MELIACEjE CEDRELACE.E. 383 



forests of South America. Some of them furnish oil, others yield 

 edible nuts. Souari nuts are the produce of Caryocar butyroswn 

 (Pekea butyrosa}. Lindley notices 2 genera, and 8 species. Examples 

 Caryocar, Anthodiscus. 



809. Order 45. Meiince*e, the Melia Family. (Polypet. Hypog.) 

 Sepals 4-5, more or less united, with an imbricated aestivation. Petals 

 4-5, hypogynous, sometimes cohering at the base, with a valvate or 

 imbricated aestivation. Stamens equal in number to the petals, or 2, 

 3, or 4 times as many; filaments combined in a long tube; anthers 

 sessile within the orifice of the tube. Disk often large and cup-shaped. 

 Ovary single, multilocular, the cells often equal in number to the 

 petals; ovules usually anatropal, 1-2 in each cell; style 1; stigmas 

 distinct or united. Fruit baccate, drupaceous or capsular, multilocu- 

 lar, or by abortion unilocular, when valves are present opening by 

 loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds not winged; albumen usually absent; 

 embryo straight, with leafy cotyledons. Trees or shrubs, with alter- 

 nate (occasionally opposite), exstipulate, simple, or pinnate leaves. 

 They are chiefiy found in the tropical parts of America and Asia. 

 Under this order, some include Humiriacea?, which are distinguished 

 by a prolonged fleshy connective (fig. 341), albuminous seeds, and a 

 slender embryo. Arnott includes Cedrelacese also under this order. 

 There are about 40 known genera, and upwards of 160 species. 

 Examples Melia, Trichilia, Humirium, Canella. 



810. The plants of this order possess bitter, tonic, and astringent 

 qualities. Melia Azedarachta is used in India as a febrifuge, and its 

 fruit yields an oil which is employed for domestic purposes, and as 

 an antispasmodic. Oils are procured also from species of Trichilia 

 and Carapa (fig. 507). The fruit called in the Indian Archipelago, 

 Langsat, is the produce of a species of Lansium. A fragrant balsam, 

 called Balsam of Umiri, is got from the trunk of Humirium floribundum. 

 Canella alba, the plant which furnishes Canella bark, has been referred 

 to this order, but great doubts exist as to the propriety of doing so. 

 Lindley makes provisionally a separate order, Canellacere, which he 

 places near Pittosporacea?. Canella bark is hot and aromatic, and is 

 used as a spice, and medicinally as a stimulant tonic. It was formerly 

 confounded with Winter's bark, and the plant was called by Linnaeus, 

 Wmterania Canella, or spurious Winter's bark. 



811. Order 46. Cedreiacefe, the Mahogany Family. (Polypet 

 Hypog^) Calyx 4-5-cleft, with imbricated asstivation. Petals 4-5, 

 with imbricated aestivation. Stamens 8-10, united below into a tube, 

 sometimes distinct, inserted into a hypogynous annular disk; anthers 

 bilocular, acuminated, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary usually 

 4 or 5 -celled; ovules anatropal, pendulous; style simple; stigma 

 peltate. Fruit a capsule opening septifragally (figs. 450, 451). Seeds 

 winged; albumen thin or 0; embryo straight, erect; cotyledons 



