366 ORDER 60. CRASSULACE.E. 



denticulate ; fls. $ $ $ , the $ on short peduncles ; fr. oval or subglobous, smooth, 

 longitudinally torulous. <D Native of Asia, whence it was first brought to Eng- 

 land in 1570. Generally cultivated for the juicy, yellowish, delicately flavored 

 flesh of the mature fruit. Jn., JI Varieties numerous. 



3 C. Angtiria L. PRICKLY CUCUMBER. St. prostrate, slender, hispid ; ten- 

 drils simple ; Ivs. palmately and deeply sinuate-lobed, cordate at base ; fr. oval- 

 ovoid, or subglobous, echinate. (T) Cultivated for the green fruit, which is about 

 the size of a hen's egg, and used for pickles. JL, Aug. \ Jamaica. 



4 C. Coloc^nthis L. COLOCYNTH. St. prostrate, subhispid ; Ivs. cordate- 

 ovate, cleft into many obtuse lobes, hairy-canescent beneath ; tendrils short ; fls. 

 axillary, pedunculate ; ? with a globous, hispid cal. tube and campanulate limb, 

 with small petals ; fr. globous, yellow when ripe, about as large as an orange, 

 and intolerably bitter. The extract is the colocynth of the shops, poisonous, but 

 medicinal, f From Japan. 



5 C. anguinus L. SERPENT CUCUMBER. Sts. climbing; Ivs. 3 to 5-lobed, 

 repand-dentate ; tendrils forked ; fr. very long, smooth, cylindrical, coiled. Culti- 

 vated for the curiosity of the long, snake-like fruit, f E. Ind. 



ORDER LIX. BEGONIACE^E. BEGONIADS. 



Herbs or succulent undershrubs with an acrid juice. Leaves alternate, oblique at 

 the base, with large, scarious stipules. Flowers diclinous, pink-colored, cymous. 

 Calyx adherent, colored. Sepals of the $ 2 pairs, decussating ; of the $ 5, imbri- 

 cated, or 8. Stamens OO, distinct or coherent in a column. Anthers clustered. 

 Ovary inferior, 3-celled, with 3 large placentae meeting in the axis. Seeds minute, 

 without albumen. Fruit capsular. (Fig. 270.) 



Genera 4, species 160, mostly natives of the Indies and S. America none N. American. They 

 are frequently cultivated as curious and ornamental. Properties astringent and bitter. 



DIPLOCLIN'IUM, Lindl. ELEPHANT'S EARS. (Gr. (Snvtoo?, double, 

 /tm/, couch ; alluding to the double placentae.) Fls. 8 . $ Sepals 

 orbicular, colored likei the petals, but larger ; petals oblong, acute ; 

 stamens combined in a column; anthers in a globous head. ? Sepals 

 3, lanceolate, larger than the 2 petals ; stigma lobes distinct, spiral, 

 erect ; capsule wings unequal ; placentae double, or 2 in each cell. 

 Evergreen, succulent undershrubs. 



D. Evansiamim Lindl. Glabrous ; st. branched, tumid and colored at the 

 joints, succulent ; Ivs. large, slightly angular, mucronate-serrate, cordate-ovate, 

 very unequal at base, petiolate, with weak, scattered pricl|les, and straight, red 

 veins, the under surface deeply reddened ; fls. pink-colored in all their parts, 

 except the golden yellow anthers and stigmas; $ larger than the $, and on 

 peduncles twice as long. From China. (Begonia discolor Willd.) Many other 

 species are found in conservatories too many for our limits. 



ORDER LX. CRASSULACE^E. HOUSE-LEEKS. 



Plants herbaceous or shrubby, succulent. Lvs. entire or pinnatifid. Stip. 0. 

 Flowers sessile, usually in cymes and perfectly symmetrical. Sepals 3 to 20, more 

 or less united at base, persistent. Petals as many as the sepals, distinct, rarely co- 

 hering. Stamens as many as the petals, and alternating with them, or twice as 

 many. Ovary as many as the petals and opposite them. Fil. distinct Anth. 

 2-celled, bursting lengthwise. Fruit, follicles as many as the ovaries, each open- 

 ing by the ventral suture, many-seeded. (Figs. 260, 261.) 



Genera 22, species 450, chiefly natives of the warmer regions of the globe, particularly the 

 Cape of Good Hope. About 20 are found in N. America. They grow in the thinnest and driest 

 sou, on naked rocks, sandy deserts, etc. They have no peculiar property except a slight acrid- 

 ity. Many are highly ornamental. 



