110 RUTACE^E. (RUE FAMILY.) 



straight, usually in fleshy albumen. Styles commonly united or cohering, 

 even when the ovaries are distinct. Fruit usually capsular. Leaves al- 

 ternate or opposite. Stipules none. A large family, chiefly of the Old 

 World and the Southern hemisphere ; the PROPER RUTACEJE, represented 

 in gardens by the Rue (Ruta graveolens, L.) and Fraxinella (Dictdmnus 

 Fraxinella, L.) chiefly herbs, but the rest are shrubs or trees. The Au- 

 KANTIE^E or Orange Family, recently appended to this order, has baccate 

 fruit, seeds without albumen, and stamens sometimes almost indefinitely 

 numerous. Our two indigenous genera are 



1. Zautlioxylum. Flowers dioecious : ovaries 3-5, separate, forming fleshy pods. 



2. Ptelea. Flowers polygamous : ovary 2-celled, forming a samara, like that of Elm. 



1. ZANTHOXYLUM, Golden. PRICKLY ASH. 



Flowers dioecious. Sepals 4 or 5, obsolete in one species. Petals 4 or 5, im- 

 bricated in the bud. Stamens 4 or 5 in the sterile flowers, alternate with the 

 petals. Pistils 2-5, separate, but their styles conniving or slightly united. 

 Pods thick and fleshy, 2-valved, 1 -2-seeded. Seed-coat crustaceous, black, 

 smooth and shining. Embryo straight, with broad cotyledons. Shrubs or 

 trees, with mostly pinnate leaves, the stems and often the leafstalks prickly. 

 Flowers small, greenish or whitish. (Name from t-avdos, yellow, and v\ov, 

 wood: therefore more properly spelled with an initial X.) 



1. Z. Americanum, Mill. (NORTHERN PRICKLY ASH. TOOTHACHE- 

 TREE.) Leaves and flowers in axillary clusters; leaflets 4-5 pairs and an odd 

 one, ovate-oblong, downy when young ; calyx none ; petals 5 ; pistils 3-5, with 

 slender styles ; pods short-stalked. Rocky woods and river-banks : common north- 

 ward. April, May. A prickly shrub, with yellowish-green flowers appearing 

 before the leaves. Bark, leaves, and pods very pungent and aromatic. 



2. Z. Carolini&num, Lam. (SOUTHERN P.) Glabrous; leaflets 3-5 

 pairs and an odd one, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, oblique, shining above ; flowers 

 in a terminal cyme, appearing after the leaves ; sepals and petals 5 ; pistils 3, with 

 short styles ; pods sessile. Sandy coast of Virginia, and southward. June. 

 A small tree with very sharp prickles. 



2. PTELEA, L. SHRUBBY TREFOIL. HOP-TREE. 



Flowers polygamous. Sepals 3-5. Petals 3-5, imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens as many. Ovary 2-celled : style short : stigmas 2. Fruit a 2-celled 

 and 2-seeded samara, winged all round, nearly orbicular. Shrubs, with 3-foli- 

 olate leaves, and greenish-white small flowers in compound terminal cymes. 

 (The Greek name of the Elm, here applied to a genus with similar fruit.) 



1. P. trifoliata, L. Leaflets ovate, pointed, downy when young. Rocky 

 places, Penn. to Wisconsin and southward. June. A tall shrub. Fruit bit- 

 ter, used as a substitute for hops. Odor of the flowers disagreeable. 



AILANTHUS GLANDUL^SUS, Desf., called TREE OF HEAVEN, but whose 

 blossoms, especially the staminate ones, are redolent of anything but " airs from 



