200 CELASTRINEiE. (STAFF-TREE FAMILT.) 



disk. Drupe oleaginous ; stone bony, 1-celled, 1-seeded ; cotyledons 

 plano-convex — Small trees, with strong, straight, axillary thorns, al- 

 ternate, 2-foliolate leaves, and axillary, cymose, green flowers. 



B. Aeg^ptiaca, Del. 5 Zaqqum. 3 to 5, branches slender. 

 Petioles and petiolules veiy short. Leaves coriaceous, obovate-ellipti- 

 cal, woolly. Cymes 3-5-flowered, subsessile ; petals linear, glabrous, 

 longer than sepals; drupe ovoid, .03 long, green, ripe in spring — 

 Winter — Around the Dead Sea. 



The Order MELIACEiE (the Mahogany Family) is represented 

 everywhere in Syria by Melia Azedarach, L., the Pride of India, Zinzi- 

 lukht (a corruption of Azaderacht). It has become subspontaneous in the 

 neighborhood of human residences and is a favorite shade tree owing 

 to its dense, compound, deep green leaves, and its handsome purple, 

 fragrant blossoms. 



Order XXIX. €£L.A»TRI]%^E:i£. (Staff-Tree Family.) 



/Shrubs with sinuple leaves, and sinall, regidar (in ours) 

 her^naphrodite flowers^ the sepals and ^petals 4-5, imbricated 

 in the bud, the jperigynous stamens as many as the petals, 

 alternate with them, inserted on the dish. Seeds (in ours) 

 Grilled — Ovary sessile, mostly free at base, 2-5-celled ; ovules 

 (in ours) 2 in a cell, erect, anatropous. Fruit (in onrs) a 2-5- 

 celled capsule. Seeds fleshy. 



EUO^YMIJS, Tourn. 5 Spindle Tree. 



Calyx flat,covered at base with a broad, fleshy disk. Petals inserted 

 at margin of disk. Stamens inserted above the disk. Capsule 3-5-celled, 

 cells often winged, loculicidal. Seeds usually solitary, albumen fleshy. 



E, latifolius, Scop. 5 3 to 5, branches glabrous. Leaves ob- 

 long-elliptical, acute or acuminate, glabrous, serrulate, often .15 long. 

 Cymes long-peduncled. Capsules winged at angles ; aril covering the 

 whole seed — May — Woods ; Amanus to Akherdagh, and northward. 



Order XXX. RH AmXEiO . R. Br. (Buckthorn Family.) 



Shrubs or small trees, with simple leaves, small, regular, 

 hermaphrodite or polygamous floioers ; a 4r^-jid calyx, with 

 vaVvate, deciduous lobes, the 'persistent ttdje more or less ad- 

 herent to ovary / as many petals as calyx-lobes, alternate 

 with them, inserted on the dish or at throat of calyx, or ; 

 as many stamens as petals, opposite them — Disk free or 

 lining the calyx-tube, sometimes obsolete. Ovary surrounded 

 by the disk, 2-4-celled. Style erect, stigmas 2-4. Ovules soli- 

 tary, anatropous, erect. Fruit a drupe, or capsule, or sama- 

 roid. Seeds erect, generally albuminous, embryo straight. 



L PALIURUS. Straggling .j)rickly shrubs. Capsule surrounded by a circular wing. 



2. ZIZYPHUS. Trees or shrubs. Drupe large, fleshy, edible. Flowers hermaphrodite. 



3, RHAMNUS. Shrubs or trees. Drupe small, not edible. Flowers usually polygamous. 



