556 D1COTYLEDONBS. 



other Sambuceae, the honey lies so exposed and in such a thin layer, that only 

 flies and insects with short probosces can procure it ; bees, however, visit these 

 flowers for the sake of the pollen. There is hardly any nectar in the Elder ; 

 self-pollination frequently takes place. The flowers of the Caprifoliaceas, 

 which, with their long corolla-tube are adapted for evening- and night-flying 

 insects with long probosces, open in the evening, and at that time give off their 

 strongest scent. 



DISTRIBUTION. 230 species ; especially outside the Tropics in the Northern 

 Hemisphere. In this country they are found especially in hedges and as 

 under-shrubs OFFICINAL : the flowers and fresh fruits of the Elder (S. nifjra), 

 the fruits (" berries ") being also used in the household. ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS : 

 species of Lnnicera, Symphoricarpus, Dier villa, which are chiefly from N. Am., 

 Abelia and Viburnum. 



Family 34. Dipsacales. 



The leaves are opposite and without stipules. The flower (Figs. 

 593, 595, 598, 599, 600) is epigynous, zygomorphic or asymmetrical, 

 5-merous with S5, P5, stamens typically 5, but by suppression 

 never more than 4, sometimes less, carpels 3-2. The calyx is more 

 or less insignificant, and almost suppressed in the extreme forms. 

 The ovary has 3-1 loculi, but only one loculus has an ovule, which 

 is pendulous with the micropyle turned upwards (Fig. 594). Fruit 

 a nut. Embryo straight, with the radicle pointing upwards (Fig. 

 597), without or with endosperm. 



The inflorescences are distinct dichasia in Valerianacere, but in 

 Dipsacacese and CalyceraceaB they are crowded together into 

 capitnla. 



This family is closely allied to the Bubiales through the Valerianaceaa. which 

 have almost the same structure as many of the Caprifoliaceaa. It attains the 

 'highest development in the Dipsacaceae, which are composite plants, but differs 

 from Composite in the position of the ovule, etc. 



Order 1. Valerianacese. Herbaceous plants or under-shrubs 

 with opposite leaves, often pinnate ; stipules absent. The 

 flowers are borne in dichasia and in scorpioid cijmose inflor- 

 escences and are entirely without any plane of symmetry (Fig. 593). 

 The calyx and corolla are 5-merous, but the calyx is frequently 

 very insignificant and ultimately a pappus, as in Composite; 

 the corolla is frequently saccate or produced into a spur at the 

 base. Most frequently, only 3 (4r-l) of the 5 stamens are de- 

 veloped ; these are free. Carpels 3, which form an inferior ovary, 

 often with 3 loculi, but only 1 of the loculi contains 1 pendidous, 

 anatropous ovule (Figs. 593,594^1), the other loculi are empty 



