QQ BATIDE.E. Batis. 



Order LXXX. BATIDE^. 



Formed for a sinylo gciiiid ami species of wholly doubtful afiinity, a fleshy mari- 

 time shrub, which from its aspect rather than its characters is here placed next the 

 Chenopodiacece, its true relationship being undetermined. 



1. BATIS, V. Browne. 

 Flowers dioecious, bracteate, in oblong axillary sessile ament-like spikes. Starai- 

 nate flowers free, with a campanulate 2-Iipped calyx. Stamens 4, alternate with as 

 many unguiculate petals. Pistillate flowers 8 to 12, united into a fleshy spike, 

 without perianth. Ovaries coherent (i)ecoming a fleshy ovoid-conical fruit), 4-celled, 

 with a single erect anatropous ovule in each cell : stigma sessile, thick and capitate. 

 Seed with a membranous testa and no albumen, erect, oblong. Embryo slightly 

 curved; radicle inferior, very small. — A hnv seaside shrul), with opposite entire 

 fleshy leaves, without stipules. 



1. B. maritima, Linn. Glabrous: stems branched and straggling, 3 or 4 feet 

 long, usually prostrate : leaves linear to obovate-oblong, an inch long, narrowed to the 

 base: spikes solitary in the axils along the branches; the staminate 2 to 4 lines 

 long, 1 2 - 20-flowered ; the pistillate a line long, becoming 6 to 8 lines in fruit: 

 bracts obtuse or acute, entire, in 4 vertical rows, of the male spikes imbricate and 

 persistent, of tlie female deciduous : petals white, with rhomboidal limb : stamens 

 exserted : fruit with S])ongy peri(u\r[) and tough and coriaceous endocarp, the seed 

 a line long or less. — TcuTey, Sniithson. Contrib. 1853, t. 1 1 ; A. DC. Prodr. xvii. 

 35 ; Bailh Diet. 15ot. 1. 382, figs. 



Collected only near San Die^'o (Parr;/), but fre(jiient in the West Indies and on the neighbor- 

 ing mainland (Tampa 15ay, Florida), and also found in the Sandwich Islands. With the habit 

 of the Chcnopodiacac, but dilieriiig widely in sonic of its characters. 



Order LXXXI. LAURACEiE. 



Aromatic trees and shrubs, completely distinguished by the minutely punctate 

 alternate simple leaves, always with entire (i. e. not sermte) margins, no stipules, 

 a jierianth of 4 or 6 sepals more or less imbricated in two series in the bud, anthers 

 opening by one or two uplifted valves to each cell, a single style and stigma, and 

 a 1-celled free ovary which contains a solitary suspended anatropous ovule and 

 becomes a druj)ace()us or baccate fruit. Embryo filling the seed, with large ])lano- 

 convex cotyledons and a short included radicle. Flowers either perfect or dicecious, 

 mostly in cymes or clusters, small ; the perianth usually colored (white or yellow- 

 ish). Stamens definite or somewhat indeflnite, in 3 or 4 series, some of them not 

 rarely sterile ; the inner ones often 2-glandular at base and with extrorse anthers. 

 {Cassytha, a troi)ical genus, is leafless, scentless, and parasitic-climbing in the man- 

 ner of Cuscuta.) 



A large order of .^)0 genera and 000 species, chicdy of the tro]iical regions of Asia and America, 

 and yielding valuable timbers and otlier i)roducts." It includes various Cinnamon, Cassia, and 

 Camphor trees, the Laurel or Swi^et Hay, and the SassalVas. Seven species of five genera are 

 found in the Atlantic States, lait the only representative on the Western Coast is tht; following, 

 belonging in tlic priiiri|ial suborder LdiirincAC to tiie tribe Li/sinicicv, liaving the umbels or clusters 

 of flowers included before expansion in a t-Gdcavcd caducous involucre. 



