586 



CELASTRACEiE. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCXXV. CELASTRACEiE.— Spindle-trees. 



Celastrinese, R. Brown in Flinders, 22. (1814) ; DC. Prodr. 2. 2. ; Ad. Brongniart Mhnoire sur les 

 Rhamn^es, 16. ; Endl. Ckn. ccxxxvi. ; Meisner Gen. p. 68. ; Wight lUustr. 1. 174. ; Am. in Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. 3. 153. 



, imhricatecl calyx, and stamens 



Diagnosis. — Rhamnal Exogem, with polypetalous flowers, i 



(^) distinct. 



Small trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, seldom opposite, simple, with very small 

 deciduous stipules. Flowers iu axillary cymes, small, green, or white, or purple, 



occasionally (J ? by abortion. 

 Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated, in- 

 serted into the margin of an 

 expanded disk. Petals in- 

 serted by a broad base, under 

 the margin of the disk, with 

 an imbricate sestivation ; 

 sometimes 0. Stamens alter- 

 nate with the petals, inserted 

 into the disk, either at the 

 margin or within it ; anthers 

 innate. Disk large, expanded, 

 flat, closely surrounding the 

 ovary, covering the flat ex- 

 panded calyx. Ovary im- 

 mersed m the disk and ad- 

 hering to it, with 2 to 5 cells; 

 cells 1- or many -seeded ; 

 ovules ascending from the 

 axis, anatropal, attached to a 

 short funiculus. Fruit supe- 

 rior, 2- to 5-celled, either cap- 

 sulai' or drupaceous. Seeds 

 ascending, seldom inverted by 

 resupination, either provided 

 with an aril, or without one ; 

 albumen fleshy ; embryo 

 straight ; cotyledons flat and 

 thick, with a short inferior 

 radicle. 



Formerly confounded with 

 Rhamnads, this Order was 

 first separated by Bro^\^l,who 

 distmguished it pai'ticularly 

 by the relation which its sta- 

 mens bear to the petals. It 

 also difiers in its imbricated 

 calyx, and in its disk being 

 hypogynous. According to 

 Brongniart, Spindle - trees 

 have more relation to several 

 Orders with hypogjuous sta- 

 mens than to any ^vith peri- 

 gynous ones, especially to 

 Malpighiads, to which they are related through Hippocrateads ; a considerable resem- 

 blance with such Spm-geworts as Phyllanthus may also be traced ; and HoUyworts 

 have been principally estabhshed upon dismemberments of the present Order. Never- 

 theless, the distinctions between it and both Spurgeworts and Hollyworts are easy to 



Fig. cccxcvn. 



Fig. CCCXCVII.-Catha edulls. 



