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A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



in August is a feature of commercial honey production. It may be noted 

 that in addition to collecting nectar, the bees gather the slate-grey pollen as 

 food for their larvae. Heather honey contains a higher proportion of protein 

 than ordinary mixed honeys. 



EBENALES 



The Ebenales are Metachlamydeae in which the flowers are bisexual or 

 dioecious, regular, usually tetramerous and gamopetalous. The stamens 

 are inserted in the corolla tube, the ovary is usually superior and multilocu- 

 lar and placentation is axile with one or two ovules in each loculus. The 

 embryo is usually straight and is surrounded by endosperm. 



The plants are mainly tropical in distribution. They are mostly woody 

 with leathery leaves. Some four families are included in the order. The 

 Sapotaceae are separated from the remaining three by the presence in 

 the stems and leaves of a laticiferous system. The other three families 

 are the Ebenaceae, Styracaceae and Symplocaceae. 



We shall not consider any family in detail but will refer briefly to certain 

 features of interest in the families which are of economic importance. 



The Sapotaceae contain about thirty-five genera and 600 species and 

 are mostly trees. The flowers are solitary or in cymose inflorescences. Calyx 



F"iG. 1776. — Achras sapota. Sapodilla. Photo- 

 graph supplied by courtesy of the Florida 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



and corolla vary in the number of their parts, being either 2 + 2, 3 + 3, 

 4+4 or 5. The stamens are in two or three whorls, the outer whorl often 



