2o6 Plants and their Ways in Sonth Africa 



Stem either leafy at the base or the entire length. Flowers in 

 spikes or racemes, large or small, sometimes quite beautiful, 

 though not bright coloured. Found in February and March. 



Corycium is nearly like Pterygodium, but the two sepals 

 join in front to form a lower lip. The stigmas are two, separate, 

 or one 2-lobed. Capsule usually much narrowed toward the 

 apex. Stem leafy. Leaves flat or crinkled. 



Order Amentace^. 



The orders Salicineae, Myricaceae, and Fagaceae 



have been united under the one order Amentacese, since the 



A flowers hang in aments or 



catkins (except the pistillate 

 flowers of the oak). The 

 flowers are dioecious or 

 monoecious. They are out 

 in good season in the early 

 spring, and are swinging 

 their gold-and-silver tassels 

 before the leaves get large 

 enough to be in the way of 

 the wind-scattered pollen. 



The flowers of willows, 

 poplars, and Myrica (the 

 Wax Bush) are subtended 

 by a single bract. The 

 staminate flowers of the 

 oak have a greenish 6- 

 parted perianth. The few 

 genera in each order, and 

 the simple flowers, indicate 

 that these orders represent 

 very old families of flower- 

 ing plants. 

 Salicine^. — Flowers dioecious. Capsules containing 

 many minute seeds. The order contains two genera, Popuhis 

 (Foplars), and Salix (the Willows). Both consist of deciduous 

 trees, which border the streams in many parts of the country. 



Fi(}. 2o5. — A, Catkin or amentum of the Oak. 

 I. Flower of Oak. II. Female flowers. (Both 

 X 3.) (From!Edmonds and Marloth's " Ele- 

 mentary Botany for South Africa.") 



