204 SIMAROUBACEAE. 



Family 10. SIMAROUBACEAE DC. 



AiLAXTHUs Family. 



Trees or shrubs, with bitter bark, and mainly alternate and pinnate, 

 not punctate leaves. Stipules minute or none. Inflorescence axillary, 

 paniculate or racemose. Flowers regular, dioecious or polygamous. Calyx 

 3-5-lobed or divided. Petals 3-5. Disk annular or elongated, entire or 

 lobed. Stamens of the same number as the petals, or twice as many; 

 anthers 2-celled. Ovaries 2-5, or single and 2-5-lobed, 1-5-celled; styles 

 1-5. Seeds generally solitary in the cavities. About 30 genera and 150 

 species, natives of warm or tropical regions. There are no native nor 

 naturalized species of this family in Bermuda. 



Ailanthus glandulosa Desf., Ailanthus, Tree of Heaven, a large smooth- 

 barked tree, with odd-pinnate deciduous leaves, the leaflets ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, the small greenish dioecious flowers in large panicles followed, on 

 the pistillate tree, by clusters of narrow samaras, is commonly planted for 

 shade and ornament. 



Quassia amara L., Bitterwood, South American, a large tree with very 

 bitter wood, pinnate leaves with a winged rachis, and large red flowers in 

 terminal clusters, was grown at Mount Langton, prior to 1879, but its subsequent 

 disappearance is recorded by H. B, Small. 



Family 11. MELIACEAE Vent. 



Mahogany Family. 



Shrubs, trees, or sometimes shrubby herbs. Leaves alternate, without 

 stipules, pinnately compound, sometimes thrice pinnate. Inflorescence 

 paniculate. Flowers perfect or polygamo-dioecious, regular. Calyx of 3-5 

 imbricated or rarely valvate sepals. Corolla of 3-5 distinct or somewhat 

 united petals which are sometimes adnate to the stamen-tube. Stamens 

 8-10, or rarely fewer or more, inserted at the base of the disk, filaments 

 united into a tube; anthers sessile or stalked. Carpels 3-5, united; ovary 

 3-5-eelled, free; styles united. Ovules 2-many in each cavity, anatropous. 

 Fruit a berry, capsule or drupe. Seeds sometimes winged; endosperm 

 wanting or fleshy; embryo with leafy cotyledons. About 50 genera, in- 

 cluding some 700 species, mostly tropical. 



1. MKLIA L. 



Trees, commonly with variegated wood and scarred branches. Leaves 

 alternate, unequally pinnate, often thrice compound, the leaflets often numer- 

 ous, the blades toothed. Flowers perfect, white or purple, in ample axillary 

 much-branched panicles. Sepals 5-6, imbricated. Disk annular. Petals 5-6, 

 distinct, narrow, contorted, spreading. Staminal tube nearly cylindric, dilated 

 at the mouth, 10-12-lobed, each lobe 2- or 3-cleft; anthers 10-12, erect. Ovary 

 subglobose, 3-6-celled; stigma 3-6-lobed. Ovules 2 in each cavity, pendulous, 

 one above the other. Drupe leathery-fleshy, with a 1-5-eelled stone. Seed 

 solitary in each cavity, wingless; endosperm fleshy or very thick. [Greek, 

 from the similarity of the leaves to those of an Ash.] About 25 species, natives 

 of Asia, the following typical. 



