590 



SAl'OTACE/E. 



[Pkrigynous Exogens. 



Order CCXXVII. SAPOTACEiE.— Sapotads. 



Sapot*, Ju». Gen. 151. <1789).-Sapote*, B .Brow Pr^r.m. ffiVfcgf^F' E ' >dL *"*' 

 Nor/. 48. (1833) ; Gen. clvm. ; Meisn. p. 159 ; Alph. Vt. froar. ». io*. 



DiAGNOsis.-ittoW Exogem, with monopetalous flowers epiprtalous stamens, ascending 

 ovules, a short radicle, and amygdaloid cotyledons. 



Trees or shrubs, chiefly natives of the tropics, and often abounding in milky juice. 



L^7A££ or occasionally almost whorled without stipules, entire, corneous. 



Inflorescence axillary. Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx regular, 



persistent, in 5, or occasionally 4-8 divisions, which are 



either valvate or imbricate in sestivation. Corolla monopeta- 



lous, hypogynous, regular, deciduous, its segments usually 



equal in number to those of the calyx, seldom twice or thrice 



as many, imbricated in estivation. Stamens arising from the 



corolla, in number definite, distinct, the fertile ones equal m 



number to the segments of the calyx, and opposite those seg- 

 ments of the corolla which alternate with the latter, seldom 



more ; anthers usually turned outwards. The sterile stamens 



as numerous as the fertile ones, with which they alternate. 



Disk 0. Ovary superior, with several cells, m each of which 



is 1 ascending or pendulous anatropal ovule ; style 1 ; stigma 



undivided, occasionally lobed. Fruit fleshy, with several 

 1 -seeded cells, or by abortion with only 1. Seeds nut-like, 



sometimes cohering into a several-celled putamen. Testa 



bony, shining, with a very long scar on the inner face where it 

 is opaque, and softer than the rest. Embryo erect, large, 

 white, usually inclosed in fleshy albumen. Cotyledons, when 

 albumen is present, foliaceous ; when absent, fleshy and some- 

 times connate. Radicle short, straight, or a little curved, 

 turned towards the hilum. 



This Order is certainly near Ebenads, with which it 



a<rees in habit, arborescent stem, alternate entire leaves, and 



axillary inflorescence ; and, moreover, in its monopetalous 



regular hypogynous corolla, the absence of a hypogynous disk, 



an°ovary with several cells, and definite ovules and stamens. 



The two Orders, however, differ in several points. Sapotads 



have usually a milky juice, and their wood is among the softer 



kinds ; their flowers are always hermaphrodite; the segments 



of the calyx and corolla are often placed in a double row ; 



their stamens are always in a single row, the fertile ones 



rarelv more numerous than the segments of the calyx, and 



opposite the divisions of the corolla ; their style is undivided; 



the cells of the ovary are always 1 -seeded, with erect ovules ; 



the testa is thick and bony ; the embryo is large with respect to the fleshy albumen, 



which is sometimes deficient ; the radicle is very short and inferior. In Ebenaoa 



there is no milk, and the wood is very hard ; the flowers are often unisexual by abortion ; 



the segments of the calyx and corolla are almost always in a single row ; the stamens 



are usually doubled, and either twice or four times as numerous as the segments ol the 



corolla or, if equal to them, alternate with them ; the style is generally divided, the cells 



of the ovary sometimes 2-seeded, the ovules always pendulous, the testa thin and soft, 



the embryo middle-sized or small in respect to the cartilaginous albumen, which I 



always present ; the radicle is of middling length or very long and superior. It j 



worth remarking, that the woody shell of the seed ol Sapotads is certainly testa, and not 



putamen, as is proved by the presence of the micropyle upon it. They are also comparable 



with Ardisiadsl whose abundant albumen a nd free central placenta r ender_i^necessary 



Pig CCCCI — l flowerof A..Rapota; 2. its corolla ; 3. the same cut open ; 4. the pistil ; 5. half a fruit 

 of Bassia longifolia ; 5. 6. its seed, whole and cut across. 



Fig. CCCCI. 



