XLVII. 



Z)IOSPY ROS. 



625 



more. Ovarium m any- cell ed ; cells 1 2-seeded. Style usually divided. 

 Stigmas bifid or trifid. Berry few-seeded by abortion. Albumen cartila- 

 ginous. The double stamens, pendulous ovule, and unisexual flowers, 

 distinguish this order. (G. Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; quite entire, coriaceous. 

 Flowers axillary, peduncles solitary. 



GENUS I. 



Z>1OSPY V ROS L. THE DATE PLUM. Lin^Syst. Polygamia Dio2*cia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 1161. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 38. 



t-ynonymes. .E'benus Comm. ; Guaiac&na Tourn. 371. ; Ptequeminier, Fr. ; Dattelpflaume, Gcr, 

 Derivation. Diospuros (dios, divine; and puros, wheat,) was a name given by the ancients to the 

 common gromwell (Lithospermum officinale). Its application to the date plum probably arose 

 from confounding the Greek puros, wheat, with the Latin pyrzts, a pear tree, to the fruit of which 

 the date plum may have been thought to bear some resemblance. 



Gen. Char,, fyc. Floivers polygamous. Calyx deeply 4-cleft, sometimes 3- or 

 6-cleft. Corolla urceolate, 4-cleft ; sometimes 3- or 6-cleft. Male floiuers 

 having the stamens inserted by. pairs into the base of the corolla, twice the 

 number of its segments, with double or twin filaments, and the rudiment 

 of a pistil. Hermaphrodite flowers having fewer and sterile stamens. Ovn- 

 rinm'S 12-celled ; cells 1 -seeded. Berry globose, with a spreading calyx 

 which is at length reflexed. (Dow's Mill.) 



Leaves, as in the Order. Flotuers white, or pale yellow. Trees or 

 shrubs ; natives of the So:ith of Europe or North America. Seeds j and 

 the American kinds in peat/ soil kept moist. 



X 1. D. LoVus L. The European Lotus, or common Date Plum. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1510. ; Willd. Sp., 4. p. 407. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 38. 



Sijnonymes. Pseudolotus Ma/th.; Guaiacana patavlna Tourn. ; Italian Lignum Vitae, Wood of 



Life, Pockwood, Bastard Menyn wood, Gcraa-d; Date of Trebisonde ; Plaqueminier, faux Lotier, 



Fr. ; Italianische Dattelpflaume, Gfr. 



1214. D. I/otus. 



Engravings. Pall. Fl. Koss., 1. p. 20. t. 58.; Wangh. Amer., 84. t. 28 f. 68. ; the plates in 

 Brit., 1st edit., vol. vi. ; and our fig. 1214. 



S S 



