292 LORANTHACE.E. 



and remarkably strong. The wood is much sought after 

 by butchers for making skewers. The name Dog- wood is 

 often given to the Spindle Tree (Euonymus Europceus), 

 and Guelder Rose ( Viburnum Lantdnd), trees which have 

 wood of similar texture. Fl. June. Shrub. 



2. C. Suecica (Dwarf Cornel). Herbaceous. Moun- 

 tainous pastures in Scotland and the north of England. 

 Very different in habit from the last ; root woody, 

 creeping, and sending up annual flowering stems, which 

 are about 6 inches high, and bear each an umbel of dark 

 purple flowers with yellow stamens ; at the base of each 

 umbel are 4 egg-shaped yellow bracts tinged with pur- 

 ple. The fruit, which is red, is said by the Highlanders 

 to create appetite, and hence is called Lus-a-chraois, 

 plant of gluttony. Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



SUB-CLASS III. 

 COROLLIFLOK.E. 

 Petals united, bearing the stamens. 



ORD. XLL LOEANTHACE^:. MISTLETOE TRIBE. 



Stamens and pistils usually on different plants. 

 Calyx attached to the ovary, with 2 bracts at the base, 

 sometimes almost wanting ; petals 4 8, united at the 

 base, expanding in a valve-like manner ; stamens equal- 

 ling the petals in number, and opposite to them j ovary 

 1 -celled ; style 1 or ; stigma simple ; fruit succulent, 

 1 -celled, 1 -seeded ; seed germinating only when attached 

 to some growing plant of a different species. Shrubby 

 plants of singular structure and habit, growing only 

 (with rare exceptions) on the branches of other trees, 

 and therefore true parasites. The leaves are usually in 

 pairs, fleshy, and without veins : the flowers inconspicu- 

 ous ; but this is not always the case, for one species, 

 NuyUia floribunda, which grows in the neighbourhood 



