Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/422

 392 taken into consideration. They grow out of the sides of the Calyx, often from a sort of ring, as in the Strawberry. This is truly a natural Class, as are several of the following ones; so that in these instances the Linnæan method of arrangement performs more than it promises. The character of this Class is the more important, as such a mode of insertion indicates the pulpy fruits which accompany it to be infallibly wholesome, and this holds good, not only when the stamens are numerous, but in all other cases. Thus Ribes, the Currant and Gooseberry genus, whose 5 stamens grow out of the calyx, stands in the fifth class, a wholesome fruit, among many poisonous berries. No traveller in the most unknown wilderness need scruple to eat any fruit whose stamens are thus situated; while on the other hand he will do well to be cautious of feeding on any other parts of the plant.

13. . Stamens numerous, commonly more so than in the last Class, and inserted into the Receptacle, or base of