EYTTNERIACE.E TILIACEJE. 373 



784. The plants are mucilaginous and demulcent; many are used 

 for food, others supply a material like cotton. The silky hairs sur- 

 rounding the seeds of Bombax Ceiba, the Silk-cotton tree, are used for 

 stuffing cushions and chairs, and for various other domestic purposes. 

 The trunk of the tree is made into canoes. Adansonia digitata, the Bao- 

 bab tree of Senegal, or monkey-bread, is one of the largest known 

 trees. Its trunk sometimes attains a diameter of thirty feet, while its 

 height is by no means in proportion. The pulp of its fruit (amphisarca) 

 is used as an article of food. Durio zibethinus furnishes the fruit called 

 Durian in the Indian Archipelago. The fruit is much prized, although 

 it has a foetid odour, which has given rise to the name Civet Durian. 

 Gheirostemon platanoides is called the hand- plant of Mexico, on account 

 of its five peculiarly curved anthers, which resemble a claw. Helic- 

 teres (from helix, a snail) is so named on account of its twisted fruit. 

 The Kola, mentioned by African travellers as being used to sweeten 

 water, is the seed of a species of Sterculia. 



785. Order 29. Byttneriaceie, the Byttneria and Chocolate Family. 

 (Polypet. Hypog.) Calyx 4-5 lobed, valvate in aestivation (fig. 261 c). 

 Petals 4-5 or 0, often elongated at the apex, with a twisted or induplicate 

 aestivation (fig. 261 p). Stamens hypogynous, either equal in number 

 to the petals, or some multiple of them, more or less monadelphous, 

 some of them sterile ; anthers bilocular, introrse. Ovary free, composed 

 usually of 4-10 carpels arranged round a central column ; styles terminal, 

 as many as the carpels, free or united; ovules 2 in each loculament. 

 Fruit capsular, either with loculicidal dehiscence, or the carpels separat- 

 ing from each other. Seeds anatropal, often winged; embryo straight 

 or curved, lying usually in fleshy albumen; cotyledons either plaited 

 or rolled up spirally. Trees, shrubs or undershrubs, with alternate 

 leaves, having either deciduous stipules or 0, and stellate or forked 

 hairs. They abound in tropical climates Lindley enumerates 45 

 genera, embracing 400 species. The order has been divided into six 

 suborders, founded on the following genera: Examples Lasiopetalum, 

 Byttneria, Hermannia, Dombeya, Eriolama, and Philippodendron. 



786. The plants abound in mucilage, and many yield cordage. 

 The seeds of Theobroma Cacao are called Cacao-beans, and are the 

 chief ingredient in chocolate, which contains also sugar, arnotto, vanilla, 

 and cinnamon. The seeds by pressure yield a fatty oil, called Butter 

 of Cacao. They contain a crystalline principle analogous to caffeine, 

 called Theobromine. The Cocoa of the shops consists generally of 

 the roasted beans, and sometimes of the roasted integuments of the 

 beans, ground to powder. 



787. Order 30. Tiliacrce, the Lime-tree Family. (Polypet. Hypog.) 

 Sepals 4-5, with a valvate aestivation. Petals 4-5, entire, rarely want- 

 ing. Stamens hypogynous, free, or united by the enlarged border of the 

 stalk of the pistil (fig. 316, 1, 2), usually oo ; anthers 2-celled, dehiscing 



