152 SAXIFRAGACEJE. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 
Suborder III. HYDRANGEA. The Hydrangea Family. 
8. HYDRANGEA, Gronov. Hydrangea. 
Calyx-tube hemispherical, 8- 10-ribbed, coherent with the ova¬ 
ry ; the limb 4-5-toothed. Petals ovate. Stamens 8- 10, slen¬ 
der. Pod crowned with the 2 diverging styles, 2-celled below, 
many-seeded, opening by a hole between the styles. — Shrubs, 
with opposite petioled leaves, and numerous flowers in compound 
cymes. The marginal flowers are usually sterile and radiant, 
consisting merely of a membranaceous and colored flat and dilated 
calyx, showy. (Name from vbcap, water, and ayyos, a vase, prob¬ 
ably in allusion to the vase-like shape of the pods.) 
1. H. arborescens, L. (Wild Hydrangea.) Smooth, or 
nearly so; leaves ovate, rarely heart-shaped, pointed, serrate, green 
both sides; cymes flat. — Rocky banks, N. Penn, (on the Susque- 
hannah, Carey) and southward. July. — Flowers often all fertile, 
rarely all radiant, like the Garden Hydrangea. 
Order 48. HAMAMELACEA1. (Witch-Hazel Fam.) 
Shrubs , with alternate simple leaves , the calyx cohering 
with the base of the ovary; which consists of 2 pistils 
united at the base , and forms a 2-beaked woody pod 
opening at the summit , 2- celled below , with a single pendu¬ 
lous bony ( anatropous) seed in each cell. — Petals 4-5, 
and stamens 4-24, inserted on the calyx. Embryo sur¬ 
rounded by albumen. Flowers clustered, often polyga¬ 
mous. 
1. IIA HA ME LI S, L. Witch-Hazel. 
flowers in little axillary clusters or heads, usually surrounded 
y a SC i ale ~ Uke 3 -leaved involucre. Calyx 4-parted, and with 2 or 
ctlets at its base. Petals 4, strap-shaped, long and narrow. 
^ mens 8, very short; the 4 alternate with the petals anther- 
earing, the others imperfect and scale-like. Styles 2, short, 
pening loculicidally from the top ; the outer coat separating 
e inner, which incloses the seeds, but soon bursts elastically 
ito two pieces. Tall shrubs, with short-petioled straight-veined 
leaves, and yellow flowers. (From tike to, and « 
