476 BOTANY, 



details. The general disposition of the smaller veins is well illustrated 

 by Fig. 369a.* 



568. The sub-class Dicotyledones is composed of thirty- 

 six cohorts, containing in all from 150 to 200 natural orders. 

 For convenience, the cohorts are separated into three artifi- 

 cial groups the Apetalae, Gamopetalae, and Choripetalae 

 (Polypetalae) an arrangement which does violence to nature, 

 separating widely many orders which are evidently closely 

 related to each other. 



I. APETALuE. Plants whose flowers generally have but 

 a single floral envelope (calyx), 

 this even, in some cases, wanting. 

 569. Cohort 1 . Santalales. 

 Herbs, shrubs, or trees, mostly 

 parasitic, with inferior ovary, 

 generally naked ovules i.e., no 

 integuments and seeds usually 

 containing endosperm. 



Order Balanophoreee. Fleshy 

 leafless parasites, mostly of the trop- 

 ics. One species, Cynomorium cocdn- 

 eum, of the Mediterranean region, is 

 sometimes eaten. 

 Order Santalaceee. Leafy herbs, 



Fig. 369a. Fragment of a learof a shrubs, or trees, mostly parasitic, num- 



Dicor.yledon (Psorcdea bituminosa). , nf . n . ,. , 



showing reticulated venation. r\ bering about 200 species, which are 



margiu B of leaf, x 40. After De distributed in temperate and tropical 



regions. 



Comandra umbellate, a perennial herb, is our most common repre- 

 sentative of the order. 



Sanlalum album, the Sandalwood Tree of South Asia, attains a height 

 of seven to eight metres (25 feet). Its dark red wood is used in cabinet- 

 making, and for burning incense in Buddhist temples. Other species 

 from the Pacific islands also furnish sandalwood. 



The Quandang Nut of Australia is the edible fruit of a small tree, 

 Fnsanus ncuminatus. 



" the name of an imaginary something intermediate between primary 

 stem and root." 



* The student who wishes to study this subject fully should consult 

 the papers of Dr. Ettingshausen, published in Denkschriften and 

 Mitzungsberichte Wien. Kais. Akad. Wissen. They are excellently il- 

 lustrated with many " nature printed" plates. 



