163. CARICACEAE — 164. LOASACEAE — 165 BEGONIACEAE 377 



SUBÖ RDE R PA PAY I X I^: AE 

 FAMILY 163. CARICACEAE 



Trees with a milky juice. Leaves alternate, usually crowded at the top 



of the stem, palmatel}' lobed or divided, without stipules. Flowers, at least 



the male ones, panicled, 5-merous, unisexual or polygamous. Petals united 



below, with contorted aestivation. Stamens 10, inserted in the tube of the 



corolla. Anthers turned inwards, with a prolonged connective. Ovary 



superior, i- or 5-celled. Ovules numerous, parietal, inverted. Style simple 



with 5 stigmas, or 5- to many-cleft. Fruit a berry. Seeds albuminous, with a 



double coat, succulent outside, woody within. — Genera 2, species 3. Tropics. 



{PA PA YA CEA E, under PA SSI FLORA CEA E.) 



Filaments free. Ovary i-celled. Stigmas branched. Stem unarmed, 



simple or scantily branched. — Species i {C. Papaya L., papaw-tree). 



Cultivated and sometimes naturalized in the tropics. It yields edible 



fruits, medicaments, and substitutes for soap and tobacco. The juice 



of the stem is poisonous, that of the leaves is used for rendering meat 



tender. {Papaya Tourn.) Carica L. 



Filaments united below. Ovary 5-celled. Stigmas undivided. Stem 

 branched, prickly. - — Species 2. Central Africa. (Under Jacaratia 

 Marcgr.) Cylicomorpha Urban 



SUBORDER LOASIXEAE 

 FAMILY 164. LOASACEAE 



Shrubs. Leaves alternate, toothed or lobed, without stipules. Flowers in 

 cymes, regular, 5-merous, hermaphrodite. Sepals open in bud, becoming 

 wing-like after flowering. Petals shorter, free, concave, with imbricate or 

 contorted aestivation. Stamens numerous, collected in 5 bundles opposite 

 to the petals, alternating with glandular scales bearing each two staminodes 

 on their inner surface. Ovary inferior, unequally 2-celled, the larger cell with 

 two ovules, the smaller with one. Ovules descending, inverted. Style simple 

 or 3-cleft. Fruit dry, indehiscent. Seeds exalbuminous ; embryo straight. 



Genus i, species i. South Africa -. Kissenia R. Br. 



SUBORDER BEGOXIIXEAE 



FAMILY 165. BEGONIACEAE 



Leaves alternate, simple or palmately compound, usually oblique, stipulate. 

 Flowers in cymes, monoecious. Perianth simple, of 2 — 5, very rarely 6 — 9 

 free segments. Stamens numerous. Anthers basifixed. Ovary inferior, 

 completely or almost completely 2 — 6-celled, usually winged. Placentas 

 attached to the inner angle of the cells or to the partitions. Ovules numerous, 

 inverted. Styles 2—6, free or united at the base, usually cleft. Fruit a 

 capsule, rarely a berry. Seeds very numerous, minute, with a striate or 

 netted testa, exalbuminous. (Plate 107.) 



