AQUIFOLIAOE. (HOLLY FAMILY.) 305 



2. M. Hyp6pitys, L. (PINE-SAP. FALSE BEECH-DROPS.) Somewhat 

 pubescent or downy, tawny, whitish, or reddish (4' -12' high) ; pod globular 

 or oval ; stigma ciliate. Occurs in various forms : the more pubescent is M. 

 lanuginosa, Michx. Oak and pine woods : common. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



ORDER 57. OAL-ACINEjE. (GALAX FAMILY.) 



Character that of the following genus ; which is kept as a distinct order 

 until the true relationship is ascertained. 



1. GALAX, L. GALAX. 



Calyx of 5 small and separate sepals, persistent. Petals 5, hypogynous, ob- 

 ovate-spatulate, rather erect, deciduous. Stamens hypogynous : filaments united 

 in a 10-toothed tube, slightly cohering with the base of the petals, the 5 teeth 

 opposite the petals naked, the 5 alternate ones shorter and bearing each a round- 

 ish 1-celled anther, which opens across the top. Pollen simple. Style short: 

 stigma 3-lobed. Pod ovoid, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved : columella none. 

 Seeds numerous, the cellular loose coat tapering to each end. Embryo straight 

 in fleshy albumen, more than half its length. Evergreen herb, with a thick 

 matted tuft of scaly creeping rootstocks, beset with fibrous red roots, sending up 

 round-heart-shaped crenate-toothed and veiny shining leaves (about 2' wide) on 

 slender petioles, and a slender naked scape, l-2 high, bearing a wand-like 

 spike or raceme of small and minutely-bracted white flowers. (Name from 

 yoXa, milk, of no conceivable application to this plant. ) 



1. G. aph^lla, L. Open woods, Virginia and southward. June. 



ORDER 58. A$UIFOLIACE,E. (HOLLY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with small axillary 4 - S-merous flowers, a minute calyx 

 free from the 4 - ^-celled ovary and the 4 - ^-seeded berry-like drupe ; the 

 stamens as many as the divisions of the almost or quite 4 - 8-petalled corolla 

 and alternate with them, attached to their very base. Corolla imbricated 

 in the bud. Anthers opening lengthwise. Stigmas 4-8, or united into 

 one, nearly sessile. Seeds suspended and solitary in each cell, anatropous, 

 with a minute embryo in fleshy albumen. Leaves simple, mostly alternate. 

 Flowers white or greenish. A small family, here represented by only 

 two genera (Prinos being placed under Ilex) ; related to the Celastraceae, 

 &c., among the Polypetalous orders as much as to the following order. 



1. ILEX, L. (Hex & Prinos, L.) HOLLY. 



Flowers more or less diceciously polygamous. Calyx 4 - 6-toothed. Petals 

 4-6, separate, or united only at the base, oval or obovate, obtuse, spreading. 

 Stamens 4-6. The berry-like drupe containing 4 - 6 little nutlets. Leaves 

 alternate. Fertile flowers inclined to be solitary, and the sterile or partly sterile 

 flowers to be clustered in the axils. (The ancient Latin name of the Holly-Oak 

 rather than of the Holly.) 

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