EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 475 



forming a multiple fruit, or else enclosed in a dry or succulent invo- 

 lucre. Styles or stigmas commonly two. Ovary ripening into an 

 achenium. Seeds with or without albumen. — Ex. Artoearpus (the 

 Bread-fruit), Morus (the Mulberry, Fig. 593 - 595), Madura (the 

 Osage Orange), Ficus (the Fig, Fig. 590-592). The fruit is 

 often innocent and edible, at least when cooked ; while the milky 

 juice is more or less acrid or deleterious. It also abounds in Caout- 

 chouc ; much of which is obtained from some Soutli American trees of 

 this order, and from Fiscus elastica in Java. In one instance, how- 

 ever, the milky juice is perfectly innocent ; that of the famous Cow- 

 tree of South America, which yields a rich and wholesome milk. 

 One of the most virulent of poisons, the Bohon Upas, is the concrete 

 juice of Antiai'is toxicaria of the Indian Ai'chipelago. The Bread- 

 fruit is the fleshy receptacle and multiple fruit of Artoearpus. 

 Fustic is the wood of the South American Madura tinctoria ; the 

 wood of our own Madura or Osage Orange is used by the Western 

 Indians for bows. The resin called Gum Lac exudes and forms 

 small gi-ains on the bi-anches of the celebrated Banyan-tree (Ficus 

 Indica, Fig. 142). 



914. Subord. UrticeEB {True Nettle Family) ; which are herbs in 

 colder countries, but often shrubs or trees in the tropics, with a 

 watery juice, often with stinging hairs ; the monoecious or dioecious 

 flowers mostly loose, spicate, or panicled. Ovule orthotropous. 

 Ovary always one-celled, and style or stigma one ; the achenium 

 usually surrounded by a dry and membranous calyx. Embryo 

 straight, in fleshy albumen. — Ex. Urtica (the Nettle), &c. Innoc- 

 uous plants, except for the stinging hairs of many species. The 

 inner bark of Nettles yields very tough and slender fibres. 



915. Subord. Cannabineae {Hemp Family). Annual erect herbs, 

 or perennial twining plants, with a watery juice and dioecious flow- 

 ers ; the staminate flowers racemose or panicled ; the pistillate glom- 

 erate, or imbricated with bracts, and forming a kind of strobile-like 

 ament ; their calyx one-leaved. Stigmas two. Ovary one-celled, 

 with an erect orthotropous ovule. Embryo coiled or bent : albumen 

 none. — Ex. Cannabis (the Hemp), Humulus (the Hop). Hops 

 ai-e the catkins with large bracts ; the bitter and sedative principle 

 chiefly resides in the yellow grains that cohere to the scales and 

 cover the fruit. The leaves of Hemp, when grown in a hot climate, 

 are powerfully stimulant and narcotic, and are used in the East for 

 intoxication. The inner bark is used for cordage, &c. 



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