Botany for Ladies: or, A Popular Introduction to the Natural System of Plants, According to the Classification of De Candolle.Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Science
Botany for Ladies: or, A Popular Introduction to the Natural System of Plants, According to the Classification of De Candolle.
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Botany; Plants -- Classification
This order contains three genera of New Holland plants, only one of
which has been introduced. The flowers are tubular, with a five-cleft
limb, and they are covered with hairs, terminating in capitate glands;
the stamens are united into a column, which is bent towards the fifth
or lower segment of the limb, which is much larger than the others. The
united stamens are so irritable as to start forward when touched with a
pin.
ORDER CXI.—GOODENOVIÆ.
All the plants in this order are natives of New Holland, and they bear
considerable resemblance to those included in Lobeliaceæ, but they have
not a milky juice, and the stigma, which is very small, and without
any style, is surrounded by a curious cup called an indusium, which is
generally found full of pollen. This very remarkable organ is probably
rendered necessary by the very small size of the stigma, which can only
absorb the pollen very slowly. The most interesting genera contained in
this order are Lechenaultia and Euthales.
ORDER CXII.—CAMPANULACEÆ.—THE CAMPANULA TRIBE.
The plants in this order have a bell-shaped regular corolla, consisting
of five petals, usually grown together so as to form a monopetalous
corolla with five lobes, each lobe having a conspicuous central nerve
or vein. There are five or more stamens, which are generally distinct,
and which have broad bearded filaments bending over the ovary. The
style is at first short, but it gradually elongates itself, and both
it and the stigmas are furnished with tufts of stiff hairs, which, as
the style pushes itself through the stamens, brush off the pollen,
and retain it till the stigma is in a proper state to receive it. The
anthers burst as soon as the corolla opens. The capsules have generally
two, three, or five cells, and each cell contains many seeds.
In the genus Campanula, the capsule opens by little valves, which look
as though cut with scissors. The juice of the plants is milky, but not
poisonous. The principal genera are Campanula, Prismatocarpus (Venus’s
Looking-glass), Roellia, Phyteuma (the petals of which are distinct),
Trachelium, Wahlenbergia, and Adenophora. Lobeliaceæ and Goodenoviaceæ
were formerly included in this order.
ORDER CXIII.—GESNERIEÆ.
The corolla is tubular and sub-bilabiate, with a five-cleft limb. There
are four stamens, two longer than the others, with the rudiments of a
fifth. The anthers generally adhere in pairs; the fruit is one-celled
and many-seeded; the leaves are thick and covered with a soft down; and
the roots are frequently tuberous. The qualities are excellent. The
species of the genus Gesneria are usually hothouse plants, with bright
scarlet flowers; and those of Gloxinia have generally purple flowers;
and of Sinningia the flowers are greenish.
ORDER CXIV.—VACCINIEÆ. (SEE CHAP. VII. P. 130.)
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