h I i WORCESTER: PUBLISHED BY J. GROUT, Jr. I A BCD E F G\ | II I J K L M i\[ jo p a R $ T Uj V W X Y Z I oC j f h J! \ k 1 ' m n o p q r s \ \ \ t u v w x y z i _ & |1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Of Botany, or the study of plants, is a very interesting study, particularly for young per- sons. We therefore present to our young friends in the following pages a number of elegant and correct engravings of plants, most of which are not common in this coun- try, though the names are familiar to all. We also give short descriptions of each, which, although they contain some hard words, with some study will be understood, FRANKINCENSE. ABOUT PLANTS. 7 the best, is round, white, fat, and very inflamma- ble ; the latter is soft, more gummy, and less a- greeable in smell than the other. Frankincense formed one of the ingredients in the sacred per- fume, described Ex. 30 : 34; and was imported into Judea from Sheba. It formed one part of the priest's duty, under the Mosaic economy, to burn incense in the ho- ly apartment of the temple, on the morning and evening of each day ; and on the great day of atonement, at the moment of entering into the holy of holies, the high priest was required to throw some incense on the fire in his censer, that the cloud occasioned by its burning might cover the mercy seat, lest perhaps, his curiosity being excited, he might be induced to inspect with too profane a curiosity that symbol of the Divine Presence. CAMPHOR. This tree or plant is a species of the La- mee, and is found in the East Indies ; but 1* I ABOUT PLANTS. the leaves do not exhibit the three strong parallel nerves of the Cinnamon and the Cassia. The whole tree has the strong odor of Camphor, and this substance is ob* tained by the distillation of the roots and vsmall branches. The article is often em- ployed as medicine, as a cordial and a stimu- lant. The camphor of the Sumatra is found concreted in the clefts of the bark of the camphor trees. It is also found in China and Japan, but the former is more highly valued. The camphor of China and Japan ABOUT PLANTS. 9 is more frequently imported into this country than .hat of Sumatra. CINNAMON. Cinnamon is brought chiefly from the Is- land of Ceylon, in India, and has now been many years in use, in Europe and America, as a pleasant spice. It is the bark of the spe- cies of laurel, remarkable, with some other 10 ABOUT PLANTS. species, possessing similar properties for its coriaceous leaf, marked with three strong nerves. It was originally found wild only, and in small quantities, at one part of the island ; but when the Dutch obtained a set- tlement there, they cultivated it in large gar- dens or tracts. The extent of these planta- tions will be perceived, when it is stated that 400,000 lbs. were obtained from them an- nually, and upwards of 5,000 persons were employed in the cinnamon business. The Dutch long had the monopoly of the article, and resorted to severe and even cruel meas- ures to prevent the trade getting into other hands. The cinnamon tree often grows to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and sends •out large spreading branches. The leaves are first pendent and of a delicate rose col- or, afterwards they turn yellow and then green. The flowers are borne in panicles, ABOUT PLANTS. 11 are small and white, partaking of the pecu- liar flavor of the tree. The fruit yields an oil, of which a kind of candles is made which are used by the Court in the kingdom of Candy. When the tree is three years old, it af- fords a shoot fit to yield bark ; but eight years of growth are needful before it can be freely cut. At ten or twelve years of age the tree is strongest, and the plants which grow in dry and rocky spots produce the most pungent and aromatic bark. The shoots are cut when about an inch thick : they are barked, and the epidermis scraped off. The bark is dried in the sun, when it curls, and the smaller is rolled within the larger. Cassia in its botanical character, is little different from cinnamon. In quality, it is m^ch inferior, though often sold for it. It is commonly known under the name of Bastard Cinnamon, 12 ABOUT PLANTS. THE CANE. The sweet-scented cane, grows in Egypt, in 4udea, and in several parts of Syria, but the best kind is found in Arabia and India. It was prob- ably among the number of those plants that the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon. So powerful is its fragrance, that the air is said to be filled with a strong aromatic smell, even ABOUT PLANTS. 13 while it is growing ; and when dried and re- duced to powder, it forms an ingredient in the richest perfumes. FLAX The use of flax is so ancient, that there is no account of its introduction. It has been cultivated from remote antiquity, throughout 14 ABOUT PLANTS. a great part of Europe, Asia, and the North, of Africa, for various purposes. Its native country is not certainly known ; but it is found wild in Persia. The mummies of Egypt are enveloped with linen ; and great quantities are made still on the banks of the Nile. The ancient Scandinavians and oth- er barbarous people were clothed with it. The use of linen passed from Egypt into Greece, and thence into Italy. The root of this plant is annual ; the stem is slender, and about twenty or twenty-four inches in height. The leaves are alternate, entire and linear ; the flowers are blue, and consist of five petals, succeeded by capsules of ten cells, with seed. The seeds are mucilagious and emollient ; and an infusion of them is often used as drink in inflamatory diseases. They also yield an oil, knowji in commerce as lin- seed oil. Lime water and linseed oil form a good application for burns. A light soil is ABOUT PLANTS. 15 most suitable for it, but it is raised on clay- ey gounch This tree is supposed to be a native of Asia, but is now cultivated in the south of Europe. Within a few years, it has been cultivated in the southern states, and in the northern is common as a green-house or room shrub. Of this genus is the famous Banian-tree, K indica, with a summit three FIG TREE. L6 ABOUT PLANTS. or four hundred feet in diameter. The can- opy is supported by natural pillars which the horizontal branches send out at inter- vals, which growing downwards, reach the ground, in which they take root, presenting the remarkable appearance of a single tree with several trunks, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty. THE PLANTAIN Is fifteen or twenty feet high, with a soft, herbaceous stem, and leaves often more than six feet long and nearly two feet broad. The spike of flowers, which rises from the centre of the leaves, is near four feet long. The fruit which succeeds is eight or nine inches long and above an inch in diameter, a little incurved, with three angles; the pulp of a sweet and luscious flavor. The spikes of fruit are often so large as to weigh L8 ABOUT PLANTS. forty pounds. Gerard says that e; the Gre- cians and Christians which inhabit Syria, and the Iewes also, suppose it to be that tree of whose fruit Adam did taste ; which others think it to be a ridiculous fable." Others have supposed it to be the grapes brought out of the promised land by the spies of Moses. It is not considered a na- tive of America, but is cultivated in every climate where it will thrive. 1 HE MANDRAKE. There are two sorts of Mandrakes : — the female, which is black, having leaves not un- like lettuce, though smaller and narrower, which spread on the ground, and have a dis- agreeable smell. It bears berries something like services, pale, of a strong smell, having kernels within, like those of pears. It has two or three very large roots, twisted togeth- ABOUT PLANTS. er, white within, black without, and covered with a thick rind. The other kind, or male mandrake, is called morion, or folly, because it suspends the use of the senses. It pro- duces berries twice the size of tho:e of the female, of a good "scent, and of a color ap- proaching towards saffron. Its leaves are white, large, broad and smooth, like the leaves of the beech tree. Its root resembles that of the female, but is thicker and bigger. This plant stupifies those who use it ; some- times depriving them of understanding ; and often causes such vertigoes and lethargies, that, if those who have taken it have not present assistance, they die in convulsions. THE LIGN ALOE. The aloe tree is a native of India, and grows to the height of about eight of ten feet; having at its head large bunches of ABOUT PLANTS. leaves, thick and indented, broad at the bot- tom, but narrowing towards the point, and 22 ABOUT PLANTS. about four feet in length. The blossom is red, intermixed with yellow, and double, similar to a pink : from this blossom proceeds the fruit, round, like a large pea, white and red. But there is another description of tree, called the Syrian Aloe, which is a little shrub covered with prickles ; of the wood of which, perfumers (having taken off the bark) make use to give firmness and consistency to their perfumes, which otherwise would be too thin and liquid. Cassiodorus observes, that this is of a very sweet smell, and that in his time they burned it before the altars, in- stead of frankincense. THE PALM TREE Is an upright, tall, fruit-bearing, flourishing, and shadowy tree. It grows by the sweet springs of water, ' and continues long. It will not be pressed or bound downward, nor ABOUT PLANTS. 2& grow crooked, though heavy weights be laid on it. This tree is one of the most famous of all the forest, and is the usual emblem of constancy, fruitfulness, patience and victo- ry ; which the more it is oppressed, the more it flourishes ; the higher it grows, the strong- er and broader it is in the top. One kind is the date tree. Our engraving represents the fruit of the date palm ? growing, and 24 ABOUT PLANTS. nearly ripe. The finest and best palm trees were about Jericho, En-gedi, and along the banks of Jordan. Palm trees from the same root produce a great number of suckers, which form upwards a kind of forest by their spreading. It was under a little wood of palm trees of this kind, that the prophetess Deborah dwelt, between Ramah and BetheL See Jud. 4 : 5.