NAT. ORDER. 



iSpiroEacecB. 



SPIR^ LOBATA. MEADOW SWEET. 



C^ss XII. IcosANDRiA. Order V. Pentagynia. 



G&n. Char. Caly.v, five-cleft, permanent. Stamens, ten to fifty, in- 

 serted in the torus, lining the calyx along with the petals. Car- 

 pels, solitary or several together, rare, connected at the base. 

 Seeds, two to six, fixed. Embryo, inverted. 



Spe. Char. Unarmed Shrubs, or perermial Herbs, with alternate 

 branches. Leaves, usually simple, but sometimes pinnately cut. 

 Flowers, white or reddish, never yellow. 



It is said that Spirosa took its name from sjjeirao, to become 

 spiral — in allusion to the fitness of the plants to be twisted into gar- 

 lands. The genus contains plants of the shrubby and herbaceous 

 kinds. The calyx is a one-leafed, five-cleft perianth, flat at the base, 

 with acute segments, permanent ; the corolla has five petals, inserted 

 into the calyx, and oblong-rounded ; the stcmiens have more than twenty 

 filaments, filiform, shorter than the corolla, and inserted into the calyx ; 

 anthers roundish ; the pistillum has five or more germs ; styles as many, 

 filiform, and about the length of the stamens ; stigmas prominently 

 headed ; the pericarpium is an oblong capsule, acuminate, compress- 

 ed, two-valved ; the seeds are few, acuminate, small, fastened to the 

 internal suture. 



The following are among the species cultivated for ornamental 

 puiposes and hedges. 



Spiraea salicifoUa. Willow-leaved Spiraea. This has stalks very 

 tapering, rough towards the top, and covered with a reddish bark, 



Vol. III.— 142. 



