DICOTYLEDONES— MONOCHLAMYDEyE 



257 



Fig. 1017. Fig. 1018 



Series 8. — Ordines Anomali. 



Order 42. Salicace^, the Willow Order.— Character — 

 Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, deciduons, with per- 

 sistent or deciduous stipules. Flowers unisexual, dicecious, 

 amentaceous, naked, or with a membranous or cup -like calyx. 

 Male flowers with 1 — 30 stamens, distinct or monadelphous. 

 Female flowers sessile or stall^ed, with a superior 1-celled 

 ovary, and numerous erect anatropous ovules on 2 parietal pla- 

 centas. Fruit 1-celled, 2-valved, dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds 

 minute, numerous, with long silky hairs springing from a 

 fimicle and covering the seed, ex- 

 albuminous ; embryo erect, with an 

 inferior radicle. 



Distribution and Numbers. — 

 Chiefly natives of cold and temperate 

 climates. Illustrative Genera: — Salix, 

 To urn. ; Populus, Tourn. These are 

 the only genera ; there are about 250 

 species. 



Projjerties and Uses. — Many 

 species are either valuable for their 

 timber, or for basket-work and other 

 economic purposes. The. bark com- 

 monly possesses tonic, astringent, and 

 febrifugal properties. The hairs which 

 invest the seeds have been employed 

 for stuffing cushions, and for other 

 purposes. The buds of some species 

 secrete an oleo -resinous substance of a 

 stimulating nature. 



Order 43. LAcisTEMACE.ic. — The Lacistema Order. — Cha- 

 racter. — Shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, dotted, stipulate. 

 Flowers in axillary catkins, perfect or unisexual. Calyx inferior, 

 with several divisions, enclosed by a bract. Stamen 1, hypogy- 

 nous, with a 2-lobed connective, each lobe bearing 1 cell of the 

 anther, which bursts transversely. Ovary superior, seated in a 

 disc, 1-celled, with numerous ovules atcached to parietal pla- 

 centas. Fruit capsular, 1-celled, 2 — 3-valved Seeds generally 

 2 or 3, arillate, suspended, with fleshy albumen. 



Distribution, Numbers, and Frojierties. — Natives of woody 

 places in tropical America. Illustrative Genera : — There are 

 2 genera, namely, Lacistema, Swartz, and Synzyganthera, B. 



VOL. II. s 



/'/■{/. 1017. Male flower of a 

 species of Willow {Salix), 

 with two stamens and a 

 single bract at their base. 



Fig. 1018. Female flower 



of the same wi th bract at the 

 base, and a solitary stalked 

 ovary aud style surmouutcd 

 bv two stipmas. 



