504 AMENTACE.E. 



Fruit membranous or bony, or drupaceous, indehiscent (fig. 726) or 

 dehiscent. Seeds solitary or numerous, erect or pendulous (fig. 724), 



725 726 727 



usually exalbuminous; embryo straight or curved; radicle mostly su- 

 perior (fig. 727). Trees or shrubs, with alternate, stipulate, or exsti- 

 pulate leaves. Natives chiefly of temperate climates. The order has 

 been divided into the following suborders: 



1. Salicineae, the Willow tribe: flowers naked, or with a membranous cup-like 

 calyx; ovules 00, erect, anatropal; fruit naked, coriaceous, unilocular, 2- 

 valved; seeds comose; embryo erect; radicle inferior; leaves stipulate. 

 Found in woods in temperate and cold regions. 



2. Myricese, the Gale tribe: achlamydeous flowers ; stamens 2-8 in the axil of a 

 scale; ovary 1-celled. with hypogynous scales; ovule solitary, erect, ortho- 

 tropal ; fruit drupaceous, often with a waxy secretion, and with fleshy ad- 

 herent scales; radicle superior. Natives both of temperate and tropical 

 regions, and found in North and South America, in India, and at the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



3. Casuarineae, the Beef- wood tribe: flowers with bracts; stamen 1; ovary 1- 



celled; ovules 1-2; fruit consisting of winged achsenia, collected into a cone; 

 seed erect; radicle superior. Australian trees or shrubs, with filiform 

 branches, bearing membranous toothed sheaths in place of leaves. 



4. Betulineas, the Birch tribe : flowers with bracts, which are sometimes verti- 



cillate ; ovary 2-celled ; ovules solitary, pendulous, anatropal ; fruit mem- 

 branous, indehiscent, forming a sort of cone; seeds pendulous; radicle 

 superior ; leaves with deciduous stipules. Natives of temperate and cold 

 regions in Europe/ Asia, and America, and extending to arctic and antarc- 

 tic regions. 



5. Balsamaceae (Altingiaceae), the Liquidambar tribe: flowers with verticillate 



bracts or minute scales; anthers numerous; ovary 2-celled; ovules 00, am- 

 phitropal; fruit consisting of 2-celled capsules, united together so as to form 

 a hard cone; seeds usually numerous, winged, albuminous; radicle superior; 

 leaves stipulate. Balsamic trees, natives of tropical and warm regions. 



6. Platanea?, the Plane tribe: flowers in globose catkins; stamen 1, with scales; 



ovary 1-celled; style thick and subulate; ovules solitary or in pairs; sus- 

 pended, orthotropal ; fruit consisting of compressed clavate nuts, terminated 

 by a recurved style; seeds 1-2, pendulous, albuminous; radicle inferior; 

 leaves palmate or toothed, and stipulate. Natives chiefly of temperate 

 regions. 



Fig. 724. Female flower cut longitudinally, to show the two loculaments with a pendulous 

 ovule in each. 



Fig. 725. Female flower more advanced, c, Perianth. *, Styles. 



Fig. 726. Ripe fruit. /, enveloped in its involucre or bracts, /. 



Fig. 727. Seed separated, t, Integument, half of which is removed to show the exalbuminous 

 embryo, e. r, Superior radicle. 



