176 



FAMILIES OF FLO WEEING PLANTS 



Fig. 156. The flowers and fruit of the nianiiney ap 

 <j!e {Mammea Americana^ greatly reduced. Original. 



liiglily expensive fancy teas are made of the young leaves and flower 

 hiuls, but only a small quantity of these grades is ever imported. The 



active principle in the leaves 

 is an alkaloid known as theine, 

 and the percentage of tannin 

 is very high. The family 

 Theaceae has also been known 

 by the name Ternstroemiaceae. 

 Family Guttiferae. Gam- 

 boge Family. A tropical group 

 comprising about 30 genera 

 and 300 species, trees or shrubs 

 abounding in resin, with oppo- 

 site leaves and flowers often 

 incomplete or irregular; sepals 

 and petals 2-8; stamens nu- 

 merous, frequently united; 

 fruit dry or pulpy. The family is of considerable economic import- 

 ance. The yellow coloring matter 

 known as gamboge is obtained 

 from a species of Garcinia, the 

 largest genus in the family. G. 

 Mangostwia is the mangostan or 

 mangosteen, the fruit of which is 

 described by all who have eaten it 

 as being without a i^eer in the veg- 

 etable kingdom. A writer on Jav- 

 anese fruits says: "It is of the size 

 of a small orange, when ripe red- 

 dish-brown, and when old of a 

 chestnut-brown color. Its succu- 

 lent rind is nearly the fourth of an 

 inch in thickness * " On re- 

 moving the rind, its esculent sub- 

 stance appears in the form of a 

 juicy pulp having the whiteness 

 and solubility of snow, and of a 

 refreshing, delicate, delicious fla- 

 vour. We were all anxious to 



. . Fig. 157. The large golden St. Johnswort (y/v- 



Carry away with us some precise pr,icuvt aureumy, flowering branch and detached 

 expression of its qualities; but capsule, about one-half natural size. Original. 



after satisfying ourselves that it j)artook of the compound taste of the 

 p>ineapple and the peach, we were obliged to confess that it had many 



