CIX. CACTE^. 



457 



horizontal, anatropous. CAPSULE membranous, crowned by the calyx-limb and 

 styles. SEEDS numerous, small, oblong ; testa reticulate and foveolate ; hilum bearing 

 a membranous cupuliform strophiole ; albumen scanty. EMBBYO cylindric ; cotyledons 

 very short ; radicle long, near the hilum. 



* Datisca. 



GENERA. 

 Tetrameles. 



Octoraeles. 



Datiscece have a certain affinity with Begoniacece (which see). Some botanists have placed them 

 near Loasece on account of their epigyny and the arrangement of the placentas ; others near Resedaeea;, on 

 account of the one-celled ovary gaping at the top from the bud, and the parietal placentation, but there are 

 no other points of affinity. The genera of this little order are singularly scattered over the globe ; Datisca 

 inhabits West Asia and Nepal ; Tncerastes [which is Datisca itself] is met with in California, Tetrameles is 

 a large tree of Java and India, and Octomeles is Malayan. The herbage of Datisca cannabina is nauseous, 

 purgative and emetic ; it is frequently used in Italy for intermittent fevers and disorders of the stomach. 

 The root contains a peculiar starch named by chemists datiscine. Nothing is known of the properties 

 of Tetrameles. 



CIX. CACTE^. 



(CACTI, Jussieu. CACTOIDE^E, Ventenat. NOPALE^E, D.C.) 



PETALS numerous, several-seriate, epigynous, free or cohering below. STAMENS 

 numerous, many-seriate, inserted at the base of the corolla. OVARY inferior, 1-celled, 



Echinocactus Decaisneanut. 



Rhiptalis funalit. 



