596 



PART III. — THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



Order 3. LAURACEiE. Flowers ambisporangiate, or poljgaraons, 

 somewhat perigjnous, usually trimerous (sometimes dimerous or 

 tetramerous) : perianth sepaloid, in two whorls : stamens 9-12, in 

 three or four whorls, those of one or more whorls being frequently 

 staminodes ; the anthers open by 2 or 4 valves, the outer introrse, 

 the inner extrorse ; the filaments have glandular appendages (Fig. 

 400 h b). Ovary trimerous, unilocular, with one suspended ovule, 

 two of the three loculi being abortive. Fruit a berry or a drupe. 

 Seed devoid of endosperm. 



This order is frequently i^laced in the sub-class Monochlamydeae ; but there 

 can be no doubt that such a position is unsatisfactory : the order seems rather 

 to be allied to the Menispermaceae. The chief morphological difficulty is the 



Fig. 400. — Stamen of Lauras. An- 

 thers opened, aa; d d the valves; 

 b b glandular appendages. Diagram 

 of Cinnamomum. 



Fig. 401.— Fruit of the Nutmeg- 

 tree, Myristica moschata. P Pericarp, 

 half of it removed ; s the seed ; a 

 aril (nat. size). 



interpretation of the perianth; since it consists of two whorls, and is homo- 

 ehlamydeous and sepaloid, it may be regarded as corresponding to the two- 

 whorled calyx of other Menispermales ; from this point of view the Lauracea- 

 would be held to haVe no corolla : on the other hand, the fact that the two 

 whorls are developed diJBferently, the segments of the outer whorl being de- 

 veloped successively and those of the inner whorl simultaneously, tends to prove 

 that the outer whorl is a calyx and the inner whorl a corolla. In Laurus nobili^ 

 what appear to be petals are exceptionally present in addition to the two normal 

 perianth-whorls ; but these petals are really staminodes, due to petaloid meta- 

 morphosis of the four stamens of the external whorl. 



These are usually evergreen shrubs with coriaceous leaves (e.g. Laurus nohilis, 

 the Sweet Bay) ; a few, as Cassytha, are parasites resembling the Dodder in 

 habit. The flowers of the Bay are diclinous. 



Order 4. Myristicacej:. Flowers dioecious, perianth of a 

 single whorl, gamophyllous, 3-lobed. Stamens 3-18 coherent into 



