188 BOTANY. 



genera, embracing ioui- hundied species. Tribe 1. Lasiopetalecp. Calyx 

 petaloid. Petals reduced to short scales or 0. Five anthers bearing 

 filaments, alternating with an eqnal number of abortive ones. Embryo 

 straight with foliaceous cotyledons, in a thick perisperm. Species. Australa- 

 sian. E.xample : Seringia. Tribe 2. Byttneriem. Petals concave or 

 vaulted, often prolonged at the apex into a liguliform appendage. Staminal 

 tube divided superiorly into ten strips alternately sterile and carrying one 

 to three anthers. Embryo with cotyledons sometimes foliaceous in a thick 

 albumen, sometimes folded or convolute without perisperm. Species belong 

 to both worlds. Example : Theobroma, Telfairia. Trihe 3. HerraanniecB. 

 Petals flat. Five monadelphous fertile stamens. Embryo with foliaceous 

 cotyledons, straight or arched in a fleshy albumen. Plants common to both 

 continents, especially abundant in South Africa. Example : *Melochia, 

 Waltheria. Trihe 4. Domheyaeed'. Petals flat. Stamens fifteen to f<^)rty, 

 those opposite the petals usually sterile and liguliform. Eml)ryo with 

 foliaceous cotyledons, often bifid and folded, in a thin perisperm. Example : 

 Kydia. Tribe ?>. Eriolccniea'. Petals flat. Stamens numerous, all anther 

 bearing, united into one column. Embryo with the cotyledons fohled, 

 bilobed, in a fleshy perisperm. Species Asiatic. Example : Schillera. 



The only North American representatives of the order are Melochia 

 pyramidata and Hermannia texana, found in Texas. The most conspicuous 

 species is the Chocolate tree, Theol)roma cacao. Chocolate consists of the 

 roasted and ground beans mixed with sugar, arnotto, vanilla, and cinnamon. 

 Butter of cacao is a fatty oil obtained by expression from the seed. 



Theobroma cacao, the Cacao or Chocolate tree (South America) {pi. 

 67 ^ß(/. 12): a, a flower branch and a branch with fruit; b, vertical section 

 of the latter ; c, flower ; <'/, stamen ; <^, staminal tube ; /", pistil ; g^ lower 

 stamens ; A-/, seeds. 



Okdek 195. Sterculiack-e, the Sterculia and Silk-cotton Family. Calyx 

 of five, more or less united, sepals, often surrounded by an involucre; 

 aestivation usually valvate. Petals five or none, hypogynous, a?stivation 

 twisted. Stamens usually c^ ; their filaments variously united ; anthers two- 

 celled, extrorse. Pistil of five (rarely) three carpels, either distinct or 

 cohering; styles equal in number to the carpels, free or cohering; ovules 

 orthotropal or anatropal. Fruit capsular, usually wäth five cells, or follicular 

 or succulent. Seeds often with a woolly covering; with a fleshy or oily 

 perisperm (rarely 0), and either a straight or a curved embryo ; cotyledons 

 leafy or thick, plaited or rolled round the plumule. Trees or shrubs, with 

 alternate leaves, which are either simple or compcnmd, deciduous sti[)ules, 

 and often a stellate pubescence. They are distinguished from Malvaceae 

 by their dithecal extrorse anthers. They inhabit warm climates. 



Sub-order 1. Adansoniece. Flowers hermaphrodite. Anthers one-locular 

 (sometimes germinate). Fruit sessile, most often with loculicidal dehiscence, 

 rarely indehiscent. Perisperm usually almost wanting. Leaves digitate or 

 palmate. Examples : Adansonia, Bombax, Cheirostemon, Montezuma. 



Sub-order 2. Helictereoe. Flowers hermaphrodite. Anthers two-locular 

 188 



