DICOTYLEDONES— MONOCHLAMYDE^ 



251 



Fig. 1008. 



Fig. 1009. 



Tourn. ; Parietaria, Tourn. The order contains more than 300 

 species. 



Properties and U^ses.— Chiefly remarkable for yielding valu- 

 able fibres, and for the acrid stinging juice contained in their 

 glands. 



Order 33. Horaces, the Mulberry Order. — Character. — • 

 Trees or sliruhs with a milky juice. Leaves with large stipules. 

 Flowers unisexual, in heads, spikes, or catkins. Male fioiuers 

 with a 3 — 4-partite calyx, or achlamydeous. Stamens 8 — 4, 

 perigynous, and opposite the segments of the calyx ; a7ithers 

 usually inflexed. Female flowers with 3 — 5 sepals. Ovary 

 superior 1 — 2-celled. Fruit a sorosis or sj^conus. Seed solitary, 

 pendulous ; embryo hooked in fleshy albumen, and with a supe- 

 rior radicle. 



Distribution and Nmnhers. — They are natives of both hemi- 

 spheres, and occur in temperate 

 and tropical climates. Illustra- 

 tive Genera ;— Morus, Tourn. ; 

 Dorstenia, Plum. There are 

 over 200 species. 



Properties and Uses. — The 

 milky juice of some species pos- 

 sesses acrid and poisonous pro- 

 perties, while in others it is 

 bland, and may be taken as a 

 beverage. From the milky juice 

 of some caoutchouc or india- 

 rubber is obtained. The inner 



bark of other species supplies fibres. Some possess stimulant, 

 sudorific, tonic, or astringent properties. Many yield edible 

 fruits, while the seeds generally of the plants of this order are 

 wholesome. 



Order 34. Cannabinace^, the Hemp Order. — Character. 

 — Rough herbs, erect or twining, with a w^atery juice. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, simple or compound, stipulate, often 

 glandular. Flowers small, unisexual, dioecious. Male flowers 

 in racemes or panicles. CaZ?/.j? scaly, imbricate. Stam^ens 5, o])- 

 posite the sepals ; filaments filiform. Female flowers in spikes 

 or strobiles, each flower with 1 sepal surrounding the ovary, 

 which is superior and 1-celled, and containing a solitary pen- 

 dulous campylotropous ovule. Fruit dry, indehiscent. Seed 

 solitary, pendulous, without albumen ; embryo curved or spirally 

 coiled, with a superior radicle. 



Fig. 1008. Male flower of the Black 



Mulberry (Morns nigra). Fig. 



1009. Vertical section of the ovary 

 of the female flower of the same. 



