128 



FAMILIES OF FLOWEEING PLANTS 



neighborhood also belongs CUfordia, a genus of South African shrubs 

 comprising about 40 species. 



The rosQ (Rosa) is naturally the type and most important genus of 

 the Rosaceae. There are very diverse views among botanists as to the 

 number of wild species that should properly be recognized; over 600 

 have been described, but this number can probably be reduced to 200 

 or 300. The rose flower has an urn-shaped calyx, five petals, and very 

 numerous stamens and carpels; the latter, when ripe, form 1-seeded 



From Coulter's Plant Structures. Copyright, 1900, D. Appleton & Co. 



Fig. 113. The common pear (Pvrits communis) showing flowering branch (i), section of flower (2), 

 section of frviit (3), and diagram of flower (4). After Wossidlo. 



achenes enclosed in the fleshy fruiting calyx, known as the hip or hep. 

 In cultivation the number of the stamens becomes greatly reduced, and 

 the petals correspondingly increased. No flower responds more read- 

 ily to the methods of the horticulturalist than does the rose, and hun- 

 dreds of distinct garden varieties, belonging to many distinct types, are 

 known. The two important economic uses of the rose are in the manu- 

 facture of rose water and attar of roses. 



Next in the systematic arrangement of the family we fi,nd the sub- 

 family Neuradoideae, containing two North African desert shrubs 

 {Nenrada and Grielum). 



Family Pomaceae. Apple Family. As above explained, this and 

 the succeeding were formerly regarded as sections of the rose family 



