ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 59 



++ Leaves net-veined. 



Leaves deliciously aromatic. Shrub or small tree. 



Flowers green Bay-tree, 169 



Leaves not aromatic. 



Stem tmninc Tamils (male flowers), 467 



Stem not twining. 



Stem or edges of leaves prickly; flowers yellow Berbery family, 150 



Plant not in any way prickly. 



1. Flowers minute, in irregular panicles Rhubarb family (some), 



133 



2. Flowers in long terminal spikes (crimson) Purple Ly thrum, 206 



3. Flowers minute, in axillary spikes, one or two 



inches long (yellowish green) Common Mercury (male 



plant), 359 



4. Flowers large, terminal, and solitary True-love family, 468 



5. Flowers axillary, or nearly so. 



Two or three small bracts under each flower ; 



perianth green Blite, 163 



No bracts. 



Stamens 12; petals absent; calyx coloured.Ci/^/zea, 207 

 Stamens 6. 



Styles 3 Elatine, 155 



Style solitary Ly thrum family, 200 



Flowers regular, simple, with not more than i stamens, and teiramerous. 

 In many cases consisting of calyx only. Stamens generally 4 or 8 

 [sometimes 6, iJ or 1). 



A. 



Stems as fine as hair, tioining, and leafless at all ti;nes. .Dodder, 231 



B. 



Stems not twining. 



* Flowers unaccompanied by leaves, or only very young ones present. 



No green leaves at any time ; their place supplied by) FeiZou; Bird's-nest (ter- 

 scales ; herbaceous, brownish-yellow plant .... I minal flower), 104, 538 

 Flowers appearing early in spring, before the leaves are 

 developed. Shrubs or trees. 



Stamens 8 Mezereon, 108 



Stamens 4. 



Ovary below the perianth Carnelian Cherry, 348 



Ovary within the perianth Elm, 204 



