246 MANUAL OF BOTANY 



appendages on one side. Fruit 4-celled, dehiscent or inde- 

 hiscent. Seeds varying in position, exalbuniinous ; embryo with 

 ver}^ minute cotyledons. 



This order is sometimes placed near Proteacece, but it is espe- 

 cially distinguislied from that order by its 4-celled ovary and 4:- 

 celled fruit. 



Distribution and Numbers. — They are only found at the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Illustrative Gene^'a : — Penaea, Linn. ; Geisso- 

 lonia, Lijidl. There are over 20 species. 



Pro2)erties and Uses. — Unimportant. 



Order 25. El^agnace^, the Oleaster Order. — Character. — 

 Small trees or shrubs, with entire exstipulate usually very scurfy 

 leaves. Floivers mostly unisexual or rarely perfect. Male 

 flowers amentaceous, bracteate. Sepals 2 — 4, distinct or united. 

 Staftiens definite perigynous. Female floivers with an inferior 

 tubular calyx, and a fleshj^ disk ; cestivation imbricate. Ovary 

 superior, 1-celled, with a solitary ascending ovule. Fruit enclosed 

 in the succulent calyx, indehiscent. Seed solitary, ascending, 

 with thin albumen ; embryo straight, with an inferior radicle. 



Distribution and Numbers. — They are generally diffused 

 throughout the northern hemisphere, and rare in the southern, 

 Illustrative Genera : — Hippophae, Linn. ; Elseagnus, Linn. 

 There are about 30 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Unimportant. The fruits oiElceagnus 

 orientalis are esteemed in Persia under the name of zinzeyd) 

 and those of E. arborea, E. conferta, and others are eaten in 

 certain parts of India. Those also of Hippophae rhamnoides, 

 the Sea-Buckthorn, which is a native of England, are also 

 edible, and have been employed in the preparation of a sauce 

 for fish, but their use requires caution from containing a narcotic 

 principle. 



Series 6. — Achlamydosporece. 



Order '^Q. Loranthace^, the Mistletoe Order. — Charac- 

 ter. ^Parasitic shrubs. Leaves greenish, commonly opposite, • 

 exstipulate. Floivers hermaphrodite, or unisexual and dioecious. 

 Calyx superior, with 4 — 8 divisions ; cestivation valvate ; some- 

 times absent. Stamens opposite to the lobes of the calyx and 

 equal to them in number. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with 3 ovules, 

 suspended from a free-central placenta, or 1 erect and arising 

 from the base of the ovary. Ovules without integuments. 

 Fruit commonly succulent, 1-celled, with a solitary seed ; embryo 

 in fleshy albumen, with the radicle remote from the hilum. 



