Poisonous plants in field and garden / by the Rev. Professor G. Henslow.

  • George Henslow
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Poisonous plants in field and garden / by the Rev. Professor G. Henslow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/196 (page 27)
    Their peculiarity is that they have only stamens and ovules. There is no calyx or corolla, and no pistil; so that the ovules are naked. Hence the group is called Gymnosperms. All the preceding constitute the class Dicotyledons. There remain three more groups of Families. First.—All plants with a perianth instead of a calyx and corolla. This word is used because the parts of these two whorls are more or less alike and “ petaloid,” i. e. of the nature and appearance of petals. These form two groups, viz.—Those with an inferior ovary, and, therefore, a superior perianth, as the Daffodil; those with a superior ovary, and, therefore, an inferior perianth, as the Colchicum. Lastly come those families which have their stamens and pistil protected by chaff-scales called “ glumes.” Such are the Sedges and Grasses. The only one alluded to in this book is a grass occurring in cornfields, called the Darnel. All the preceding are included under the class Monocotyledons. The two classes derive their names from the fact that the embryo in the seed of dicotyledons has two seed-leaves or cotyledons, and that of monocotyledons has only one. Everybody is familiar with almonds, beans, peas, and acorns, which readily separate into two halves, but are united to a little bud at one side