EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 469 



the calyx, and opposite them, inserted on the edge of the disk. 

 Ovules several, destitute of proper integuments, pendulous from the 

 apex of a stipe-like basilar placenta. Style one. Fruit indehiscent, 

 crowned with the limb of the calyx. Seed albummous. Embryo 

 small. — Ex. Comandra, Pyrularia, &c. The fragrant Sandal-wood 

 is obtained from several Lidian and Polynesian species of Santalum. 

 The large seeds of Pyrularia oleifera (Buffalo-tree, Oil-nut), of the 

 Alleghany Mountains, would yield a copious fixed oil. One species 

 of Fusanus in Australia is esteemed for its edible seeds, known by 

 the name of Quandang-nuts. 



903. Ord. LorantliacCiB {3Iistletoe Family) consists of shrubby 

 plants, with articulated branches*, and opposite coriaceous and mostly 

 dull greenish entire leaves ; parasitic on trees. The floral envelopes 

 are various. In Mistletoe (which is dioecious) the anthers are ses- 

 sile and adnate to the face of the sepals, one to each; while Lo- 

 ranthus has both calyx and corolla, the latter most conspicuous, and 

 a stamen before each petal and adnate to it. The ovary is one- 

 celled, with a single suspended ovule, consisting of a nucleus without 

 integuments. Fruit a one-seeded berry. Embryo small, in fleshy 

 albumen. — Ex. Lorantlius ; Viscum, the Mistletoe, from the glu- 

 tinous berries of which birdlime is made ; Phoradendron, the Ameri- 

 can INIistletoe. The bark is astringent. 



904. Ord. PiperaceSC {Pepper Family). A peculiar order of tropical 

 herbaceous or shrubby plants, with jointed stems, naked (achlamyde- 

 ous) but perfect flowers in spikes or spicate racemes, a one-celled ovary 

 Avith an erect orthotropous ovule ; the embryo minute in a vitellus 

 or persistent embryo-sac at the apex of the albumen. — Pungent 

 and. stimulant properties characterize the order. Piper nigrum fur- 

 nishes Black pepper, and Wliite pepper is the same, Avith the flesh of 

 the drupe removed. The fruit of Cubeba officinalis, &c. furnishes 

 Cubebs, Avhich are hot aromatics, acting also on the mucous mem- 

 branes. The pungency in all these plants is owing to a peculiar 

 volatile oil and resin. They also yield a crystalline matter, called 

 Piperine. Others have more intoxicating properties, as Betel, the 

 leaves of a Chavica, chewed by the Malays, and the Ava (Macropi- 

 per methysticum) from which the South-Sea Islanders malvc their 

 inebriating drink. 



905. Ord. SaururaceSB {Lizard' s-tail Family) ; differs from the Pep- 

 per Family (of which it is an offshoot) in the feebly pungent quali- 

 ties, the distinct stipules (when these are evident), and the tlu-ee or 



40 



