INCOMPLETE. 347 



segments are variable in number. The single stamen is central, and is 

 considered to be a prolongation of the central axis. The ovary is, in some 

 cases, spuriously 2-celled. They acquire large dimensions ; and the wood 

 of their trunks becomes very solid and heavy. The greater portion of 

 them are natives of Australia, where they are called Beef-wood trees, 

 from the red colour of the timber. 



CHLORANTHACE^E constitute a small Order, having the following cha~ 

 racteristics. Herbs or under shrubs with jointed stems swollen at the 

 nodes, opposite simple leaves with sheathing stalks and minute inter - 

 petiolar stipules ; flowers in terminal spikes, achlamydeous, hermaphro- 

 dite or sometimes diclinous, with a scaly bract ; stamen 1, or, if more, 

 coherent and definite ; in the hermaphrodite flower anthers 3, 2 lateral 

 1 -celled, median 2-celled ; ovary 1-celled, 1-seeded ; seed pendulous ; 

 embryo in the apex of fleshy perisperm ; radicle inferior; cotyledons di- 

 varicate. Nearly related in'generai character to Piperacese, but differing 

 from them and from Saururacese in the absence of the double endosperm, 

 the embryo being without the tf amniotic sac ; " there is a more distant 

 relationship to Urticaceae, and perhaps some affinity to Loranthaceae. 

 The plants are tropical, commonly have fragrant properties ; and the roots 

 of Chloranthm officinalis and brachystachys are esteemed as tonic, febri- 

 fuge medicines in the West Indies. The species of Hedt/osrnum have 

 similar properties. The leaves of Chloranthus incompicuus are occasionally 

 used to flavour Tea. 



PIPERACE^E. THE PEPPER ORDER. 

 Cuh. Piperales, Benth. et Hook. 



Diagnosis. Shrubs or herbs with jointed stems, opposite, 

 whorled, or, by suppression, alternate leaves ; stipules absent, in 

 pairs, or singly opposed to the alternate leaves ; -p. 

 flowers spiked, hermaphrodite or dioecious, achlamy- 

 deous, in the axil of a bract, with which they are 

 sometimes confluent ; stamens 2 or more ; anthers 

 1-2-celled ; ovary free, simple, 1-celled, with a single 

 erect orthotropous ovule ; fruit somewhat fleshy ; 

 seed erect, with the embryo in a distinct sac (am- 

 nios) at the top of copious perisperm : radicle supe- 

 rior. Illustrative Genera : Peperomia, E-. & P. ; 

 Macropiper, Miq. ; Chavica, Miq. ; Cubeba, Miq. ; Piper, L. ; 

 Artanthe, Miq. 



Affinities, &c. The stems of some of the Piperaceae present so irregular 

 a form of arrangement of the wood, that some authors have regarded 

 them as belonging to the Monocotyledonous class ; but this structure is 

 not exactly that of the Monocotyledons, and they have a dicotyledonous 

 embryo and reticulate-veined articulated leaves ; they may, however, 

 be regarded as connecting the two classes through Araceae, themselves 

 somewhat anomalous forms of Monocotyledons. The chief peculiarity of 



