APETAL^ 191 



This section includes chiefly trees. The majority 

 of them flower before they put forth their leaves, and 

 possess numerous stamens and a large stigma, being 

 wind-pollinated. Wind plays also a great part in the 

 dispersal of the fruits. 



60. The Strapwort Group. 



Amongst British plants of the Order Illecebraceae 

 are included the Strapwort, Rupture- worts, Illecehrum, 

 and the Knawels. Babington places Illecehrum in 

 the Order Paronychiaceae in the Gamopetalae, but 

 does not include Scleranthus, which he places in 

 the Caryophyllacese. They are placed in the latter 

 group, in fact, by Pax, in a family Paronychieae, in 

 the sub- Order Alsinoideae including Paronychia^ and 

 Scleranthus is placed in a family by itself. 



Diagrammatically Pax gives the relationship of 



this order to others thus : 



Caryophyllaceae. 



Amaranthaceae. 1 "^ f Aizoaceae. 



j- Phytolaccaceae. < 

 Chenopodiaceae.J i (.Nyctaginacese. 



Portulaceae. 



The affinities are thus more or less between 



Amaranthaceae and Caryophyllaceae. The petals are 



reduced to some filaments except in Covvigiola, where 



there are five as long as the sepals. They may be 



considered as imperfect stamens. There are about 



sixty species, included in seventeen genera. Confined 



