Sweet blooms GENISTA in the myrtle shade,
        And ten fond brothers woo the haughty maid.
        Two knights before thy fragrant altar bend,
60 Adored MELISSA! and two squires attend. 
        MEADIA’S soft chains five suppliant beaux confess,
        And hand in hand the laughing belle address;
        Alike to all, she bows with wanton air,
        Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair.

[Melissa. l. 60.  Balm.  In each flower there are four males and one female; two of the males stand higher than the other two; whence the name of the class “two powers.”  I have observed in the Ballota, and others of this class, that the two lower stamens, or males become mature before the two higher.  After they have shed their dust, they turn themselves away outwards; and the pistil, or female, continuing to grow a little taller, is applied to the upper stamens.  See Gloriosa, and Genista.

All the plants of this class, which have naked seeds, are aromatic.  The Marum, and Nepeta are particularly delightful to cats; no other brute animals seem pleased with any odours but those of their food or prey.]

[Meadia. l. 61.  Dodecatheon, American Cowslip.  Five males and one female.  The males, or anthers, touch each other.  The uncommon beauty of this flower occasioned Linneus to give it a name signifying the twelve heathen gods; and Dr. Mead to affix his own name to it.  The pistil is much longer than the stamens, hence the flower-stalks have their elegant bend, that the stigma may hang downwards to receive the fecundating dust of the anthers.  And the petals are so beautifully turned back to prevent the rain or dew drops from sliding down and washing off this dust prematurely; and at the same time exposing it to the light and air.  As soon as the seeds are formed, it erects all the flower-stalks to prevent them from falling out; and thus loses the beauty of its figure.  Is this a mechanical effect, or does it indicate a vegetable storge to preserve its offspring?  See note on Ilex, and Gloriosa.

In the Meadia, the Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, and many others, the filaments are very short compared with the slyle.  Hence it became necessary, 1st. to furnish the stamens with long anthers. 2d.  To lengthen and bend the peduncle or flower-slalk, that the flower might hang downwards. 3d.  To reflect the petals. 4th.  To erect these peduncles when the germ was fecundated.  We may reason upon this by observing, that all this apparatus might have been spared, if the filaments alone had grown longer; and that thence in these flowers that the filaments are the most unchangeable parts; and that thence their comparative length, in respect to the style, would afford a most permanent mark of their generic character.]

[Illustration:  Meadia]

65 Woo’d with long care, CURCUMA cold and shy
        Meets her fond husband with averted eye: 
        Four beardless youths the obdurate beauty move
        With soft attentions of Platonic love.