CELASTRACE^ 



5i 



delicate machinery, and when mixed with equal 

 parts of lime-water it is employed as an application 

 to burns under the name of " carron-oil." 



Besides the cultivated Flax, one or two wild 

 species, also with blue flowers, are found in 

 Britain. There is also the Purging Flax (Linu/n 

 catharticum), a small plant rarely exceeding 6 inches 

 in height, which is common in waste places, and 

 bears a small white flower. A still smaller plant 

 of the Flax family is called " All-seed " (Radiola 

 millegrana), which grows in tufts, the stem, only an 

 inch or two high, forking very much, and bearing 

 small white flowers with only 4 sepals and petals. 

 It is common in damp places, either sandy or 

 boggy. 



Several of the foreign species of Linu/n have 

 pink or yellow flowers. 



Sub-class II. Calyciflorae 



In this section of plants the petals are generally 

 distinct, and the stamens are either attached to the 

 calyx, or are placed upon the ovary. 



Order XXIII. Celastracecz (1 genus) 

 Spindle Tree — Euonymus europceus 

 (Plate XXII) 



The only British species of this Order is a 

 common shrub in woods and hedges, or is grown 

 as an ornamental plant. The bark is ash-coloured, 

 and the branches are quadrate when young, and 

 afterwards rounded, opposite to each other, and 

 the outermost horizontal. The leaves are also 

 opposite, short-stalked or sessile, lanceolate, 

 pointed, and finely denticulated on the edges. 

 They are smooth, and pale green, but change to 

 a translucent red in autumn. 



In the axils of the leaves rise singly, smooth 

 slender flower-stalks, which bear a cluster of 

 from 3 to 5 greenish-white flowers. The flower is 

 formed of a calyx of 4 or 5 sepals, and as many 

 petals, alternating with as many stamens, and 

 placed on the edge of a disk. The capsule has 

 from 3 to 5 carpels, and the seeds are surrounded 

 with pulp. There are 4 nectaries at the base 

 of the flower. The stigma is awl-shaped. The 



