CAPRirOLIACEiE. 197 



ORDEE XXXVII— C APRIFOLIACEiE. 



Shrubs or trees, very rarely herbs, with opposite, simple, entire 

 or toothed or more rarely pinnate leaves, usually without stipules. 

 Plowers regular or irregular, in terminal corymbose cymes or heads, 

 more rarely axillary, white, yellow, pink, purple, or greenish. 

 Calyx-tube adhering to the ovary ; limb 5- rarely 4-lobed, or 

 entire, sometimes nearly obsolete. Corolla monopetalous, 4j- rarely 

 5-lobed, imbricated in aestivation. Stamens adhering to the bottom 

 of the corolla-tube, as many as its segments, or one less, rarely 

 twice as many. Ovary inferior, 3- rarely 5-celled. Styles 1, or 

 as many as the cells of the ovary, or none ; stigmas as many as 

 the cells of the ovary, distinct or combined. Pruit a berry, 

 generally pulpy, rarely dry, with 1 to 5 cells. Seeds 1 or 2 in 

 each cell, rarely numerous, with a hard testa ; albumen fleshy ; 

 embryo in the centre of the albumen, with the radicle superior. 



Sub-Order I.— ADOXE^. 



Corolla regular, sub-rotate. Stamens 8 or 10. Styles short, 

 3 to 5, united at the base. Pruit a berry with 4 or 5 cells, each 

 cell containing a single seed ; fruit, however, usually 1-seeded by 

 abortion. 



A small herb, the position of which in the natural system must 

 be considered doubtful. E-ootstock with thick scale, radical leaves 

 ternately decompound. Plowers in a terminal globose head. 



GENUS 7.— A D O X A. Linn. 



Calyx fleshy, with the limb 2- or 3-lobed, spreading, acrescent. 

 Corolla rotate, with a flat 4- or 5-partite limb. Stamens 8 or 10, 

 with 1-celled anthers (probably really only 4 or 5, with the filament 

 extremely short and the connective greatly developed, so as to 

 separate the anther-lobes, as in Salvia). Styles 4 or 5, short, 

 free, persistent. Emit a succulent berry crowned by the acrescent 

 lobes of the calyx, 4- or 5-celled. Seeds 1 in each cell ; the 

 fruit, however, is often only 1-seeded by abortion of the other 

 seeds. 



This genus contains only a single species, bearing little resem- 

 blance to any other plant. 



