THE HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY. 323 



XCVII.— THE COFFEE-TREE FAMILY. CinchoncicecB. 



The family which takes its name from the invaluable coffee-plant, 

 is one of the largest with which botanists are acquainted, and contains 

 some of the most useful trees and shrubs in the world. Some of the 

 most important of known medicines are yielded by it, as Peruvian 

 bark, quinine, and ipecacuanha, while other species give fruits and 

 dyes. Like most other extensive families, it includes plants of great 

 variety of figiu-e and stature, but in its essential characters it is well- 

 marked and strictly limited. The leaves are simple, quite entire, and 

 opposite, with stipules between the petioles ; the calyx is adherent ; 

 the corolla regular, of four or five united petals ; and the stamens are 

 seated on the petals, with straight anthers that open longitudinally. 



The species, which are estimated at 2,500, belong almost exclusively 

 to the hotter parts of the world, and in England are only known in 

 conservatories. The fragrance and the beauty of the flowers of many 

 kinds are unsurpassed, though their rarity and costliness prevent 

 their often coming before the public. Among the choicest grown 

 near Manchester, are the superb Ixora, with a vermilion umbel as 

 broad as the hand ; the white-winged Musscenda, with little yellow 

 flowers resembling those of the jessamine ; the incomparably odorous 

 Gardenia, looking like a dishevelled white camellia ; the Bouvardia ; 

 the coffee-tree ; and the exquisite Pentas carnea, the only one that 

 finds its way into shop-bouquets. The flowers of the latter are lilac, 

 star-shaped, and borne in umbels. Peiitas rosea is similar, but with 

 very much darker petals. 



XCVITL— THE HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY. CaprifoUacece. 



The honeysuckle and its kindred resemble the imperial family we 

 have just parted with in almost all particulars of structure except the 

 interpetiolar stipules, which here are not developed. Like the Cincho- 

 naceaj, they comprise both shrubby and herbaceous plants ; they have 

 opposite leaves (which here, however, are sometimes serrate), an 

 insignificant calyx, tubular flowers of five united petals, and a small 

 fixed number of stamens seated upon the corolla, the flower being 

 thro^vn to the summit of the ovary by the adhesion of the tube of the 

 calyx to its surface. The ovary is three to five-celled, and the fruit 

 usually a berry. There are over two hundred species, natives mostly 



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