86 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 



peculiar to Australia and South Africa. They are trees or shrubs 

 with a most remarkable diversity of habit and inflorescence. The 

 perianth is 4-parted, consisting only of calyx; the stamens are also 

 four, placed opposite the divisions of the perianth; and the ovary is 

 superior and one-celled. The plants have no medicinal properties, but 

 are cultivated for their peculiar flowers, which are frequently borne in 

 dense cone-like clusters, and are often beautifully colored. (See Fig. 

 70.) 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Order Santalales. 



The Santalales are a group of plants with very varied habit. 

 They are herbs, shrubs or trees, largely tropical, but represented by 

 several genera and species in temperate climates. Many of the plants 

 are parasitic on the wood of trees to which they are attached; others 

 are terrestrial, but derive their sustenance from the roots of other 

 plants. In general the Santalales are distinguished by the more or less 

 inferior ovary, the calyx being partially or wholly united with it. The 

 ovary contains a single cell. 



Family Loranthaceae. Mistletoe Family. Contains about 21 

 genera and 500 species of wide geographical distribution, but most 

 abundant in the tropics. 



They are parasitic herbs or shrubs, green or yellowish-green in 

 color, as they contain chlorophyll and elaborate in their own tissues 

 the food materials extracted from the host plant through specialized 

 roots known as haustoria. The leaver and stems are fleshy or waxy in 

 texture and the flowers are inconspicuous, having usually only a calyx 

 but in some cases both calyx and corolla. The calyx is more or l6ss 

 adherent to the ovary, which becomes a one-seeded berry in fruit. 

 The stamens are 2 to 6 in number. 



The American mistletoe {^Phoradendron flavescens) is the most 

 familiar native representative of the family. There are other species 

 of Phoradendron occurring in the far West, and the related genus 

 Razoumofskya is found in the same region. In tropical countries there 

 are numerous species of Loranthus. The European mistletoe, repre- 

 sented in Figure 71, belongs to a distinct genus, Viscu7n, and is more 



