SUPPLEMENT. 



THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 



By Charles Louis Pollard. 



Chapter X.XYI.^- Continued. 



FAMILY Myrtaceae. Myrtle Family. A vast and important family 

 of nearly 100 genera and some 1700 species. They are trees or 

 shrubs with entire, usually opposite and dotted leaves, these often 

 having an intra-marginal vein. The flowers are borne in terminal or 

 axillary racemes, panicles or rarely cymes, the individual flowers being 

 perfect and regular, with the tubular calyx somewhat cohering at the 

 apex and bearing the petals alternating with its lobes. The stamens are 

 also inserted with the petals and are twice as many or oftener indefinite 

 in number. The 1-6 celled ovary is adherent to the calyx and in fruit 

 becomes dry or fleshy. 



This family is widely distributed throughout the world, mainly in 



Fig. 173. Flowering Branch of Eucalyptus rostrata. 



