NUCULIFERJE. 



535 



PIG. 573. Myosotii. Inflor- 

 escence and gynoeceum. - 



officmalis, Echium vnJgare) ; others which have but little honey, may, failing 

 insect-pollination, fertilise themselves, and in Myosotis versicolor this regularly 

 occurs by the growth of the corolla during flower- 

 ing, so that the anthers are brought into contact 

 with the stigma. Honey is secreted on the 

 hypogynous disc. About 1,150 species, growing 

 especially in the northern temperate zone. Mu- 

 cilage is found (e.g. in the officinal root of Cyno- 

 glossum qfficinale, in the root of Symphytum] ; red 

 dyes are found in some roots (e.g. Alkanet-root, the 

 root of Alkanna tinctoria, which is also medicinal ; 

 S. E. Europe, Asia Minor); some are poisonous: 

 Cynoglossum, Echium, Anchusa, etc. Several species 

 are ornamental plants. Heliotropium (Peru) is 

 cultivated chiefly on account of its pleasant scent ; 

 essential oils are otherwise very rare. 



Order 3. Verbenaceae. The majority are 

 shrubs ; a few are herbs or trees (Teak-tree) ; some 

 are lianes. The branches are often square. The 

 leaves are opposite or verticillate, without stipules; 

 in some compound. The inflorescences are ra- 

 cemes, spikes, capitula, or dichasia. Five sepals; five petals in a gamo- 

 petalous, zygomorphic corolla, which is often bilabiate, but rarely to such an 

 extent as in the Labiatae, and the upper lip in some is larger than the under, 

 in others smaller; stamens four didynamous, or two; the ovary is entire (not 



.grooved or divided), 1- or 2-locular, or, as in the Labiatse, divided into four 

 loculi with an erect ovule in each, but in some the antbrior carpel is suppressed. 

 One terminal style. The fruit is, e.g. in Verbena, a 4-partite schizocarp with 

 nut-like fruitlets; in Vitex (digitate leaves) a drupe with a 4-locular stone; in 

 Clerodendron a similar fruit, with four free stones ; in Lantana a bilocular stone, 

 or two unilocular stones. The radicle is turned doivnwards. Endosperm small 

 or absent. Lippia, Stachytarpheta, Bouchea, Priva, Githarexylon, Callicarpa, 



etc. The Verbenaceae are closely allied to the Labiatae ; they differ especially 

 in the ovary not being 4-lobed with gynobasic style, but undivided, almost 

 spherical or ovoid with a terminal style. Again, the leaves are not so con- 

 stantly opposite, and the inflorescences are various. 



730 species; especially in the Tropics; there are several in America, especially 

 Lantana-species ; shrubby weeds. Many of those mentioned are ORNAMENTAL 

 PLANTS especially Verbena; Vitex agnus castus is a S. European shrub. Lippia 

 citriodora (S. Am.) etc., have strongly-scented leaves ; the Teak tree (Tectona 

 grandis) is one of the largest trees in East India, and has a very hard wood. 



Avicennia is allied to this order; it inhabits the Mangrove swamps on tropical 

 coasts. The endosperm emerges from the ovule, carrying the embryo with it ; 

 the embryo ultimately bursts the endosperm and lies free in the loculus of the 

 fruit ; this is then filled by the embryo with its large, green cotyledons, which 



, are borne on an already hairy or rooted stem. The seedling thus developed 

 falls from the tree, together with the fruit, and strikes root in the mud. One 

 special cell of the endosperm at an earlier period becomes a highly-developed 

 organ of suction, growing into a much-branched sac, very lich in protoplasm. 



