200 BOTANY. 



orbicular. Fruit baccate or capsular, indehiscent. Albumen fleshy or 

 horny ; embryo straight, sometimes large. Shrubs or herbaceous perennial 

 plants, with alternate, compound, exstipulate leaves. The true leaves are 

 often changed into spines. Found chiefly in the mountainous parts of the 

 temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Tribe 1. Berhei^ldem. 

 Embryo in the axis, and occupying nearly the whole length of the albumen. 

 Shrubs. Example: *Berberi8. Tribe 2. Nandinete. Embryo minute at 

 the base of the albumen, often oblique with respect to the hilum. Perennial 

 herbs. Examples : *Leoutice, "Podophyllum. 



Lindley enumerates twelve genera with one hundred species, of which 

 seven genera with eleven species belong to North America. Berberis 

 vulgaris and canadensis constitute the Barberry plant, known for the acidity 

 of the fruit, which is caused by the presence of oxalic acid. Podophyllum 

 peltatum is the May-apple. 



Berberis vulgaris. Barberry (Europe) (j9?. 68,^;^. 5); <?, flowering branch ; 

 6, a flower ; c, calyx and pistil ; <?, stamens ; ^, berry ; /, longitudinal section 

 of a berry ; j/, the seed. 



Okder 217. Mknispermace^, the Moon-Seed Family. Flowers usually 

 unisexual (often dioecious). Sepals and petals similar in appearance, in one 

 or several rows, three or four in each row, hypogynous, deciduous. Stamens 

 monadelphous, or occasionally free ; anthers adnate, extrorse. Carpels 

 Kolitary or numerous, distinct or partially coherent, unilocular; ovule 

 solitary, curved. Fruit a succulent, one-seeded, oblique or hmate drupe. 

 Embryo curved or peripherica! ; radicle superior ; albumen fleshy, sometimes 

 wanting. The plants of this order are sarmentaceous or twining shrubs, 

 with alternate leaves, and very small flovrers. The wood is frequently 

 arranged in wedges, and hence the order was at one time put under the 

 division called Homogens by Lindley. The order is common in the tropical 

 parts of Asia and America. There are twenty-three known genera, 

 including 202 species. Examples : *Menispermum, Cissampelos, *Cocculus. 

 Two genera with three species represent this order in North America. 

 The Cocculus indicus of the shops is the fruit of Anamirta cocculus. 

 Although highly poisonous, it is employed by some brewers to give 

 l)itterness to porter. It is also used to intoxicate and capture fish. 



Order 218. Anoxace^, the Custard-Apple Family. Sepals three or four, 

 persistent, often partially cohering. Petals six, hypogynous, in two rows, 

 coriaceous, Math a valvate {estivation. Stamens indefinite (very rarely 

 definite) ; anthers adnate, extrorse, with a large four-cornered connective. 

 Carpels usually numerous, separate or cohering slightly, rarely definite ; 

 ovules anatropal, solitary or several, erect or ascending. Fruit succulent 

 «>r dry, the carpels being one- or many-seeded, and either distinct or united 

 into a fleshy mass ; spermoderm brittle; embryo minute, at the base of a 

 ruminated perisperm. Trees or shrubs, with alternate, simple, exstipulate 

 leaves, found usually in tropical countries. Lindley enumerates 20 genera, 

 including 300 species. Examples : Anona, Uvaria, Gualteria, *Asimina. 

 There are four species of Asimina in the United States. One of these, A. 

 200 



