266 



HORACES. 



[Diclinous Exogens. 



Order LXXXVII. MORACE^.— Morads. 



Moreas, Endl. Prodr. 40, (1833) ; Gaudich, in Freycinet, 609 ; Meisner, p. 350 ; Endl. xcii. — Pholeosan- 

 theae, Blume Bijdr. 436, (1825).— Sycoideae, Link Haiidb. 1. 292. (1829). 



Diagnosis. — Urtical Exogens^ with solitary suspended ovides, and a hooked alhvminoiis 



embryo tvith a superior radicle. 



Trees or shrubs, \vith a milky juice, sometimes climbing. Leaves of various forms 



and texture, very commonly lobed and rough, with large stipules often rolled up, 



inclosing the younger leaves, and leaving a ringed scar when they drop off. Flowers 



2 6 Fig. CLXXX. 4 



very inconspicuous, ^ ^ , collected in heads, or spikes, or catkins. ^ calyx 0, or 

 3-4-parted, imbricated. Stamens 3-4, inserted into the base of the calyx and opposite its 

 segments ; filaments generally slunvelled on the inner face ; anthers 2-celled, opening 

 lengthwise. ^ sepals 3-4-5, sometimes in two rows. Ovary 1 -celled, occasionally (by 

 accident ?) 2-celled. Ovules solitary, pendulous, or amphitropal, with the foramen 

 uppermost ; style terminal, bifid, with the lobes often imequal. Fruit, small nuts or 

 utricles, 1 -seeded, inclosed within a succulent receptacle, or collected in a fleshy head 

 formed by the consoUdated succulent calyx. Seed solitary, with a thin brittle integu- 

 ment. Embryo lying in fleshy albumen, hooked, with the radicle long, superior, folded 

 do\\'n towards the cotyledons. 



The whole of the genera of this Order have either a remarkably enlarged receptacle, 

 upon or witliin which the flowers are arranged, as is seen in Ficus, and even more 

 strikingly m Dorstenia, or a tendency towards its fonnation is indicated, when the 

 flowers are gathered mto heads of a spheroidal form, as in the Mulberry and Osage 

 Orange (Macliu'a). In this manner the Order of Morads passes into that of the Artocar- 

 pads, from which indeed it hardly differs except in having an abundance of albumen, 

 and a hooked slender embryo. Strictly speakmg, however, albumen occurs in the 

 Artocarpads in Phytocrene, which certainly must belong to them, and in Pyrenacantha, 

 which must, I thmk, be also referred tliither, notwithstanding its somewhat different 

 habit. In the last edition of this work, Batis was referred to the present Order ; but I 

 now see, that while the species so named by Roxbm^gh certainly stand next to Morus, the 

 West Indian plant to which the designation properly applies must be stationed elsewhere. 



The tenacity of Ufe in some plants of this family is remarkable. A specimen 

 of Ficus austrahs Hved and gi'ew suspended in the air, without earth, in one of the 

 hothouses in the Botanic Garden, Edmbui'gh, for eight months, without experiencing 

 any apparent inconvenience. 



None of the Morads are Em-opean, for the Mulberries and common Fig have been 

 brought from the East. The species inliabit the temperate and tropical latitudes of both 



Fig. CLXXX.— Morus alba. 1. A male flower : 2. clusters of females ; 3. a female flower separate; 

 4. the same with a part of the calyx cut away; 5. a vertical section of a ripe achaenium ; 6. a cluster of 

 fruit consisting of succulent calyxes enclosing acha?nia. 



