The weed called Plantain, or Rib-grass, is well known to all persons who keep birds, as it is a food that cage-birds are very fond of. It is conspicuous by its strongly-ribbed leaves, which form a flat tuft on the ground, and by the large arrow-shaped anthers of its four stamens, which hang on very slender filaments. The flowers are arranged in dense spikes, and are green and inconspicuous. ORDER CLII.—NYCTAGINEÆ. The Marvel of Peru (_Mirabilis Jalapa_), and the other species of that genus, are the only ornamental plants belonging to this order. The flowers consist of a coloured calyx, surrounded by a five-toothed involucre, which greatly resembles a calyx. The true calyx is funnel-shaped, with a spreading limb, the lobes of which are plaited, and notched at the margin; and which, with the tubular part, form at the base a globular swelling, which incloses the ovary. The stamens grow from beneath the pistil, adhering together at the base, so as to form a kind of cup. The ovary contains only one seed; and the style is long and slender, terminating in a capitate stigma, divided into a number of tubercles or warts. The lower part of the calyx remains on the ripe fruit, hardening into a kind of shell. ORDER CLIII.—AMARANTHACEÆ. The flowers of the plants belonging to this order are either in spikes, like Love-lies-bleeding (_Amarantus caudatus_), in heads like the Globe Amaranth (_Gomphrena globosa_), or in a singular crest-like shape, like the Cock’s-comb (_Celosia cristata_). In all, the flowers have no corolla, and only a very thin and dry calyx, which is surrounded by hard, thin, dry bracts, of the same colour, each ending in a long point. There are generally five anthers, and two or three styles, with pointed stigmas; but the capsule contains only one cell and one seed; and when ripe, it divides horizontally in the middle, like the capsule of the Pimpernel. ORDER CLIV.—PHYTOLACEÆ. Herbaceous plants and shrubs, with racemes of red, white, or greenish flowers. Phytolacca is the principal genus; and one species, the Virginian Poke (_Phytolacca decandra_) is remarkable for being found wild in climates so different as Spain and Portugal, the north of Africa, Jamaica, and North America. The flowers are greenish, tinged with red, and they are followed by very dark purple berries, which are said to have been formerly used for colouring port wine, but the juice having medicinal qualities, their use in Portugal is now prohibited. Rivina belongs to this order. ORDER CLV.—CHENOPODEÆ.