DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 105 



of the yellow calyx much longer than its limb. Flowers very 

 fragrant. Fruit brownish-black, barely eatable. 



44. PLATANACE^. Sycamore Family. 



Trees ; with simple, alternate, petioled leaves with stipules, 

 the bases of the petioles covering the buds. Flowers monoe- 

 cious, in axillary, long-peduncled, globose heads. Calyx and 

 corolla very inconspicuous, each consisting of 3-8 minute 

 scales, or wanting. Stamens as many as the sepals and 

 opposite them. Pistils several, inversely conical, hairy at 

 the base, styles long. Capsules 1-seeded.* 



PLATANUS, L. 



Characters of the family. 



1. P. occidentalis, L. Sycamore, Buttonwood. A large tree, 

 bark light-colored, smooth, peeling off in large, thin plates. Leaves 

 large, round heart-shaped, angularly lobed and toothed, densely 

 white-woolly when young, becoming smooth with age ; stipules 

 large, toothed. Fruit in a globular, drooping head, which remains 

 on the tree through the winter, dropping the seeds very slowly. 

 Common on river banks and in swampy woods.* 



45. ROSACEA. Rose Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Leaves alternate or rarely oppo- 

 site, simple or compound, with stipules. Calyx 5-lobed. 

 Petals 5, rarely wanting, inserted with the stamens on the 

 edge of a disk that lines the calyx-tube. Stamens many, 

 rarely 1 or few. Carpels 1 or more, distinct or coherent, free 

 or adnate to the calyx-tube. Fruit a pome, a stone-fruit or 

 group of stone-fruits, or 1-several akenes or follicles, rarely 

 a berry or capsule. The relation of the parts of the flower 

 to each other and to the receptacle is shown in Fig. 13. 



