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Chapter XIV. 



Order XIV.— RUTACE.E. The Rue Family. 



Chahacter of the OiiDER. — Shrulis and trees. Leaves 

 opposite or altei'nate, exstipulate, pellueid-dottecl, iisiiallv 

 fragrant, simple or compound. Flowers, regular, hennaphro- 

 dite. Sepals and petals, 4 or 5, spreading, imbricate or valvate. 

 Stamens, usiuilly S or 10, free, inserted at the base of a tumid 

 disk ; anthers, versatile. Ovary, of 4 or 5 more or less united 



carpels ; styles, 4 or 5, wholly combined, or by a capitate 

 stigma only ; cells, 2-ovuIed. Fruit capsular, of 4 or 5 coria- 

 ceous, 2-valved, 1-seeded cocci ; outer coat separating from 

 the inner, which is chartaceous, dry, and elastic. Seeds, 

 oblong ; testa, crustaceous : albumen, copious or none. — Sand- 

 book of the jVf IP Zealand Flora, p. 39. 



Description of the Order. 



(JXSTITUTES a very large natural order of trees and shrubs, rarely embracing 

 ia herbs, including the Rue, Orange, Cape Diosmas, Australian Boronias, and 



many other plants differing in certain points from the above ordinal 

 character, abounding in the temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, 

 especially in South Africa and Australia. Taken in its most extended sense, 

 the order is divided into seven tribes ; several of which, and not ahvays 

 those which are most distinct in character, are often considered as separate orders. They 

 are; — CnsparicfB : natives of tropical America; Ilutece : disjiersed over the temperate 

 regions of the Northern Hemisphere ; Borotiiece : natives of Australia ; Xanthoxylece : 

 dispersed over the tropical regions of both the Old and New World ; and Toddaliece : 

 chiefly tropical, in both the New and the Old World. The leaves are frequently opposite, 

 simj^le, or more generally compound, always more or less marked with glandular dots, 

 and often strongly scented. The flowers are usually hermajihrodite and regular, some- 

 times showy, and often sweet scented. The fruit is a capsule or berry, rarely a drupe. 

 The name of the order is taken from the genus But a, which derives its name from the 

 Greek word riis, to preserve, in allusion to the effects of the medicinal properties of the 



