20 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



A second class of Flowering Plants and comprising the rest of the group is the 

 Endogenous or Monoeotyledonous Plants, characterized by having stems in which 

 the wood occurs as threads or bundles running through a cellular, pith-like tissue 

 so that a transverse section exhibits the wood as dots and not in concentric rings. 

 Leaves mostly parallel- veined. Embryo with single cotyledon, or rarely two, 

 and then alternate and unequal. Parts of the flower generally in threes. In, 

 southern United States and elsewhere in or near the tropics trees are found, such 

 as the Palms, etc., which belong to this class. 



Exogenous plants are subdivided into two well-marked groups or 

 sub-classes Angiospermce and G-ymnospermce. The former includes 

 by far the greater part of the Flowering Plants, and most of the 

 species represented in " American Woods " are representatives of it, 



ANGIOSPERMCE. 



Flowering, exogenous plants in which there is a complete pistil 

 with stigma and closed ovary containing ovules which develop into 

 seeds at maturity. This sub-class comprises many groups of plants 

 known as Orders, and such as are represented by plants which attain 

 the dimensions of trees, within the limits of the United States, we 

 propose to consider in the following pages: 



ORDER CHEIRANTHODENDRE^I. 



Leaves alternate, lobed, stellate-pubescent and with caducous stipules. Flowers 

 perfect, 5-numerous; calyx subcampanulate, deeply lobed, imbricated in aestiva- 

 tion, colored and persistent: petals none; stamens alternate with the sepals, 

 inserted on the receptacle and united into a column; ovary superior with numer- 

 ous horizontal axial ovules. Fruit a hispid 5-valved, loculicidally dehiscent 

 capsule with rather large seeds having fleshy albumen and straight embryo. 



A small family consisting of the Mexican Hand-tree, Cheiranthodendron 

 platanoides, Baill and the following: 



GENUS FREMONTODENDRON, COVILLE. 



Leaves alternate, palmately-lobed, thick, with prominent veins and rufous 

 stellate pubescence; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers pedunculate and each sub- 

 tended by 8 or 5 minute caducous bracts; calyx deeply 5-cleft with yellow spread- 

 ing roundish lobes, about 1 in. long, pubescent outside and hairy at base within; 

 stamens regular, united below to about the middle, the slender filaments .then 

 separating alternately with the sepals and each bearing an adnate oblong-linear 

 curved extrorse 2-celled anther, longitudinally dehiscent; pistil ^ with elongated 

 filiform style, acute stigma and 5-celled ovary, each cell containing numerous 

 horizontal anatropous ovules. Fruit an ovoid, firm coriaceous acuminate capsule 

 about 1 in. long, densely covered with short stinging hairs, cells villous within 

 and containing oval seeds about J in. long; cotyledons foliaceous. 



A genus of a single species and named after the distinguished explorer, Gen. 

 John Chas. Fremont, who discovered the species, and the Greek SevSpov, tree. 



226. FREMONTODENDRON CALIFORNICUM (TORR.) 



FREMONTIA. CALIFORNIA SLIPPERY ELM. 

 Ger., Fremontia ; Fr., Fremontia; Sp., Fremontia. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves usually moderately 3-lobed, but sometimes 5 

 or 7-lobe, about H in. long and with stout petioles about | in. long; branchlets 

 stout, light reddish brown, terete and densely rufous-pubescent at first. Flowers 

 appear in July in abundance from spur-like lateral branchlets. Fruit as described 

 for the genus. 



