The most interesting plant in this order is Hedera Helix, the common Ivy; a well-known climbing evergreen shrub, which throws out roots from its branches at intervals, which it strikes into any substance to which it can adhere. The flowers have all their parts in five or ten divisions; even the lower leaves, which are smooth and leathery, are five-lobed. The leaves on the flowering branches, which are always in the upper part of the plant, are entire. The flowers are produced in umbels, and they are succeeded by berries, which, in correspondence with the parts of the flowers, are five or ten celled. The large-leaved variety, called the Irish Ivy, is a native of the Canary Isles; and the gold and silver leaved, and golden berried, are all varieties of the common kind. There are, however, many exotic species, most of which have not yet been introduced. The genus Aralia, known by its two garden species, A. spinosa and A. japonica, belongs to this order. The first of these is called the Angelica Tree, and is an old inhabitant of our gardens; but A. japonica is of quite recent introduction.
ORDER XCIX.*—HAMAMELIDEÆ.
The most interesting plants in this order are the Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginica), and Fothergilla alnifolia. In the first of these plants, there are four long narrow petals, and the calyx is four-lobed; and there are eight stamens, of which four are fertile, and four barren. There are two styles, and the capsules are leathery and two-celled, and two-valved, with one seed inclosed in an aril in each cell. The Witch Hazel has the peculiarity of coming into flower when it drops its leaves in autumn, remaining in flower all winter, and forming its fruit in spring, just as it is opening its new leaves. The flowers are yellow, and very pretty from their great abundance, and the light feathery effect produced by the great length and narrowness of the petals. The leaves are rough and feather-nerved, like those of the Hazel. Fothergilla is a pretty little shrub with terminal spikes of white flowers with yellow anthers, which are sweet-scented and appear before the leaves.
ORDER C.—CAPRIFOLIACEÆ, OR THE HONEYSUCKLE TRIBE.
This order, as originally constituted, may be divided into three tribes, viz., Corneæ, containing Cornus, Benthamia, and, according to some, Aucuba; Sambuceæ, containing Sambucus and Viburnum; and Lonicereæ, containing Symphoria, Caprifolium, Lonicera, Leycesteria, Linnæa, &c. Cornus, Benthamia, and some other genera, among which Dr. Lindley places Aucuba, are now formed into a separate order, under the name of Cornaceæ. The different species of Dogwood (Cornus) are known by the smooth bark of their stems and branches, which is frequently red, or reddish brown; by their white flowers, which are produced either in heads, or umbels, or in corymbose panicles; by their red or blackish berries; and by their coarse feather-nerved leaves. The principal species of Cornus are the wild or female Cornel (C. sanguinea); the common Dogwood (C. alba); the male Cornel, or Cornelian Cherry (C. mas); and American Dogwood (C. florida). All these plants have a very small four-toothed calyx, and a corolla of four petals. There are four stamens and one style. The fruit is a berry-like drupe. Some of the species, as for example C. florida, have a large involucre of four leaves, having the appearance of petals. Benthamia fragifera, called by Dr. Wallich C. capitata, has an involucre of four leaves of yellow, tinged with red, surrounding a head of small greenish inconspicuous flowers. The fruit consists of a number of drupes, grown together like a Mulberry, with six, eight, or more seeds, surrounded with a viscid pulp. The leaves are long and tapering, of a fine texture, and of a light green above, and silvery white below.
The genus Sambucus, the Elder, is characterised by its pinnate leaves and terminal cymes of flowers, which have a small five-lobed calyx, a rotate corolla also five-lobed, five stamens about the length of the corolla, no style, and three obtuse stigmas. The berries are globular, pulpy, and one-celled; each containing three or five seeds, which are convex on the outside, and angular within. The berries differ in colour in the different species, those of the common kind being a deep purplish black, and those of S. racemosa being red. The stems and branches are of a soft wood, having a white spongy pith. The white-berried Elder is a variety of the common kind.
The genus Viburnum contains several well-known plants, among which may be mentioned the Laurestinus (V. Tinus), the Guelder Rose (V. Opulus), and the Wayfaring Tree (V. Lantana). This genus is very nearly allied to Sambucus in the flowers, but it is easily distinguished, on examination, by its leaves, which are not pinnate, and by its wood, which is hard and not spongy. The berries have also only one seed, and they are not eatable,—those of the Laurestinus are, indeed, injurious. The Laurestinus and some other species are evergreen; but by far the greater number of species are deciduous.
The genus Lonicera formerly included all the kinds of Honeysuckle; but now only the upright species, or what are called the Fly Honeysuckles, are comprised in it, and the climbing kinds are called Caprifolium. One of the upright kinds, most common in gardens, is the Tartarian Honeysuckle (L. tartarica), the flowers of which are in twins. The corolla is tubular and funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft limb. There are five stamens, a filiform style, and a capitate stigma. The berries are distinct when young, but they afterwards grow together at the base. The leaves are always distinct. The genus Caprifolium embraces all the climbing species, the flowers of which are disposed in whorls, and the upper leaves are connate, that is, growing together at the base, so that two appear only one leaf, with the stem passing through it. A single leaf of this kind is called perfoliate. The flowers spring from the axils of the leaves, and are what are called ringent, that is, they are composed of five petals, four of which grow together, almost to the tip, while the fifth is only attached to the others about half its length, and has the loose part hanging down. Flowers of this kind, with their lower part forming a tube, and their upper part widely open, are said to be gaping. In the Trumpet Honeysuckle (C. sempervirens) the tube of the corolla is very long, and the lobes of the limb nearly equal; and the flowers, instead of springing from the axils of the leaves, form terminal spikes, each consisting of three or more whorls of flowers.