AURAXTIACE.E. 377 



chiefly tropical or subtropical. Little is known in regard to their 

 properties. There are 24 genera, and 53 species enumerated. Exam- 

 ples Olax, Opilia, Icacina. 



795. Order 35. Auramiacese, the Orange Family. (Polypet. Hypog. ) 

 Calyx urceolate or campanulate, short, 3-5-toothed, withering. Petals 

 3-5, broad at the base, sometimes slightly coherent; aestivation imbri- 

 cated. Stamens equal in number to, or a multiple of, the petals ; 

 filaments flattened at the base, distinct or combined into one or more 

 parcels ; anthers erect. Thalamus enlarged in the form of a hypogy- 

 nous disk, to which the petals and stamens are attached. Ovary free, 

 multilocular ; style 1 ; stigma thickish, somewhat divided. Fruit a 

 hesperidium, having a spongy separable rind, and pulpy separable cells 

 (^[ 552). Seeds anatropal, attached to the axis, solitary or several, 

 usually pendulous, having the chalaza and raphe usually well marked; 

 perisperm 0; embryo straight; cotyledons thick and fleshy. Trees 

 or shrubs, usually conspicuous for their beauty, with alternate, often 

 compound leaves, which are articulated with a usually winged petiole 

 (fig. 185). They abound in the East Indies. There are 20 genera, and 

 nearly 100 species enumerated. Examples Citrus, Limonia, Triphasia. 



796. The plants exhibit in every part receptacles of volatile oil. 

 The oil abounds in the leaves and in the rind of the fruit. It is fragrant 

 and bitter. The fruit has a more or less acid pulp, and the wood is 

 generally compact. The Orange, Lemon, Lime, Citron, Shaddock, 

 and Forbidden Fruit, belong to this order. Citrus vulyaris yields 

 the Bitter or Seville Orange, from the flowers of which an essential 

 oil, called Neroli-oil, is procured, in the proportion of an ounce from 

 550 pounds of flowers. A similar oil is got from the flower of the 

 Sweet Orange, Citrus Aurantium. The rind of the Bitter Orange is used 

 in conserves. In the young state, the fruit is sold under the name of 

 Orangettes or Cura9oa oranges. Orange- flower- water, as obtained from 

 the flowers of the Bitter Orange, is employed as an anodyne. The 

 chief kinds of Sweet Orange are the Common Orange, the Chinese or 

 Mandarin Orange, the Maltese, and St. Michael's. The last are the 

 finest imported into Britain, and are distinguished by their smooth, 

 thin rind. A single tree, it is said, will produce 20,000 good oranges. 

 Their fruit is used medicinally, on account of the pulp, which contains 

 sugar, mucilage, and citric acid. From the rind of the Sweet Orange, 

 an oil called Oil of Orange is procured, which differs from Neroli-oil. 

 A similar oil, but of inferior quality, is procured from the rind of the 

 Seville Orange. Many look on the Bitter and Sweet Oranges as pro- 

 duced by varieties of one species. The Bitter Orange- tree is less than 

 that yielding the Sweet Orange ; the petioles are more distinctly folia- 

 ceous ; the flowers have a sweeter fragrance ; the rind of the fruit is 

 darker and more bitter ; and its pulp more bitter and less saccharine. 

 The Lemon, Lime, and Citron, are distinguished from oranges by their 



