Chapter II: ACROGYNÆ. The apex of the stem or of certain branches is adapted (7)

Order 3. =Chenopodiaceæ.= Generally herbaceous plants like the Caryophyllaceæ, but the leaves are arranged spirally (except _Salicornia_), and are simple, exstipulate; they are generally fleshy and like the stem “mealy,” that is, covered with small hairs, whose large spherical terminal cell readily falls away; otherwise they are seldom hairy. The inflorescences are generally flower-clusters borne in panicles. Bracteoles generally absent. Flowers generally _unisexual_: with the single exception of _Beta_ the flowers are hypogynous; they are regular, small and inconspicuous, with _single, green_, 5-leaved, but _more or less united_ perianth; 5 stamens opposite the perianth, and a _2–5-carpellate, unilocular_ ovary with 1 basal, curved ovule; but in some genera the number of the perianth-leaves and stamens is reduced to 3–2–1–0. The fruit is generally a _nut_,--thus this flower and fruit are the same as in the reduced Caryophyllaceæ (Fig. 361 _F_). The seed is similar to that generally found in the family (for exceptions see the genera).

The floral diagram most frequently present is the same as
in Fig. 361 _F_. There is no indication of corolla or of
corolla-stamens, which may be supposed to have belonged
to the plant, but which are now entirely and completely
suppressed. This order appears to have been an offshoot from
the Caryophyllaceæ.--The perianth persists after the withering
of the flower, and envelopes the nut; it is very variable, and,
together with the position of the seed, the form of the embryo,
the sex of the flowers, etc., gives the characters of the genera.

=1.= CHENOPODIEÆ, GOOSEFOOT GROUP (Fig. 365), has ☿ (or polygamous) flowers, with regular 5-parted perianth (_C_); the embryo is ring-like (_H_). The leaves have the ordinary flat forms.--_Chenopodium_ (Goosefoot). The flower is hypogynous, and the fruit (which is compressed) perfectly free; Mulberry-like collections of fruits are formed in some species (sub-genus _Blitum_) by the perianth becoming finally fleshy and coloured.--_Beta_ (Beet, Mangold, Fig. 365) differs from all genera in the perianth, which finally becomes cartilaginous, being epigynous (_D_). Small, most frequently 2–3-flowered clusters without bracteoles, situated in a long, interrupted axis (_A_, _B_); the flowers and fruits in each cluster are more or less united individually, and fall off together--they are commonly known as seeds (_E_, _F_). The seed lies horizontally.--_Hablitzia_ (_H. tamnoides_).

=2.= SALSOLEÆ, SALTWORT GROUP, has cylindrical or semi-cylindrical leaves. Perianth as in the preceding group; the fruit is most frequently compressed. The two first mentioned genera differ from most of the others in the order in having a spirally-coiled, and not a ring-like embryo, so that the endosperm is slight or wanting (Fig. 366). These plants are sometimes placed as a group by themselves, SPIROLOBEÆ--in contradistinction to which the others are termed CYCLOLOBEÆ.--_Salsola_ (Saltwort); leaves subulate, with spiny tips; the flowers have 2 spinous bracteoles: during the ripening of the fruit a tough leathery wing is developed transversely to the back of the perianth.--~_Chenopodina_ deviates from _Chenopodium_ chiefly in the embryo and want of endosperm.--_Kochia_ has a somewhat similar perianth to _Salsola_, but a ring-like embryo; it differs from the others in being hairy.~

=3.= SALICORNIEÆ, GLASSWORT GROUP. _Salicornia_ (Glasswort) has a very different appearance. The stems are succulent, jointed, and almost leafless; the leaves opposite, very small, sheath-like and connate; there is a depression in the axil of each leaf, in which a small 3-flowered dichasium without bracteoles is sunk; the flowers have a trimerous perianth, 1–2 stamens and 1 carpel. No endosperm. _S. herbacea_ on clayey beaches.

=4.= ATRIPLICEÆ. This group has most frequently unisexual flowers; the ♂-flower has a 4–5 partite perianth, but the ♀-flower differs from it. _Atriplex_ is monœcious or polygamous, the ♀-flower is naked, but has 2 large, herbaceous bracteoles which expand during the ripening of the fruit, and often become warted and fringed, enveloping the _compressed nut_. ~The section _Dichospermum_ has two kinds of ♀-flowers, one like those just described, the other similar to the _Chenopodium_-flowers, which have been deprived of their stamens, and the fruits of which are _depressed_, not pressed together from the sides; some (_e.g. A. hortensis_) have even three kinds of nuts. All the flowers of _Atriplex_, which present vertical fruits, are accessory shoots, which stand beneath the ordinary flower-clusters, a rather singular relation.~--_Spinacia_ (Spinach) is diœcious; ♂-flower: perianth, 4 (-5); stamens, 4 (-5); ♀-flower: tubular, 2–4-partite perianth, hardening during the ripening of the fruit, and uniting with the compressed nut; in _S. oleracea_, it also forms _thorns_; 4 long stigmas.--_Halimus_ has the 2 long bracteoles almost entirely united and ultimately adhering firmly to the fruit.

=5.= BASELLEÆ. A somewhat exceptional group with more
or less perigynous flowers and 2 bracteoles. _Basella_,
_Boussingaultia_, _Ullucus_. The perianth is sepaloid; ovary
1-ovuled. In _Basella_ the perianth is fleshy, enveloping the
nut, and the cotyledons are so rolled together that a tranverse
cut divides them in two places (as in Spirolobeæ). Herbaceous
climbing plants.

POLLINATION. Wind-and self-pollination, as far as is known;
the insignificant flowers, devoid of honey, appear to exclude
insect-pollination.--520 species. Most of them are annual
(out of 26 native species only 5 are perennial); inhabiting
salt-marshes and salt-steppes, and growing as weeds (most
frequently on garden or field soil containing manure) in this
country, especially species of _Chenopodium_ and _Atriplex_.
The majority are found outside the Tropics, and play a very
important part, for example, in the Asiatic salt-steppes. They
grow gregariously in large masses.

USES. Comparatively few. The only important one is _Beta
vulgaris_ (from the Mediterranean basin), with its different
varieties, viz. Beet-root, Cattle-beet or Red-beet, Sugar-beet,
and others. These are biennial, making in the first year a root
which acts as a reservoir of reserve material, with a rosette
of leaves, and in the second year using this material in the
production of a long stem, leaves and flowers. The primary
root has been developed by cultivation into a very thick and
fleshy tap-root; its mode of increase in thickness deviates
from that of other roots, concentric rings of vascular bundles
being formed from a cambial ring developed outside the previous
ring. In this way several rings of vascular bundles separated
by medullary rays, alternating with rings of parenchyma, may
be found in the root of a Beet. Besides _Beta vulgaris_, var.
_hortensis_ (Beet-root), the following are also cultivated: var.
_cicla_ (Leaf-beet, “Mangold,” or “Roman Spinach ”), _Spinacia
oleracea_ and _Atriplex hortensis_ as Spinach; a form of the
latter and of Spinach are grown as ornamental plants. The tubers
of _Ullucus tuberosus_ are used as potatoes; _Chenopodium
quinoa_, in Chili and Peru, is an important farinaceous plant.
Soda is made from some (_Salsola kali_, _Chenopodina maritima_
and others). Aromatic properties are rare: _Chenopodium
ambrosioides_ and _botrys_.

Order 4. =Batidaceæ.= _Batis maritima_, a bushy West Indian
maritime plant.

Order 5. =Phytolaccaceæ.= The ☿ (sometimes unisexual), regular,
sometimes slightly perigynous flowers are inconspicuous
and have a single sepaloid or coloured 4–5-leaved perianth
(generally united at the base); stamens either in 1 whorl in the
spaces between the perianth-leaves or in 1 whorl opposite the
perianth-leaves, or in 2, one of which alternates with these;
but the number may be increased by the splitting of one or of
both the whorls to as many as 10–15–20–25. _Carpels_ sometimes
only one, sometimes _many_ (4–10) placed in a whorl, either free
or united into a gynœceum with a corresponding number of loculi
in the ovary; but in all cases _each carpel bears only its own
style and 1 ovule_. The fruit is a _berry_ (or nut, capsule, or
schizocarp).--Mostly herbs or herbaceous shrubs, with scattered,
simple leaves without stipules (_Petiverieæ_; have stipules).
Inflorescences, most frequently _racemes_ or spikes, which in
some instances are apparently placed opposite to a leaf, being
displaced by a more vigorous growth of the axillary bud. Embryo
always bent.--_Petiveria_ has a straight embryo with rolled
cotyledons.--_Phytolacca_, _Pircunia_, _Microtea_, _Seguieria_,
_Rivina_ (Pr4, A4, G1; berry), and others.

The following plant is, with some doubt, placed near this
order: _Thelygonum cynocrambe_; monœcious. ♂-flowers: perianth,
2-leaved; stamens indefinite. ♀-flowers: perianth-leaves united,
3-toothed; G1, style gynobasic. Fruit a drupe. An annual plant;
Mediterranean. Branching anomalous.

About 90 species; in tropical and temperate countries,
principally America and Africa.--The red juice in the fruits,
especially of _Phytol. decandra_, is used for colouring wine.

Order 6. =Portulacaceæ= (=Portulacas=). The flowers are regular (except _Montia_), hypogynous (except _Portulaca_) and ☿. The diagram which applies to the majority of genera is that in Fig. 367, but with all the 5 stamens completely developed: it may be considered as the Chenopodiaceous diagram with the addition of 2 _bracteoles_ in the median line (_m-n_, these by some are considered as sepals), and with a petaloid perianth (usually designated “corolla”). The “petals” fall off very quickly, and are sometimes wanting. Most frequently 5 stamens, situated opposite the “petals,” but in other genera the number varies; _Montia_ has only 3 stamens (by suppression of the two anterior and lateral, Fig. 367), others again have more than 5, some a large and indefinite number. This may be explained partly by the appearance of a second whorl of stamens alternating with the first, and partly by the splitting (dédoublement) of the stamens. Gynœceum most frequently tricarpellate, ovary unilocular with 1–several basal ovules (sometimes on a branched placenta, as in certain _Caryophyllaceæ_). The fruit is a _capsule_, more rarely a nut.--The majority are annual herbaceous plants with scattered, entire leaves, often fleshy and smooth, with or without rudimentary stipules (dry, membranous, modified into hairs). Inflorescence cymose.

Diagram of flower.]

_Portulaca_ (Portulaca): flower, epigynous or semi-epigynous; fruit, a pyxidium. The stamens vary in number, and are most frequently placed in groups (in consequence of splitting) opposite the petals.--_Montia_: the corolla is slightly gamopetalous, but cleft on the posterior side (Fig. 367), and as a consequence of the larger size of the lateral petals, slightly zygomorphic; 3 stamens.--_Calandrinia_; _Talinum_; _Anacampseros_; _Claytonia_.

125 species; mostly in warm and temperate countries, especially
the arid parts of S. Am. and the Cape. _Montia fontana_ (Blinks)
is a native plant. _Portulaca oleracea_ is cultivated as a
pot-herb in the south of Europe. A few species of _Portulaca_
and _Calandrinia_ are ornamental plants.

Order 7. =Nyctaginiaceæ.= The characteristic feature of this order is the _single_, regular, _united_, and often petaloid perianth, the lower part of which generally persists after flowering and embraces the fruit as a false pericarp. The upper portion is most frequently _valvate and folded_, or simply valvate in æstivation. The number of stamens varies. The free gynœceum is _unicarpellate_ and has 1 ovule. The fruit is a _nut_, but becomes a _false drupe_, since the lower persistent portion of the perianth becomes fleshy (as in _Neea_, where this fleshy part is almost always crowned by the upper persistent part of the perianth. In the majority of the Mirabileæ the lower part becomes the dry _anthocarp_, while the upper petaloid part falls away after flowering). Finally, a peculiar involucre is formed around the flowers by free or united floral-leaves.--The majority are herbs, some are trees (_Pisonia_, etc.); _Bougainvillea_ is a liane. The stems are often nodose and swollen at the nodes; the leaves are simple, penninerved, scattered, or opposite, without stipules. ~In some, the vascular bundles are scattered; stem anomalous.~

_Mirabilis_; the structure of the stem is abnormal. Dichasial branching with continuation from the second bracteole, thus forming unipared scorpioid cymes. The perianth is petaloid, funnel-shaped, and has a folded and twisted æstivation resembling that of the corolla of the _Convolvulaceæ_; the upper coloured portion falls off after the flowering. Outside, and alternating with it, is a 5-partite, sepaloid involucre of 5 spirally-placed floral-leaves.--_Oxybaphus_; the involucre envelops 1–3 dichasial flowers.--_Bougainvillea_; the involucre is rose-coloured, 3-leaved, and envelops 3 flowers (placed laterally; the terminal flower wanting). The leaves of the involucre in _Boerhaavia_, _Pisonia_, _Neea_, and others are reduced to teeth or scales.

157 species; mostly in tropical countries, and especially S. Am.
Species of _Mirabilis_ (Am.) are ornamental plants. Theïn is
found in _Neea theïfera_ Oersted (discovered by Lund in Lagoa
Santa, Brazil), which may be used as a tea-plant.

Order 8. =Aizoaceæ.= Only 3 _whorls_ are found in the flower,
which _alternate_ with one another when their leaves are equal
in number. The first is sepaloid, the third one the carpels,
and the intervening one is either uncleft, in which case it is
developed as stamens, or it is divided into a large number of
members which then all become stamens (arranged in groups), or
the outermost ones become developed as petals. The fruit is most
frequently a capsule with several loculi. Most of the species
are herbs with thick, fleshy stems, and exstipulate leaves. The
structure of the stem is usually anomalous.

=1.= AIZOIDEÆ have hypogynous or perigynous flowers with (4–)
5 perianth-leaves; stamens single, or (by splitting) in groups
of 2–3, alternating with the perianth-leaves. The gynœceum
(with 3–5 carpels) has 3–5 loculi in the ovary, and most
frequently numerous ovules in each loculus, borne on the central
placenta formed by the edges of the carpels. The fruit is a
capsule. The inflorescences are dichasia and unipared scorpioid
cymes.--_Aizoon_, _Mollugo_, _Sesuvium_, and others are herbs or
bushes, most frequently hairy.

=2.= MESEMBRIANTHEMEÆ have semi- or wholly-epigynous
flowers.--_Tetragonia._ The perianth is 4 (more rarely
3–5–6)-merous. Stamens single, or (by splitting) in groups
alternating with the perianth-leaves. There is an indefinite
number of carpels, and each loculus of the ovary contains
_only_ 1 pendulous ovule. Fruit a nut or drupe. The flowers
arise singly in the leaf-axils, with an accessory foliage-bud
below them; in some instances there is also an accessory
flower between this bud and the flower. Southern hemisphere,
especially at the Cape; _T. expansa_, New Zealand Spinach, is a
fleshy plant which is cultivated as a pot-herb (Japan, Austr.,
S. Am.).--_Mesembrianthemum_: the flowers are 5-merous; the
numerous linear petals and the still more numerous stamens all
arise by the splitting of 5 or 4 protuberances (primordia)
alternating with the sepals. The ovary presents another
characteristic peculiarity: the carpels alternating with the
5–4 stamens form an ovary (with several loculi) with the ovules
at first borne, as in other cases, on the _inner_ corner of the
inwardly-turned carpels; but during the subsequent development
the whole ovary is so turned round that the placentæ become
parietal and the ovules assume, apparently, a position very
rarely met with in the vegetable kingdom: on the dorsal suture
of the carpels. Shrubs or under-shrubs, more rarely herbs
with fleshy stems and simple, entire, more frequently thick
or triangular leaves, containing a quantity of water. The
flowers open about noon, and are brightly coloured, generally
red or red-violet, but odourless. The capsules dehisce in
rainy weather. 300 species, mostly found at the Cape. Some are
ornamental plants. _M. crystallinum_ (the Ice-plant) and others
are covered with peculiar, bladder-like, sparkling hairs, the
cell-sap of which contains salt--these serve as reservoirs of
water.

Family 8. =Cactifloræ.=

The position of this family is very doubtful; but it seems in many respects to approach _Mesembrianthemum_. Some botanists place it near to the Ribesiaceæ; others, again, to the Passifloraceæ. Only 1 order.

Order =Cactaceæ= (=The Cacti=). The flower is epigynous, ☿, regular, and remarkable for its _acyclic_ structure; there are, for instance, a large number of spirally-placed sepals and petals, which gradually pass over into one another, and which in some species, to a certain extent, arise from the walls of the ovary as in _Nymphæa_ (Fig. 383 _A_, _B_). The petals are free; rotate, opening widely in _Opuntia_, _Pereskia_, and _Rhipsalis_; erect and united at their base into a shorter or longer tube in _Cereus_, _Epiphyllum_, _Mammillaria_, _Echinocactus_, _Melocactus_, and others (Fig. 369). _Stamens numerous_, attached to the base of the corolla; gynœceum formed of _many carpels_, with one style, dividing into a number of branches corresponding to the number of carpels; the ovary has _one loculus_ with _many parietal_ placentæ; the ovules are anatropous, on long and curved funicles. Fruit a berry with exendospermous seeds. The fruit-pulp is mainly derived from the funicles.--The external appearance of the Cactaceæ is very peculiar; _Pereskia_, which has thick and fleshy leaves (Fig. 368), deviates the least; foliage-leaves of the usual form are wanting in the other genera, or are usually very small, and quickly fall off and disappear (_Opuntia_), or are modified into thorns; the stem, without normal foliage-leaves,--so characteristic a feature in this order,--makes its appearance after the two normally developed cotyledons. The stems are fleshy, perennial, and may finally become woody. In some they are elongated, globose, pointed, and more or less dichotomously branched, _e.g._ in several of the _Rhipsalis_ species, which live mostly as epiphytes on trees; in others, elongated, branched, globose, or, most frequently, more or less angular (prismatic) or grooved and provided with wings, and either columnar and erect (as much as about 20 metres in height and 1 metre in circumference, as in _C. giganteus_ in New Mexico) or climbing by roots (_Cereus_ and _Rhipsalis_-species); in others again, compressed, more or less leaf-like, often with a ridge in the centre (winged), branched and jointed: _Epiphyllum_, _Phyllocactus_, _Opuntia_, some species of _Rhipsalis_; others are thick, short, spherical or ovoid, unbranched or only slightly branched, and either studded with prominent warts (_mammillæ_) each of which supports a tuft of thorns (Fig. 368 _A_; _Mammillaria_ and others) or with vertical ridges, separated by furrows (rows of mammillæ which have coalesced) in _Melocactus_, _Echinocactus_, _Echinopsis_ (Fig. 369); at the same time the ovary in some is embedded in the stem so that leaves or leaf-scars, with tufts of thorns in their axils, may be observed on the ovary just as on the stem.--The flattened shoots of the Cactaceæ are formed in various ways, either by the compression of cylindrical axes (_Opuntia_) or, as in _Melocactus_, etc., from winged stems in which all the wings are suppressed except two.

The thorns are produced directly from the growing points of
the axillary buds, and are modified leaves. The axillary bud
is united at its base with its subtending leaf, which as a
rule is extremely rudimentary; and these together form a kind
of leaf-cushion, larger in some genera than in others. This
leaf-cushion attains its highest development in _Mammillaria_,
in which it is a large, conical wart (see Fig. 368 _A_), bearing
on its apex the tuft of thorns and rudimentary lamina.--The
_seedlings_ have normal cotyledons and a fleshy hypocotyl.

All the species (1,000?) are American (one epiphytic species of
_Rhipsalis_ is indigenous in S. Africa, Mauritius and Ceylon),
especially from the tropical table-lands (Mexico, etc.). Some
species, especially those without thorns, as _Rhipsalis_, are
epiphytes. _Opuntia vulgaris_, the fruits of which are edible,
is naturalized in the Mediterranean. The cochineal insect
(_Coccus cacti_) lives on this and some closely allied species
(_O. coccinellifera_, etc.), particularly in Mexico and the
Canary Islands. Several are ornamental plants.

Family 9. =Polycarpicæ.=

The flowers _as a rule are_ ☿, _regular_ and _hypogynous_; however in some orders they are unisexual, _e.g._ in the Myristicaceæ, or zygomorphic (in Monkshood and Larkspur in the Ranunculaceæ); in the Lauraceæ, (Fig. 386) for example, perigynous, and in _Nymphæa_ (Fig. 383) even partially epigynous flowers are typical.--The flowers are acyclic in very many of the genera of the two first orders, if not completely so, at any rate in the numerous stamens and carpels, thus denoting an old type. It is a remarkable characteristic that in the majority of the orders the number 3 prevails in the calyx and corolla; the number 5 also occurs, but the number 2 is seldom met with. Most orders have a double perianth; chorisis does not occur, suppression is rare, and the parts of the flower are developed in acropetal succession. The most characteristic feature in the order is the _free, one-leaved_, as a rule _numerous carpels_ (apocarpous gynœceum). The number of carpels in some of the last mentioned orders dwindles down to 1 (_e.g._ the _Berberideæ_ and _Myristicaceæ_). The carpels in _Nymphæaceæ_ become united into _one pistil_ (syncarpous), a condition which we also find distributed among the other orders.

_Endosperm occurs in almost all_ the orders (except _e.g. Lauraceæ_). The nutritive tissue in _Cabombeæ_ and _Nymphæeæ_ is chiefly _perisperm_.

Order 1. =Ranunculaceæ.= Nearly all are _herbs_ (except _Clematis_). The leaves are scattered (except _Clematideæ_), they have a large sheath with broad base (no stipules), and are most frequently palminerved with palmate lobes. The flowers are hypogynous, with most frequently a well pronounced convex receptacle (Figs. 374 _B_, 380), ☿, regular (except _Delphinium_ and _Aconitum_); their structure varies very much; in some the leaves are verticillate, in others arranged spirally; in others, again, both modes of arrangement are found. It is a characteristic feature that the various series of leaves (especially calyx and corolla) are not so distinct or so sharply divided as is usual. The leaves of the perianth are free, imbricate (except _Clematideæ_); stamens _numerous_, with most frequently extrorse anthers; gynœceum _free_, _apocarpous_ (except _Nigella_ and partly _Helleborus_), with 1 or several ovules (Figs. 373, 378, 379) borne on the ventral suture. The fruit is either a nut or a follicle (_Actæa_ has berries). The seed has a _large, oil-containing_ endosperm and a small embryo (Fig. 374).

The main axis generally terminates in a flower, and the
lateral axes branch in a cymose manner (Fig. 371). The flowers
show the following differences in construction: VERTICILLATE
(EUCYCLIC), _i.e._ constructed all through of alternating
whorls: _Aquilegia_ (Fig. 370), _Xanthorhiza_, and sometimes
_Eranthis_. SEMIVERTICILLATE (HEMICYCLIC) _i.e._ with sepals and
petals in alternate whorls, and the others arranged spirally:
_Ranunculus_ (Fig. 371), _Myosurus_, _Pæonia_ and several other
genera entirely, or in certain species only. SPIRAL-FLOWERED
(ACYCLIC) _i.e._ all the leaves are arranged spirally, so
that sepals and petals do not alternate the one with the
other, even though they are the same in number: _Adonis_ (Fig.
372), _Aconitum_, _Delphinium_-species, _Nigella_-species,
_Helleborus_. The leaves of the calyx are in this instance
arranged on a spiral of 2/5; those of the corolla on 2/5,
3/8, 5/13 or 8/21, and stamens and carpels likewise on higher
fractions of the same series.

The genera _Caltha_, _Anemone_, _Thalictrum_ and _Clematis_
have a _single perianth_, which is most frequently petaloid;
it is thus apparent that the sepals are petaloid, and the
leaves, which in other genera have developed as petals, are in
these instances stamens. The calyx is similarly petaloid in
the genera _Helleborus_, _Eranthis_, _Nigella_, _Delphinium_
and _Aconitum_; but the petals are present in these instances
in unusual (horn-like) forms, and almost entirely given
up to the function of nectaries, a function they already
possess in _Ranunculus_. According to a more recent theory
the “honey-leaves” are transformed stamens, which have lost
the function of reproduction; the perianth is then single,
and most frequently petaloid. [Those leaves in the flowers of
many Ranunculaceæ which bear nectaries are termed by Prantl
honey-leaves, and comprise those leaf-structures of the flower
whose essential function lies in the production of nectar,
and which, independent of the differentiation of the perianth
into calyx and corolla, are derived from the stamens by the
loss of their reproductive functions. Clear transitional
forms are found between the two series of the perianth
(_e.g._ between the sepaloid and petaloid perianth-leaves
of _Anemone japonica_, _A. decapetala_, _Trollius_-species)
while transitional forms are never found between perianth-and
honey-leaves (with the exception of _Aquilegia vulgaris_, var.
_stellata_). In _Anemone_ and _Clematis_ the honey-leaves
pass gradually into the stamens, and agree with the stamens
in the other Ranunculaceæ in their arrangement, development,
and scant system of veins (except _Nigella_). In _Delphinium_,
sect. _Consolida_, the two honey-leaves placed in front of
the unpaired perianth-leaf are united into one, as shown by
the veins (twice three veins arranged symmetrically). The
honey-leaves of _Aquilegia_, _Callianthemum_, and the majority
of the _Ranunculus_-species serve by reason of their large
circumference, as organs of attraction, and on this account
are considered as petals by other authors.--The same position
in the flower which the honey-leaves assume is found occupied
by staminodes, without nectar, in some _Coptis_-species, in
_Anemonopsis_, _Actæa_ sect. _Euactæa_, (_e.g. A. racemosa_),
_Clematis_ sect. _Atragene_; in the last-named they closely
surround the stamens, in _Actæa_ they are petaloid.--A perianth,
sharply differentiated into calyx and corolla, and destitute of
honey-leaves, is found in _Anemone_, sect. _Knowltonia_ (Cape),

_Adonis_, _Pæonia_.--The perianth of the Ranunculaceæ is
considered by Prantl to be usually petaloid.--The nectaries
arise in the Ranunculaceæ (1) on normal stamens (_Clematis_
sect. _Viorna_), (2) on the honey-leaves (this is generally the
case), and (3) on the carpels (_Caltha_ and the majority of
_Trollius_-species).--As the result of his researches upon the
Ranunculaceæ, Prantl does not agree with the view advanced by
Drude (Schenk, _Hand. d. Bot._ iii.) that the petals in general
have proceeded from the metamorphosis of the stamens (_K_)].

The most primitive form of fruit is undoubtedly the pod formed
by one carpel, on the edges of which (along the ventral suture)
two rows of ovules are situated: Pæonieæ, Helleboreæ, Delphinieæ
(Fig. 379). In a great many genera the number of ovules has been
limited to _one_ perfect one, which is placed in the central
plane under the united leaf-edges, and sometimes also some
barren ovules above it (Fig. 373). The fruitlets in this case
become achenes, and are present in much larger numbers than when
there are follicles.

The following have FOLLICLES: _Pæonieæ_, _Helleboreæ_ (except _Actæa_) and _Delphinieæ_; ACHENES: _Ranunculeæ_, _Anemoneæ_ and _Clematideæ_.

=A. Follicles= (Figs. 375, 379), with many ovules, situated in two rows along the ventral suture. ~_Actæa_ has berries, _Nigella_ has capsules of several loculi.~

=1.= PÆONIEÆ, PEONY GROUP. This has regular, acyclic flowers with a normal, most frequently 5-leaved, imbricate calyx; large, coloured petals, and introrse anthers. Slightly perigynous. Surrounding the base of the carpels a ring-like swelling of the receptacle (“disc”) is present, which is largest in _P. moutan_. The follicles are more or less fleshy or leathery. Mostly herbs, with pinnatisect or decompound leaves and large, solitary flowers; a gradual transition may be traced from the foliage-leaves to the petals. _Pæonia; Hydrastis._

=2.= HELLEBOREÆ, HELLEBORE GROUP. This has regular flowers with most frequently a coloured calyx. The petals (honey-leaves) are modified into nectaries; they may be horn-like, provided with a spur, or of a similarly unusual form, or they may be entirely absent. Anthers often extrorse.--_Trollius_ (Globe-flower[36]). The flower is acyclic: many petaloid sepals, succeeding these, most frequently, several _linear_, dark yellow petals, which bear a naked nectary at the base; finally, many stamens and carpels arranged in a spiral (3/8, 8/21).--_Caltha_ (Marsh-marigold, Figs. 375, 377); 5 (-7) yellow sepals, no petals. The foliage-leaves have a large amplexicaul sheath.--_Helleborous_ (Hellebore) has pedate leaves. The flower is acyclic, with 5 large, regular, _persistent_, often petaloid sepals (2/5); small, _horn-like_ petals (honey-leaves; most frequently 13, divergence 8/13) and generally few carpels (Fig. 374).--_Coptis._--_Isopyrum._--_Eranthis_ (Winter Aconite), like _Anemone_, has a 3-leaved involucre and most frequently trimerous flowers, ~6 large petaloid sepals, 6 petals (tubular honey-leaves), 6 oblique rows of stamens, 3–6 carpels~. _Aquilegia_ (Columbine, Fig. 376); the flower is entirely cyclic and has large spurs on all the 5 petals (funnel-shaped honey-leaves); S5 coloured, P5, A5 × (8–12), G5 in regular alternation (Figs. 376, 370); the innermost stamens are often staminodes (Fig. 370).--_Nigella_ (Love-in-the-mist, Fig. 378) has 5 sepals and 8 small, _two-lipped_ petals cleft at the apex (the nectary is covered by the under-lip; Fig. 378 _C_, _D_). The 5 carpels are more or less completely united; and a many-carpellate ovary with free styles is formed in some. Large air-chambers in the external wall of the ovary are formed in _N. damascena_ (Fig. 378).--_Actæa_ (Baneberry) has coloured sepals, either no petals or an indefinite number, and only 1 carpel. The fruit is a berry (or follicle).--~_Cimicifuga_, _Garidella_, _Xanthorhiza_ (S5, P5, A5 + 5, G5).~

=3.= DELPHINIEÆ, LARKSPUR GROUP. Zygomorphic flowers with coloured calyx; the 2 posterior petals (honey-leaves) are transformed into nectaries, the others are small or absent altogether.--_Aconitum_ (Monkshood); 5 sepals, of which the _posterior one_ (Fig. 379 _A_) _is helmet-shaped_; most frequently 8 petals (as in Fig. 372), of which the two posterior ones (honey-leaves) are developed into long-clawed nectaries (Fig. 379 _A_, _k_) enveloped by the helmet-like sepal; the others are small, or are to some extent suppressed. ~Stamens on a spiral of 3/8–5/13; generally 3 carpels.~ Perennial herbs.--_Delphinium_ (Larkspur); very closely allied to _Aconitum_, but the anterior 4 petals are most frequently wanting, and the 2 posterior ones have each a spur, which is enclosed by the _posterior sepal_, the latter being also provided with _a membranous spur_. ~Stamens and carpels arranged on a spiral of 3/8, 5/13, 8/21. In _D. ajacis_ and _consolida_ there is apparently only 1 petal (by the fusion of 4) and 1 carpel.~

=B. Fruit achenes.= Many carpels, each with only 1 ascending (Fig. 373 _C_), or pendulous (Fig. 373 _D_), perfect ovule; often also rudimentary ovules above it (Fig. 373 _A_, _B_). Fruit achenes.

=4.= RANUNCULEÆ, BUTTERCUP GROUP, has double perianth. _Myosurus_ and _Adonis_ have pendulous ovules as in Anemoneæ (Fig. 373 _D_); ~_Ranunculus_, with _Batrachium_ and _Ficaria_, erect ovules (Fig. 373 _C_) and downwardly-turned radicle.~--_Ranunculus._ Most frequently S5, P5, many spirally-placed stamens and carpels (Figs. 371, 380). The petals (honey-leaves) have a nectary at the base, covered by a small scale. ~_Batrachium_, Water Ranunculus, deviates by the achenes being transversely wrinkled; dimorphic leaves. _Ficaria_ has 3 sepals and 7–8 petals arranged in 2/5–3/8. _F. ranunculoides_ (the only species) has tuberous roots, which spring from the base of the axillary buds, and together with these, serve as organs of reproduction. The embryo has only 1 cotyledon.~--_Myosurus_ (Mouse-tail) has small prolongations from the 5 sepals; 5 narrow petals which bear the nectaries near the apex; sometimes only 5 stamens, and an ultimately very long receptacle, with numerous spirally-arranged achenes (Fig. 381).--_Adonis_ is acyclic (Fig. 372); most frequently 5 sepals with a divergence of 2/5, 8 petals of 3/8, indefinite stamens and carpels of 3/8 or 5/13. The corolla has no nectary.

=5.= ANEMONEÆ, ANEMONE GROUP, has a single perianth. ~(Pendulous ovules (Fig. 373 _D_), radicle turned upward).~--_Anemone_ has a single, petaloid, most frequently 5–6-leaved perianth, and beneath the flower most frequently _an involucre of 3 leaves_, placed close together in the form of a whorl. In _A. nemorosa_, _ranunculoides_, etc., the involucral leaves resemble foliage-leaves; in _A. hepatica_ they are situated close under the perianth, and resemble sepals, and in the sub-genus _Pulsatilla_ they stand between the foliage-leaves and floral-leaves. The style of _Pulsatilla_ finally grows out in the form of a feather. ~The main axis of _A. hepatica_ has unlimited growth (it is biaxial), and the flowers are borne laterally in the axils of the scale-leaves; in the others (uniaxial) the flower is terminal, and the rhizome becomes a sympodium after the first flowering.~--_Thalictrum_ (Meadow Rue) has no involucre; 4–5-leaved, greenish perianth. The receptacle is flat. ~The stamens are brightly-coloured and have long filaments; 1–5 accessory flowers may occur in the leaf-axils of the panicle-like inflorescence.~

=6.= CLEMATIDEÆ, CLEMATIS GROUP. This differs from all the others in the _valvate æstivation_ of the calyx and its opposite leaves. There are 4 (-several) petaloid sepals; petals are absent, or linear (_Atragene_). Ovule 1, pendulous. Achenes, often with prolonged, feathery style. The majority of the genera are shrubs, and climb by their sensitive, twining leaf-stalks.--_Clematis; Atragene._

POLLINATION. The flowers are conspicuous either by coloured
petals (honey-leaves) (_Ranunculus_, _Pæonia_) or coloured
sepals (_Helleborus_, _Anemone_, _Caltha_, etc.), or by both
(_Aquilegia_, _Delphinium_), or by the coloured stamens
(_Thalictrum_). Some have no honey (_Clematis_, _Anemone_,
_Thalictrum_), and are generally visited by insects for
the sake of their pollen. Others have nectaries on the
corolla (_Ranunculus_, _Trollius_, _Helleborus_, _Nigella_,
_Aconitum_, etc.), more rarely on the stamens (_Pulsatilla_,
_Clematis_-species), or the carpels (_Caltha_), or the calyx
(certain species of _Pæonia_). The honey is readily accessible
in the flat, open flowers, and these flowers also may easily
pollinate themselves. There is marked protandry where the
honey lies deeply hidden, as in _Aquilegia_, _Delphinium_, and
_Aconitum_. _Helleborus_ and some _Ranunculus_-species are
protogynous.

About 680 species; especially in northern temperate climates,
and extending to the Polar and Alpine regions. Only the
_Clematideæ_ are tropical.

The order has an abundance of _acrid_, vesicant properties
(_R. acer_, _sceleratus_, etc.), and _poisonous_ alkaloids
(_Helleborus niger_ is poisonous). OFFICINAL: _Aconitum
napellus_ (aconitine; leaves and tuberous roots); the rhizome of
_Hydrastis canadensis_ from N. Am. (the alkaloid hydrastine).
The order, however, is best known for its ornamental plants;
almost all the genera have species which are cultivated for
their beauty. Sweet-scented flowers are absent.

Order 2. =Nymphæaceæ (Water Lilies).= WATER PLANTS; generally with large, floating leaves, and large solitary flowers; sepals 3–5, petals 3–∞, stamens 6–∞, carpels 3–∞. The flower is hypogynous, but in the _Nymphæeæ_ different degrees of epigyny are found, and from this fact, as well as from the carpels being united into one pistil, the family forms a lateral offshoot from the Ranunculaceæ, with much greater modification. The seed often has an aril, and, in the majority, a farinaceous nutritive tissue, partly endosperm, partly perisperm (Fig. 383 _C_). The embryo has 2 thick cotyledons and a small hypocotyl; the plumule is well developed, with 2–4 leaves.

1. CABOMBEÆ. 3–4 species (Tropical S. Am.), resembling the
Water Ranunculus, with two kinds of leaves, the submerged being
dissected and the aerial peltate. The flowers are eucyclic,
trimerous, with 2–3 free, epigynous carpels. The ovules are
situated _on the central line_ of the carpel--an almost unique
circumstance. Endosperm and perisperm. _Cabomba; Brasenia._

2. NELUMBONEÆ. The leaves are _peltate_, raised on long stalks high above the water. Large, _hypogynous_ flowers (Fig. 382); sepals 4–5; petals numerous; stamens numerous; _carpels several_, _distinct_. The receptacle is very remarkable, being raised above the stamens, and developed into an _inverted conical_ body on the apex of which the nut-like fruits are _embedded in pits_. _Endosperm is wanting_, but the embryo is large and has well developed cotyledons.--~_Nelumbo_, 2 species. _N. lutea_ (N. Am.); _N. speciosa_ (E. Ind.) was sacred amongst the ancient Hindoos and Egyptians, (the Lotus flower); its seeds are used as food.~

3. NYMPHÆEÆ, WATER LILY GROUP. The carpels are united into _one_, _many-locular ovary_, _whose numerous ovules are situated on the surface of the partition walls_ (as in the Poppies); the stigma is sessile and radiating, the number of rays corresponding to the number of carpels (Fig. 383). The fruit is a spongy _berry_ with many seeds, which have a large perisperm in addition to the endosperm (Fig. 383 _C_).

Sepals, petals, and stamens often pass gradually over the one into the other, the petals becoming narrower by degrees, and bearing anthers on each side of the apex, which gradually become larger anthers in proportion to the filament, until the perfect stamen is developed. The long-stalked leaves are floating, and most frequently cordate, elliptical, leathery, with a shiny surface, sometimes (as in _Victoria regia_ and _Euryale ferox_) with strongly projecting thorny ribs on the lower surface. In the intercellular passages of the leaves are some peculiar, stellate cells.

_Nuphar_ has 5 sepals, and an _hypogynous_ flower. ~The petals, which are small, have a nectary on the back; the coloured inner side of the sepals functions as petals; the ovate gynœceum is quite free.--_N. luteum_ is a native plant (Yellow Water-Lily), with, most frequently, 13 petals and 10–16 loculi in the ovary. The rhizome is horizontal, as much as 5–6 cm. in thickness, and bears on its under surface a number of roots, which on dying-off leave deep scars; the leaves are borne in spiral lines, and the flowers are solitary in certain leaf-axils. The construction of the rhizome is very peculiar; the vascular bundles are scattered and closed as in a monocotyledonous stem.~

_Nymphæa_ has 4 sepals, and the flower is more or less _epigynous_. Petals and stamens are inserted at different heights on the ovary to just beneath the stigma (Fig. 383). _Nymphæa alba_ (White Water-Lily). _Victoria regia_ from the Amazon, and _Euryale ferox_ from Asia, have entirely epigynous flowers. ~The shield-like leaves of _Victoria_ are as much as 2 metres in diameter, and the edge is bent up to a height of 5–14 cm.; the flowers are 20–40 cm. in diameter, and change in twenty-four hours from white to rose-red. A development of heat, as much as 14°C. above the temperature of the air, together with a strong formation of carbonic acid, has been observed during flowering.~

POLLINATION. _Nymphæa alba_ and other species of the
sub-genus _Symphytopleura_ are self-pollinated; the sub-genus
_Leptopleura_ is insect-pollinated. _Nuphar_ and _Victoria_ can
effect self-fertilisation; _Euryale_ is self-fertilised, often
in entirely closed and submerged flowers.--The dissemination
of the seeds in _Nuphar luteum_ is effected by the fruit,
which rests on the water, becoming detached from its stalk,
and dehiscing from the base upwards so that the seeds are
set free; while in _Nymphæa alba_ the spirally-twisted stalk
draws the fruit under water, and it dehisces by its upper part
being thrown off as a hood, and the seeds which are enclosed
in air-tight sacs rise to the surface of the water. In this
condition they are able to float and can only sink to the bottom
when the air has disappeared.

53 species; in fresh water in all parts of the world, but
especially in the Tropics.--The rhizomes and seeds of some may
be used as food; _Euryale ferox_ is even cultivated. _Nymphæa
cœrulea_ and _Lotus_ were sacred among the Egyptians.

Order 3. =Ceratophyllaceæ.= About 3 species. Aquatic plants, submerged, rootless; leaves cartilaginous, verticillate, dissected into repeatedly dichotomous branches which are finely toothed; only one of the leaves in a whorl supports a vegetative branch. The flowers are _monœcious_, axillary. Inside the 6–12 perianth-leaves are situated in the ♂-flower 10–20 stamens with thick connective, and in the ♀-flower a gynœceum formed by one carpel, with one orthotropous and pendulous ovule, which has only one integument. Fruit a nut, which, in some species, bears on each side a pointed horn, and at the apex a similar one, formed by the persistent style.--The embryo has an unusually well developed plumule with several whorls of leaves. The plant is rootless throughout its whole life.--_Ceratophyllum_ (Horn-wort).

Order 4. =Annonaceæ.= Sepals 3; petals 3+3 (most frequently
_valvate_); succeeding these (as in the _Ranunculaceæ_) are
_numerous acyclic_ stamens and an _apocarpous gynœceum_; the
flowers are hypogynous, regular and ☿, generally very large
(2–3 cm. in diameter), and the leaves of the perianth are
more or less fleshy or leathery. The majority have syncarps
with berry-like fruitlets, but in _Annona_ and some others
the carpels fuse together into a large, head-like fruit--a
kind of composite berry. The seeds have _ruminate_ endosperm
as in _Myristica_.--Trees or shrubs with _alternate_, simple,
entire, penninerved leaves without stipules. 450 (700?) species;
especially tropical. The best known are _Anona cherimolia_,
_squamosa_ and _reticulata_ (all from America) cultivated on
account of their large, delicious fruits. Some have acrid and
aromatic properties (_Xylopia_, _Cananga_--the flowers of the
latter yield Ylang-ylang); _Artabotrys odoratissimus_; _Asimina_
(N. Am.).

Order 5. =Magnoliaceæ.= Trees or shrubs with scattered, often
leathery, entire leaves, generally with _stipules_, which (as in
_Ficus_) are rolled together and form a hood round the younger
internodes above them, and are cast off by the unfolding of
the next leaf, leaving a ring-like scar. The endosperm is _not
ruminate_. Corolla imbricate. Fruit a syncarp.

=A.= MAGNOLIEÆ. The flowers are borne singly, and before opening
are enveloped in an ochrea-like spathe which corresponds to
the stipules of the foliage-leaves. The perianth generally
consists of 3 trimerous whorls, the external one of which
is sometimes sepaloid (_Liriodendron_, and the majority of
_Magnolia_species), sometimes coloured like the others; the
perianth is sometimes many-seriate. _Numerous spirally-placed_
stamens and carpels. The latter are situated on the _elongated_,
cylindrical receptacle, and are individually more or less
united, except in _Liriodendron_, where they are free. This last
genus has winged achenes; the fruitlets in _Magnolia_ open along
the dorsal and ventral sutures, and the seeds then hang out,
suspended by elastic threads formed from the vascular bundles
of the funicle and raphe; they are red and drupaceous, the
external layer of the shell being fleshy--a very rare occurrence.

=B.= ILLICIEÆ has no stipules. The carpels are situated in a
whorl on a short receptacle. Follicles, one-seeded. The leaves
are dotted by glands containing essential oil. _Illicium;
Drimys._

70 species; in tropical or temperate climates; none in Europe
or Africa. They are chiefly used as ornamental plants, _e.g._
the Tulip-tree (_Liriodendron tulipifera_, N. Am.), _Magnolia
grandiflora_ (N. Am.), _M. yulan_ and _fuscata_ (China), and
others. The remains of _Liriodendron_ occur as fossils in the
Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.--The fruits of _Illicium
anisatum_ (Star-aniseed from Eastern Asia) are OFFICINAL. The
bark of _Drimys winteri_ (S. Am.) is also strongly aromatic.

Order 6. =Calycanthaceæ.= These are very closely related to
the Magnoliaceæ, but differ in having _perigynous_ flowers
with many perianth-leaves, stamens and (about 20) carpels in a
continuous _spiral_, seeds _almost devoid of endosperm_ with
rolled up, leaf-like cotyledons, and leaves opposite on a square
stem.--There are some species in N. America (_Calycanthus
florida_, _occidentalis_, etc.) and 1 in Japan (_Chimonanthus
præcox_), all strongly aromatic.

Order 7. =Monimiaceæ.= Aromatic shrubs with opposite leaves.
Perigynous flowers. The anthers dehisce by valves like those of
the _Lauraceæ_, and the Monimiaceæ may thus be considered as an
apocarpous form of this order. They are also closely related to
_Calycanthaceæ_. 150 species, tropical.--_Hedycarya, Mollinedia,
Monimia._

Order 8. =Berberidaceæ (Barberries).=--The regular, ☿, hypogynous flowers are dimerous or trimerous and have regularly alternating whorls of free sepals, petals, and stamens and 1 unilocular carpel; the corolla and stamens have each 2 whorls, the calyx at least 2. The anthers open, as in Lauraceæ, by (2) _valves_, but are always introrse (Fig. 384). The pistil has a large, disc-like, almost _sessile_ stigma (Fig. 385), and in the ovary _several_ erect ovules are placed close to the base of the ventral suture. The fruit is most frequently a _berry_. Seeds endospermous.--Shrubs or herbs with scattered, most frequently compound leaves (without stipules), and racemose inflorescences.--~They show a relationship to the Lauraceæ in the number of the parts of the flower and the dehiscence of the anthers.~

_Berberis_ is a shrub; it has sepals 3 + 3, petals 3 + 3, stamens 3 + 3 (Fig. 384). The petals (honey-leaves) bear internally at the base 2 darkish-yellow nectaries. The filaments are sensitive at the base, and suddenly bend inwards if touched at that spot (Fig. 385). ~The racemes often have a terminal, 5-merous flower; they are borne on dwarf-branches. The leaves on the long-branches develope into thorns, but the buds in their axils, in the same year as themselves, develope as the short-branches with simple foliage-leaves, _articulated_ at the base, from which fact some authorities have considered that the leaf is compound with a single, terminal leaflet.~--_Mahonia_ has imparipinnate leaves. The flower has 3 whorls of sepals. Otherwise as in _Berberis_.--~_Epimedium_; herbs with spurred petals; the flowers dimerous; 4–5 whorls of sepals, 2 of petals and stamens. Fruit a capsule. _Leontice_, fruit dry. The anthers of _Podophyllum_ dehisce longitudinally.--_Nandina. Aceranthus._~

100 species; North temp., especially Asia: fossils in Tertiary.
_Berberis vulgaris_ is a native of Europe. This and other
species, together with _Mahonia aquifolium_ (N. Am.), _Epimedium
alpinum_, etc., are cultivated as ornamental plants. Several
have a yellow colouring matter in the root and stem. OFFICINAL:
the rhizome of _Podophyllum peltatum_ (from N. Am.) yields
podophyllin.

Order 9. =Menispermaceæ.= This order has derived its name from
the more or less crescent-like fruits and seeds. Diœcious.
The flowers are 2–3-merous, most frequently as in _Berberis_
(S3 + 3, P3 + 3, A3 + 3), with the difference that there are
3 _free carpels_, each with 1 ovule; in some genera, however,
the number is different. Stamens often united into a bundle
(as in _Myristica_); anthers dehiscing longitudinally; fruit a
drupe.--The plants (with herbaceous or woody stems) belonging
to this order are nearly all _twining_ or _climbing_ plants,
and have scattered, palmate or peltate, sometimes lobed leaves
without stipules. Structure of stem anomalous. _Cocculus,
Menispermum, Cissampelos, Anamirta._

150 species; Tropical; very rich in bitter and poisonous
properties. OFFICINAL: Calumba-root from _Jateorhiza columba_
(E. Africa). The following are cultivated as ornamental
plants:--_Menispermum canadense_ (N. Am.) and _M. dahuricum_
(Asia). The fruits of _Anamirta cocculus_ (E. Ind.) are very
poisonous (“Grains-of-Paradise”; the poisonous matter is
picrotoxine).

Order 10. =Lardizabalaceæ.= This order, by the free, apocarpous
carpels, belongs to a more primitive type, and by the united
stamens to a more developed one. _Akebia_; _Holbœllia_;
principally climbing or twining shrubs. About 7 species in S.E.
Asia and S. Am.

Order 11. =Lauraceæ= (=True Laurels=). Trees or shrubs; the leaves, always without stipules, are simple, most frequently scattered, lanceolate or elliptical, entire, penninerved, finely reticulate (except _Cinnamomum_ with 3–5-veined leaf), leathery and evergreen (except, _e.g. Cinnamomum_); they are frequently studded with clear glands containing _volatile oil_. The flowers are borne in panicles and are small and of a greenish or whitish colour. They are _regular, perigynous_, with most frequently a bowl or cup-shaped receptacle (Fig. 386), usually ☿, and _trimerous_ (rarely dimerous) through all (most frequently 6–7) whorls; viz. most frequently, perianth 2 whorls, stamens 3–4 and carpels 1 (P3 + 3, A3 + 3 + 3 + 3, G3) in regular alternation (Fig. 387). Each of the 2 or 4 loculi of the anthers _open by an upwardly directed valve_ (Fig. 386); of the stamens, the 2 outermost whorls are generally introrse, the others extrorse, or 1–3 whorls are developed as staminodes (Fig. 387 _g_). The gynœceum has 1 loculus with 1 style and 1 pendulous ovule (Fig. 386), and may be considered as formed of 3 carpels. The fruit is a _berry_ (Fig. 388) or _drupe_, which often is surrounded at its base by the persistent receptacle (as an acorn by its cupule), which becomes fleshy and sometimes coloured during the ripening of the fruit. The embryo has 2 thick cotyledons, but _no endosperm_ (Fig. 388).

The Lauraceæ present affinities with the Polygonaceæ, in
which there is found perigyny, as well as a similar number of
parts in the flower and a similar gynœceum, but with erect
and orthotropous ovule. From their general characters they
should be classed among the Polycarpicæ, but stand, however,
isolated by the _syncarpous_ gynœceum, if it is in reality
formed by 3 carpels and not by 1 only. _Hernandia_, which has
epigynous monœcious flowers, deviates most.--_Cassytha_ is
a _Cuscuta_-like, herbaceous, slightly green parasite with
twining, almost leafless stems. The flower however agrees with
the diagram in Fig. 387. Some Lauraceæ have curved veins or
palminerved and lobed leaves (often together with entire ones)
_e.g. Sassafras_.

There are 1000 species; especially in the forests of tropical
S. America and Asia, of which they form the principal part.
Only _Laurus nobilis_ is found in Europe, and there is little
doubt that its proper home is in Western Asia. They are
rare in Africa.--On account of _the volatile oil_ found in
all parts of the plant, they are used as _spices_, _e.g._
the false Cinnamon-tree (_Dicypellium caryophyllatum_, in
the Brazils). The OFFICINAL ones are--the Cinnamon-tree
(_Cinnamomum zeylanicum_ from Ceylon, E. India, Eastern Asia),
which is also cultivated; the Camphor-tree (_Cinnamomum
camphora_, Eastern Asia). The Laurel-tree (_Laurus nobilis_,
Mediterranean), the berries and leaves of which give laurel oil,
is medicinal.--Scented wood for furniture, etc., is obtained
from _Sassafras officinalis_ (from N. Am.). The wood from its
roots is officinal. Pichurim “beans” are the large cotyledons
of _Nectandra pichury_, whilst the famous “Greenheart” wood
of Demarara is the wood of _Nectandra rodiæi_. The pulp and
seeds contain a _fatty oil_. The pear-like fruit of _Persea
gratissima_ (Mexico, also cultivated) is very delicious.
_Lindera benzoin_ is a garden shrub; _Laurus nobilis_ likewise.

Order 12. =Myristicaceæ= (=Nutmegs=). In this order there is
only 1 genus, _Myristica_. Trees or shrubs. The leaves agree
closely with those of the Lauraceæ, with which this order has
many points in common. The majority of the species are aromatic,
having in their vegetative parts pellucid glands with volatile
oils. The flowers are regular, diœcious, trimerous, and have a
single gamophyllous (cupular or campanulate) 3-toothed, fleshy
perianth. In the ♂-flowers the anthers vary in number (3–15),
and they are extrorse and borne on a centrally-placed column;
in the ♀-flower the gynœceum is unilocular, unicarpellary, with
1 ovule. The FRUIT (Fig. 389) has the form of a pear; it is a
fleshy, yellow capsule, which opens along the ventral and dorsal
sutures, exposing the large seed. This seed has a large, red,
irregularly branched aril--the so-called “mace”; the “nutmeg,”
on the other hand, is the seed itself with the inner thin
portion of the testa, which has pushed its way irregularly into
the endosperm, and causes the marbled appearance of the cut seed
(Fig. 390); the external, dark brown, hard, and brittle part
of the seed-shell is however removed. Mace and nutmeg contain
volatile and fatty oils in abundance.--80 species. Tropical. The
majority are used on account of their aromatic seeds and aril,
the most important being _M. fragrans_ (_moschata_), from the
Moluccas. This is cultivated in special plantations, not only in
its native home, but in other tropical countries also. Nutmegs
were known as commodities in Europe in very ancient times
(_e.g._ by the Romans), but it was not until the year 1500 that
the tree itself was known. The seed is OFFICINAL.

Family 10. =Rhœadinæ.=

The plants belonging to this family are almost exclusively herbaceous, with scattered, exstipulate leaves. The flowers are eucyclic di- or tetramerous, with the calyx and corolla deciduous, _hypogynous_, ☿, _regular_, the gynœceum with 2–several carpels (generally 2, transversely placed) (Figs. 391, 392, 393, 397). The ovary is _unilocular with parietal placentæ_, but in _Cruciferæ_ and a few others it becomes bilocular by the development of a _false_, membranous wall between the placentæ. The stigmas in the majority of cases are _commissural_, _i.e._ they stand above the placentæ, and not above the dorsal line of the carpels. The fruit is nearly always a _capsule_, which opens by the middle portions of the carpels detaching themselves as valves, bearing no seed, whilst the placentæ persist as the seed-bearing frame. Endosperm is found in _Papaveraceæ_ and _Fumariaceæ_, but is absent in _Cruciferæ_ and _Capparidaceæ_.--~This family through the Papaveraceæ is related to the Polycarpicæ (the Nymphæaceæ), through the Capparidaceæ to the Resedaceæ in the next family.~

Exceptions to the above are: _Eschscholtzia_, _Subularia_ (Fig.
403) and a few Capparidaceæ, in which perigynous flowers are
found. A few Papaveraceæ and Fumariaceæ have trimerous flowers.
In _Fumaria_ and certain Cruciferæ, the fruit is a nut. The
Fumariaceæ have zygomorphic flowers. Trees and shrubs are almost
entirely confined to the Capparidaceæ, in which order stipules
also are found.

Order 1. =Papaveraceæ= (=Poppies=). Herbaceous plants with stiff hairs and _latex_; flowers _regular_ (Fig. 391) with generally 2 (-3) sepals (which _fall off_ as the flower opens), 2 + 2 petals (imbricate and crumpled in the bud) _without spur, numerous stamens in several alternating whorls_ (generally a multiple of 2); carpels 2–several, united into a unilocular gynœceum. Trimerous flowers also occur. Capsule with very numerous seeds on the parietal placentæ; embryo small, with large, oleaginous _endosperm_ (Fig. 392).--The leaves have no stipules and are generally pinnately lobed.

_Papaver_ (Poppy) has large, solitary, terminal flowers; petals firmly and irregularly folded in æstivation; gynœceum formed by many (4–15) carpels; stigmas velvety, _sessile_ and _stellate_ (the rays stand above the placentæ) (Fig. 391 _B_). The edges of the carpels project deeply into the ovary, but do not meet in the centre, so that it remains unilocular. The capsule opens by pores placed close beneath the stigma, and formed of small valves alternating with the placentæ and the rays of the stigma (Fig. 391). _P. dubium_, _P. argemone_, _P. rhœas_.--_Chelidonium_ (Greater Celandine) has _yellow_ latex, flowers in umbellate cymes (the terminal, central flower opening first) and only 2 carpels; the fruit resembles the siliqua of the Cruciferæ in having two _barren valves_, which are detached from the base upwards, and a _seed-bearing frame_, but there is no partition wall formed between the placentæ. _Ch. majus._--~The majority of the other genera have, like _Chelidonium_, 2 carpels (lateral and alternating with the sepals: Fig. 391 _A_) and siliqua-like fruit, thus: _Eschscholtzia_ (perigynous) with a linear, stigma-bearing prolongation extending as far above the placentæ as above the dorsal suture of the carpels; _Glaucium_ (Horn-Poppy); _G. luteum_, whose extremely long, thin capsule differs from that of _Chelidonium_ by the formation, during ripening, of a thick, spongy (_false_) replum, which persists when the valves are detached; _Sanguinaria_ with red latex, the 2 petals divided into 8–12 small petals (perhaps by dédoublement); _Macleya_ and _Bocconia_ (1-seeded capsule) with 2 sepals and no petals.--Trimerous flowers are found in _Argemone_ and _Platystemon_ (with a curious fruit, carpels free, and transversely divided and constricted into joints which separate as nut-like portions).--_Meconopsis._--_Hypecoum_ (Fig. 393 _C_) has tri-lobed and three cleft petals, 4 free stamens with 4-locular anthers and a jointed siliqua; it presents a transitional form to the Fumariaceæ, with which order it is sometimes included.~

POLLINATION. _Papaver_ and _Chelidonium_ have no honey, and
are without doubt only visited by insects for the sake of
the pollen. The anthers and stigmas mature about the same
time.--There are 80 species; especially from warm climates.
OFFICINAL: _Papaver somniferum_ (Opium-Poppy); the latex
of its unripe capsules is obtained by incisions, and dried
(_opium_); it contains many alkaloids: morphine, papaverine,
narcotine, thebaine, etc. The oleaginous seeds are also used
in the manufacture of oil. Its home is in the East, where it
is extensively cultivated. The petals of the Corn-poppy (_P.
rhœas_) are also officinal. Several species are cultivated as
ornamental plants.