176 ' BOTANY. 



deciduous, distinct, or partially united ; aestivation imbricated. Petals four or 

 five, sometimes slightly cohering, with imbricated jestivation. Stamens five, 

 distinct, alternate with the petals. Ovary single, two- to five-celled ; style, 

 one ; stigmas two to five, equal in number to the placentas. Fruit capsular 

 or berried, with many-seeded cells, which are sometimes incomplete ; 

 dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds often enveloped in a glutinous or resinous 

 pulp, anatropal, with a minute embryo lying in fleshy albumen ; radicle 

 long; cotyledons very short. Trees or shrubs, with simple, alternate, 

 exstipulate leaves and flowers, occasionally polygamous. They are found 

 chiefly in Australia. Many of them are resinous, and, in some instances, 

 the berries are eaten. Lindley mentions twelve genera, including seventy- 

 eight species. Examples : Pittosporum, Billardiera, Sollya. 



Order 170. Trop^olace^, the Indian Cress Family. Sepals usually 

 five, the upper spurred; aestivation slightly imbricate. Petals often five, 

 hypogynous, more or less unequal, sometimes abortive; aestivation convo- 

 lute. Stamens eight or ten, seldom fewer, free, almost perigynous ; anthers 

 bilocular, innate. - Ovary triquetrous, composed of three to five carpels, 

 with a single style, and three to five acute stigmas ; ovules solitary, often 

 pendulous. Fruit indehiscent, usually composed of three pieces. Seeds 

 exalbuminous, with a large embryo, which has thick, often united cotyledons, 

 and a radicle next the hilum. Herbaceous trailing or twining plants, 

 having a delicate texture, with alternate, exstipulate leaves, and axillary, 

 often gay flowers. They are extensively cultivated on account of their 

 showy yellow, orange, scarlet, and occasionally blue flowers. They have 

 more or less pungency in their fruit, which is used as a cress. The unripe 

 fruit of Ti'opfBolum majus, common Indian cress, has been pickled and used 

 as capers. Their roots are sometimes eaten. Lindley includes Limnantheae 

 in this order, and enumerates six genera, including forty-four species. 

 Example : Tropseolum. 



Order 171. Oxalidace^, the Wood-Sorrel Family. Sepals five, equal, 

 sometimes cohering slightly at the base, persistent, imbricate in aestivation. 

 Petals five, equal, unguiculate, hypogynous, with a twisted aestivation. 

 Stamens ten, more or less monadelphous, in two rows ; those opposite the 

 petals being longer than those in the outer row ; anthers erect, bilocular. 

 Ovary usually quinquelocular ; styles filiform, distinct; stigmas capitate 

 or slightly bifid. Fruit capsular, membranous or fleshy, usually five-celled, 

 and when dehiscent five- to ten-valved. Seeds few, anatropal, albuminous, 

 attached to a central placenta, sometimes with a peculiar elastic integument ; 

 embryo straight, as long as the fleshy albumen, with a long radicle and leafy 

 cotyledons. Herbs, undershrubs, or trees, with alternate, rarely opposite 

 compound (occasionally simple) leaves, which are generally without stipules. 

 They are found in the hot as well as the temperate parts of the world, and 

 are abundant in North America and at the Cape of Good Hope. In some 

 cases phyllodia, or winged petioles, occupy the place of leaves. There are 

 about six known genera, and upwards of 320 species. Examples : Oxalis, 

 Averrhoa, Hugonia. Five species of Oxalis represent this order in North 

 America. One of the species, O. acetosella, has an acid taste derived from 

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