A handy book to the vegetable kingdom |
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acrid acrogens Agaricus campestris America animal kingdom Arum bamboo Baobab bark beautiful belong branches Butterwort called calyx capsules carbonic acid cells cellular tissue centre chiefly common Conium maculatum corolla corymbs cotyledon cultivated Deadly Nightshade deposited earth earthy matter eaten endogenæ exogenous EXOGENOUS WOOD feet Ferns fibres flowers forest fruit fungi furnishes gigantic grass green colour ground growing in ditches growth Hemlock Henbane Humboldt inflores inflorescence juice kind layer leaf leaves lichens light maculatum Meadow Saffron medicine mezerium microscope Monk's-hood mosses mould narcotic natives nourishment officinalis order contains ornamental oxygen palms peculiar petals pine placed plant growing Plantain poisonous Poppy potato produce quantity radicle rays Red Valerian resemble respiration rhizome root Rubia tinctorum sea-weed seeds shrubs species spike spongioles stalk stamens stem substance surface timber trees tribe tubers umbels vege vegetable kingdom vessels vulgaris Water-cress White White Poppy woody
Popular passages
Page 153 - Another and most ingenious roof is also formed by cutting large straight bamboos of sufficient length to reach from the ridge to the eaves, then splitting them exactly in two, knocking out the partitions, and arranging them in close order with the hollow or inner sides uppermost...
Page 163 - IEEE. which twenty or thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut. Nor does cutting down exterminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which it continued to grow in length, after it was lying on the ground.
Page 194 - Harriott described the Openawk as having the roots round, and ' hanging together as if fixed on ropes, and good for food either boiled or roasted.' Girarde in his Herbal a few years subsequently, distinguished the plant by a plate, and not only confirmed the assertion that it was an indigenous production of Virginia, whence he himself had obtained it, but...
Page 141 - Microscope," says :—" The life-history of one of these uni-cellular plants in its most simple form, can scarcely be better exemplified than in the Palmoglcea macrococca, one of those humble forms of vegetation which spreads itself as a green slime over damp stones, walls, &c. When this slime is examined with the microscope, it is found to consist of a multitude of green cells, each surrounded by a gelatinous envelope ; the cell, which does not...
Page 117 - The universality of the appearance of these simple forms of fungi upon all spots favourable to their development, has given rise to the belief that they are spontaneously produced by decaying substances ; but there is no occasion for this mode of accounting for it, since the extraordinary means adopted by nature for the production and diffusion of the germs of these plants adequately suffices to explain the facts of the case. " The number of sporules which any one fungus may develop is almost incalculable...
Page 152 - ... requisite, and for which lightness is no objection, to which the stems are not adapted in the countries where they grow. The young shoots of some species are cut when tender, and eaten like asparagus. The full-grown stems, while green, form elegant cases, exhaling a perpetual moisture, and capable of transporting fresh flowers for hundreds of miles. When ripe and hard they are converted into bows, arrows, and quivers, lance-shafts, the masts of vessels, bed-posts, walking-sticks, the poles of...
Page 119 - The forests became more dense as we went north. We travelled much more in the deep gloom of the forest than in open sunlight. No passage existed on either side of the narrow path made by the axe. Large climbing plants entwined themselves round the trunks and branches of gigantic trees, like boaconstrictors, and they often do constrict the trees by which they rise, and, killing them, stand erect themselves.
Page 152 - The purpose to which different species of bamboo are applied are so numerous that it would be difficult to point out an object, in which strength and elasticity are requisite, and for which lightness is no objection, to which the stems are not adapted in the countries where they grow.
Page 152 - Malays make wonderfully light scaling-ladders, which can be conveyed with facility where heavier machines could not be transported. Bruised and crushed in water, the leaves and stems form Chinese paper, the finer qualities of which are only improved by a mixture of raw cotton and by more careful pounding. The leaves of a small species are the material used by the Chinese for the lining of their tea-chests. Cut into lengths and the partitions knocked out, they form durable water-pipes, or by a little...
Page 163 - Nor does cutting down exterminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which it continued to grow in length after it was lying on the ground. Those trees called exogenous grow by means of successive layers on the outside. The inside may be dead, or even removed altogether, without affecting the life of the tree. This is the case with most of the trees of our climate. The other class is called endogenous, and increases by layers applied to the inside ; and when the hollow there is full, the growth...