109 



drupe, with a 1- or 2-celled nut, the cells of which are 1- or many-seeded. Seeds ascending", 

 seldom inverted by resupination, either provided with an arillus, or without one ; albumen 

 fleshy ; embryo straight ; cotyledons flat and thick, with a short inferior radicle. — Shrubs. 

 Leaves simple, alternate or opposite. Flowers in axillary cytnes. 



Affinities. Formerly confounded with Rhamneae, this order was first 

 separated by Mr. Brown, who distinguished it particularly by the relation 

 which its stamens bear to the petals. It also differs in its imbricated calyx, and 

 in its disk being hypogynous. According to Brongniart, Celastrineae have 

 more relation to several orders with hypogynous stamens than to any with pe- 

 rigynous ones, especially to Malpighiaceae, to which they are related through 

 Hippocrateaceae, which are in fact, according to Mr. Brown, scarcely distinct 

 from Celastrineae. Brongn. M6m. p. 15. Related to Euphorbiaceae. 



Geography. Natives of the warmer parts of Europe, North America, and 

 Asia, but far more abundant beyond the tropics than within them ; a great 

 number of species inhabit the Cape of Good Hope. Some are found in Chile 

 and Peru, and a few in New Holland. 



Properties. I find nothing recorded about the properties of the species of 

 this order, except a remark by Decandolle, that a decoction of the young 

 branches of Maytenus is employed in Chile as a wash for swellings produced 

 by the poisonous shade of the tree Lithi. Essai, 123. ed. 2. 



Examples. Euonymus, Celastrus, Alzatea. 



XCIV. HIPPOCRATEACEAE. 



HippocbaticEjE. Juss. Ann. Mus. 18. 483. (1811.)— Hippocr ate ace«, Kunth in Humb. N. G. 

 Am. 5. 136. (1821) ; Dec. Prodr. 1. 567. (1829.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with definite lyrpogynous stamens 

 (3) cohering at the base in a fleshy cup, concrete carpella, an ovarium of several 

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

 erect ovules, undivided petals without appendages, and indehiscent apterous 

 fruit. 



Anomalies. 



Essential Character. — Sepals 5, very seldom 4 or 6, very small, combined as far as the 

 middle, persistent. Petals 5, very seldom 4 or 6, equal, hypogynous? somewhat imbricated 

 in Eestivation. Stamens 3, very seldom 4 or 5 ; filaments cohering almost as far as the apex 

 into a tube dilated at the base, and forming about the ovarium a thick disk-like cup ; anthers 

 1-celled, opening transversely at the apex, 2- or even 4-celled. Ovarium concealed by the 

 tube, 3-cornered, distinct ; style 1 ; stigmas 1-3 ; ovula erect. Fruit either consisting of 3 

 samaroid carpella, or berried with from 1 to 3 cells. Seeds in each cell 4, or more, but definite, 

 attached to the axis in pairs, some of them occasionally abortive, erect, without albumen ; 

 embryo straight; radicle pointing towards the base; cotyledons flat, elliptical oblong, some- 

 what fleshy, cohering when dried.— Arborescent or climbing shrubs, which are almost always 

 smooth. Leaves opposite, simple, entire or toothed, somewhat coriaceous. Racemes axillary, 

 in corymbs or fascicles. Flowers small, not showy. 



Affinities. The ternary number of the stamens, along with the quinary 

 number of the petals and sepals, is the prominent characteristic of this order, 

 which was formerly included in Acerinece by M. de Jussieu, which is placed 

 between Erythroxylece and Marcgraaviaceae by Decandolle, but which is, to 

 all appearance, much more nearly related to Celastrineae, as Mr. Brown has 

 remarked ; for " the insertion of the ovula is either towards the base, or is cen- 

 tral ; the direction of the radicle is always inferior." Brown, Congo, 427. In 

 Hippocratea ovata, the testa and cotyledons are furnished in the inside with 



