110 RUTACE.E. (UUE FAMILY.) 



straight, usually in fleshy albumen. Styles eommonly united or cohering, 

 even wlien the ovaries are distinct. Fruit usually capsular. Leaves al- 

 ternate or opposite. Stipules none. — A large family, chiefly of the Old 

 World and the Southern hemisphere; the Propku IIutack.e, represented 

 in gardens by the Rue (llula (iravholens, L.) and Fraxiuella (Diddmntts 

 Fraxiiiella, L.) chietly herbs, but the rest are shrubs or trees. — The Au- 

 KAXTiE.E or Orange Family, recently appended to this order, has baccate 

 fruit, seeds without albumen, and stamens sometimes almost indefinitely 

 numerous. — Our two indigenous genera are 



1. Zanthoxylum. Flowers dioecious : ovaries 3-5, separate, forming fleshy pods. 



2. Ptelea. Flowers polygamous : ovary 2-celled, forming a samara, like that of Elm. 



1. ZANTHOXYLUM, Coldcn. rRicKLv Asii. 



Flowers dioecious. Sepals 4 or 5, obsolete in one species. Petals 4 or 5, im- 

 bricated in the bud. Stamens 4 or 5 in the sterile flowers, alternate with the 

 petals. Pistils 2 -.5, separate, but their styles conniving or slij^htly united. 

 Pods thick and fleshy, 2.valved, 1-2-sccded. Seed-coat crustaceous, black, 

 smooth and shining. Embryo straight, with broad cotyledons. — Shrubs or 

 trees, with mostly pinnate leaves, the stems and often the leafstalks prickly. 

 Flowers small, greenish or whitish. (Name from ^avBos, yellow, and ^v\ov, 

 wood': therefore more properly spelled with an initial X.) 



1. Z. Americknum, Mill. (Northeun Prickly Asii. Tootuache- 

 TREE.) Leaves and Jlowns in axillary clusters; leaflets 4-5 pairs and an odd 

 one, ovate-oblong, downy when young ; calyx none ; petals 5 ; pistils 3-5, with 

 slender styles ; pods sliort-stalhed. — Rocky woods and river-banks : common north- 

 ward. April, May. — A prickly shrub, with yclIowish-green flowers appearing 

 before the leaves. Bark, leaves, and pods very punpent and aromatic. 



2. Z. Caroliniknum, Lam. (Southern P.) Glabrous; leaflets 3-5 

 pairs and an odd one, ovate or ovatc-lanccolatc, oblique, shinivg above ; flowers 

 in a terminal q/nif, appearing after the leaves ; sepals and petals 5 ; jiistils 3, with 

 short styles; pods sessile. — Sandy coast of Virginia, and southward. June. — 

 A small tree with very sharp prickles. 



2. PTELEA, L. Shrubby Trefoil. Hop-tree. 



Flowers polygamous. Sepals 3-5. Petals 3-5, imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens as many. Ovary 2-cclled : style short: stigmas 2. Fnut a 2-celled 

 and 2-.secded samara, winged all round, nearly orbicular. — Shrubs, with 3-foli- 

 olatc leaves, and greenish-white small flowers in compound terminal cymes. 

 (The Greek name of the Elm, here applied to a p;enus with similar fruit.) 



1. P. trifoliata, L. Leaflets ovate, pointed, downy when young. — Kocky 

 places, Pcnu. to Wisconsin and southward. June. — A tall shrub. Fruit bit- 

 ter, used as a substitute for hops. Odor of the flowers disagreeable. 



AilAnthus gl.vndulosus, Dcsf., called Tree of IIe.vvex, — but whose 

 blossoms, especially the stamiuatc ones, are redolent of anything but " airs from 



