SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



PERSEA. 



Flowers perfect ; calyx 6-lobed, the lobes in two series, imbricated in aestivation, 

 persistent ; corolla ; stamens 12, in four series, those of the inner series sterile ; 

 disk ; ovary superior, 1-celled ; ovule solitary, suspended. Fruit baccate. Leaves 

 alternate, destitute of stipules, persistent. 



Persea, Linnaeus, Gen. 94 (1737). — Endlicher, Gen. 317. — Laurus, Linnaeus, Gen. ed. 2, 174 (in part) (1742). — A. L 

 Meisner, Gen. 325. — BaiUon, Hist. PI. ii. 469. — Ben- de Jussieu, Gen. 80 (in part). 



tham & Hooker, Gen. iii. 156 (excl. sees. Alseodaphne^ Menestrata, Vellozo, Fl. Flum. 199; Icon. v. t. 2 (1825). 



Phcehe^BMdi Notaphoehe). — Pax, Engler & Prantl Pfianr Tamala, Rafinesque, Sylva Tellur. 136 (1838). 

 zenfam. iii. pt. ii. 114 (excl. sec- Alseodaphne) . 



Aromatic trees or shrubs^ with naked buds. Leaves alternate^ scattered^ penniveined^ subcoria- 

 ceous, rigid^ tomentose or rarely glabrous, persistent. Flowers small, greenish yellow, apetalous, 

 cymose or rarely subumbellate in axillary or axillary and terminal pedunculate panicles. Bracts and 

 braofclets lanceolate, acute, caducous. Calyx campanulate, divided nearly to the base into six lobes, 

 those of the outer series shorter than those of the inner series or sometimes nearly as long, persistent 

 under the fruit. Stamens twelve, in four series, those of the inner series and sometimes also those of 

 the third series reduced to staminodia ; filaments flattened, inserted on the base of the calyx, longer or 

 rarely shorter than the anthers, hirsute or glabrous, those of the third series furnished near the base 

 with two sessile or rarely stipitate glands ; anthers ovate, flattened, erect, innate, four-celled, the upper 

 ceUs rather larger than the lower, or those of the third series sometimes two-celled, rarely all two-celled, 

 the cells opening from below upward by persistent lids, those of the outer series introrse or subintrorse, 

 those of the third series extrorse or laterally dehiscent; staminodia large, cordate-sagittate, stipitate, 

 usually bearded at the apex ; pollen simple, globose, granular. Ovary sessile, subglobose, glabrous or 

 pilose, one-celled, narrowed into a slender simple elongated style, gradually enlarged at the apex into 

 a discoid stigma ; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous. Fruit baccate, 

 globose, oblong or rarely piriform, more or less fleshy, surrounded at the base by the persistent calyx. 

 Seed globose, pendulous, destitute of albumen ; testa thin and membranaceous, separable into two coats. 

 Embryo erect ; cotyledons thick and fleshy ; radicle superior, turned toward the hilum, included 

 between the cotyledons.^ 



1 By Mez (Jahrh. Konig, Bot. Gart. v. 135 [Lauracece. Americance Heterandra. Anthers of the two outer series of stamens four- 



MonogJ) Persea is divided into the following subgenera : — celled, those of the third series two-celled. 



Hemipersea. Anthers of the three outer series of stamens two- Etjpersea. Anthers of the three outer series of stamens fertile, 



celled. 



four-celled. 



Hexanthera. Anthers of the two outer series of stamens four- 

 ii^rl flioco of f.hfi third series minute and sterile. 



