422 ILLUSTRATIONS OF TIIK NATURAL ORDERS. 



mostly five-parted. Petals as many, or twice as many, as the lobes 

 of the calyx. Stamens perigynous, indefinite, and in several parcels, 

 or sometimes definite. Style single. Ovary with three to five 

 parietal placenta). Seeds few or numerous, albuminous. — Ex. Lo- 

 asa, Mentzelia, Cevallia ; the latter with solitary seeds and no albu- 

 men. All American, and in the United States nearly confined to 

 the regions beyond the Mississippi. The bristles of Loasa sting 

 like nettles. 



82G. Ol'd. Tlirncraceffi. Herbs, with the habit of Cistus or TTeli- 

 anthemum ; the alternate leaves without stipules. Flowers solitary, 

 showy. Calyx five-lobed ; the five petals and five stamens inserted 

 on its throat. Ovary free from the calyx, one-celled, with three 

 parietal placenta}. Styles distinct, commonly branched or many- 

 cleft at the summit. Fruit a three-valved capsule. Seeds numer- 

 ous (anatropous), with a crustaceous and reticulated testa, and a 

 membranaceous aril on one side. Fmbryo in fleshy albumen. — Ex. 

 Turnera, of which there is one species in Georgia. 



827. Ord. Passi Horaces (Passion-flower Family). Herbs, or 

 somewhat shrubby plants, climbing by tendrils ; with alternate, 

 entire, or palmately-lobed leaves, mostly with stipules. Flowers 

 often showy. Calyx mostly of five sepals, united below, free from 

 the one-celled ovary ; the throat bearing five petals and a filament- 

 ous crown. Stamens as many as the sepals, monadelphous, and ad- 

 hering to the stalk of the ovary, which has usually three club-shaped 

 styles or stigmas, and as many parietal placentae. Fruit fleshy or 

 berry-like. Seeds numerous, with a brittle sculptured testa, enclosed 

 in pulp. Fmbryo enclosed in a thin albumen. — Ex. Passiflora (the 

 Passion-flower, Granadilla) : nearly all natives of tropical America. 

 Two species are found as far north as Virginia and Ohio. Many 

 are cultivated for their singular and showy flowers. The acidulous 

 refrigerant pulp of Passiflora quadrangularis (the Granadilla), P. 

 edulis, and others, is eaten in the West Indies, &c. But the roots 

 are emetic, narcotic, and pobonous. 



828. Ol'd. Papayacerc comprises merely a small genus of tropical 

 dioecious trees, of peculiar character : the principal one is the Pa- 

 paw-tree (Carica Papaya) of tropical America, which has been in- 

 troduced into Fast Florida. The fruit, when cooked, is eatable ; 

 but the juice of the unripe fruit, as well as of other parts of the plant, 

 is a powerful vermifuge. The juice contains so much fibrine that it 

 has an extraordinary resemblance to animal matter : meat washed 



