74 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



. RUTA'CE^. (RuE FAMILY.) 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, with simple or compound leaves, punctate with pellucid dots contain- 

 ing a pungent, volatile oil (except in Ailanthus, a doubtful member of the Order,) and per- 

 fect, polygamous or dioecious, hypogynous, regular, 3 - 5-merous flowers. Stamens twice 

 as many as the sepals ; pistils 2-5 separate or combined into a compound ovary of as 

 many cells, raised on a prolongation of the receptacle or fleshy disk ; styles sometimes co- 

 nering when the ovaries are distinct. 



1. KU'TA, L. RUE. 



[Name of doubtful derivation.] 



Flowers perfect. Sepals and petals 4 (rarely 3-5). Stamens twice as 

 many as the sepals, with a gland at base. Style 1. Capsule roundish, 

 lobed. Seeds albuminous. Herbs, sometimes suffruticose, with alternate 

 leaves and yellow flowers. 



1. R. GRAVE'OLENS, L. Leaves decompound ; lobes oblong, the terminal 

 one obovate ; petals entire or somewhat toothed. 

 HEAVY-SMELLING RUTA. Rue. Garden-rue. 



Perennial. Stem bushy 2-3 feet high, woody at base, the branches smooth, yellowish 

 .green. Leaves dotted, glaucous or bluish green. Flowers in terminal corymbose panicles, 

 pale greenish. yellow ; the first one which unfolds has 5 sepals and petals, and 10 stamens, 

 while the succeeding ones have only 8 stamens and 4 sepals and petals. Pod roundish, 

 warty, 4-5-lobed. The stamens approach in turns towards the pistil, and after the an- 

 thers have shed their pollen, retire. 



Native of Southern Europe. Cult. June - Sept. 



Obs. The Garden-rue, as it is commonly called, probably to distinguish 



FIG. 51. Rue (Ruta graveolens), a flowering branch. 52. A fruit of the same. 



