SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



of the tree. The pulp of the fruit is more or less 

 acid. About 35,000 tons of oranges are said to be 

 annually imported into Great Britain. The pro- 

 ductiveness of the common orange is enormous : 

 a single tree at St Michael has been known to 

 produce 20,000 oranges fit for packing, exclusive 

 of the damaged fruit and the waste, which may 

 be calculated at one-fifth more. 



SAPINDACK<E. The Soapworts are woody, 

 rarely herbaceous plants, with usually compound 

 leaves and unsymmetrical flowers, most of them 

 being found in the hot parts of India and America, 

 and little known in Europe, except from the 

 writings of travellers. This remark will not apply, 

 however, to the Hippocastanea, or horse-chestnuts 

 (distinguished by their opposite leaves, and by the 

 ovary having two ovules one erect, the other 

 suspended in each cell), which are natives of 

 Northern India, Persia, and the American States. 

 This section consists of only two genera namely, 

 jEsculus, the horse-chestnut ; and Pavia, the 

 scarlet-flowering chestnut The leaves are palmate 



^Esculus Hippocastanum. 



that is, divided into five or seven parts ; and are 

 without stipules. The flowers are produced in large 

 panicles or racemose cymes. There are five petals, 

 two of which are smaller than the others, and all 

 have small claws. In the Pavta there are only 

 four petals, two of which are so much smaller than 

 the others as to look like leafy stamens. There 

 are seven stamens, three of which are much 

 shorter than the others. The fruit of the horse- 

 chestnut consists of a leathery capsule, which 

 opens when it is ripe into three valves. The 

 capsule of Pavia is smooth. The scar of the hilum 

 is very strongly marked on the testa of the nuts of 

 both genera; and in Pavia it is so conspicuous 

 as to give rise to the American name of the genus, 

 which is called BucKs-eye, from the resemblance 

 of the hilum to the pupil of an eye. The horse- 

 chestnuts have been so long cultivated in Europe 

 as now to spring up like natives of the soil. Both 

 of the genera are amongst the finest of our flower- 

 ing-trees, and on this account are common in 

 park-scenery. The seeds of the order abound in 

 starchy and in saponaceous matter. The bark 

 of the common sEscu/us Hippocastanum is bitter, 

 astringent, and has been recommended as a valu- 

 able febrifuge in intermittent and other fevers. 

 The Akee fruit (Blighia sapidd) ; the Li-chi 

 (Nephelium Litcht) and Longan (N. Longan\ 



fruits of China; the Guarand plant (Paullinia 

 sorbilts] of India, and the soap-berry (Sapindus 

 saponaria), all belong to the order. 



VITACEJE. This order comprises about 260- 

 species, natives of temperate climates. Their pre- 

 vailing habit is a long dangling growth of stem, 

 with tendrils opposite the leaves, thyrsus of colour- 

 less flowers, and bunches of berried fruit The 

 stem and branches are furnished with tumid 

 articulated nodes ; the leaves are lobed or com- 

 pound, generally alternate with stipules. The 

 flowers are small, often the male and female dis- 

 tinct ; calyx, very small ; sepals and petals, four 

 or five, the latter sometimes cohering at the tips,, 

 and falling off before the bursting of the anthers ; 

 stamens, equal in number to the petals, and 

 opposite to them ; ovary, two-celled ; fruit, a 

 berry, with the seeds immersed in pulp; seeds 

 with a bony testa ; albumen, hard ; embryo r 

 small The curious formation of the flower and 

 berry is well illustrated by the dissection of the 

 common vine, as shewn in page 88. 



The genera are Ampelopsis, the vine-leafed 

 ivy ; Vitis, the grape-vine ; Leea, Cissus, Pterisan- 

 thes, and Rhaganus. With the exception of the 

 vine, the other genera are of little interest, being 

 employed only as ornamental creepers. The 

 grape-vine is said to be a native of the shores 

 of the Caspian, whence it has been widely dis- 

 tributed, and greatly improved by cultivation. 



The properties of the fruit, either in its fresh 

 state or dried to form raisins, or expressed and 

 fermented to form wine, &c. are too well known to 

 require description. The average import of raisins 

 to Britain amounts to more than 12,000 tons, the 

 finest being the Muscatel. The dried currants of 

 commerce a corruption of Corinths are the pro- 

 duce of the small seedless Corinthian grape, which 

 is cultivated in many islands of the Mediter- 

 ranean. Currants are annually imported to the 

 extent of 21,000 tons. Vitis vulpina is a kind of 

 wild vine which produces what are called fox-grapes 

 in North America; it forms an ornamental creeper, 

 being hardy in Britain ; and has recently attracted 

 notice as likely to form a good stock on which to 

 graft our grape-vines. The Kangaroo Vine of 

 Australia, which is well suited as an indoor win- 

 dow-creeper, is a species of Cissus. The berries 

 of the Virginian creeper (A. Jiederaced) are small 

 and unpalatable, but might be eaten with perfect 

 safety. According to Von Martius, the leaves and 

 fruit of C. tinctoria abound in green colouring- 

 matter, which soon becomes blue, and is highly 

 esteemed by the natives of Brazil as a dye for 

 cotton fabrics. Acid leaves, and a fruit like that 

 of the common grape, are the usual characters 

 of the order. 



GERANIACE^E. The Geratiiacece comprise about 

 500 species. They are herbs or shrubs, with 

 stems which are tumid and articulated at the 

 joints. The leaves are generally lobed, and fur- 

 nished with small stipules. Calyx persistent in 

 five-ribbed sepals, sometimes spurred. Corolla 

 ;enerally of five petals, with strongly marked 

 veins. Stamens twice as many as the petals ; 

 filaments slightly united at the base. Fruit con- 

 sists of five elastic one-seeded carpels, adhering lo- 

 an elongated central axis, from which they curve- 

 upwards, by means of the elastic styles, when 

 ripe. Seed without albumen ; cotyledons rolled 

 up or folded. 



