674 CXCV. CANNABINE^E. 



brancnlets. LEAVES alternate, petioled, entire or serrate, usually 3-nerved, pubescent 

 or scabrous, rarely glabrous; stipules 2, at the base of the petioles, caducous. 

 FLOWERS $ , or often $ by arrest of the ovary, solitary and peduncled, or in racemes 

 or panicles. PERIANTH calycine, 5-phyllous or -partite, imbricate in aestivation, 

 spreading after flowering, persistent. STAMENS 5, inserted at the bottom of the 

 perianth, and opposite to the sepals ; filaments cylindric, usually short, inflexed in 

 bud, rising elastically as in Nettles (Geltis tctrandrd) ; anthers dorsifixed, rarely re- 

 flexed in bud, and becoming introrse later ; cells 2, opening by a longitudinal some- 

 times very short slit. OVARY free, ovoid, usually inequilateral, 1 -celled ; stigmas 

 2, terminal, usually elongate-subulate, undivided or 2-fid ; ovule solitary, parietal, 

 sub-apical, campylotropous or semi-anatropous ; micropyle superior. DRUPE moder- 

 ately fleshy. SEED pendulous, curved above ; testa membranous ; albumen fleshy, 

 scanty, sometimes nearly 0. EMBRYO curved ; cotyledons plane, or folded on each 

 other, incumbent ; radicle elongate, superior. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 



* Celtis. Sponia. Solenostigma. Ilomoioceltis. Gironniera. 



Mertensia. Parasponia. Trema. Monisia. 



CeUidcte approach Morea in the structure of the ovary, ovule, seed, and embryo, but differ in their 

 inflorescence and the nature of their fruit. They are closely allied to Uhnacea (see that family). 



Celtidfec inhabit tropical and temperate Asia, America, and the Mediterranean region of Europe. 



The bark and leaves have sometimes a sub-aromatic odour and a bitter acrid taste ; the flesh of the 

 fruit is astringent. Several species have oily seeds ; some possess a compact very durable wood, some 

 others a light almost spongy wood, or flexible and very tenacious. The shoots of Celtic austratis are used 

 to make forks or whip-handles; its slightly styptic fruit is edible ; its seeds yield, by expression, an oil 

 similar to oil of almonds. C. occidentals is common in the hot parts of North America ; its drupe is 

 prescribed as an astringent. The root, bark, and leaves of C. orientalis, a West Asiatic species, are 

 regarded as a specific against epilepsy. 



CXCV. CANNABINE^E, Endlicher. 



FLOWERS diclinous. PERIANTH $ calyciform ; $ scalelike. OVARY 1-celled, 

 \-ovuled ; STYLES 2 ; OVULE pendulous, campylotropous. FRUIT dry. SEED pendulous, 

 exalbuminous. EMBRYO hooked or spirally coiled. RADICLE superior. STEM 

 herbaceous, with watery juice. LEAVES stipulate. 



Annual and erect HERBS, or perennial and twining, with watery juice. LEAVES 

 opposite, or the upper alternate, petioled, cut, lobed, toothed, often glandular 

 (Hemp), stipulate. FLOWERS dioecious. $ racemed or panicled. PERIANTH her- 

 baceous, of 5 free sub-equal sepals, imbricate in aestivation. STAMENS 5, opposite to 

 the sepals, and inserted on their base ; filaments filiform, short ; anthers terminal, 

 2-celled, oblong ; cells opposite, marked with 4 furrows, muticous or apiculate by the 

 connective which exceeds them, dehiscence longitudinal. FLOWERS ? in a strobiloid 

 spike (Hop) or in glomerulse (Hemp), with 2-flowered bracts (Hop) or 1-flowered 

 (JJernp), flowers bracteolate. PERIANTH urceolate, reduced to one bract-like mem- 



