448 



ILLUSTRATIONS OK THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



five-lobed, convolute in aestivation ! Stamens four and didynamous, 

 or only two, the anterior pair being abortive or obsolete. Ovary 

 two-celled, with the placentas in the axis, often few-ovuled. Seeds 

 (sometimes only one or two in each cell) usually supported by 

 hooked processes of the placenta, destitute of albumen. The classi- 

 cal Acanthus is the type of this large and chiefly tropical order : its 

 gracefully lobed and sinuated leaves furnished the ornament of the 

 Corinthian capital. They are emollient plants, or some of them 

 bitter or slightly acrid : of little economical use. Several are culti- 

 vated for ornament. 



873. Ol'd. Scroplililariaceae {Figwort Family). Herbs, or some- 

 times shrubby plants, with opposite, verticillate, or alternate leaves. 



Corolla bilabiate, or more or less irregular ; the lobes imbricated in 

 aestivation. Stamens four and didynamous (Fig. 407), the fifth or 

 upper stamen sometimes appearing in the form of a sterile filament 



FIG. 971. Branch of Gerardia purpurea. 972. Corolla, of the natural size, laid open. 973. 

 Calyx and style of the same. 974. Magnified transverse section of the capsule, with one of the 

 valves removed. 



FIG 975. Gratiola aurea, natural size. 976. Corolla laid open, showing the two perfect 

 stamens and two rudimentary filaments as well as the pistil. 977 The perfect stamens aud 

 eteiile filament of Cheloue. 97S. Flower of a Linaria (Toadflax). 



