BEGOMACE£. 



244 



ORDER LXXX!. EBENACE^. The Ebony Tribe, 



Fiji Polygamous or dicecious (rarely perfect). 



OiZ.— Inferior, 3— 6-cleft, divisions nearly equal, persistent.^ 

 Cor.— Regular, 3— G-cleft, often pubescent, imbncate in a;stivation. 

 Sta.— Twice or four times as many as the lobes of the corolla. 

 Ora.— With 3 or more cells. Style with as many divisions. 

 Fr. — A fleshy, oval or globose berry. 



Trees and shrubs, without a milky juice. Leaves alternate, without stipules, mostly 

 entire and coriaceous. The species are mostly natives of the Indies and the tropics, one 

 only being found as far north as New York. , , , , ^ , j ,^u 



Properties. Diospyrus is remarkable for the hardness and dark color of the wood, hbony 

 is the wood of D. Ebenus. Ebenasler, and other species, natives of Africa. The fruit ol 

 the species below is eatable when fully ripe, although extremely bitter and astringent 

 before maturity. The bark is eminently febrifugal and astringent. Stora:r and benzoin^ 

 gum-resins of the shops, composed of resin and ftcM^oic acirf, are the products ot two species 

 of Styrax. 



DIOSPY'ROS. 



Perfect f. — Caljx 4-clert ; corolla urceolate, 4-cleft ; 

 stamens 8 often 16; style 4-cleft; berry 8— 12-see(led. 

 Sterile ft.— Calyx and corolla 4'clert ; stamens 8 — 16; ovary 

 abortive; style 0. 



Gr. Aio4 TTvgos, the frwit of Jove. The fruit hardly deserves so elevated a 

 title, although excellent, 



D. Virginia'na. 



Leaves ovate-oblong, acuminate, entire, smooth, reticulate-veined ; petioles 

 pubescent; buds smoolh. In woods of the Northern and Middle States, as 

 well as of the South. With us it is a shrub or small tree, but grows to large 

 dimensions at the South. Leaves 3—5 inches in length, entire, glaucous 

 beneath. Flowers obscure, pale, greenish yellow, the fertile ones succeeded 

 by a round, orange-red fruit as large as the garden plum, and containing G— 8 

 stony seeds. 'i'h1?y are rendered sweet and palatable by the frost, although 

 very austere when green. The bark is tonic and astringent. June. Persimmon. 



ORDER LXXXIII. BEGONIACE^E.* ne Begonia Tribe. 



F/^.-Monmcious or dioecious. [As. 3-5, imbricated, 1-2 smaller than the others. 



CteL-Sepals superior, colored ; in the sterile fls. 4, 2 interior and smaller; in the fertile 

 Sta —Indefinite, distinct or combined. Anth. collecled into a head, 2-ce!led. 

 Ot'a.— Adherent, winged, 3-celled. Stlgniax 3, 2-lobed, somewhai spiral. 

 JFr.— Capsular, winged, 3-celled, many-seeded. Seeds uuaulc. AWumen*}. 



BEGO'NI A. 



Character essentially the same as the order. 



Named in honor of Michael Begon, a French botanist of the 17th century. 



B. Dl'SCOLOR. — Leaves angular, reddish beneath ; stejn nodose ; wings 

 of the capsule unequal. A popular and curious greenhouse plant, native in 

 China. Stem about 2 feet high, fleshy, smooth, tumid and colored at the 

 nodes. Leaves large, slightly angular, mucronate, serrate cordate-ovate, veiy 



* This order having been, by mistake, omiued in its usual (and proper?) place, 

 immediately following Cucurbilarea-, is necessarily inserted here in the present edition, 

 although but slightly, if at all, related to the contiguous families. 



