LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



273 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XXII. 



:OTION XLIL-RUBIACE2G, OE OALIACfcS. 



iitica : Calyx superior, adherent to the ovary ; 

 lla monopetalous, epigynou* ; stamens inserted upon the 

 lla; OTary inferior, two or more celled, containing one or 

 in.niy seeds ; seed dicotyledonous, albuminous ; leave.* sti- 

 pule 



Thin family, one of the moat important in the whole vegetable 

 kingdom, derives its name from the Jiubia, or madder, one of 

 principal genera. Tho name C^aliacece, which is also applied 

 to this family, is derived from the (la Hum, or ladies' bedstraw. 

 The Rnbincein are either trees or shrubs, sometimes herbs, es- 

 pecially those indigenous to Europe. The leaves are opposite, 

 or vorticillato, and furnished with stipules. Their stipules are 

 subject to variations. Usuully they are what is called inter- 

 j>'<ioJor, the adjacent stip-iles of different opposite leaves 

 becoming fused into one organ, but sometimes they constitute 

 bodies altogether resembling or- 

 dinary leaves, and vorticillato, 

 then to bo distinguished from real 

 leaves thus arranged by the ab- 

 sence of axillary buds. Tho flowers 

 are complete, or very rarely in- 

 complete by abortion ; ordinarily 

 regular ; their disposition is various, 

 sithor in the form of cyme, or pa- 

 aiole, or capitulum. The calyx is 

 adherent by its tube to the ovary ; 

 itn limb is tubular or truncate. 

 The corolla inserted on the tube of 

 the calyx is infundibuliform, cam- 

 panula to, or in few cases rotate ; 

 its limb is four to six partite, the 

 parts being ordinarily equal to each 

 other ; valvular or sometimes gyrate 

 iu aestivation. Stamens inserted ou 

 the tube of the corolla, their num- 

 ber almost invariably equal to that 

 of the divisions with which they 

 are alternate ; anthers introrso ; 

 the ovary crowned by a fleshy 

 disc, more or loss prominent, gene- 

 rally formed of two carpels, consti- 

 tuting two cells, one, two, or many 

 ovulate. The ovules, reflected or 

 curved, are ascending or erect ; 

 style simple ; stigmata bifid usually, 

 bat varying according to the num- 

 ber of the carpels. The fruit of 

 plants of the madder family may 

 be a capsule, a berry, or a drupe. 



Tho Rubiaceae may be distin- 

 guished from all other natural or- 182. BBANCII OF 

 ders by their inferior ovary, their 



monopotalous corolla, and their opposite simple leaves, with in- ' 

 terpetiolar stipules. They are allied by many strong points of ' 

 resemblance to the Caprtfoliacece ; but they also present many , 

 analogies to other natural orders, a circumstance not to be 

 marvelled at, considering how numerous is this family. 



Madder (Rabin tinctorum) is a perennial vegetable, having 

 % long straggling root, and square knotty stems, upon the 

 angles of which grow coarse bristly hairs ; the leaves are vor- 

 ticillate ; the flower is small, and of a greenish-yellow colour ; 

 the berry is black. Madder is indigenous in the eastern and | 

 e.'ntral states of Europe, but its cultivation is now successfully 

 prosecuted in many districts of the western countries, being of 

 great utility in dyeing. Chemists have succeeded in extract- 

 ing the colouring matter in the condition of purity, and 

 have denominated it alizarine, the name being derived from 

 the term izari or ali:ari, by which madder is known in the 

 Levant. Alizarine is volatile, hence it may be obtained by 

 sublimation. Tho dyeing properties of madder have been ! 

 known from times of very great antiquity. Strabo relates ' 

 tkat ho saw this plant cultivated by the Gauls of Aquitania, ; 

 who called it varancia, whence is derived the French word j 

 garance for madder. Daring the Middle Ages the Normans 

 44 x.r. 



ooltivated it largely in the country about Caen, and exported 

 large quantities. 



It is a curious circumstance in reference to the colouring 

 matter of madder, that it penetrates the whole organism of 

 animals which oat it, and dyea their bones. Many other species 

 of the genus Rnbia furnish a red colouring matter; amongst 

 these we have the Ruoia pereyrina, Rubia lucida, Rubia anaut- 

 tifolia, Rubia iongijulia. Many foreign apeciea are alao tinc- 

 torial. India possesses the Rubia Munjiila, Chili the 

 Helboun, the West Indies the Rubia, Quadalupmrii and Rubia 

 I hypocarpa. 



SECTION XLIIL-CINCHONACE.fi. 



This important natural order contains a great number of 

 valuable medicinal planta, of the principal of which namely, 

 those which supply us with the Cinchona bark we shall 

 speak in a future lesson. The order by many botaniata ii 

 considered as forming a sab-order of the order Rubiateac. 



Characteristics : Leaves simple, 

 entire, opposite, with stipules be- 

 tween the foot-stalks ; calyx supe- 

 rior, adherent to ovary ; corolla 

 monopetalous, tubular and regular, 

 with segments equal in number 

 to the segments of the calyx when 

 there are divisions in the calyx ; 

 stamens rising from the corolla in 

 alternation with its segments ; ovary 

 inferior and commonly two-celled ; 

 style simple ; fruit pulpy in some, 

 dry in others, sometimes splitting 

 into two halves. 



Ipecacuanha (Cephcelis ipecacu- 

 anha) is an exceedingly valuable 

 member of the natural order Ctn- 

 chonacece. It is a little shrub which 

 inhabits the forests of Brazil. Its 

 root is about the size of a goose- 

 quill, yellow in colour, and furnished 

 with a grey bark disposed in the 

 form of rings very close together. 

 The stem is one or two feet high ; 

 the leaves disposed in pairs. The 

 active properties of ipecacuanha 

 reside in the bark of the root, 

 which furnishes a valuable medicine 

 which acts as a purgative and emetic 

 when administered in large doses, 

 and as an expectorant in small doses. 

 Perhaps the most important indi- 

 vidual of the Cinchona tribe is the 

 coffee plant. Coffee is the produce 

 of an evergreen shrub, a native ot 

 Abyssinia and Arabia. The fruit 

 is a berry about the size of a 



cherry, covered with a pulp sweet in taste and not very 

 thick. Inside this pulp are two seeds, separated from each 

 other by a parchment-like membrane. These seeds are 

 the well-known coffee. The coffee- seed has been frequently 

 analysed ; chemists have found in it several oily gums and 

 albuminous matters, but the valuable principle is crystal- 

 line, and denominated caffeine. Every person knows that 

 coffee is rendered fit for culinary purposes by the process of 

 roasting, but the precise agency of this roasting process is not 

 understood. 



It is supposed that it was only in the fifteenth century that 

 coffee was transported from Abyssinia to Arabia Felix. But if 

 Arabia be not the native bind of coffee, it is at least its most 

 prosperous adopted home. Nowhere does the plant flourish 

 better, nowhere is the resulting coffee so delicious in flavour, 

 especially that grown in the country of Yemen, in the environs 

 of Mocha. The Orientals, it is well known, first introduced 

 the use of coffee into Europe ; but when they, the Orientals, 

 first became acquainted with the beverage is still uncertain. An 

 Arabian author of the fifteenth century, named Shehabeddin, 

 states that the Mufti of Aden, in the ninth century, was the first 

 who used coffee as a beverage; but it is certain that at this period 



