[EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Gymnosperms; Apetalmus.]

1. Pinus Canaden'sis, Hemlock or Hemlock spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 50 f., My., N. Am. 2. Pi'nus strobus, White or Weymouth pine, xix. 15, (ap.), 50-100 f., My., N. Am. 3. Pi'nus pi'nea, Stone pine, xix. 15, (ap.), 40 f., My., Italy. 4. Pi'nus or A'bies commu'nis, Common fir or Norway spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 100 f., A., N. Europe. 5. Pinus or A'bies rubra, Red spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 50 f., A., N. Am. 6. La'rix ce'drus, Cedar of Lebanon, xix. 15, (ap.), 60 f., A., W. Asia. 7. Cupre'sus thyoi'des, White cedar or cypress, xix. 15, (ap.), 20 f., A., N. Am. 8. Thuja occidenta'lis, American arbor-vitæ, xix. 15, (ap.), 25 f, A., N. Am. 9. Junip'erus Virginia'na, Red cedar, xx. 15, (ap.), 30 f., My.Jn., N. Am. 10. Tax'us bacca'ta, Common yew, xx. 15, (ap.), 20 f., A., Britain.

id in growth, noble in aspect, robust in constitution; and they form a considerable proportion of woods or plantations in cultivated countries, and of forests where nature remains, in temperate countries, in a savage state. Their timber, in commerce, is known under the names of deal, fir, pine, and cedar; and is principally the wood of the spruce, the larch, the Scotch fir, the white or Weymouth pine of Vermont, and the Virginian cedar. Some of the pines of Northwest America are stupendous trees, attaining a height of two hundred and fifty feet. Those products called naval stores, such as tar, turpentine, pitch, together with numerous resins and balsams, are obtained from the Pine family.

3. The cone-bearing trees are not only of great value in ship-building, but in all structures in which durability is desired. From the wood of the juniper the Greeks carved the images of their gods; the wood of the arar-tree of Barbary is considered by the Turks indestructible, and on this account they use it for the ceilings and floors of their mosques; and

the gates of Constantinople, famous for having stood from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Eugene IV., a period of eleven hundred years, were of cypress. The cedar of Lebanon is, perhaps, the most celebrated tree of the whole family, yet it is now scarce on Mount Lib'ănus, whose forests seem never to have recovered from the havoc made by Solomon's four score thousand hewers. The seeds of the stone pine, which are as sweet as almonds, are eaten throughout Italy. 4. As ornamental lown-trees, the larch, the spruce, the firs, the cypress, are unequaled; and the hemlockspruce and arbor vitæ are great favorites for hedges. Well-grown belts of evergreens, which

"in conic forms arise,

And with a pointed spear divide the skies,"

La'rix pen'dula,
Black Larch, or
American Tam-
arack.

afford a fine protection for gardens in
exposed situations, and are often planted, in the
Northern States, for that purpose. The fact that a
plaintive sound, solemn and sad, is produced by the
passage of the wind through the leaves of the pine, is
notorious to all observers. Virgil alludes to this music
in his eighth Eclogue:

"Begin with me, my pipe, Manalian strains,
Delightful Mænalus, mid echoing groves

And vocal pines."

5. The poet Hood has, with characteristic humor, described a group of pines, with interlacing branches, writhing in the storm like Laocoon2 in the folds of the serpents, and weeping gummy tears.

"The pines-those old gigantic pines,
That writhe-recalling soon

The famous human group that writhes
With snakes in wild festoon-

In rumous3 wrestlings interlaced,

A forest Laocoon'

Like Titans of primeval girth

By tortures overcome,

Their brown enormous limbs they twine,

Bedewed with tears of gum."

6. Of the associations connected with this family, it may be remarked that the cypress especially, on account of the gloomy hue of its leaves, was esteemed by the ancients a suitable ornament of their burial-places, and that it is often alluded to in poetry as the emblem of mourning.

Peace to the dust that in silence reposes

Beneath the dark shades of cypress and yew;
Let spring deck the spot with her earliest roses,

And heaven wash their leaves with its holiest dew.-PIERPONT.

Dark tree! still sad when others' grief is fled,
The only constant mourner of the dead.-BYRON.

1 GYM'-NO-SPERMS are plants that have na-
ked seeds, such as the pines.

2 LA-O-CÖÖN'. It will be seen that the poet'

here departs from the classical pronunciation, which is LA-00-0-ŎN. See p. 70 and 72. RA'-MOUS, branched; full of branches.

LESSON XVIII.-TO A PINE-TREE.

1. FAR up on Katahdin thou towerest,

Purple-blue with the distance, and vast;
Like a cloud o'er the lowlands thou lowerest,
That hangs poised on a lull in the blast,
To its fall leaning awful.

2. Spite of winter thou keeps't thy green glory,
Lusty father of Titans past number!
The snow-flakes alone make thee hoary,
Nestling close to thy branches in slumber,
And thee mantling with silence.

3. Thou alone know'st the splendor of winter,
'Mid thy snow-silver'd, hushed precipices,
Hearing crags of green ice groan and splinter,
And then plunge down the muffled abysses
In the quiet of midnight.

4. Thou alone know'st the glory of summer,
Gazing down on thy broad seas of forest-
On thy subjects, that send a proud murmur
Up to thee, to their sachem, who towerest
From thy bleak throne to heaven.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

THE PINE-APPLE. [ENDOGENOUS: sec next page.]

Bromelia ana'nas, the Pineapple, vi. 1, pu., 4 f., J.-D., S. America. This fruit,' says Loudon, "may, without hesitation, be pronounced the first in the world, though it has not been known in Europe above two centuries, and has only been cultivated about a century as a fruit plant in Britain." First discovered in Brazil, it passed thence to the East Indies, where it has long been successfully cultivated. Many varieties of the pinc-apple have

been produced by cultivation. In the West Indies and South America, one species is used for fencing pasture-lands on account of its prickly leaves.

SECOND DIVISION OF THE VEGETABLE KING-
DOM. ENDOGENS.

[The four most important physiological peculiarities of this great natural division are, 1st. The structure is endogenous (for which see Fourth Reader, p. 187). 2d. The leaves are straight or parallel-veined. 3d. The flowers are ternary; that is, have three sepals, petals, and stamens, or some power of that number. 4th. The embryo has but one cotyTedon; that is, the plants are monocotyledonous. Other peculiarities will be noticed under the different families which compose the division.]

LESSON XIX.-THE IRIS, LILY, AND PALM FAMILIES.

[ENDOGENOUS or MONOCOTYLEDONOUS; Aglumacerus.]1

1. I'ris versi'color, Blue flag, iii. 1, b., 2 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 2. I'ris te'nax, California iris, iii. 1, pu., 18 in., A.-My., California. 3. I'ris sambuci'na, Flower-de-luce, iii. 1, b., 8f., Jn., S. Europe. 4. Tigridia pavo'nia, Tiger flower, xv. 3, o. and r., 2 f., Jl.-S., Mexico. 5. Cro'cus ver'nus, Spring crocus, iii. 1, y., 6 in., M., Eng. 6. Cro'cus sativus, Autumn crocus, ill. 1, y., 10 in., S., Eng. 7. Lilium Japon'icum, Japan lily, vi. 1., w., 2 f, Jl.-Au., China. 8. Lilium Philadelphicum, Red lily, vi. 1, r. and y., 5 f., J.-Aug., N. Am. 9. Lilium Canaden'se, Nodding lily, vi. 1, r. and y., 4 f., Jl.-Au., N. Am. 10. Tu'lipa sylvestris, Wild tulip, vi. 1, y., 18 in., A.-My., Eng. 11. Fritillaria imperialis, Crown imperial, vi. 1, r. and y., 4 f., My., Persia

1. CONSPICUOUS among the ENDOGENOUS plants, which constitute the second great division of the vegetable kingdom, are the Iris, Lily, and Palm families, the palm being taken as typical of the endogenous structure. Endogens probably contain more plants contributing to the food of man, and fewer poisonous species in proportion to their whole number,

than Exogens; as the grasses, which include all the cereals, are found here, to which may be added the numerous palms yielding fruit, wine, sugar, sago, the pine-apple, bananas, the arrow-roots, and the gingers.

2. The large and showy tiger flower, the blue flag, flowerde-luce, gladiolus, and the crocus, are good examples of the richly-tinted Iris family. The name itself implies that the flowers are rainbow-colored. Among the Greeks, Iris was the winged messenger of the gods, and is thus alluded to by Virgil:

"Iris, on saffron wings array'd with dew

Of various colors, through the sunbeams flew."

According to Plutarch, the word iris signified, in the ancient Egyptian language, "the eye of heaven," and was appropriated to this flower because no other name was so expressive of its serene lustre. A modern poet has attributed the naming of the beauty to her sister flowerets.

3

All with their pearls so fair,
The gay flowers wreathed were,
But, 'midst them all,
Crown'd at the rainbow festival,
A sapphire-colored blossom shone
The loveliest there; no other one
Her jewels wore

So gracefully. Her robe all o'er

Was radiant, yet deep blue, like twilight sky,

And softly shaded, as when clouds do lie

Upon the deep expanse. 'Twas strange, none knew

A name for this fair form, so bright and blue:

But sister flowerets fancifully said,

As they to note her beauty had been led

By its enhancement in the rainbow shower,

They e'en would call her IRIS from that hour.-TwAMLEY.

4. "The beautiful creations," says Lindley, "which constitute the order of Lilies, would seem to be well known to all the world, for what have been so long admired and universally cultivated as they?" The lily is often alluded to as being, among flowers, the emblem of majesty. In heathen mythology it was a great favorite with Juno, and was consecrated to her by heathen nations. The Jews imitated its form in their first magnificent temple, and the Savior described it as more splendid than King Solomon in his most gorgeous apparel.

5.

Observe the rising lily's snowy grace';

Observe the various vegetable race';

They neither toil nor spin, but careless grow;

Yet, see how warm they blush! how bright they glow!
What regal vestments can with them compare'?

What king so shining', or what queen so fair?-TпOMSON.

6. Among the flowers of the Lily family, the crown imperial, or fritillaria, is noted for its drooping but brilliant tulip