THE POLYPETALOUS ORDERS. 



387 



spinosa of the Levant, &c. The roots and herbage or bark are 

 bitter, nauseous, and sometimes poisonous. 



720. Ord, ResedaceSB (the Mignonette Family). Herbs, with a 

 watery juice, and alternate leaves without stipules, except a pair of 

 glands be so considered : the flowers in terminal racemes, small, 

 and often fragrant. Calyx persistent, of four to seven sepals, 

 somewhat united at the base. Corolla of two to seven usually un- 

 equal and lacerated petals, with J)road or thickened nectariferous 

 claws. A fleshy disk is commonly present, enlarged posteriorly 

 between the petals and the stamens, and bearing the latter, which 

 vary from three to forty in number, and are not covered by the 

 petals in the bud. Fruit a one-celled pod, with three to six parie- 

 tal placentse, three to six-lobed at the apex, where it opens along 

 the inner sutures, usually long before the seeds are ripe. Seeds 

 several or many, curved or kidney-shaped, with no albumen ; the 

 embryo incurved. Ex, The common representative of this order 

 is the Mignonette (Reseda odorata), prized for its fragrant flowers. 



721. Ord, Yiolaceee (the Violet Family). Herbs (in tropical coun- 

 tries sometimes shrubby plants), with mostly alternate simple 

 leaves, on petioles, furnished with stipules ; and irregular flowers. 

 Calyx of five persistent sepals, often auricled at the base. Corolla 

 of five unequal petals, one of them larger than the others and com- 



FIG. 535. Flower of Polanisia graveolens. 536 Fructified ovary of the same, a portion cut 

 away by a vertical and horizontal section, to show the single cell and two parietal placentse. 

 537. Cross-section of the ovary. 538. Section of the seed and embryo. 539. Flower of Gynan- 

 dropsis. 



