81 



nosa is one of the substances that has been reported to resemble Jesuits' bark 

 in its effects. Ibid. Prunus cocomilia yields a bark, the febrifugal properties 

 of which are spoken of very highly. According to M. Tenore, it is a specific 

 for the cure of the dangerous intermittent fevers of Calabria, where it grows. 

 A variety of Cerasus avium is used for the preparation, in the Vosges and the 

 Black Forest, of the liqueur known under the name of Kirschenwasser. The 

 flowers of Amygdalus persica (peach) are gently laxative, and are used advan- 

 tageously for children. The kernel of Cerasus oceidentalis is used for flavour- 

 ing the liqueur Noyau. [The wood of C. virginiana is much employed in the 

 United States for cabinet work. It is nearly equal to the inferior kinds of ma- 

 hogany.] 



Examples. Prunus, Amygdalus, Cerasus. 



LXXVI. CHRYSOBALANEvE. The Cocoa-Plum Tribe. 



Chrysobalaneje, R. Broun, in Tuckey's Voyage to the Congo, App. (1818); Dec. Prodr. 2. 

 525. a sect, of Rosacea? (1825); Reichenb. Conspectus, 171, a sect, of Onagrarise (1828.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with a superior solitary ovarium, 

 having a style proceeding from its base, irregular perigynous petals and sta- 

 mens, a drupaceous fruit adhering obliquely to the calyx, exalbuminous definite 

 erect seeds, and alternate stipulate simple leaves. 



Anomalies. Hirtella has fleshy albumen and leafy cotyledons, according 

 to Gsertner ; and one species of the same genus is described as apetalous. 

 Cycnia has a semipetaloid irregular calyx and no petals. 



Essential Character. — Calyx 5-lobed, sometimes bracteolate at the base. Petals more 

 or less irregular, either 5 or none. Stamens either definite or indefinite, usually irregular 

 either in size or position. Ovarium superior, solitary, 1- or 2-cclled, cohering' more or less on 

 one side with the calyx ; ovula twin, erect ; style single, arising' from the base; stigma simple. 

 Fruit a drupe of 1 or 2 cells. Seed usually solitary, erect. Embryo with fle3hy cotyledons, 

 and no albumen. — Trees or Shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, with no glands, and 

 veins that run parallel with each other from the midrib to the margin. Floiccrs in racemes, 

 or panicles, or corymbs. 



Affinities. The obvious affinity of this order is with Amygdalea*, from 

 which it differs in having irregular stamens and petals, and a style proceeding 

 from the base of the ovarium. With Rosacea?, to which Chrysobalanese have 

 a strict relation, they agree in the same manner as Amygdalea?, excepting the 

 characters just pointed out. To Leguminosas, with drupaceous fruit, they 

 approach closely in the irregularity of their stamens and corolla, and especially 

 in the cohesion which takes place between the stalk of the ovarium and the 

 sides of the calyx ; a character found, as M. Dccandolle well remarks, in Jo- 

 nesia and Bauhinia, undoubted leguminous plants : they are distinguished 

 from this latter order by the position of their style and ovula, and by the rela- 

 tion which is borne to the axis of inflorescence by the odd lobe of the calyx 

 being the same as is found in Rosacese. Brown remarks (Congo, 434), that 

 the greater part of the order has the flowers more or less irregular, and that the 

 simple ovarium of Parinarium has a dissepiment in some degree analogous to 

 the moveable dissepiment of Banksia and Dryandra ; but we now know, from 

 the more recent observations of this learned botanist upon the ovulum, that this 

 dissepiment arises differently. The analogy of structure, as to the dissepiment 

 of Parinarium, is to be sought in Amelanchier. 



