556 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



2-celled; styles 2. Fruit capsular, 2-valved, witli a lociilicidal 

 dehiscence. Seeds pendulous, albuminous. 



Distribution, ^-c. — Natives of North America, Asia, and 

 Africa. Examples of the Genera: — Hamamelis, Ehodoleia. 

 There are about 20 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Unimportant. 



Hamamelis virginica yields oily edible seeds ; and its leaves and bark possess 

 astringent properties and have been used in diarrhoea, dysentery, &c. 



Natural Order 119. Bruniace^. — The Brunia Order. — 

 Character. — Heath-like slirubs, with small imbricated rigid 

 entire exstipulate leaves. Calyx usually superior, or sometimes 

 nearly inferior, imbricated. Petals and stamens 5, inserted on 

 the calyx, the petals alternate with the divisions of the calyx, 

 and imbricated ; anthers 2-eelled, extrorse, bursting longitudi- 

 nally. Ovary superior, or half-inferior, 1 — 3-celled, with 1 or 2 

 suspended anatropal ovules in each cell ; style simple or bifid. 

 Fruit crowned by the calyx, 1 or 2-celled, in the first case in- 

 dehiscent, in the latter dehiscent. Seeds with a minute embryo 

 in fleshy albumen. 



Distribution, Sfc. — Natives of the Cape of Good Hope except 

 one Madagascar species. Examples of the Genera :—'Qvwm9., 

 Ophiria. There are about 60 species. 



Pi-opertics and Uses. — Unknown. 



Natural Order 120. Umbetxiferje or Apiaceje.- — The Umbelli- 

 ferous Order (fiys. 939 — 942). — Character. — Herbs or shrubs, 

 or very rarely arborescent, with hollow or solid stems. Leaves 

 alternate, generally sheathing at the base (Jiff. 255), usually 

 compound {fff. 337), or sometimes simple, exstipulate. Flowers 

 generally in umbels (,fif/s. 372 and 404), white, pink, yellow, 

 or blue, with (fiy. 372) or without (fiy. 404) an involucre. 

 Calyx {fig. 563) siiperior, the limb entire, or 5-toothed, or 

 obsolete. Petals 5 (fig. 563), usually inflexed at the point, 

 often unequal in size, inserted on the calyx outside the disk 

 which crowns the ovary ; estivation imbricate, or rarely valvate. 

 Stamens 5, inserted with the petals, and alternate with them 

 (fig. 563), incurved in aestivation. Ovary inferior (fig. 563), 

 crowned by a double fleshy disk (stylopod) (fig. 563, d), 2-celled, 

 with a solitary pendulous ovale in each cell ; styles 2 ; stigmas 

 simple. Fruit called a cremocarp or diachcenium (figs. 152, 

 700, and 940), consisting of 2 carpels (mericarps), adhering 

 by their face (commissure) to a common axis (carpophore), from 

 which they ultimately separate and become pendulous (/^g. 700); 

 each carpel (fig. 941) an indehiscent 1-seeded body, traversed 

 on its dorsal surface by ridges, of which 5 are primary, and some- 

 times 4 others, alternating with them, secondary ; the spaces be- 

 tween the ridges are called channels (vallecidce), in which are 

 sometimes linear oily receptacles called vittcB (fig. 152). Seed 



