818 DAPHNACEAE 



FAMILY 1. PROTEACEAE J. St. Hil. PROTEA FAMILY. 

 Characters of the order. 



1. GREVILLEA R. Br. 



Shrubs or trees, often pubescent with medifixed or forked hairs. Leaves alternate : 

 blades sometimes pinnately parted. Flowers perfect, sometimes irregular, in variously 

 modified terminal racemes. Calyx-tube mostly cleft, often swollen at the base and curved 

 above : limb oblique. Anthers sessile or nearly so. Ovary stalked : style rather elongated, 

 often protruding from the cleft in the calyx-tube. Ovules 2, collateral, amphitropous. 

 Fruit either follicular or sometimes 2-valved, often curved. Seeds mostly winged. 



1. Grevillea robusta A. Cunn . A tree often 10-20 m. tall. Leaf -blades 2-4 dm. long, 

 bipinnately parted, the segments narrow, entire or more or less incised, acute or acuminate : 

 panicle showy ; racemes 1-2 dm. long, many-flowered : calyx-lobes elliptic or oval, much 

 surpassed by the bent style. 



In waste grounds and about gardens, Florida. Adventive from Australia. 



Order 24. THYMELEALES. 



Shrubs or trees, or nearly herbaceous plants, with firm or woody tissues, and 

 unarmed. Leaves opposite or alternate. Flowers perfect, polygamous or dioe- 

 cious, regular or nearly so. Calyx of 5 or fewer sepals. Corolla wanting, in our 

 species. Androecium of as many stamens as sepals or twice as many. Anthers 

 opening by slits or hinged valves. Gynoecium of a single carpel. Ovary in- 

 ferior. Ovule mostly solitary. Fruit usually baccate or drupaceous. 



Anthers opening by slits. 



Ovule and seed pendulous : leaves green, sometimes merely pubescent. Fam. 1. DAPHNACEAE. 



Ovule and seed erect : leaves silvery-scurfy. Fam. 2. ELAEAGNACEAE. 



Anthers opening by hinged valves. 



Leafy shrubs or trees : fruit seated on the hypanthium. Fam. 3. LAURACEAE. 



Leafless, twining, parasitic vines : fruit enclosed in the accrescent hypan- 

 thium. Fam. 4. CASSYTHACEAE. 



FAMILY 1. DAPHNACEAE J. St. Hil. MEZEREON FAMILY. 



Shrubs or trees, or rarely herbs, with a tough bark and an acrid sap. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, without stipules : blades entire, not glandular-punctate. 

 Flowers perfect or polygamous, or dioecious, variously disposed. Calyx of 4-5 

 sepals bearing 4-5 scales within, or naked. Corolla wanting. Androecium of 

 as many stamens as the sepals, or twice as many. Filaments filiform, dis- 

 tinct. Anthers 2-celled : sacs opening lengthwise. Gynoecium a single pistil. 

 Ovary usually 1-celled. Style variable in length, simple, often eccentric. 

 Stigma small. Ovule mostly solitary, anatropous, pendulous. Fruit usually in- 

 dehiscent, drupaceous or baccate. Seed solitary, pendulous. Testa crusta- 

 ceous or membranous. Endosperm fleshy, often scant, or wanting. Embryo 

 straight, with fleshy cotyledons. [Thymeleaceae Reichenb.] 



1. DIRCA L. 



Shrubs, with erect branching stems. Leaves alternate, deciduous : blades membran- 

 ous. Flowers appearing before the leaves from scaly buds, perfect, in short racemes. 

 Hypanthium usually longer than the sepals. Corolla wanting. Stamens 8, exserted : fila- 

 ments unequal in length. Ovary 1-celled, sessile, glabrous : style entire, filiform. Ovule 

 solitary. Drupe slightly elongated, barely stalked. Testa crustaceous. Endosperm 

 wanting. LEATHER-WOOD. MOOSE-WOOD. 



1. Dirca palustris L. A slender branching shrub 0.5-2 m. tall, with a smooth shining 

 bark and pubescent buds. Leaf-blades oval or obovate, 4-8 cm. long, obtuse at both ends, 

 or acutish at the apex, sometimes subcordate at the base, entire, more or less glaucous 

 beneath, short-petioled : flowers lemon-yellow, 3 commonly in a raceme : hypanthium 

 tubular or tubular-campanulate, 7-8 mm. long : sepals very short : stamens and style 

 exserted : drupe oval, 7-9 mm. long, red. 



In woods and along streams, New Brunswick to Minnesota and Florida. Spring. 



