232 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



distinct, monadelphous, or polyadelphous ; filaments ordinarily , 

 flat and uni-serial ; style simple ; stigma capitular ; berry with 

 thick rind and pulpy endocarp ; seeds provided with a raphe, 

 and frequently containing numerous embryos ; embryo dico- 

 tyledonous, exalbuminous, straight ; radicle superior. 



The Aurantiacece are for the most part natives of tropical Asia, 

 but they are now distributed over all parts of the globe where ! 

 the temperature is sufficiently high to allow of their culture. 

 Their leaves are alternate, without stipules, often with the 

 blade jointed to the flattened petiole flowers, solitary or in 

 corymbs. The bark, the leaves, calyx, petals, filaments, and 

 epicarp, are all supplied with vesicles containing volatile oil. 



This beautiful family is, chemically, remarkable for its vola- 

 tile oil and aromatic bitter constituents, and its free acids 

 (principally malic and citric). The citron (Citrus) is the prin- 

 cipal genus of the family. The orange (Citrus 

 Aurantium), originally a native of the East 

 Indies, is now cultivated in almost all tropical 

 and warm temperate countries. In France, how- 

 ever, it requires protection during the winter. 



ovary in the form of a cup ; ovary generally from two to five- 

 celled, some plants of the genus having as many as ten or 

 twelve cells ; style single ; ovules, one, two, or four in each cell 

 attached to axile placentas ; fruit succulent or capsular, with 

 loculicidal dehiscence ; seeds few in number. The Meliacece 

 are trees or shrubs, natives for the most part of the tropics. 

 They contain acrid and bitter astringent principles, by virtue of 

 which they are tonic and stimulating. The Melia Azederach 

 (Fig. 232) is a tree growing in Persia and Syria, sometimes 

 called the Margosa tree, but which has been naturalised in 

 Mediterranean Europe and North America. It has febrifugal 

 properties. 



SECTION LXXVIL MALPIGHIACE.3E, OR MALPIGHIADS. 



Characteristics: Calyx free, five-partite, each division ordinarily 

 furnished with two glands at the base ; petals 

 five, either inserted upon the receptacle or upon 

 a hypogynous or sub-perigynous disc, clawed, im- 

 bricated in aestivation; stamens double in number 

 to the petals, sometimes all of them fertile, in 



231. THE LEMON-TREE (CITRUS LIMONUM). 232. THE 



MARGOSA (MELIA AZEDERACH). 233. MALPHIGIA 

 VOLCBILIS. 



The citron (dims medico) is the most useful species of the genus ; 

 its berry, sometimes termed the bitter orange, is not edible, but 

 from it are extracted many delicious perfumes, and its pulp 

 makes an excellent confection. It is from the flowers of this 

 species that chemists obtain the essence of neroli. All its 

 various parts are in point of fact more aromatic than similar 

 parts of the orange-tree. The lime (Citrus Limetta), and the 

 lemon (Citrus Limonum), are members of the genus Citrus ; 

 all yeld, from almost every part of their substance, an odorous 

 volatile oil. The celebrated Eau de Cologne is nothing more 

 than a solution of volatile oils extracted from many genera of 

 Aurantiaceae and dissolved in alcohol. 



The citron was not introduced into Europe until subsequently 

 to the period of Alexander the Great's Asiatic conquests. It is 

 a native of Persia and Mesopotamia. 



' SECTION LXXVL MELIACE^;, OR MELIADS. 

 Characteristics: Leaves usually alternate, simple, or pinnate, 

 and without stipules ; flowers generally symmetrical, ar- 

 ranged either in a panicle, corymb, cynie, or spike ; the calyx 

 and corolla having three, four, or five divisions ; stamens mona- 

 delphous, and twice as many in number as the petals, with ses- 

 sile anthers ; disc hypogynous, and sometimes surrounding the 



other cases partly sterile ; filaments ordinarily coherent at 

 their base ; ovary composed of three carpels, rarely two, either 

 incorporated with the axis or free at the summit, giving rise 

 to three or two uni-ovnlate cells ; ovule reflexed, attached to a 

 long funicnlus, ascending by its free extremity ; fruit composed 

 of two or three carpels ordinarily samaroidal ; seeds inverted, 

 dicotyledonous, exalbuminous, rarely straight, cotyledons 

 ordinarily bent on themselves ; radicle superior. 



The Malpighiacece are usually trees or shrubs, for the most 

 part covered with hairs, which sometimes degenerate into 

 prickles, though not invariably. The leaves are ordinarily 

 opposite, simple, devoid of stipules. Inflorescence, a cyme or 

 corymb. This order takes its name from the Malpighia, or 

 Barbadoes cherry, so called after Professor Malpighi of Pisa. 

 This plant is nearly allied to the Galphimia, another of the 

 same family, whose name, as the reader may see, is the word 

 " Malpighia " transposed. 



SECTION LXXVIII. ACERACE.E, OR MAPLES. 

 Characteristics : Calyx free, with four or five divisions, cadu- 

 cous ; petals four or five, alternate with the sepals inserted upon a 

 hypogynous disc, sometimes absent ; aestivation imbricate ; sta- 

 mens four to twelve, ordinarily eight; ovary free, composed of two 



