EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



381 



739. Ord. MaglloliacefB {Magnolia Family). Trees or shrubs; 

 with ample and coi'iaceous, aUernate, entire or lobecl leaves, usually 

 punctate with minute transparent dots : stipules membranaceous, en- 

 veloping the bud, falling off when the leaves expand. Flowers soli- 

 tary, large and showy. Calyx of three deciduous sepals, colored like 

 the petals ; the latter in two or more series of three. Stamens nu- 

 merous, with adnate anthers. Carpels either several in a single 

 row, or numerous and spicate on the prolonged receptacle ; in the 

 latter case usually more or less cohering with each other, and form- 

 ing a fruit like a cone or strobile. Seeds mostly one or two in each 

 carpel, sometimes drupaceous and suspended, when the caqjels open, 

 by an extensile thread, composed of unrolled spiral vessels. Em- 

 bryo minute, at the base of homogeneous fleshy albumen. There 

 are three well-marked suborders, by many ranked as orders, viz. : — 



740. Sutord. Magnoliere {Magnolia Family proper'), characterized 

 principally as above, especially by the stipules and the imbricated 

 spiked carpels : — represented by Magnolia and Liriodendron. The 

 bark, &c. is bitter and aromatic, with some acridity. 



741. Subord. Willtercse {Winter' s-Bark Family) has no stipules, 

 and the carpels occupy only a single verticil. These have more 



FIG. 651. Magnolia glauca. 652. A stamen, seen from the Inside, sho-sving the two lobes of 

 the adnate anther. 653. The carpels in fruit, persistent on the receptacle, and opening by the 

 dorsal suture ; the seeds suspended by their extensile cord of spiral vessels. 



