GROUP v. ANGIOSPERM.E; DICOTYLEDONES. 



533 



inner whorl of stamens are usually wanting: style usually bifid: ovary 

 umlocular, with 1-4 ovules : fruit generally indehiscent. 



The British genera are Scleranthus (KnaWel), Herniaria r Corrigiola 

 (Strap- wort), and Illecebrum : they are small inconspicuous herbs, with 

 scarious stipules (except Scleranthus). 



The Paronychieae have also been placed, as a distinct natural order, 

 ILLECEBRACE^:, among the Monochlamydeae. There is no doubt that they 

 have affinities with the Chenopodiales. and that they thus connect that 

 cohort with the Caryophyllacese. 



Cohort III. Parietafes. Flowers cyclic, with calyx and 

 corolla : sepals free : stamens definite or indefinite; gynaeceum of 

 two or more carpels : ovary unilocular, sometimes many-chambered, 

 with parietal placentation : seed with or without endosperm, 



Order 1. PAPAVERACE^E. Flowers usually actinomorphic, A'2, 

 C2 + 2, A<x. , G ( - ] or (oc ), or rarely with trimerous whorls :. calyx 

 sepaloid, corolla peta- 

 loid : the numerous 

 whorls of stamens al- 

 ternate : ovary of two 

 lateral carpels or of 

 more (Fig. 345 a), two- 

 or more - chambered : 

 ovules numerous, at- 

 tached to the more or 

 less infolded edges of 

 the carpels : endo- 

 sperm abundant, em- 

 bryo small. The sepals 

 commonly fall off be- 

 fore the flower ex- 

 pands (Fig. 345/c). Plants with abundant milky latex. 



Papaver, the Poppy, has a many-chambered ovary ; the fruit is a porous 

 capsule (Fig. 288 D): P. somniferum is cultivated for the sake of the oil 

 contained in the seeds, and for the latex obtained from its capsules, which 

 when inspissated, constitutes opium ; several species are British, such as 

 P. fiha'as, the Field Poppy ; P. Argemone, the Pale or Long Prickly- 

 headed Poppy ; P. hybridum, the Bound Prickly-headed Poppy : P. dubiuni r 

 the Long Smooth-headed Poppy ; and Meconopsis cambrica, the Yellow 

 Welsh Poppy. Chelidonium majus, the Celandine, has two carpels, a 

 siliquose fruit, and orange-coloured milky latex. Glaucium, the Horned 

 PPP3 r > has a siliquose fruit which is generally spuriously bilocular 



Order 2. FUMARIACE^. Flowers isobilaterally symmetrical, 



FIG. 315. Flower of Ctielidoniitr* mojijs (nat. size) ; 

 fc calj-x ; ca outer, ct inner petals ; a Btamens ; n stigma. 

 A Diagram of the flower of Chelidonium. a Many- 

 chambered ovary of Papaver. 



