138 



calyx, symmetrical flowers, solitary pendulous ovules, stamens arising from 

 hypogynous scales, and exstipulate leaves without dots. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character Flowers hermaphrodite, or occasionally unisexual. Calyx 



in 4 or 5 divisions. Petals the same number, longer, either spreading or combined in a 

 tube ; (estivation twisted. Stamens twice as many as the petals, each arising from the back 

 of a hypogynous scale. Ovarium 4- or 6-lobed, placed upon a stalk from the base of which 

 the stamens arise, 4- or 5-celled, each cell with 1 suspended ovulum ; style simple; stigma 

 4- or 5-lobed. Fruit consisting of 4 or 5 drupes arranged around a common receptacle, 

 indehiscent. Seeds pendulous, with a membranous integument ; embryo without albumen ; 



radicle superior, short, drawn back within the thick cotyledons Trees or shrttbs. Leaves 



Avithout stipula, alternate, occasionally simple, most usually compound without dots. Pe- 

 duncles axillary or terminal. Flowers whitish, green, or purple. The diflFerent parts 

 bitter. 



Affinities. Akin to Zygophylleae in their stamens inserted upon 

 hypogynous scales, and to Ochnacese in their deeply-lobed ovarium, or 

 nearly separate ovaria ; from these latter they are distinguished by their 

 want of a succulent disk, their suspended not erect ovules, and their 

 anthers bursting by longitudinal slits, not by terminal pores. A. de Jus- 

 sieu says, " They are known from all Rutaceous plants by the co-existence 

 of three characters ; namely, ovaria with but one ovulum, indehiscent 

 drupes, and exalbuminous seeds, the membranous integument of the 

 embryo and the radicle being retracted within thick cotyledons." 



Geography. All natives of tropical America, India, or Africa, with 

 the exception of 1 Nipal plant. 



Properties. All intensely bitter. The wood of Quassia is well 

 known. A plant called Para'iba in Brazil, the Simaruba versicolor of St. 

 Hilaire, possesses such excessive bitterness that no insects will attack it. 

 Specimens of it placed among dried plants which were entirely devoured 

 by the larvae of a species of Ptinus, remained untouched. The Brazilians 

 use an infusion in brandy as a specific against the bite of serpents, and 

 also employ it with very great success to cure the lousy diseases to which 

 people are very subject in those countries. PL Usuelles, no. 5. 



Examples. Quassia, Simaruba. 



CXXI. PITTOSPORE^. 



PiTTOSPOREiE, n. Brown in Flinder''s Voyage, 2. 542.(1814); Dec. Prodr. 1. 345. 

 (1824); Ach. Rich, in Diet. Class. 13. G43. (1828.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with definite hypogynous sta- 

 mens, distinct except at the base, concrete carpella, an ovarium of several 

 cells with the placentae in the axis, an imbricated calyx, symmetrical flowers, 

 indefinite seeds with a minute embryo in fleshy albumen, and simple leaves. 



Anomalies. 



Essential Character Sepals 5, deciduous, either distinct or partially cohering ; 



CBStivation imbricated. Petals 5, hypogynous, sometimes slightly cohering ; {Estivation im- 

 bricated. Stamens 5, hypogynous, distinct, alternate with the j)etals. Ovarium single, 

 distinct, with the cells or the placenta:^ 2 or 5 in numlxT, and many-seeded ; style I ; stigmas 

 equal in number to the placentae. Fruit capsular or berried, with many-seeded cells, which 

 are sometimes incomplete. Seeds often covered with a glutinous or resinous pulp ; embryo 

 minute, near the hiltim, lying in fleshy albumen; radicle rather long; cotyledons very 



short Trees OT shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, without stipule, usually entire. Flowers 



terminal or axillary, sometimes polygamous. 



Affinitif.s. Mr. Brown, in establishing these as an order, remarks that 



