178 BOTANY. 



well shown by its microscopical structure. The integument of the seed iß 

 mucilaginous, and the cotyledons yield linseed oil by expression. 



Linum usitatissimum, Flax (Egypt originally) {pi. 68, ßg. 13); a. 

 flowering branch ; J, sepal ; c, sexual apparatus ; d., petal ; e^f^ seed. 



Order 174. Gera>;iace.e, the Cranesbill Family. Sepals live, persistent, 

 more or less xmequal, one sometimes spurred at the base ; sestivatif.m 

 imbricated. Petals live (or by abortion four), unguiculate, with contorted 

 aestivation. Stamens monadelphous, hypogynous, twice or thrice as many as 

 the petals, some occasionally abortive. Ovary of five carpels, placed round 

 an elongated axis ; ovules pendulous, solitary ; styles five, cohering round 

 the axis. Fruit formed of five one-seeded cocci, terminated each by an 

 indurated style, which curls upwards, carrying the coccus or pericarp with 

 it. Seeds exalbuminous, solitary, with a curved folded embryo, and leafy, 

 convolute, and plaited cotyledons. Herbs or shrubs with simple, stipulate 

 leaves, which are either opposite, or alternate with peduncles opposite to 

 them. They are distributed over various parts of the world. The species 

 of Pelargonium abound at the Cajxj of Good Hope. Lindley mentions four 

 genera, including, after separating hybrids, about five hundred species. 

 Examples: Geraniun), Pelargonium. North America possesses two genera 

 (Geranium and Eix)dium), with eight species. The geraniums of the horti- 

 culturist in their different varieties, all belong to Pelargonium. 



Geranium sanguineum, Cranesbill (Europe) {pi. 07, ßg. 9) ; a, a flower 

 l)ranch ; J, flower bud ; c, petal of natural size ; <Z, fruit ; 6, seed. 



Order 175. VrrACE^, the Vine Family. Calyx small, nearly entire. 

 Petals four to five, sometimes cohering above, inserted outside an annular 

 hypogynous disk ; aestivation valvate. Stamens four to five, opposite to the 

 petals, inserted on the disk ; filaments free, or united at the^base ; anthers 

 ovate, versatile. Ovary two- to six-celled; ovules erect, anatropal ; style 

 one, very short ; stigma simple. Fruit pulpy and globular, not united to the 

 calyx, sometimes one-celled by abortion. Seeds one to four or five, erect, 

 with an osseous spermoderm, horny albumen, and an erect embryo, 

 (climbing shrubs, having the lower leaves opposite, the upper ones alternate. 

 Flowers in racemes, which are often opposite the leaves ; floral peduncles 

 sometimes becoming cirrhose. Thev inhabit the milder as well as the 

 hotter parts of both hemispheres, and abound in the West Indies. There 

 are-fieven genera and 260 species. Examples : *Vitis, *Cissus, *Ampelopsis. 



Of this limited order. North America possesses the three genera 

 enumerated above, with nine species. Ampelopsis quinquefolia is a well 

 known climbing shrub, called American ivy or Virginian creeper, which 

 runs along fences and iip trees, and is capable of adhering to the sides of 

 houses and walls by , .-expansions of the extremities of the tendrils. 

 Owing to its rapid growth and intrinsic beauty, it is in much request as an 

 ornamental plant. The leaves in autumn acquire the deepest crimson tinl, 

 of any American species. It is perfectly innocuous, although looked on with 

 suspicion on account of a general resemblance to the poison vine (Rhus 

 radicans), from which it may always be readily distinguished by the leaflets 

 occurring in groups of fives and not of threes as iu the latter species. Tlie 

 1V8 



