EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 443 



feet flowers. Calyx-tube generally coherent either with the base of 

 the ovar}', or with its whole surface. Petals often distinct or nearly 

 so. Styles and stigmas perfectly united into one. Stamens definite, 

 or in the suborder Symplocine^ mostly indefinite ; filaments more 

 or less united. Cells of the ovary opposite the calyx-lobes. Other- 

 wise much as in the last family. — Ex. Styrax, Halesia, Symplocos. 

 Some yield a fragrant, balsamic resinous substance ; such as Storax 

 and Benzoin, containing Benzoic acid. The sweet leaves of our 

 Symplocos tinctoria afford a yellow dye. 



8G1. Ord. SapotaceiB (Sapodilla Family). Trees or shrubs, usually 

 Avith a milky juice ; the leaves alternate, entire, coriaceous, the up- 

 per surface commonly shining. Flowers perfect, regular, axillary, 

 usually in clusters. Corolla four- to eight- (or mmiy-) cleft. Sta- 

 mens distinct, inserted on the tube of the corolla, commonly twice 

 as many as its lobes, half of them fertile and opposite the lobes, the 

 others petaloid scales or filaments and alternate with them : anthers 

 extrorse. Ovary 4-1 2-celled, with a single ovule in each cell. 

 Styles united into one. Fruit a berry. Seeds with a bony testa, 

 with or without albumen. — Ex. Bumelia, of the Southern United 

 States. The fruit of many species is sweet and eatable ; such as 

 the Sapodilla Plum, the Marmalade, the Star-Apple, and other West 

 Indian species. The large seeds, particularly of some kinds of 

 Bassia, yield a bland fixed oil, Avhich is sometimes thick and like 

 butter, as in the Chee of India (B. butyracea), and the African 

 Butter-tree. 



862. Ord. MyrsinacerP. Trees or shrubs, mostly with alternate 

 coriaceous leaves, which are often dotted with glands, and with all 

 the characters of Primulaceoe, except the druj^aceous fruit and arbo- 

 rescent habit. — Nearly all tropical (Ardisia, Myrsine). 



8G3. Ord. Primulacca; {Primrose Family). Herbs, with opposite, 

 whorled, or alternate leaves, often with naked scapes and the leaves 

 crowded at the base. Flowei's regular. Stamens inserted on the 

 tube of the corolla, as many as its lobes and opposite them ! Ovary 

 free, with one partial excejition, one-celled Avith a free central pla- 

 centa ! Ovules mostly indefinite and amphitropous. Style and 

 stigma single. Fruit capsular : the^ fleshy central placenta attached 

 to the base of the cell. Seeds albuminous. Embryo transverse. — 

 Ex. Primula (Primrose), Cyclamen, AnagaUis. In Samolus, the 

 calyx coheres with the base of the ovary, and there is a row of 

 sterile filaments occupying the normal position of the first set of 



