"This old German drinking-cup excited in me feelings of veneration. Would that everywhere on the New Continent the names of those were preserved who, instead of devastating the soil by bloody conquests, confided to it the first fruits of Ceres."
2. Cyperaceæ (Sedges).
Sedges.
These plants much resemble the Grasses, they afford but littlenourishment, however, to cattle, having but little starchy matter inthem, and being but little succulent. The Cyperus Papyrus is the plantfrom which the ancient "papyrus" was made, and is probably (accordingto Dr. Baird) the plant termed in Scripture the Bull-rush.
3. Araceæ (Arum tribe).
Arum.
The Araceæ include the Arum maculatum, or Cuckoo-pint, peculiar inhaving the flowers enclosed by a kind of sheath formed like a leaf,and called a "spathe." The "Portland Sago" is obtained from theRhizome of this plant, but some of the species of this order arepoisonous. The Dumb-cane (Caladium Segninum) paralyses the tongue, ifchewed.
4. Typhaceæ (Bull-rush kind).
Bull-rush.
The Typhaceæ are the Bull-rush tribe, having the Typha latifolia orgreat Reed-mace for its characteristic member. It grows in ditchesand marshy places. The young shoots of the Bull-rush, which resembleasparagus, are eaten by the Cossacks as food.
5. Melanthaceæ (Colchicum kind).
Meadow Saffron.
This includes many plants which have bulbous roots, some of them beingpoisonous. The Colchicum autumnale, or Meadow Saffron, is the type ofthis order; it grows in moist meadows, producing a purple flower whichappears before the leaves. The root or bulb, and the seeds, are usedin medicine.
6. Liliaceæ (Lily kind).
Lily.
The Liliaceæ are a very numerous tribe, including the Lilies,Hyacinths, and Tulips, the Onion, Garlic, Asparagus, the Cape Aloe,Yucca, and many others; they are for the most part bulbous plants,having simple leaves enclosing the stem. The Palms are included inthis order; they are among the tallest and most graceful of thevegetable tribes, and in the countries where they abound are appliedto almost every purpose that can be enumerated.
7. Amaryllidaceæ (Narcissus kind).
Narcissus.
The Amaryllidaceæ are the Narcissus tribe, including also the Agave,or American Aloe, and the Snow-drop. The greater number of speciesbelonging to this order are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, some ofthese are poisonous; the juice of the Cape Blood-flower (HæmanthusToxicarius) is used by the Hottentots to poison their arrows with.
8. Iridaceæ (Crocus tribe).
Crocus.
The Iridaceæ include the Crocus (Crocus sativa), the Corn-flag(Gladeolus communis), and the Blue-flag (Iris Germanica); the bulb ofthe Iris Florentina, is dried and used for various purposes, it has ascent resembling violets and is sold at druggists' shops by the nameof orris-root, a corruption of iris-root.
9. Orchidaceæ (Orchids).
Butterfly Orchis.
The family of the Orchis. Dr. Baird, in describing them, says:—"Theyare almost all herbaceous, a very few only being somewhat shrubby intheir growth; some live in the ground, and besides the ordinary rootshave bulbs or starch-bearing tubercles; others are what may be calledpseudo-parasites, living attached to the bark of trees. These plantsabound in the forests of tropical countries, where the climate ismoist, and are generally known by the name of Epiphytes. The flowersvary very much in shape, form, and colour, and in many instances havea striking resemblance to insects, various birds, and animals, asOncidium, in which the resemblance is to butterflies, &c.; Cychnoches,in which (in one species) the likeness is strikingly similar to aswan; Peristeria, one species of which is called the Sprito-Santoplant, of Panama, and in whose flower there is the likeness of a dovedescending upon the lip, &c. A curious fact in this part of theirhistory is, that in the same plant, on the same stem, and even on thesame head of flowers, we find flowers so different in appearance thatwe might place them in different genera."
10. Naiadaceæ (Naiads).
Pond Weed.
Water-plants, called "pond-weeds," and grow on both fresh and saltwater. The marine species, Zostera marina, is dried and used forstuffing mattresses.
11. Butomaceæ (Flowering Rushes).
Flowering Rush.
Of this order the Butomas umbellatus, a sort of rush, producing veryhandsome pink flowers in umbels, growing in ditches and by the sidesof rivers, is the most characteristic member.
12. Alismaceæ (Water Plantain).
Water Plantain.
The two chief members of this order are the Alisma Plantago or WaterPlantain, which grows in ditches, having its flowers in the form ofpanicles, and the Sagittaria sagittæfolia or Arrowhead.
The third great natural family of plants are the Exogenæ. They comprise all the trees and shrubs of the temperate and colder regions, together with many of the flowering plants. They are characterised by certain peculiarities which can be at once recognised, such as the twisted and branched form of the stem, the possession of bark, leaves having the veins covering them running in all directions and forming a network, and the seeds containing two cotyledons; the wood, moreover, is deposited in rings (figs. 16, 17, 18, 19), one of which is formed every year, by the new wood being produced on the outside of the old, and between it and the bark. This deposition takes place as follows: after the rains of winter and early spring have well saturated the earth with moisture, and the warmth of spring has begun to penetrate to the roots of the plants, a development of the points of each fibrile or radicle takes place, forming new spongioles; these, being formed of new porous cellular tissue, begin to absorb (by endosmose) the moisture of the earth, which entering at all these thousands of minute spongioles at once, collects and rises in the vessels of the trunk and branches, and arriving at the vessels forming a plexis on the surface of every leaf, begins to be changed by the action of the sun's rays, absorbing carbon and giving out oxygen from the carbonic acid always contained in the air. The sap which has thus risen is the juice of the earth in which the plant grows, containing several earthy salts and vegetable extract drawn from the manure or decaying vegetation contained in the mould, together with carbonic acid dissolved in the fluid; this carbonic acid is changed by the sun's rays as well as that which was contained in the air, and the carbon uniting with the watery part of the sap, forms the green substance before alluded to, called chlorophyll, which is the green colouring matter of all plants, and is the basis of the wood. The altered sap descends between the wood and the bark, and forms a deposit gradually, which at the end of the year is a complete ring of wood surrounding the wood of former years. This circulation of juices continues through the summer, until, the cold weather coming on and the light being diminished, the sap neither rises nor is the leaf nourished by it, when it decays and falls off.
The age of exogenous wood can be ascertained—where the centre has not decayed—by counting the rings, one only being deposited every year; and it is truly astonishing to find that some trees will continue to live and flourish for several thousand years! There does not, in truth, appear to be any limit assigned to the life of an exogenous tree if it escape accidents; for, although decay inevitably attacks the heartwood, and a cavity is the result, yet, the new wood continuing to be deposited on the outer part, the vitality of the tree is kept up, and its size continues to increase.
The Baobab or Monkey Bread-fruit trees, growing at the mouths of the Senegal, have been estimated by Adinson to be upwards of six thousand years old, and are, in all probability, the oldest relics of organic life existing at the present time. The cedars of Lebanon are supposed to have existed longer than the records of history. The Yew at Braburn, in Kent, is at least three thousand years old; and that of Fortingal nearly as much.
Dr. Livingstone, describing the Mowana or Baobab tree (fig. 20), thus comments upon its power of withstanding injury:—
