60 BATIDE^E. Batis. 



ORDER LXXX. BATIDE^J. 



Formed for a single genus and species of wholly doubtful affinity, a fleshy mari- 

 time shrub, which from its aspect rather than its characters is here placed next the 

 Chenopodiacece, its true relationship being undetermined. 



1. BATIS, P. Browne. 



Flowers dkecious, bracteate, in oblong axillary sessile ament-like spikes. Stami- 

 nate flowers free, with a campanulate 2-lipped calyx. Stamens 4, alternate with as 

 many unguiculate petals. Pistillate flowers 8 to 12, united into a fleshy spike, 

 without perianth. Ovaries coherent (becoming a fleshy ovoid-conical fruit), 4-celled, 

 with a single erect anatropous ovule in each cell : stigma sessile, thick and capitate. 

 Seed with a membranous testa and no albumen, erect, oblong. Embryo slightly 

 curved ; radicle inferior, very small. A low seaside shrub, with opposite entire 

 fleshy leaves, without stipules. 



1. B. maritima, Linn. Glabrous : stems branched and straggling, 3 or 4 feet 

 long, usually prostrate : leaves linear to obovate-oblong, an inch long, narrowed to the 

 base : spikes solitary in the axils along the branches ; the staminate 2 to 4 lines 

 long, 1 2 - 20-flowered ; the pistillate a line long, becoming 6 to 8 lines in fruit : 

 bracts obtuse or acute, entire, in 4 vertical rows, of the male spikes imbricate and 

 persistent, of the female deciduous : petals white, with rhomboidal limb : stamens 

 exserted : fruit with spongy pericarp and tough and coriaceous endocarp, the seed 

 a line long or less. Torrey, Sraithson. Contrib. 1853, t. 11 ; A. DC. Prodr. xvii. 

 35 ; Baill. Diet. Bot. 1. 382, figs. 



Collected only near San Diego (Parry}, but frequent in the West Indies and on the neighbor- 

 ing mainland (Tampa Bay, Florida), and also found in the Sandwich Islands. With the habit 

 of the Chenopodiacece, but differing widely in some of its characters. 



ORDER LXXXI. LAURACE.ffiJ. 



Aromatic trees and shrubs, completely distinguished by the minutely punctate 

 alternate simple leaves, always with entire (i. e. not serrate) margins, no stipules, 

 a perianth of 4 or 6 sepals more or less imbricated in two series in the bud, anthers 

 opening by one or two uplifted valves to each cell, a single style and stigma, and 

 a 1-celled free ovary which contains a solitary suspended anatropous ovule and 

 becomes a drupaceous or baccate fruit. Embryo filling the seed, with large plano- 

 convex cotyledons and a short included radicle. Flowers either perfect or dioecious, 

 mostly in cymes or clusters, small ; the perianth usually colored (white or yellow- 

 ish). Stamens definite or somewhat indefinite, in 3 or 4 series, some of them not 

 rarely sterile ; the inner ones often 2-glandular at base and with extrorse anthers. 

 (Cassytha, a tropical genus, is leafless, scentless, and parasitic-climbing in the man- 

 ner of Cuscuta.) 



A large order of 50 genera and 900 species, chiefly of the, tropical regions of Asia and America, 

 and yielding valuable timbers and other products. It includes various Cinnamon, Cassia, and 

 Camphor trees, the Laurel or Sweet Bay, and the Sassafras. Seven species of five genera are 

 found in the Atlantic States, but the only representative on the Western Coast is the following, 

 belonging in the principal suborder Laurinece to the tribe Litscnacecc, having the umbels or clusters 

 of flowers included before expansion in a 4-6-leaved caducous involucre. 



