84 



ovules, always have them placed one above the other. Cultivated plants of 

 the order are very apt to produce monstrous flowers, which depart sometimes 

 in a most remarkable degree from their normal state. No order can be 

 more instructively studied with a view to morphological inquiries ; particu- 

 larly the common Pear when in blossom. A I'emarkable permanent monster 

 of this kind, with 14 styles, 14 ovaria, and a calyx with 10 divisions in two 

 rows, is described in the Revue Encyclopcdique, (43. 762.) ; it exhibits 

 a tendency, on the part of Pomacese, to assume the indefinite ovaria and 

 double calyx of Rosacese. I have seen a Prunus in a similar state. Amyg- 

 dalese are known by their superior solitary ovarium and drupaceous fruit, 

 and by the presence of Prussic acid, which, however, exists in Cotoneaster 

 microphylla, a plant of the order Pomacese. 



Geography. Found plentifully in Europe, Northern Asia, the moun- 

 tains of India, and North America ; rare in Mexico, unknown in Africa, 

 except on its northern shore, and in Madeira, and entirely absent from the 

 southern hemisphere ; a solitary species is found in the Sandwich Islands. 



Properties. The fruit as an article of food, and the flowers for their 

 beauty, are the chief peculiarities of this order, which consists exclusively 

 of trees and bushes, without any herbaceous plant. The Apple, the Pear, 

 the Medlar, the Quince, the Service, the Rowan Tree or Mountain Ash, are 

 all well known, either for their beauty or their use. The wood ofthe Pear 

 is almost as hard as Box, for which it is even substituted by wood engravers; 

 the timber of the Beam Tree (Pyrus Aria) is invaluable for axletrees. The 

 bark of Photinia dubia is used in Nipal for dyeing scarlet. Dec. Prodr. 

 238. Malic acid is contained, in considerable quantity, in apples; it is 

 also almost the sole acidifying principle of the berries of the Mountain Ash 

 (Pyrus aucuparia). Turner, 634. 



Examples. Pyrus, Crataegus, Cydonia. 



LXXV. AMYGDALE^. The Almond Tribe. 



AmygdalEj?!, Juss. Gen. 340. a % of Rosaceaj ( 1 789) Duupace/f., Dec^ Fl. Fran- 



(^aise, 4. 479. (1815); Prodr. 2. 529. (1825) a%of Rosaceaj ; Lindl. Synops. 89. (1829) 

 a %of Rosaceae. 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with a superior solitary simple 

 ovarium having a terminal style, regular perigynous indefinite stamens, a 

 drupaceous fruit, an exalbuminous suspended seed, and alternate stipulate 

 simple leaves yielding hydrocyanic acid. 



Anomalies. 



Essential Character — Calyx S-toothed, deciduous, liued with a disk ; the fifth 

 lobe next the axis. Petals 5, perigynous. Stamens 20, or tliereabouts, arising from tlie 

 throat of the calyx, in aestivation curved inwards ; anthers innate, 2-celled, bursting longi- 

 tudinally. Ovary superior, solitary, simple, l-celled ; oviila 2, suspended ; styles terminal, 

 with a furrow on one side, terminating in a reniform stigma. Fruit a drupe, with the 

 putamen sometimes separating spontaneously from the sarcocarp. Seeds mostly solitary, 

 suspended, in consequence of the cohesion of a funiculus umliilicalis, arising from the base 

 of the cavity of the ovarium, with its side. Embryo straight, with the radicle pointing to 



the hilum ;' cotyledons thick ; albumen none Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, 



usually glandular towards the base ; slipulw simple, mostly glandular. Flowers white or 

 pink. Hydrocyanic acid present in the leaves and kernel. 



Affinities. Distinguished from Rosaceae and Pomacege by their fruit 

 being a drupe, their bark yielding gum, and by the presence of hydrocyanic 



