EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS ri.ANTS. 475 



forming a multiple fruit, or else enclosed in a dry or succulent invo- 

 lucre. Styles or stigmas commonly two. Ovary ripening into an 

 achenium. Seeds with or without albumen. — Ex. Artocarpus (the 

 Bread-fruit), Morus (the Mulberry, Fig. 593-595), Madura (th& 

 Osage Orange), Ficus (the Fig, Fig. 590-592). The fruit is 

 often innocent and edible, at least when cooked ; while the milky 

 juice is more or less acrid or deleterious. It also abounds in Caout- 

 chouc ; much of winch is obtained from some South American trees of 

 this order, and from Fiscus elastica in Java. In one instance, how- 

 ever, the milky juice is perfectly innocent ; that of the famous Cow- 

 tree of South America, which yields a rich and wholesome milk. 

 One of the most virulent of poisons, the Bohon Upas, is the concrete 

 juice of Antiaris toxiearia of the Indian Archipelago. The Bread- 

 fruit is the fleshy receptacle and multiple fruit of Artocarpus. 

 Fustic is the wood of the South American Madura tinctoria ; the 

 wood of our own Madura or Osage Orange is used by the Western 

 Indians for bows. The resin called Gum Lac exudes and forms 

 small grains on the branches of the celebrated Banyan-tree (Ficus 

 Indica, Fig. 142). 



914. Suboi'd. UrticefC (True Nettle Famihj) ; which are herbs in 

 colder countries, but often shrubs or trees in the tropics, with a 

 watery juice, often with stinging hairs; the monoecious or dioecious 

 flowers mostly loose, spicate, or panicled. Ovule orthotropous. 

 Ovary always one-celled, and style or stigma one ; the achenium 

 usually surrounded by a dry and membranous calyx. Embryo 

 straight, in fleshy albumen. — Ex. Urtica (the Nettle), &c. Innoc- 

 uous plants, except for the stinging hairs of many species. The 

 inner bark of Nettles yields very tough and slender fibres. 



915. Sllbord. CaiinabinetE (Hemp Family). Annual erect herbs, 

 or perennial twining plants, with a watery juice and dioecious flow- 

 ers ; the staminate flowers racemose or panicled; the pistillate glom- 

 erate, or imbricated with bracts, and forming a kind of strobjle-like 

 anient ; their calyx one-leaved. Stigmas two. Ovary one-celled, 

 with an erect orthotropous ovule. Embryo coiled or bent : albumen 

 none. — Ex. Cannabis (the Hemp), Humulus (the Hop). Hops 

 are the catkins with large bracts ; the bitter and sedative principle 

 chiefly resides in the yellow grains that cohere to the scales and 

 cover the fruit. The leaves of Hemp, when grown in a hot climate, 

 are powerfully stimulant and narcotic, and are used in the East for 

 intoxication. The inner bark is used for cordage, &c. 



