344 LXIV. STAPHYLEACE^. 



For the affinities of Celastrinea with lUcinea, Pittosporea, and StapJiyleacete, see these families. Their 

 affinity with Rhamnea is very close, and Jussieu placed them in the same family ; it is founded on 

 the woody stem, stipulate leaves, axillary small and greenish flowers, fleshy disk lining the calyx and 

 often adhering to the ovary, isostemonous and perigynous corolla, 1-2-ovuled cells of the ovary, upright 

 and anatropous ovules, fleshy or capsular fruit, the often arillafe seeds, and the albuminous embryo; but 

 in Rhamnea the aestivation is valvate, the stamens are opposite to the petals, and the fruit, if a capsule, 

 usually divides into cocci. The two families inhabit the same country. Euonymus inhabits the temperate 

 regions of the northern hemisphere ; Celaxtrm and the other genera are, with few exceptions, tropical and 

 sub-tropical, and dispersed over Asia, America, the Pacific islands, Australia, and South Africa. Hippo- 

 cratie&Hre also pretty equally distributed through Asia, Africa, and America. Cclastnn-eee usually possess 

 purgative and emetic properties, but are not used in European practice ; the bark of Cdastrus is used as 

 an emetic in South America. The root and leaves of Myginda nre esteemed as diuretics in tropical 

 America. Catha edttlit is an East African .>-hrub, called Khat, cultivated by the Arabs, with whom it is 

 an article of commerce ; the bruised leaves produce an agreeable excitement, analogous, it is said, to that 

 induced in Peru by the use of coca ; it is also lauded by them as a sovereign remedy for the plague. 



[In India the bark of Euonymus tingens is used to dye a yellow colour, with which the Hindoos make 

 the sacred mark on the forehead ; it is alsoaised in eye complaints The bark of E. Roxburgh ii is an 

 astringent, used to reduce swellings in India. The seeds of the European Euonymi are nauseous and 

 purgative, and said to poison sheep ; an ointment made of them was formerly used to kill lice in the head. 

 The spines of Cda&tnts venerntus are said to inflict a poisoned wound. The drupes of Elaodendron Kula 

 are eaten in South Africa by the colonists. The seeds of Celastnu nutans and paniculatui are acrid and 

 stimulant, and used as a medicine in India. 



Of the Hippocrateacece the fruit of Salacia jn/riformis, a native of West Africa, is eatable, as are the 

 nuts of Hippocratia comosa, the ' Amandier du Bois ' of the French West Indies. The fruits of others are 

 mucilaginous and edible. ED.] 



LXIV. STAPHYLEACE^E. 1 



(CELASTRINEARUM tribus, D.C. STAPHYLEACE^E, Bartling.) 



COROLLA polypetalous, sub-hypogynous, isostemonous, aestivation imbricate. PETALS 

 5, inserted on a hypogynous disk. STAMENS 5, inserted with the petals. OVARY 2-8- 

 lobed. OVULES anatropous. YRUIT dry or fleshy. EMBRYO albuminous. STEM woody. 

 LEAVES compound, bistipulate. 



TREES or erect SHRUBS. LEAVES generally opposite, 3-foliolate, or impari- 

 pinnate ; leaflets opposite, petiolulate ; stipules twin, at the base of the petioles, 

 deciduous. FLOWERS g or imperfect, regular, racemed or panicled, pedicels brac- 

 teate at the base. CALYX free, coloured, 5-partite, aestivation imbricate. PETALS 

 inserted on or beneath a hypogynous disk, crenulated, aestivation imbricate, 

 deciduous. STAMENS 5, inserted like the petals ; fllaments subulate, free, equal ; 

 anthers introrse, opening longitudinally. CARPELS 2-3, united at the base, or 

 throughout their length, into a 2-3-celled and -lobed ovary ; styles equal in number 

 to the lobes of the ovary, distinct or cohering, finally free ; stigma undivided ; ovules 

 many, inserted along the ventral suture, 1-2-seriate, horizontal or ascending, ana- 

 tropous. FRUIT a membranous turgid capsule, its lobes opening at the top by the 

 ventral suture ; or a berry, 3-celled, or 2-celled by suppression. SEEDS few or solitary 



1 See Sapindacea?, Sub-order V., p. 353. 



