588 



A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



altissimum and P. Carana of Guiana and Brazil. MEXICAN Lix- 

 ALCE OIL is obtained from Burscra graveolens, and several species 

 of Burscra of Mexico are used as a substitute for Aloe wood. 



j. MELIACEJE OR MAHOGAXY FAMILY. This is a 

 large family of tropical trees and shrubs with mostly alternate, 

 compound and exstipulate leaves, the leaflets being entire, with 

 secretion cells, but not glandular-punctate (Fig. 326). The flowers 



FIG. 326. Pride of China (Melia Azedarach}: A, flowering branch; B, a part 



of the inflorescence. After Harms. 



are complete, the filaments being united into a tube ; and they 

 occur in axillary clusters or racemes ; the fruit is a capsule, berry 

 or drupe ; the seeds are sometimes winged and with fleshy or leaf- 

 like cotyledons. 



The bitter principle mangrovin is found in the bark of the 

 China Tree or Pride of China (Melia Azcdarach) indigenous to 

 Asia, and extensively cultivated in tropical and warm-temperate 

 regions, and naturalized in the southern part of the United States 

 (Fig. 326). A similar principle is found in other plants of this 

 family. 



