BOTANY. 127 



ones ; anthers sagittate, erect, bilocular, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 

 free or slightly adherent, unilocular ; ovules definite or indefinite, campylo- 

 tropal, immersed in a free central placenta ; style single ; stigma simple or 

 lobed. Fruit fleshy, one- or many-seeded. Seeds angular or roundish, with 

 a concave hilum, and a membranous spermoderm ; albumen horny ; embryo 

 usually curved, often heterotropal ; cotyledons short ; radicle horizontal 

 when the seed is solitary, inferior when there are several seeds. Trees, 

 shrubs, or undershrubs, with alternate or opposite, coriaceous, exstipulate 

 leaves. They are much restricted as regards their geographical limits, and 

 they are said to abound chiefly in islands with an equable temperature. 

 They are found in Africa, Asia, and America. Little is known regarding 

 their properties. Theophrasta jussiaei is a prickly-leaved shrub, which is 

 called Coco in St. Domingo. Its seeds are eatable, and a kind of bread is 

 made from them. The Ardisias are prized for the beauty of their foliage. 

 There are thirty-one known genera, and 325 species. Examples : Myrsine, 

 Ardisia, Maesa, Jacquinia. 



Order 103. Sapotace^, the Sapodilla Family. Flowers hermaphrodite. 

 Calyx regular, with five, sometimes four to eight divisions, persistent ; 

 aestivation valvate or imbricate. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, 

 deciduous, regular, its lobes equal to, rarely twice or thrice as many as, 

 those of the calyx. Stamens inserted on the corolla, definite, distinct ; 

 fertile ones as many as, rarely more than, the segments of the calyx, with 

 which they alternate ; sterile ones alternating with the fertile ones, rarelv 

 wanting. Disk 0. Ovary free, plurilocular ; ovules solitary, anatropal, 

 ascending or pendulous ; style one ; stigma simple, sometimes lobed. Fruit 

 fleshy, plurilocular, or by abortion unilocular. Seeds nut-like, solitary ; 

 testa bony and shining, with a long scar on its inner face ; embryo large, 

 erect, white ; albumen usually fleshy ; sometimes ; cotyledons in the 

 albuminous seeds, foliaceous, in the exalbuminous, fleshy ; radicle straight or 

 slightly curved, pointing to the hilum. Lactescent trees or shrubs, with 

 alternate, exstipulate, entire, coriaceous leaves. They are natives chiefly 

 of the tropical parts of India, Africa, and America. The number of known 

 genera noticed by Lindley is twenty-one, species 212. Examples : Isonandra, 

 Achras, &c. 



Some species of this family furnish fruit of great excellence, as the 

 Sappodilla plum, and naseberry in the West Indies from species of Achras. 

 Shea butter is probably derived from Bassia parkii. The most important 

 product is Gutta Percha, the concrete juice of Isonandra gutta and perhaps 

 of other species, found in Singapore, Borneo, and Malacca. This substance 

 is rapidly coming into use for a vast variety of purposes, being very tough, 

 softening readily by the heat of boiling water, and sufficiently elastic at 

 ordinary temperatures without being extensible like caoutchouc. 



Mimusops dissecta (Manilla) {pi. 64, fig. 3) ; a, flower branch with the 

 leaves removed ; h, flower opened ; c, anther ; d, a fruit branch ; e, a seed. 



Order 104. AauiFOLiACE^ or Ilicine^, the Holly Family. Sepals four 

 to six ; aestivation imbricated. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, four to 

 six-parted ; aestivation imbricate. Stamens inserted into the corolla, 



127 



