XLVii. :bena ceje : diospy ros. 



625 



more. Ovarium many-celled ; cells 1 2-seeded. Stiile 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 solitarj'. 



Genus I. 



DIOSPY'ROS X. The Date Plum. Lin. Si/st. Polygamia Dioe^cia. 



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



Synonyrnes. ^'benus Comm. ; Guaiacana Tourn. 371. ; Plaqueminier, Fr. ; Dattelpflaume, Ger. 



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

 common gromwell (iithospermum officinale). Its application to the date plum proliably arose 

 from confounding the Greelt puros, wheat, with the Latin pyrus, a pear tree, to the fruit of which 

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



Gen. Char.y S^c. Flowers polygamous. Calyx deeply 4-cleft, sometimes 3- or 

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

 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 jioivers having fewer and sterile stamens. Ova- 

 rium % 12-celled ; cells 1-seeded. i?e/r_?/ globose, with a spreading calyx 

 which is at length reflexed. {Don's Mill.) 



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

 shrubs ; natives of the South of Europe or North America. Seeds ; and 

 the American kinds in peatj' soil kept moist. 



i 1. D. ioVus L. The Euroj^ean Lotus, or common Date Plum. 



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



Syrianymes. Pseudolotus Mafth. ; Guaiacuna patavina Tourn. ; Italian Lignum Vitse, Wood of 



Life, Pockwood, Bastard Menynwood, Gerard ; Date of Trebisonde ; Plaqueminier faux Loticr 



Fr. ; Italianische Dattelpflaume, Ger. 



12U. D. Lotus. 



Kngrarins^s. Pall. Fl. Ross., 1. p. 20. t. 58.; Wangh. Araer. 

 Brit., Ut edit., vol. vi. ; and oury^. 1214, 



S S 



84 



t. 28 f. 58. ; the plates m Arb. 



