SUPPLEMENT. t.^^,^. 



THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS ^ 



By Chaeles Louis Pollaed. 

 CHAPTEE XXII.— Continued. 



Family Trigoniaceae. Trigonia Family. A small group of South 

 American trees consisting of two genera, Trigonia, with 26 species, and 

 Lighfia, with two. The plants are most anomalous in structure, and 

 have given botanists much trouble to dispose of them properly in the 

 systematic sequence. The flowers are very irregular, one petal being 

 much larger than the remaining four, and placed uppermost, like the 

 banner petal in a papilionaceous flower. One of the petals is spurred 

 somewhat like a violet; the stamens are united in two series. 



Family Vochisiaceae. Vochy Family. Contains 7 genera and 

 about 130 species, exclusively South American. They are trees or 

 shrubs with opposite leaves and very showy yellow, white, pink or pur- 

 ple flowers in large terminal racemes or panicles. The flowers are 

 irregular, having 4 to 5 sepals, an equal number of petals, and few sta- 

 mens, sometimes reduced to one; the ovary is 3-celled, becoming a 

 mnged fruit or capsule. VocMsia and Qualea are often cultivated for 

 their beautiful flowers, and the trees frequently yield valuable timber, 

 the well-known copaiye wood of Guiana being the product of Vocliisia 

 Guianeiisis. A yellow dye is also obtained from certain species of 

 Qualea. The popular name which I have adopted for the family is de- " 

 rived from the native name of some of the trees in Guiana. 



Family Tremandraceae. Tremandra Family. Two genera, Tre- 

 mandra and Platytheca, the former with two species, the latter with 

 one, all confined to West Australia, They are heath-like shrubs with 

 red, blue or white slender-pedicelled flowers; the latter are regular, 

 with 4-5 sepals, 4-5 petals, 8-10 stamens, and a 2-celled ovary. 



Family Polygalaceae. Milkwort Family. These plants are herbs, 

 rarely shrubs or small trees, comprised in about 10 genera and 750 

 species, widely distributed in both temperate and tropical regions. 

 Polygala is the most important genus, consisting of over 250 species, a 

 fifth of which are found in the United States. The plants are of inter- 

 est to the botanist on account of the somewhat singular stnicture of 



