460 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



four-cleft, or of four separate petals, valvate in jestivation, sometimes 

 none. Stamens mostly Iavo, aclnate to the base of the corolla. 

 Ovary free, two-celled, Avith two pendulous ovules in each cell. 

 Fruit by suppression usually one-celled and one- or two-seeded. 

 Seed albuminous. Embryo straight. — Ex. Olea (the Olive), and 

 Chionanthus (Fringe-tree), where the fruit is a drupe. Syringa, the 

 Lilac, which has a capsular fruit. Fraxinus, the Ash ; where the 

 fruit is a samara, the flowers are polygamous, and mostly destitute 

 of petals. Olive oil is expressed from the esculent drupes of Olea 

 Europa^a. Tlie bark, like that of the Ash, is bitter, astringent, and 

 febrifugal. 3Ianna exudes from the trunk of Fraxinus Onius of 

 Southern Europe, &c. — Forestiera appears to represent another 

 entirely apetalous form of this family. 



Division III. — Apetalous Exogenous Plants. 



Corolla none ; the floral envelopes consisting of a single series 

 (calyx), or sometimes entirely wanting. — Many of them are apeta- 

 lous allies of polypetalous families ; as Phytolaccaceae, &c. related to 

 Caryophyllaceai ; Erapetraceae to Ericaceae, &c. 



Conspectus of the Orders. 



Group 1. Flowers perfect, with a conspicuous or colored mostly adnata calyx. 

 Ovary several-celled and many-ovuled. Capsule or berry many-seeded. — 

 Herbs or climbing shrubs. Aristolochiace^. 



Group 2. Flowers perfect, or rarely polygamous. Calyx corolline, strongly 

 gamosepalous, much produced beyond the ovary, the expanded border entire 

 or moderately lobed ; the base persistent, and forming an indurated nut- 

 like closed covering to the one-seeded achcnium or utricle. Embryo large, 

 curved or conduplicate, involving some albumen. — Leaves opposite : nodes 

 tumid. Flowers often large and showy. Nyctaginace^. 



Group 3. Flowers perfect, or rarely polygamous, with a regular and often 

 petaloid calyx. Ovary free. Ovules solitary in each ovary or cell. Em- 

 bryo curved or coiled around (or sometimes in) mealy albumen, rarely in the 

 axis or exalbuminous. 



Ovary several-celled, or ovaries several in a whorl. PHYTOLACCACE.ai;. 



Ovary solitary and one-celled, with a single ovule. 



Stipules none. Ovule campylotropous or amphitropous. 



