578 



PART III. — ^THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



flowering, are still buds, and they contain monosporangiate, but monoecious, 

 flowers ; the $ flowers give rise, as ripening takes place, to a spurious fruit 

 (sorosis, p. 528), consisting of spurious drupes formed by the perianths. The 

 leaves, particularly of the former species, are the food of the silkworm. Browt- 

 sonetia papyrifera (Paper Mulberry) has flowers like the preceding, but they are 

 dioecious : the bark is made into paper in China 

 and Japan. Madura tinctoria, in Central America, 

 yields Fustic, a dye. Ficus Carica is the Fig-tree of 

 Southern Europe ; the fig itself (termed a syconus) 

 is the deeply concave axis of the inflorescence, on the 

 inner surface of which the flowers and subsequently 

 the fruits, in the form of hard grains (achenes), are" 

 borne (Fig. 379 m/) ; the cavity is closed above by 

 small bracts (Fig. 379 h). Ficus elastica is the India- 

 rubber tree ; it is frequently cultivated in rooms. 

 F. reJigiosa and other East Indian species yield 

 Caoutchouc, which is their inspissated milky juice 

 (latex). Ficus indica is the Banyan. Artocarpns 

 incisa is the Bread-fruit tree of the South Sea Islands ; 

 the large spurious fruit (sorosis) of this tree is roasted 

 and eaten as bread. Galactcdend'on utile, the Cow- 

 tree of Columbia, has a nutritious latex, while that of Antiaris toxicaria (Java) 

 is poisonous. 



{■"iG 379.— Longitudinal 

 section of a Fig (nat. size) : 

 a a fleshy axis of the in- 

 florescence ; / ?, m 6, 

 flowers : b bracts. 



Order 3. Cannabinace^. Ovary dimerous, unilocular : ovule 

 suspended, campylotropous : seed with endosperm. Flowers 

 dioecious : the (^ flowers (Fig. 380 A) have a 5-partite perianth 

 and 5 short stamens ; the $ flowers have a tubular entire perianth 

 (Fig. 380 B, p) enclosed in a bract (Fig. 380 B, d). Herbs with 



decussate leaves — at least the 

 lower ones — and persistent stip- 

 ules ; devoid of latex. 



Cannabis sativa, the Hemp, a native 

 of Asia, is cultivated throughout Europe. 

 The S inflorescences are panicled di- 

 chasia or scorpioid cymes, and are dis- 

 posed on both sides of a rudimentary 

 shoot at the apex of the plant ; the ? 

 flowers are placed singly on both sides of 

 a similar shoot, which bears secondary 

 shoots in the axils of its leaves, each 

 having two flowers. The tough bast- 

 fibres are used in weaving and for ropes ; 

 the seeds contain a great deal of oil. 

 cultivated and found wild. The stem, 

 the right, bears its leaves in pairs ; each 



Fig. 380.—^ <? flower of the Hop : p 

 the perianth ; a stamens. B Part of $ 

 inflorescence : p perianth ; / ovary, with 

 two stigmata (n) ; each flower is enclosed 

 in its bracteole (d) ; s scale, i.e. one of the 

 two stipiiles, from the common axil of 

 which the branch bearing the flowers 

 springs. 



Hnviuhis Lupulns, the Hop, is both 

 which has the peculiarity of twining to 



