BOTANY. 1 93 



two-parted or mnltifid and pencil-shaped ; sometimes all united into one. 

 Capsule two- to five-valved, loculicidal, with the valves placentiferous in the 

 middle, or indehiscent with the placenta at the base, many- (rarely few-) 

 seeded. Seeds anatropous ; testa sometimes arilliform. Embryo short, at 

 the base of cartilaginous or fleshy albumen. Herbs, or rarely sufFrutescent 

 plants (growing in wet places or swamps). Leaves alternate or crowded, 

 entire, commonly furnished with glandular hairs, with a circinate vernation 

 (except Dionaea) ; stipules none, or in the form of a tuft or fringe of 

 scarious hairs at the base of the petioles. Tliere are eight genera, with 

 about ninety species, of which three genera and thirteen species are North 

 American. Tribe 1. Droserece. Seeds with albumen. Styles one or many. 

 All the stamens fertile. Examples : ^Drosera, *Dion8ea. Trihe 2. 

 PamassieoB. No albumen. Stigmata sessile. Some of the stamens sterile. 

 No glandular hairs. Example : *Parnassia. The most remarkable species 

 of the order is Dionsea muscipula or Venus' Fly-trap, a plant only found 

 within a limited district in North and South Carolina. The two halves of 

 the leaf are articulated on the midrib, and have a fringe of stiif hairs which 

 interlace when the leaf is folded. Each half is furnished with two or three 

 irritable hairs, which, when touched by an insect, cause the sudden closing 

 of the leaf and the consequent impalement or imprisonment of the intruder. 

 Species of Parnassia are known as Grass of Parnassus. 



Okder 204. YioLACE^, the Yiolet Family. Sepals five, persistent, usually 

 elongated at the base, aestivation imbricated. Petals five, hypogynous, 

 equal or unequal, generally withering, aestivation obliquely convolute. 

 Stamens five, alternate with the petals, sometimes opposite to them, inserted 

 on a hypogynous torus ; anthers dithecal, introrse, often cohering, with a 

 prolonged connective sometimes spurred ; filaments dilated, two of them in 

 the irregular flowers having an appendage at their base. Ovary unilocular, 

 with many (rarely one) anatropal ovules ; style single, usually declinate, 

 with an oblique hooded stigma. Fruit a three-valved capsule, dehiscence 

 loculicidal, placentas on the middle of the valves. Seeds 00 or definite ; 

 embryo straight, erect, in the axis of a fleshy perisperm. Herbs or shrubs, 

 with alternate, rarely opposite leaves, having persistent stipules, and an 

 involute vernation. They are natives of Europe, Asia, and America. The 

 herbaceous species inhabit chiefly the temperate parts of the northern 

 hemisphere, while the shrubby species are found in South America and 

 India. They have been divided into two sub-orders : 



Sub-order 1. Violece, with irregular flowers. 



Sub-order 2. Alsodeiece, with regular flowers. There are fourteen known 

 genera, and 315 species. Examples : '-Viola, *Ionidium, Alsodeia, *Solea. 

 North America possesses three genera, and about forty species. Viola 

 tricolor is the origin of the varieties of Pansy and Heart's Ease. 



Order 205. Cistace^, the Eock-Eose Family. Sepals usually five, 

 persistent, unequal, the three inner with contorted festivation. Petals five, 

 caducous, hypogynous, festivation corrugated, and twisted in an opposite 

 direction to that of the sepals. Stamens usually 00, free, hypogynous ; 

 anthers two-celled, adnate. Ovary syncarpous, one- or many-celled ; style 



ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPAEDIA. VOL. II. 13 193 



