340 ON SEEDLINGS 



The ovules generally number two in each loculus, ascend- 

 ing from the base of an axile placenta, anatropous, with a 

 ventral raphe and an inferior micropyle. In other cases they 

 vary with one to many ascending ovules, while another type has 

 pendulous ovules with a dorsal raphe and superior micropyle. 

 Solitary erect ovules occur in Hartogia, Ptelidium, Myginda, 

 Fraunhofera, Schaefferia, and Caryospermum. From four to six 

 or more ovules occur in a number of genera, including Lopho- 

 petalum, Cathastrum, Kokoona, Alzatea, Putterlickia, Den- 

 hamia, Wimmeria, and Goupia. The number varies consider- 

 ably in different species of Euonymus, although two are most 

 common. In Cassine the solitary ovule is pendulous from the 

 top of the placenta. The fruit is capsular (more or less 

 winged in Euonymus) or baccate, drupaceous, or samaroid and 

 indehiscent with one-seeded cells. The testa is crustaceous, 

 membranous, fleshy, or spongy, and in Perrottetia it is many- 

 ribbed, with a moderately prominent raphe and more or less 

 covered with a large cap- or boat-shaped arilloid funicle, or 

 sometimes it is winged, as in Kokoona, Alzatea, and Hippocratea. 

 The seeds of many of the genera, including Caryospermum, 

 Schsefferia, Mortonia, Tripterygium, Elaeodendron, and some 

 species of Myginda, are not furnished with an aril. The endo- 

 sperm is generally copious and fleshy. The embryo is usually 

 very large, flat, and straight, often nearly equal to the endo- 

 sperm in length and breadth. Sometimes it is linear and 

 axile, and in Perrottetia it is minute and basal. An exceptional 

 case occurs in Euonymus fimbriatus, which has more or less 

 undulated or twisted cotyledons, and a curved radicle. In 

 some genera the embryo is green. The cotyledons are mostly 

 flat and foliaceous ; and the radicle is generally inferior with 

 the exceptions mentioned in which the ovules and seeds are 

 pendulous. 



Euonymus europaeus (fig. 242) may be given as a good 

 type of the Order. Euonymus latifolius has larger seeds and 

 a relatively broader embryo. To this type belongs E. fim- 

 briatus. Both have pendulous ovules. 



Maytenus boaria agrees with Euonymus europseus in the 

 insertion and direction of its ovules, but the seeds are oblong 

 or oval ; and the coty edons are oblong, rounded at both ends, 

 and trinerved. 



