SECT. II 



PHANEROGAMIA 



633 



Carpels two. A single pendulous ovule in each loculus. 

 abundant endosperm. 



Seeds with 



Family 1. Cornaceae. — For the most part shrubs or small trees, rarely herbs. 

 Leaves simple, usually decussate. Flowers tetramerous, with two inferior carj^els. 

 Fruit, a berry or a drupe. 



Corntis mas, the Cornelian Cherry (Fig. 658), expands its umbels of yellow 

 flowers before the leaves appear. Each umbel is subtended by four bracts. The 

 inflorescences for the succeed- 

 ing year are already present in 

 the axils of the leaves by the 

 time the fruit is ripe. In 

 Britain two species occur ; C. 

 sanguinea, the Dogwood, and 

 C suecica, an arctic and alpine 

 plant which reaches its south- 

 ern limit in Germany. 



Family 2, Araliaceae. — 

 Trees or shrubs with alternate 

 leaves, which are often of con- 

 siderable size and simple, lobed, 

 or compound in shape. Flowers 

 pentamerous throughout ; in 

 umbels or heads, often further 

 grouped in a panicle-like in- 

 florescence. The carpels vary 

 in number from 2-5 or more. 

 Centres of distribution in 

 tropical America and Malaya. 



In Britain the only repre- 

 sentative of the family is the 

 Ivy {Ucdera Helix), a root- 

 climber. The proper ellijjtical 

 leaf form reappears on the 

 orthotropus shoots of older 

 plants, which in late summer 

 or autumn bear the flowers. The leaves of the creeping or climbing plagiotropous 

 shoots are lobed and usually have shorter stalks (Fig. 659). Calyx with five 

 pointed sepals corresponding to the five ribs on the inferior ovary. The corolla 

 is greenish in tint ; the large disc on the upper surface of the ovary attracts the 

 visits of bees. The fruits ripen during the winter and become blackish-blue 

 berries ; these are eaten bj- birds and in this way the seeds are distributed. 



Family 3. Dmbelliferae. — ^Herbaceous plants sometimes of large 

 size. The stem, which has hollow internodes and enlarged nodes, 

 bears alternate leaves ; these completely encircle the stem with their 

 sheathing base, which is often of large size. The leaves are only 

 rarely simple ; usually they are highly compound. Inflorescence 

 terminal, frequently overtopped b}^ the next younger lateral shoot. 

 It is an umbel, or more frequently a compound umbel, the bracts 

 forming the involucre and partial involucres, or an involucre may be 



Fio. (JuS. — Corntis mas (i nat. size). 1, Flowering twig. 3, 

 Twig with fruits. J, Flower seen from above. I,, Flower 

 in longitudinal section. (,>, 4, enlarged.) 



