XXXVI. ARALIACE^E. 20S 



XXXVI. ARALIACRffi. THE ARALIA FAMILY. 

 Shrubs, trees, or climbers, rarely herbs, differing from most 

 Umbelliferce in their simple (solitary or paniculate) umbels, and 

 more generally in their fruit more or less succulent, consisting 

 often of more than 2 (from 2 to 10) carpels, which do not sepa- 

 rate so readily as in Umbelliferce, usually forming a single berry, 

 or, more strictly speaking, a berry-like drupe, containing as 

 many 1-seeded nuts as there are carpels. The styles also are 

 sometimes united. 



A considerable Order, widely spread over the warmer regions of the 

 globe, represented in Europe by a single species. Some species of 

 Aralia are cultivated in gardens. 



I. HEDERA. IVY. 



Petals not cohering at the top, valvate in the bud. Cells of the 

 ovary 5 or 10. Styles short, usually cohering in a single mass. 



A genus, as now limited, containing only a single Australian species, 

 besides the British one. 



1. H. Helix, Linn. (fig. 457). Common Ivy. A woody, evergreen 

 climber; when wild the lower, slender branches spread along the 

 ground, with small leaves, whilst the main stems climb up trees, rocks, 

 or buildings to a great height, adhering by means of small rootlike 

 excrescences. Leaves thick and shining, ovate, angular, or 3- or 5- 

 lobed ; those of the barren stems usually much more divided than the 

 upper ones. Flowering branches bushy, projecting a foot or two from 

 the climbing stems, each bearing a short raceme or panicle of nearly 

 globular umbels. Flowers of a yellowish-green. Borders of the calyx 

 entire, scarcely prominent, about half-way up the ovary. Petals 5, 

 broad and short. Stamens 5. Styles united into a single very short 

 one. Berry smooth and black, with from 2 to 5 seeds, the albumen 

 deeply wrinkled. 



In woods, on rocks and old buildings, common in western and southern 

 Europe, northern Africa, the Himalaya, and in Japan, scarcely pene- 

 trating into central Europe, except where the winters are very mild. 

 Extends over the whole of Britain. Fl. late in autumn. Several 

 varieties are in cultivation, differing chiefly in the more or less divided 

 leaves, and one with yellow berries, introduced from the Continent, has 

 become almost wild in some parts of southern and western England ; 

 another, the so-called Irish ivy, H. canariensis, Willd., with very broad 

 thick leaves, is a very doubtful native of Ireland. 



XXXVII. LORANTHACKE. MISTLETOE FAMILY. 



Shrubby or half-succulent evergreens, parasitic on the branches 



of trees, with jointed branches, opposite thickish leaves, and 



no stipules. Calyx combined with the ovary, either entirely so, 



or appearing only in the shape of an entire or toothed border 



