2io SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



A. AVICENN^E (Indian Mallow). Stem erect, with spreading branches ; 

 leaves orbicular, cordate, acuminate, velvety ; flowers large, orange-yellow, 

 on peduncles, solitary ; carpels about 15, 3-seeded, inflated, 2-beaked, hairy. 

 In waste places, 2-5 feet high. July-September, 



Order XVIII. TILIACE.E (Linden Family}. 

 Trees, or shrubby plants. Leaves alternate, stipulate, decidu- 

 ous. Sepals 4-5, deciduous. Petals 4-5, with glands at base. 

 Stamens indefinite, distinct, hypogynous. Ovary with 2-10 united 

 carpels. Styles united. Stigmas as many as the carpels. Fruit a 

 2-5-celled capsule. 



Tilia. Sepals 5, united, colored. Petals 5. Stamens numerous, 

 in several parcels, mostly 5 in each set, with a petaloid scale. Ovary 

 globose, 5-celled. Cells i-2-seeded. 



T. AMERICANA (Bass-wood). Leaves alternate, obliquely cordate, sharply 

 serrate, abruptly acuminate, glabrous ; flowers dull white, with a heavy odor, 

 in dense, pendent cymes. Peduncle united to the mid-vein of an oblong 

 bract ; petals truncate, or obtuse ; fruit greenish, as large as peas. The 

 inner bark is very mucilaginous, and its fiber is extremely strong. A tall, 

 elegant tree of regular growth. June. 



DISCIFLORAL POLYPETALOUS EXOGENS. 

 Order XIX. LINAGES (Linen Family). 



Herbs, sometimes suffruticose. Leaves sessile, entire, alternate. 

 Flowers regular, symmetrical. Sepals 3-5. Petals as many as the 

 sepals, and alternate with them. Stamens 3-5, with 5 processes 

 resembling teeth. Styles as many as the stamens. Ovaries of 3-5 

 united carpels. Stigmas capitate. Capsule globose, 3-5-celled. 

 Carpels 2-valved at apex, 2-seeded. Seeds without albumen. 



Linum. Herbs with tough bark. Leaves simple, sessile, and ex- 

 stipulate. All flower-circles regularly 5-merous. Carpel 5-celled ; seeds 

 flat, mucilaginous. 



L. USITATISSIMUM (Flax). Glabrous ; leaves linear-lanceolate, very 

 acute ; flowers large, blue, in a corymbose panicle ; sepals ovate, 3-nerved at 

 base. Cultivated for the seed and fiber, the basis of the linen fabric. 



Order XX. GERANIACE^E. 



Herbs, sometimes somewhat suffruticose. Leaves usually 

 palmately veined and lobed, the lower ones opposite. Sepals 5, 

 persistent. Petals 5, unguiculate. Stamens 10, hypogynous, 



