1. Bebbebis.] 5. BERBERIDACEJE. 



peltate stigma^ Ovules few erect basal. Fr. a few-seeded 

 berry. 



1. B. asiatica, Boxb. 



A very pretty shrub with the spines small 1-5-partite, 

 and coriaceous entire or spinous toothed leaves 1-3". Fls. £-|" 

 in short corymbose racemes. Berry purple-blue with a 

 glaucous bloom J*. 



Parasnath 4,000 ft. Fl., Feby- April Fr. May -June. Evergreen. 



Berries sometimes eaten. They are laxative. 



Fam. 6. LiURACEE. 



Trees (or, in Cassytna, a parasitic climber) with alt. 

 rarely (e.g. Beilschmiedia) opp. or sub-opp. entire leaves, 

 frequently clustered at the ends of the branchlets and with 

 a characteristic aromatic smell, frequently gland, dotted, ex- 

 stipulate. Fls, usually small,- greenish, regular, 1-2-sexual. 

 Sepals and petals usually 3 each, sub-similar, usually connate 

 into a 6-cleft perianth, or perianth lobes 5, occasionally 

 rudimentary or 0. St. in 2-4 3-merous whorls, usually 3 

 whorls of stamens and one whorl of staminodes, more or 

 less perigynous, inner fil. often 2-glandular at the base. 

 Anths. opening by 2-4 deciduous lids. Ovary 3-carpellary 

 1 -celled with one pendulous anatropous ovule. Stigma usual- 

 ly 3-lobed. Fr. a one seeded berry or drupe, often surrounded 

 more or less by the swollen hypanthium. Albumen 0. 

 Testa very thin. 



The Laurels (though not well exemplified in C. N. 

 species) have usually a very characteristic method. of branch- 

 ing, only one or two of the axillary buds from the crowded 

 leaves develops into a slender green shoot bare of leaves 

 at the base. 



Trees. Perfect st. 9-12, anthers 2-celled, innermost 

 whorl extrorse. 



L. flit, and opp., Perianth quite deciduous in 



fruit 1. Beiltchmitdia,* 



150 



