82 RUE FAMILY. 



sometimes elevates more or less the single compound pistil or the 

 2-5 more or less separate carpels. Leaves either opposite or alter- 

 nate, in ours mostly alternate, without stipules. Flowers only in 

 No. 2 irregular. Many species are medicinal. 



1. Perennial, strony-scenled, hardy (exotic) herbs : flowers perfect : stamens 8 or 

 10: ovary 4-5-lobea, 4-5-celled: seeds several. 



1. RUT A. Sepals and petals 4 or 5, short, the latter roundish and arching. Sta- 



mens twice as many as the petals. Style 1. Pod globular and many-seeded. 

 Leaves decompound. 



2. DICTAMNUS. Sepals and petals 5; the latter long and lanceolate, on short 



claws, the lower one declining, the others ascending. Stamens 10; the long 

 filaments declining and curved, partly glandular. Styles 5, nearly separate. 

 Ovary a little elevated, deeply 5-lobed, in fruit becoming 5 flattened rough- 

 glandular 2 - 3-seeded pods, each splitting when ripe into 2 valves, which 

 divide into an outer and an inner layer. Leaves pinnate. 



$ 2. Shrubs or trees, hardy, with /polygamous, dioecious, or sometimes perfect, small 

 (yretttislt or rohitish) jlowers: stamens 4 or 5, as many as the petals : seeds 

 single or in pairs. 



* Indigenous : leaves jrinnate or of 3 leaflets, deciduous. 



3. ZANTHOXYLUM. Flowers dioecious. Pistils 2 -5; their styles slightly co- 



hering ; the ovaries separate, ripening into rather fleshy at length dry and 

 2-valved little pods. Seed black, smooth and shining. Prickly trees or 

 shrubs: leaves pinnate. 



4. PTKLKA. Flowers polygamous. Pistil a 2-ceIied ovary tipped with a short 



style, forming a 2-celled 2-seede 1 and rounded wing-fruit or samara, iu shape 

 like that of the Kim. Not prickly: leaflets 3. 



* * Exotic : leaves simple and entire, everyreen. 



5. SKIMMIA. Flowers polygamous or perfect. Ovary 2 -5-celled, with a single 



ovule from the top of each cell, in fruit becoming a red berry or drupe. 



$ 3. Shrubs or trees, exotic, not hardy, with sweet-scented foliage and perfect flowers, 

 haviny numerous (20 - 60) stamens. 



6. CITRUS Petals 4-8, usually 6. thickish. Filaments irregularly united more 



or less. Ovary many-celled, encircled at the base by a conspicuous disk (see 

 Lessons, p. 1^5, fig. 281), in fruit becoming a thick-rinded many -seeded large 

 berry, branches usually spiny. Leaves evergreen, apparently simple, but 

 with a joint between the blade and the (commonly winged or margined) 

 petiole, showing that the leaf is a compound one reduced to the end-leaflet. 



1. RUTA, RUE. (The ancient name.) Natives of the Old World. # 

 B. grav&olens, COMMON RUE. Cult, in country gardens ; a bushy herb, 



woody or almost shrubby at the base, with bluish-green and strongly dotted 

 oblong or obovate small leaflets, the terminal one broader and notched at the 

 end, and corymbs of greenish-yellow flowers, produced all summer ; the earliest 

 blossom has the parts in lives, the rest in fours. Plant very acrid, sometimes 

 even blistering the skin. J 



2. DICTAMNUS, FRAXINELLA. (Ancient Greek name.) Native of 

 Southern Kurope. ^ 



D. Praxin^lla. Cult, for ornament ; herb with an almost woody base, 

 viadd-glandaiar, and with a strong aromatic .scent; the leaves likened to those 

 of Ash on a smaller scale (whence the common name) of 9-13 ovate and ser- 

 rate leaflets ; the large flowers in a terminal raceme, in summer, in one variety 

 pale purple with redder veins, another white. 



3. ZANTHOXYLUM, PRICKLY ASIL (Name composed of two 

 ( i reek words, meaning jfeUotP '<W.) Hark, leaves, and little flesh v pods very 

 pungent and aromatic. 



Z. Americanum, XOKIHI.KN P. or TOOTIIACMK-TKKK. Rocky woods 

 and hanks N. ; a pricklv shrub or small tree, with leaves downy when young, 

 of 9 - I 1 ovate or oblong leaflets ; the greenish flowers in axillary clusters, in 



