Amentales.] 



ALTINGIACE^. 



253 



Order LXXTX. ALTINGIACE^.— Liquidambars. 



Balsamaceae, ed. p?*.— Balsamifluse, Blume Fl. Javce; EncU. Gen, xcviii. ; Meistier, p. 347. 



Diagnosis. — Amental Exogens, toith a 2-ceUed ovary and numerous winged seeds. 



Tall trees, yielding balsam. Leaves alternate, simple or lobed, wath glandular seri'a- 



tnres at the edges. Stipules deciduous. Female catkins on longer stalks than the males, 



and below them, the males smTounded 

 by a deciduous 4 -leaved involucre. 

 Flowers $ $ . Catkins imisexual, 

 roundish. $ : Anthers numerous, 

 oblong, nearly sessile ; with no calyx, 

 but mixed witla a few minute scales, and 

 covering the common receptacle. $ • 

 Ovaries 2 -celled, collected into a globe, 

 each surrounded by a few scales : styles 

 2, long : o\'ules indefinite, attached to 

 3 the dissepiment, amphitropal. Finiit a 

 cone composed of hard connected scales, 

 m the cavities of which lie obconical, 2- 

 lobed, 2-ceUed capsules. Seeds nume- 

 rous, or solitary by abortion, compressed, membranous, 

 winged, peltate, attached to the middle of the dissepi- 

 ments ; embryo inverted, in the midst of fleshy albumen ; 

 cotyledons leafy ; radicle short, superior. 

 , These are large trees \di\\ the appearance of Planes ; 

 they are, however, kno\Mi from that Order by theu' 

 2-ceUed, many-seeded capsules, which equally distin- 

 guish them from all the Amental AUiance, in which it 

 Fig. CLXX. seems necessary to retain them, notwithstanding the 



presence of a small quantity of albumen in their seeds. 

 They may be regarded as a connecting group, touching Planes on the one hand and 

 Willowworts on the other, and standing intermediate between the latter Order and 

 Bu'chworts. Their balsamic products have no parallel among sunilar plants, except in 

 a slight degree in WiUowworts. 



The tropics of India, and the warmer parts of North America and the Levant, are the 

 countines of this order. 



A fragrant resin called Storax is yielded by several species of Liquidambar. That 

 from North America, the produce of Liquidambar stp'aciflua, abomids in Benzoic acid. 

 — {Endl.) The prmcipal part, however, of what hquid Storax is used in this country is 

 obtained from Ti-ieste, and is probably collected from L. orientale, the Xylon Effendij 

 or Lord Wood, of the Cypriots. The bark of these plants is hot, bitter, and stomachic. 

 What hquid Storax comes from the Malayan Archipelago is no doubt derived from 

 Liquidambar Altmgia, a lofty ti-ee, 150 to 200 feet liigh, with a reddish brown, compact 

 heavy wood, of very close grain, and extremely fragrant. 



GENERA. 

 Liquidambar, L. 

 Altingia, Nor. 



Numbers. Gen. 1. Sp. 3. 



Position. — Sahcaceee. — Altingiace^. — Betulacese. 

 Platanaceee. 



Fig. CLXX.— Liquidambar Altingia. 1. 9 flower; 

 a seed.— B^i'Wf . 



a section of the ripe fruit; 3. a section of 



