BOTANY. JJ'5 



divisions and two verticils ; outer -whorl usually herbaceous ; inner usually 

 petaloid ; sometimes the perianth is wanting. Stamens definite or 00, 

 hypogynous ; anthers introrse or extrorse. Ovaries, three, six, or more, 

 distinct or united ; ovules erect or ascending, solitary or in pairs. Styles 

 and stigmas equal to the number of carpels. Fruit of several dry, in- 

 dehiscent carpidia. Seeds from one to two in each carpel, exalbuminous, 

 embryo straight, or curved like a horse-shoe ; radicle next the hilum. Plants 

 growing in flowing or stagnant water, usually with a creeping rhizome, paral- 

 lel-veined leaves, and hermaphrodite or unisexual flowers. Natives both of 

 tropical and temperate regions. 



Sub-order 1. Jimcaginece. Calyx and corolla colored alike (greenish). Seed 

 anatropous, with a stright embryo. Leaves petiole-like, without a blade. Ex- 

 amples : Triglochin, Scheuchzeria. 



Sub-order 2. AUsniea'. Calix green and persistent. Corolla white and 

 deciduous. Seed campylotropous ; embryo bent double, or hook-shaped. 

 Leaves commonly furnished with a blade. Examples : Alisma, or water- 

 plantain, Echinidorus, and Sagittaria. Sagittaria variabilis (sagittifolia) is 

 distributed throughout North America ; the rhizomes are used as food by the 

 Oregon Indians. 



Order 18. Commelynace.e, the Spider-wort Family. Perianth in two 

 verticils ; outer (calyx) herbaceous and tripartite ; inner (corolla) petaloid, 

 tripartite, or trifid. Stamens six or fewer hypogynous, some of them oc- 

 casionally abortive or deformed ; anthers introrse. Ovary three-celled ; 

 ovules few in each cell ; style one ; stigma one. Fruit a two- or three- 

 celled, two- or three-valved capsule, with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds 

 often in pairs, with a lateral or linear hilum ; embryo pulley-shaped, an- 

 titropal in a cavity of fleshy albumen, remote from the hilum. Herbs with 

 flat narrow leaves, which are usually sheathing at the base. Natives 

 chiefly of warm climates. Some have fleshy rhizomes, which are used 

 for food. 



Examples : Mayaca, Tradescantia (T. virginica, or spider-wort), and Com- 

 melyna. C. tuberosa, from Mexico [pi. 57, fig. 3), a, the stalk with leaves 

 and flowers ; h, the tuberous root ; c, the calyx with the stamens and pistil ; 

 d and e, stamens ; /, the pistil ; g, the stigma. 



Order 19. Palm.e, the Palm Family. Flowers bisexual, or unisexual, or 

 polygamous. Perianth six-parted, in a double row ; three outer (calyx) 

 fleshy, or leathery and persistent ; three inner (corolla) often larger, and 

 sometimes deeply connate. Stamens six, rarely three, sometimes 00, in- 

 serted into the base of the perianth. Ovary free, one- or three-celled, 

 usually composed of three carpels. Avhich are more or less completely 

 united ; ovules from one to three. Fruit drupaceous, or nut-like, or bac- 

 cate, often with a fibrous covering. Seed with cartilaginous or horn}- 

 albumen, which is often ruminate, or furnished with a central or lateral 

 cavity ; embr^'o small, cylindrical, or flat in the cavity of the albumen, remote 

 from the hilum. Arborescent plants, with simple, rarely branched trunks, 

 marked with the scars of the leaves, which are terminal, pinnate, or fan- 

 shaped, with plicate vernation, and parallel simple veins, and often spin}' 



