III.] 



FRIMULACE^. 

 Type — Ardisia humilis. 



261 



A shrub, with alternate, entire, smooth leaves, axillary, 

 short, umbeUiform racemes of small, pale rose-coloured 

 flowers, and one-seeded berries. 



Observe the stamens, which are opposite to the lobes of 

 the corolla: the free central placenta bearing numerous 

 ovules, of which but one is perfected into a seed. 



A Family tolerably abundant in hot countries, where it 

 represents the Primrose Order, from which it has little 

 technically to separate it, excepting that the Myrsinacece 

 are, as a rule, shrubs or trees, with more or less succulent 

 fruits, while the Primulaceae are herbs, with dry, capsular 

 fruits. 



In some genera of this Family, native in India, the petals 

 are free to the base ; in y^giceras, a tree growing on the 

 coast, the anther-cells are transversely chambered, and in 

 McBsa the ovary is more or less adherent to the calyx. In 

 other respects the essential characters of the Type-species 

 apply to the rest of the Family. 



Very few species are turned to economic account. 



74. Natural Order, Frimulacece. — The Primrose Family. 

 Herbs with regular flowers. Stamens opposite the lobes 



