164 BOTANY. 



follicles. Trees or shrubs, more rarely herbs, with simple or compound 

 leaves ; the flowers white, yellow, or red, solitary or grouped in definite or 

 indefinite inflorescence. They contain astringent principles, together with 

 I'esin and volatile oil. 



Sub-tribe 1. Spirem. Seeds not winged. Inhabitants of the northern 

 hemisphere, north of the tropic of Cancer. Examples : *Spiraäa, *Gillenia, 

 "'Nuttalia. 



Siib-ti'ihe 2. Quiltajem. Seeds winged. Inhabitants of tropical and 

 South America. Example : Lindleya. 



Sub-order 3. AmyydalecB. Calyx five-partite, with imbricate aestivation. 

 Petals five. Stamens numerous or indefinite. Carpel single, with style 

 entirely or nearly terminal, containing two suspended collateral ovules, 

 becoming one drupe. Seed with a membranaceous integument. Trees 

 and shrubs, with the branches sometimes spined ; leaves simple, often 

 bi-glandular ; flowers white or rose colored, disposed in racemes, corymbs, or 

 panicles, often developed before the leaves. Most of the species natives of 

 the north temperate zone, some inhabit Asia or tropical America, none 

 found in the southern hemisphere beyond the tropics. Many of the species 

 generally distributed by cultivation. The bark yields gum ; the leaves, 

 bark, and the kernels of many species contain hydrocyanic acid. Examples : 

 Pygeum, Am_f gdalus, Persica, *Prunus. Amygdalus communis, the Almond 

 tree, grows native in Barbary and Eastern Asia. Of two principal varieties, 

 one (dulcis) furnishes the Sweet and the other (amara) the Bitter almond. 

 Sweet Almonds come from Valencia and Malaga, Bitter from Mogadore. 

 The Peach (Persica vulgaris), a native of Persia, has fruit of two kinds. 

 Freestone and Clingstone ; in the latter the pulp is adherent to the stone when 

 ripe. The Apricot, Armeriaca vulgaris, is also Asiatic. Prunus domestica 

 furnishes the different varieties of plum, one of which, when dried, occurs in 

 commerce as prunes. Several species of plum are indigenous to the 

 United States. The leaves of P. spinosa, the Sloe, are used to adulterate 

 tea. Cherries are the fruit of Prunus (Cerasus) avium. The poisonous 

 laurel of Europe is P. (Cerasus) laurocerasus. 



Sub-order 4. Chrysobalanece. Calyx free from the ovary, or cohering 

 on one side with its base. Petals and the (somewhat definite or indefinite) 

 stamens more or less irregular in size and position. Ovary solitary, with 

 two collateral, erect ovules, the style arising from its base. Fruit a drupe. 

 Seed with a membranous integument. Trees or shrubs with simple, 

 glandless, entire leaves ; flowers more or less irregular in racemes or 

 corymbs. Mostly natives of tropical America and Africa, rare in Asia. 

 Example: *Chrysobalanus. The fruit of C. icaco is the Cocoa plum of 

 Florida and the West Indies. 



The entire order embraces about 82 genera and 1000 species, of which 

 oO genera and about 200 species are ISTorth American. 



P(jtentilla anseriua, Silver Weed, Europe and N. America {ß. I^^fig. 4) ; 

 «, the plant ; 5, the flower ; c, calyx with the sexual apparatus ; d^ calyx 

 from beneath ; ^, anther. . 



Kosa moschata. Musk Rose, North Africa and South Asia(^Z. 70,^. 3). 

 164 



