STYRACACE^E. (BTORAX FAMILY.) 333 



2. B. lanuginosa, Pers. Spiny (10-40 high) ; leaves oblong-obovate or 

 wedge-obovate, rusty-woolly beneath, obtuse (l - 3' long) ; clusters 6 - \Z-flowered ^ 

 pubescent ; fruit globular. Woods, S. 111. to Fla. and Tex. July. 



ORDER 63. EBENACE^E. (EBONY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate entire leaves, and polygamous regular flow^ 

 ers which have a calyx free from the 3-1 2-celled ovary ; the stamens 2 4 

 times as many as the lobes of the corolla, often in pairs before them, their 

 anthers turned inward, and the fruit a several-celled berry. Ovules 1 or 2, 

 suspended from the summit of each cell. Seeds anatropous, mostly single 

 in each cell, large and flat, with a smooth coriaceous integument ; the 

 embryo shorter than the hard albumen, with a long radicle and flat coty- 

 ledons. Styles wholly or partly separate. Wood hard and dark- 

 colored. No milky juice. A small family, chiefly tropical. 



1. DIOSPYROS, L. DATE-PLUM. PERSIMMON. 







Calyx 4 - 6-lobed. Corolla 4 - 6-lobed, convolute in the bud. Stamens com- 

 monly 16 in the sterile flowers, and 8 in the fertile, in the latter imperfect. 

 Berry large, globular, surrounded at base by the thickish calyx, 4 - 8-celled, 

 4 - 8-seeded. Flowers dioeciously polygamous, the fertile axillary and solitary, 

 the sterile smaller and often clustered. (Name, Ai6s, of Jove, and irvp6s, grain.) 



1. D. Virgini&na, L. (COMMON PERSIMMON.) Leaves thickish, ovate- 

 oblong, smooth or nearly so ; peduncles very short ; calyx 4-parted ; corolla 

 pale yellow, thickish, between bell-shaped and urn-shaped, 6 - 8" long in the 

 fertile flowers, much smaller in the sterile ; styles 4, two-lobed at the apex ; 

 ovary 8-celled. Woods and old fields, R. I. and N. Y. to Iowa, and south 

 to Fla. and La. June. Tree 20 - 70 high, with very hard blackish wood ; 

 plum-like fruit V in diameter, exceedingly astringent when green, yellow 

 when ripe, and sweet and edible after exposure to frost. 



ORDER 64. STYRACACE^E. (STORAX FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or trees, with alternate simple leaves destitute of stipules, and per- 

 fect regular flowers ; the calyx either free or adherent to the 2 - 5-celled 

 ovary ; the corolla o/4-8 petals, commonly more or less united at base ; 

 the stamens twice as many as the petals or more numerous, monadelphous 

 or polyadelphous at base ; style 1 ; fruit dry or drupe-like, 1 - 5-celled, the 

 cells commonly 1-seeded. Seeds anatropous. Embryo nearly the length 

 of the albumen ; radicle slender, as long as or longer than the flat cotyle- 

 dons. Corolla hypogynous when the calyx is free ; the stamens adherent 

 to its base. Ovules 2 or more in each cell. A small family, mostly of 

 warm countries, comprising two very distinct tribes. 



Tribe I." STYRACE^E. Calyx 4 - 8-toothed or entire. Stamens 2 - 4 times as many 

 as the petals, in one series ; anthers linear or oblong, adnate, introrse. Cotyledons flat. 

 Flowers white, handsome. Pubescence soft and stellate. 



1. Styrax. Calyx coherent only with the base of the 3-celled ovary. Corolla mostly 

 5-parted. Fruit 1-eelled, 1-seeded. 



