THE POLYPETALOUS ORDERS. 379 



large, but dull colored. Sepals 3. Petals 6, in two rows, with a 

 valvate aestivation. Stamens numerous, in many rows, with ex- 

 trorse anthers. Carpels few, or mostly numerous and closely 

 packed together, sometimes cohering and forming a fleshy or pulpy 

 mass in the mature fruit. Seeds one or more in each carpel, with 

 a brittle testa: embryo minute at the base of hard, ruminated al- 

 bumen. Ex. The four species of Papaw (Asimina) are our only 

 representatives of this chiefly tropical order, which furnishes the 

 luscious Custard-apples of the East and West Indies, &c. Ar- 

 omatic, and sometimes rather acrid, properties prevail in the 

 order.* 



710. Ord, Menispermacesc (the Moonseed Family}. Climbing or 

 twining shrubby plants ; with alternate and simple palmately-veined 

 leaves, destitute of stipules ; and small flowers in racemes or pani- 

 cles, dioecious, monoecious, or polygamous. Calyx of three to 

 twelve sepals, in one to three rows, deciduous. Petals as many as 

 the sepals or fewer, small, or sometimes wanting in the pistillate 



* ORD. MYRISTICACE^E, consisting of a few tropical trees (which bear 

 nutmegs), differs from Anonaceae in having monoecious or dioecious and apet- 

 alous flowers. The aril and the albumen of the seeds are fine aromatics. 

 The common nutmeg is the seed of Myristica moschata (a native of the Mo- 

 luccas) deprived of the testa: mace is the aril of the same species. The ru- 

 minated albumen (627) is nearly peculiar to this family and the Anonaceae. 



FIG. 495. Staminate flower of Menispermum Canadense. 496. A stamen, with its four- 

 lobed anther. 497. A pistillate flower of the same. 498. A solitary fruit. 499. Two drupes 

 on the same receptacle, cut across ; one through the pulpy exocarp only, the other through the 

 bony endocarp and seed. 500. A drupe divided vertically (the embryo here is turned the wrong 

 way). 501. The seed, and 502, the coiled embryo detached. 



