BOTANY. 165 



Mespilus geiTTianica, Medlar {pi. 70, Jig. 2) ; a, a flowering brand i ; J, 

 fruit ; c, seed. 



Amygdalus communis (var. dulcis), Sweet Almond {2)1. 70, fig. 5) ; A, 

 brancli with flowers ; B, ditto with fruit ; «, flower ; J, calyx ; c, petal ; d., 

 pistil ; (?, fruit with the hull in vertical section ; /", nut ; ^, A, seed or kernel ; 

 /, vertical section ; A", Z, bases of leaves. 



Order 153. Moringace.e, the Moringa Family. Calyx five-partite ; 

 aestivation slightly imbricated. Petals Ave, rather unequal, upper one 

 ascending. Stamens eight or ten, perigynous ; filaments slightly petaloid, 

 callous, and hairy at the base ; anthers simple, one-celled, with a thick 

 convex connective. Disk lining the tube of the calyx. Ovary superior, 

 stipitate, one-celled ; ovules anatropal, attached to parietal placentas ; style 

 filiform ; stigma simple. Fruit a pod-like capsule, one-celled, three-valved, 

 opening by loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds numerous, half buried in the 

 spongy substance of the valves, sometimes winged, exalbuminous ; embryo 

 with a superior, straight, small radicle, and fleshy cotyledons. Trees with 

 bi- or tri-pinnate, stipulate leaves, natives of the East Indies and Arabia. 

 Some of them are pungent and aromatic. The seeds of Moringa pterygo- 

 sperma. Horse-radish tree, are winged, and are called Ben-nuts. From 

 them is procured a fluid oil, used by watch-makers, and called Oil of 

 Ben. The root is pungent and stimulant, and resembles Horse-radish 

 in its taste. Lindley mentions one genus and four species. Example : 

 Moringa. 



Order 154. Leguminos^, the Pea Family. Calyx five-partite, toothed, 

 or cleft, with the odd segment anterior; segments often imequal and 

 variously combined. Petals five, or by abortion four, three, two, one, or 0, 

 inserted into the base of the calyx, sometimes equal, but usually unequal, 

 often papilionaceous, with the odd petal superior. Stamens definite or 

 indefinite, usually perigynous, distinct or monadelphous or diadelphous or 

 rarely triadelphous ; anthers bilocular, versatile. Ovary superior, one- 

 celled, consisting usually of a solitary carpel, sometimes of two to five ; 

 ovules one or many; style simple, proceeding from the upper or ventral 

 suture ; stigma simple. Fruit a legume, or a drupe. Seeds solitary or 

 several, sometimes arillate, often curved ; embryo usually exalbuminous, 

 straight, or with the radicle bent upon the edges of the cotyledons, which 

 are either epigeal or hypogeal in germination, and leaf}' (Phyllolobse) or 

 fleshy (Sarcoloba?). Herbaceous plants, shrubs, or trees, with alternate, 

 usually compound leaves, having two stipules at the base of the petiole, and 

 two at the base of each leaflet in the pinnate leaves. Pedicels usuallv 

 articulated. The flowers are frequently papilionaceous, and the fruit is 

 commonly leguminous, and by the presence of one or other of these 

 characters the order may be recognised. Tiie order now embraces 467 

 genera, and 6500 species, of which North America has about seventy 

 genera, and 450 species. 



Svb-order 1. PapilionacecB. Sepals imbricated (or sometimes slightly 

 valvate) in aestivation. Corolla i)apilionaceous or more or less irregular, 

 i-arely wanting. Stamens ten, or occasionally fewer, inserted with the 



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