476 PLANTAGINACE5?. 



ovule in a young state, but slips off at the period of fecundation, and 

 allows an ovular process to proceed from the exostome towards the 

 placenta. In this genus also, the scaly bracts unite so as to form an 

 inverted cylindrical sheath below the heads or shortened panicles of 

 flowers. Plumbago europcea has been employed for the relief of tooth- 

 ache, and has hence been called Toothwort. Some of the species of 

 this genus act as vesicants. 



978. Order 143. Piantaginacese, the Kibwort Family. (Monopet. 

 Hypog.) Calyx 4-parted, persistent; aestivation imbricate. Corolla 

 monopetalous, hypogynous, scarious, persistent, with a 4-parted limb. 

 Stamens 4, inserted into the corolla, and alternate with its segments ; 

 filaments long, filiform, folded inwards in the bud; anthers ch'thecal, 

 versatile. Disk inconspicuous. Ovary free, 2-4-celled; ovules soli- 

 tary, or in pairs, or 00; style simple, capillary; stigma hispid, simple, 

 rarely bifid. Fruit an operculate capsule, enclosed within the per- 

 sistent corolla. Seeds sessile, peltate, or erect; spermoderm mucila- 

 ginous; embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen, transverse; radicle 

 inferior. Herbs, which are often stemless, with radical ribbed leaves, 

 and spiked hermaphrodite flowers, or solitary unisexual ones. The 

 species are chiefly found in temperate and cool regions. There are 

 3 genera noticed by Lindley, including 120 species. Examples 

 Plantago, Littorella. 



979. The plants of this order are frequently bitter and astringent. 

 Their mucilaginous seeds are sometimes used as demulcents. Plantago 

 maritima is found both on the sea-shores, and on the top of the highest 

 mountains in Scotland. Its inorganic constituents are said to differ 

 in these localities (^[ 228). Plantago major, Way-bred, is said to 

 foUow the footsteps of man in his migrations. Its spikes are used for 

 feeding birds. Sometimes the bractlets become large, and at other 

 times they assume a verticillate appearance. 



Subclass IV. MONOCHLAMTDE^E.* 



980. Corolla wanting; a calyx, or what is called a simple perianth, 

 present; flowers sometimes Achlamydeous. This subclass includes the 

 Apetalous orders of Jussieu, and many of his Diclinous irregular orders. 

 It corresponds to the Apetalse and Gymnospermaj of Endlicher. 



Section A. Angiospermce.^ 



981. Monochlamydeous or Achlamydeous plants, having their seeds 

 contained in an ovary, and fertilized by the action of the pollen on a 

 stigma. It is the Apetalous division of Endlicher's Acramphibrya. 



* ~Mk-,t(, one, and ^Xauuf, a cloak or covering, 

 t Ay><<,f, a vessel, and <nrifu./*, a seed. 



