CHAPTER X 

 VARIOUS PLANT GROUPS 



106. The magnolia family (Magnoliaceae) is a compara- 

 tively small group well representetl by magnolias (Alag- 

 nolia, page 262), the tulip-tree (Liriodendron, page 261), 

 and star-anise (lUicium, page 143). At first sight there might 

 seem to be small resemblance between these and crowfoot- 

 like plants; but let us see upon what points of difference we 

 can exclude them from the crowfoot family. 



The seeds are essentially the same as those of the crowfoot 

 family in having a small uncoiled embryo in copious albumen. 

 The fruit of star-anise consists of follicles, much like those of 

 the marsh-marigold, though with only one seed in each; 

 while the carpels of the tulip-tree ripen into achenes differing 

 from those of anemonies mainly in having wing-like out- 

 growths. Such winged fruits are termed sayymi^as.^ The mag- 

 nolia fruit consists of a cone-like aggregation of follicles 

 differing from those of star-anise in dehiscing by a dorsal 

 suture, and in producing one or two seeds which have a fleshy 

 outer layer of bright color, and which dangle on slender 

 threads when ripe. Neither the androecium nor the perianth 

 present any new features. Nor do we find anything essen- 

 tially different in regard to the inflorescence or the leaves 

 except that in the tulip-tree and magnolia there are leaflet- 

 like appendages at the base of the petiole. These stipules,^ 

 as they are called, serve as organs of protection for the unex- 

 panded leaves. In these plants they soon fall off, and so do 

 not appear in the figures. Well-developed stipules are shown 



' Sa-ma'ra < L. samara, the winged fruit of the elm. 



' Stip'ule < L. stipula, stubble, diminutive of stipes, stalk, the 

 stipules in their relation to the petiole being likened to the short stubble 

 standing at the base of a stalk of grain. 



