CAI-YCIFLOBiEX. 



5 27 



deciduous coloured stipules. Flowers white, irregular. Sepals 

 and petals 5 each ; the former deciduous, petaloid, and furnished 

 with a fleshy disk; (Bstivation imbricated. Stamens 8 or 10, 

 placed on the disk lining the tube of the calyx, in two whorls, 

 the outer of which is sometimes sterile; anthers 1-celled. Ovary 

 stalked, superior, 1 -celled, with 3 parietal placentas. Fndt 

 long, pod- shaped, capsular, 1-celled, 3-yalvod, with loculicidal 

 dehiscence. Seeds numerous, without albumen. 



Bistributioti, ^'c. — Natires of the East Indies and Arabia. 

 There is only one genus {Moringa), and 4 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Pungent and slightly aromatic pro- 

 perties more or less prevail in plants of the order, hence they 

 have been employed as stimulants. 



Moringa pfet^gosper ma. —The root resembles that of Horse-radish in its 

 taste and odour, and has been used internally as a stimulant and diuretic, 

 and locally in a fresh state as a rubefacient and vesicant. A kind of gum 

 somewhat resembhng Tragacanth exudes from the bark when wounded. Its 

 seeds are called in France Pois Queniques and Chicot, and in England Ben- 

 nuts. They yield a fixed oil called Oil of Ben, which is sometimes used by 

 painters, and also by perfumer? and watch-makers. The wood has been 

 supposed, but on no rehable authority, to be the lignum nephriUcum of the 

 old materia medica writers. 



Natural Order 82. Eosace^. — The Rose Order {figs. 918 — 

 926). — Character. — Trees, shrubs, or herbs. Leaves simple 

 {fig. 282) or compound {fig. 352), alternate {fig. 263), usually 

 stipulate {figs. 282 and 352). Flowers regular, generally herm- 

 aphrodite {figs. 918 — 921), rarely unisexual. Calyx monose- 

 palous {figs. 460 and 919), -with a disk either lining the tube or 

 surrounding the orifice, 4- or 5-lobed, when 5, the odd lobe 

 posterior {fig. 918), sometimes surrounded by a whorl of bracts 

 forming an involucre or epicalyx {fig. 439). Petals 5 {figs. 



Fig. 918. 



Fig. 919. 



Fig. 918. Diagram of the flower of a species of Rose, with five sepals, 

 five petals, uunierous stamens, and many carpels. — Fig. 919. Vertical 

 section of the flower. 



