THAIA3IIFL0E.li. 503 



anthelmintka) , a plant belonging to the Rosaceae, and which is also largely 

 used in Abyssinia for a similar pui-pose. (See Brayera anthelmintica.) 



Natural Order 67. BALSAMiNACEiE. — The Balsam Order. — 

 Character. — Herbaceous plants with succulent stems and a 

 watery juice. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, exstipulale. 

 Flowers hypogynous, very irregular. Sepals 3 {Jiff. 780) — 5, very 

 irregular, deciduous, with an imbricated aestivation, the odd one 

 spurred (Jiff. 780). Petals 5 (Jiff. 780), or more usually 4, 1 being 

 abortive, distinct or irregularly coherent, deciduous, alternate 

 with the sepals ; cestivation convolute. 

 Stamens 5 {fiff. 780), alternate with the ^'^9- 909. 



petals, and somewhat united. Ovary com- 

 posed of 5 carpels, united so as to form a 

 5-celled compound body {jiff. 780) ; style 

 simple ; stiffraa more or less divided into 5 

 lobes. Fruit usually capsular, o-celled, and 

 dehiscing in a septifragal manner by 5 elastic 

 valves, which become coiled up {Jiff. 909); 

 placentas axile ; sometimes succulent and in- 

 dehiscent. Seeds solitary or numerous, sus- 

 pended, exalbuminous ; embryo straight. 



Diagnosis. — Succulent herbaceous plants, 

 with simple exstipulate leaves. Stems con- 

 tinuous and not articulated at the ioints. ^%- ^- Capsule of 

 -p,, , • 1 o 1 Touch-me-not ilm- 



i lowers hypogynous, very irregular. Sepals ■patiens nou-me-tan- 

 3—5; petals usually 4; both irregular and aere) with rerurved 

 j.,'^ . ..-^ ' 1 ■ r. • ^ coiled-up valves, 



deciduous ; estivation oi sepals imbricate ; 



that of the petals convolute. Stamens 5. Ovary 5-celled; style 

 simple. Friiit 5-celled, usually bursting with elasticity, without 

 a beak. Seeds suspended, exalbuminous. This order is by some 

 botanists considered only as a tribe of the Geraniacese. 



Distribution, ^'c. — A few are scattered over the globe ; but 

 they are chiefly natives of the Indies, growing generally in damp 

 shady places and where the temperature is moderate. Ex- 

 ample of the Genera: — Impatiens. There are about 110 species. 



Properties and Uses. — They are said by De Candolle to be 

 diuretic, but their properties are generally unimportant. 



Natural Order 68. Geraniaceje. — The Crane's-bill Order 

 {Jiffs. 910 — 913). — Character. — Herbs or shrubs, with articu- 

 lated swollen joints. Zmws simple, opposite or alternate, with 

 membranous stipules. Sepals 5 {Jiff. 910), persistent, more or 

 less unequal; (estivation imbricate. Petals 5 {/iff- 910), or rarely 

 4 from abortion, unguiculate, hypogynous or perigynous ; (esti- 

 vation twisted {Jiff. 910). Stamens usually twice {Jiff. 911) or 

 thrice as many as the petals (some are, however, frequently 

 abortive), hypogynous, and generally monadelphous (j?^. 911), 

 the alternate ones shorter and sometimes bai'ren. Carpels 5, 



