THE FUCHSIA FAMILY. 279 



GROUP III. — PERIANTH ON THE SUMMIT OF THE OVARY. 



LXXXIIL— THE MYRTLE FAMILY. Myrtdcea. 



One of the noblest groups known to botany, belonging to hot 

 countries both within and without the torrid zone, and containing 

 some of the largest and handsomest trees that adorn them. No 

 species are of less stature than the common myrtle, the fragrant ever- 

 green leaves of which, and pure white, hawthorn-like flowers, have 

 made it a favourite in English green-houses for more than two cen- 

 turies. This also is the most northern of them, being found wild in 

 Persia, and now naturalized in the south of Europe. No family is 

 more decidedly marked. Opposite and entire leaves, destitute of 

 stipules, covered with minute transparent dots, and having a vein 

 running parallel with the margin, are found almost universally ; and 

 in the few cases where the leaves are alternate, the marginal vein is 

 still discoverable. The flowers are red, white, or occasionally yellow, 

 but not in a single instance blue. The number of sepals and petals is 

 variable, but the stamens are always numerous, and the ovary is 

 always solitary and beneath the blossom, owing to the adhesion of 

 the calyx to the outer surface. The clove and the allspice are products 

 of this fine family, along with many delicious fruits never seen in 

 England. It also contributes largely to the ornamentation of our 

 conservatories, especially in the New Holland genera Metrosideros, 

 Beaufortia, and Melaleuca, and in the Indian Eugenias. None are 

 seen out of doors in this part of the country. 



LXXXIV.— THE FUCHSIA FAMILY. Onagrdcea. 



Herbaceous and shrubby plants, natives chiefly of the temperate 

 parts of the world, and especially of North America and Europe ; for 

 the most part gay and ornamental, but of little discovered use 

 economically. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, rarely divided, 

 usually lanceolate or ovate, and serrate. Flowers regular, tetra- 

 merous ; stamens eight ; pistil solitary, with a four or two-lobed 

 ovary ; stigmas often four, and in that case elegantly recurved. The 

 pollen is triangular, and often hangs together by threads. There is a 

 tendency in this family to suppress the petals, and in some genera, 

 such as the fuchsia, to assume a petaloid character in the sepals. In 



