Pjeonia. MAGNOLIACEiE. 41 



2|. PiEONIA. Linn.; Jass. gen. p. 231 ; DC. syst. 1. p. 3SG. 



Character same as of the Suborder. 



1. P. Brownii (Dougl.): carpels 5, oblong, very glabrous, erect; leaves 

 smooth on both sides, somewhat glaucous, biternatc ; leaflets ternately divid- 

 ed or pinuatifid, laciniate ; laciniac oblong, those of the lower leaves obtuse. 

 Ilonk. f. Jior.-Am. 1. p. 27. 



"Near tlie confines of perpetual snow on the subalpine range of Mount 

 Hood, N. W. America." Douglas in Hook. " East of the Blue Mountains 

 of Oregon, not in subalpine situations," Nuttall ! June-July.— Stem striate. 

 Sepals very unequal, oval. Carpels very smooth, oblong, scarcely recun-ed at 

 the apex. Hook. " Petals reddish-purple, never fully expanding." Nutt. 



2. P. Californica (Nutt. ! mss.) : " carpels 3, glabrous ; leaves smooth on 

 both sides (not glaucous), ternate; leaflets broadly cuneate, nearly twice 3- 

 cleft ; laciniffi oblong-lanceolate, acute. . 



"Margins of bushy plains, and in the valleys of the mountains, in the vici- 

 nhy St. "Barbara, Upper California. March- April.— Ditfers from the preced- 

 ing in the smaller, less divided and broader leaves, Avhich are deep green on 

 both sides; and the leaflets bifid or trifid, never pinnatifid. Sepals never expand- 

 ing, one, and sometimes two, of the outer ones ending in a small trifid 

 leaf jPetals small, scarcely exceeding the length of the calyx, deep blood-red. 

 Seeds large, light brown, cylindrical-ovoid." Nutt. 



Order II. MAGNOLIACEiE, Juss. 



Magnoliacese & Winteracere, R. Br. ; Lindl. 



Parts of the flowers arranged in a ternary order. Sepals 3-6, do- 

 ciduous. Petals 3-30, hypogynous, in several rows : aestivation ini- 

 bricated. Stamens indefinite, distinct, hypogynous : filaments very 

 short : anthers adnatc, introrsc. Ovaries several in a single row, or 

 numerous and spicate in several rows, on a torus raised above the sta- 

 mens : styles short or none : stigmas simple. Fruit consisting of 

 numerous 1-2-seeded carpels, follicular or baccate, or woody, or fleshy, 

 aggregated or connate in a strobiliform manner upon the clongat- 

 ed torus ; sometimes samaroid. Seeds anatropous, suspended or as- 

 cending. Embryo minute, at the base of fleshy homogeneous albu. 

 men. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire, (pubescent when 

 young) mostly minutely punctate with transparent dots, coriaceous, 

 with convolute caducous stipules. Flowers rarely diclinous, solitary, 

 usually large, fragrant. 



The presence of pellucid dots in the leaves of WintcrfxceEe, and their absence in 

 Magnoliacea;, is considered a chief mark of distinction by those autliors who view 

 the two orders as distinct. These dots, liowever, exist in all our Mas^nolias, as well 

 as in the exotic forms we have examined, and may he ob'served witli a lens of very 

 moderate power (if the leaves be too coriaceous at least in tlie petals) quite as readi- 

 ly as in lllicium. Several species are also slightly aromatic and stimulant as well 

 as bitter. The leaves, or at least the petals, of all our species of Auonacea:, and of 



6 



