsin or opposite leaves, without PPado flowers unisexualoror hermayhrodite calyx superior;— Dscemaserss comps. Monopetalous, valvate;ovary one-c; stamens equal in to the teeth of the corolla, theah: inhabit Flowers, or Bell-shaped The Cusine and bois 5 uae rare in the world, — of the“ FateSates

found, according to De Candolle, between the 36th and 47th parallel—the chain of the Alps, Italy, Greece, the range of the Caucasus and the Altai Hills: Africa, as far as the Cape of Good Hope, being their true country. The whole order are more or less ornamental, and most of them yield a white milky juice, which is somewhat bitter and acrid. The German botanists divide them into, 1, Wahlenbergiee with capsules opening at the summit, which peculiarity De Candolle found belonged to genera of the Southern Hemisphere; and 2, Campanulacee, with capsules opening at the -side or base, which the same botanist found belonged,with one exception, to the northern part of the globe. Their chief property is the beauty of their flowers. The Bell Campanula (Fig. 436), so called from its large, full-blown, bell-shaped corolla, opening in great numbers at the same time, is a native of the south of Europe. Its stem is erect, branching towards the top; the leaves are Sessile, ovately lanceolate, irregularly crenulate and Sia da isisBun Mower (Compucel dentate, with slightly inclined flowers, disposed in loose bunches. The flowers are regular and hermaphrodite. The calyx composed of five sepals; the corolla - campanulate, or bell-shaped, is divided in its-upper part into five lobes, alternating with the sepals. | The stamens, five in number, are free, and are not inserted ini the ©

tube of the corolla. Anthers bilocular, and the filaments are flattened and enlarged in their lower part in order that they may embrace the ovary. The pistil is composed of an inferior ovary, surmounted by a style, divided into five stigmatic branches. The ovary is five-celled. The fruit a capsule, which opens at the base in five small cells. There are several species of the Campanula which are only cultivated for their pretty flowers and pyramidal form. We may cite, as worthy of cultivation in the garden, the Peach-leaved Bellflower (C. persicifolia), with flowers of pale blue, erect and in long compound panicles, indigenous in Kent and the south of England and in France. This species grows double, and forms a fine garden flower. C. pyramidalis is another stately Bell-flower — which reaches the height of three or four feet, forming a pyramidal mass of flower. The pretty Scotch Harebell (C. rotundifolia), with slender stem and nodding cluster of “heavenly blue,” is not the least worthy of notice. The Loseniacem are frequently found within or upon the borders of the tropics of both hemispheres. They are rare in northern parts;Spain, Sicily, and Italy, each claim one, and one, is found in Kamtschatka. They are extremely beautiful when in blossom, and great favourites in the greenhouse, but the milky juice with which they are charged is powerfully acrid and narcotic, corrodes the skin, and is fatal taken internally. Burton says that if horses eat L. longiflora, inflammation is produced, so that they ie swell until they burst. Like most of the poisonous orders, it m-cludes species possessing valuable medicinal properties. Many © them yield gums and oils. The Lobeliads are found chiefly between | the tropics in the New World; in Asia and Africa they are found yy: to the south of these regions, some few in North America, and one in Kamtschatka, They are all charged with a milky juice which is sufficiently acrid to corrode the skin, mingling with narcotic properties of a dangerous character. The Indian tobacco (L. inflata) * Whenis a North American species, possessed of medicinal virtues. slightly irridried the plant is formed into a cake, when it has a tating, acrid taste, somewhat like tobacco, causing a flow of saliva — and a feeling of nausea, The remaining orders of this group are natives of ‘Australia and | 9

the islands of the Indian Ocean. The VALERIANACE# are natives of temperate climates; generally strongly-scented aromatic plants The Dipsacacrm include the Teazel (Dipsacus) used by fullers. The Composirm, or AstrRACE®, includes an immense number of

herbaceous and shrubby plants, sometimes of small trees, amount-ing to nine thousand species, which botanists divide into Sub-orders, Tribes, and Sub-tribes. The flowers of this family have an arrangement quite characteristic. They are all disposed on a head or disc, so as to have the

b c

Fig. 437.—Disc, section, and detached flowers of the Daisy.

appearance of being a single flower, though they are really a union of many flowers; hence the name of Composirm, which has been given to them. This arrangement is easily understood if — Wwe examine the representation of the capitulum as it appears in

. the Common Daisy (Flora Marguerita) or Bellis perennis, of which we give in Fig. 437 the whole of the capitulum in @; a section — of the head is seen at 4; finally, the isolated flowers of the _ Centre, and the circumference of the same capitulum are repre- _ Sented in¢ andd. The flowers of the same capitulum may be ee al of ai same description, namely, hermaphrodite, stamened,

and pistilled; or they may also be of two kinds—the exterior neuter or female, the interior hermaphrodite or male. The calyx of these flowers may be of various shapes. Sometimes it is so reduced that it seems as if there were none; in other times it forms a sort of cup or a crown; sometimes it develops into an awn, with teeth and scales. It even degenerates into a kind of silky tuft, which forms an egret. The corolla is either regular or irregular. In the former case it is tubulous, and its limbs generally are five-lobed. In the latter the limbs appear split in its _ greatest extent, and warped on the outside, like a tongue; dentate at the summit, from whence it separates into two lips. The tubular corolla is called the floret; the tongue-like corolla semifloret. The stamens are inserted upon the tube of the corolla, and alternate with its divisions. The filaments are generally free, but the anthers are attached at their edges by means of a tube which sheathes the style. They are two-celled, opening from within. The pistil is composed of an unilocular ovary, containing a single, straight, anatropal ovule; it is surmounted by a very slight style, which is divided into two branches, both in the hermaphrodite and female flowers, but it is undivided in the male. The branches of the style are furnished with stigmatic papille, hair-like collectors. Before expansion the style is shorter than the stamens; but at the time of fecundation it increases rapidly, and rises into the hollow cylinder formed by the anthers. As they rise, the hairy collectors sweep off the pollen which the gaping anthers contain, and soon appear charged with its precious dust. It is observed that the female flowers are destitute of hairy —; collectors; that the male flowers are alike destitute of the stig- The fruit is an achene, often matic papille and hairy collectors. furnished with a proper egret, to favour its dissemination. The — solitary seed encloses a straight embryo without albumen.

Tournefort separated the Composite into Semjfloscules, namely, those where the capitulum is entirely composed of: flowers with those in which the Floscules, corolla; or semifloret a ligulate capitulum is entirely composed of flowers with tubular corolla, — — is formed those where the capitulum and Radiates, or of florets; of central tubular flowers and of ligulated peripheric flowers.

De Candolle, in his “Podromus,” divides the Composite into nee

three grand series. First, Liguliflore, or Cichoracee, which have a ligulated corolla, and answer to the Semifloscules of Tournefort. Pappus crown-shaped or chaffy in Scholymide; seed-nuts without pappus in Lampanide. Either crown-like or with entire chaffy scales in Haseride; with narrow, semi-lanceolate, often pinnate scales in Hypocheride. Naked receptacle and scaly pappus in Scorzoneridee. Receptacle naked or chaffy; pappus hairy, silvery, and fugaceous in Lactricide. Ulairy, rigid, and fragile in Meracide. Secondly, the Labiateflore, the irregular corollas of which are divided into two lips. Thirdly, the Tudiliflore, the capitulums of which are entirely formed of florets, or provided at the circumference with semi-florets, and which answer to the Floscules and Radiates of Tournefort. The Liguliflore, or Cichoraceze, possess a milky juice, contained

Flower ofChicory. — DN Fig. 439,—Isolated Fig. 438.—Chicory. in a system of lactiferous vessels, which have bitter, resinous, and virtues of these species The properties narcotic principles. _ Vary according to the relative proportion of these, and according — of their different_ to the age of the eresand the SS

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_ Organs.

The Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is an indigenous species in France, and probably with us, the roots of which are used in medicine. Fig. 439 represents the wild Chicory; Fig. 439 an isolated flower from the capitulum of this plant. The roots of the cultivated Chicory, dried and roasted, are sometimes mixed with coffee, and are said to mellow its bitterness. The young leaves, dressed as a salad, are eaten by the lower classes in France.

The Endive (C. endivia) is a Mediterranean plant, less bitter, and is seldom appropriated to alimentary use, except as a salad.