410 NATURAL mSTORY OF PLANTS. 



This is tlie case with Empk'ciodadus,'' which was placed with some 

 iloul)t in Spircecp, for there are sometimes twelve or thirteen stamens, 

 hut usually only ten superposed to the leaves of the perianth, which 

 is that of the Plums ; the floral receptacle is short and rather large, 

 lined hv a thin glandular disk, except towards its upper edge. The 

 short "-ynjeceum is also that of Primus; in the ovary are two 

 collateral descending ovules, with their micropyles upwards and 

 outwards, each capped hy a cellular obturator. The only known 

 species is a Californian shrub, with thick rigid branches, in aspect 

 like certain little wild Almonds. Its little crowded leaves possess 

 two lateral stipules, and the flowers are sessile, solitary or geminate. 



Thus limited and divided into eight sections,^ not always sharply 

 marked off, the genus Prumis consists of about eighty species, all 

 woody, with alternate stipulate simple leaves, and nearly all natives 

 of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere ; none is found 

 spontaneous in Oceania, tropical or southern Africa, or the southern 

 extremity of South America. 



The Howers of Pygeunt are altogether analogous to those of 

 Prunits in the receptacle, the disk lining it, the insertion of the 

 androceum and gynseceum. But the perianth presents pretty well- 

 marked differences. The caducous calyx consists of from five to 

 fifteen little leaves, imbricated in sestivation. The petals are ill- 

 developed, in form and consistency like the sepals, instead of being 

 large and membranous as in Prunus. There are from twenty to 

 thirty stamens arranged as in Prunus; each consists of an in- 

 flexed filament and an introrse didymous anther, at first lodged in 

 the very bottom of the receptacle owing to the inflexion of its 

 filament, afterwards raised up and considerably exserted. The 

 iVuit is drupaceous, or dry and coriaceous, often transversely elon- 

 gated, as is the single seed it contains, whose exalbuminous embryo 

 has thick fleshy cotyledons and a short superior radicle. The genus 



TORR., Plant. Fremont., 10, t. v.— B. H., ( 5. Emplectocladns (TOER.) 



Gen.,y\\\,n.2l. Tlie only known species (iJ. Sections 8 \q. Cerastis {T.). 



ramo.ih.timuii ToRB.) is in foliage and floral {continued). ) 7. Laurocerasus (T.). 



or^janization closely analogous to Amygdalus ( 8. Ceraseidos (SiEB. & Zttcc). 



mtcrophyUa \\. B. K. 3 G^etn., Frnct., i. 218, t. 46.— Endl., Gen., 



■ Prunus. n. GlOi.— B. H., Gen., 610, n. IQ.—Polydontia 



Sections 8. 



( 1. Prunophora (Neck.). Bl., Bijdr., 110 i.—Poli/storthia Bl., FL Jav. 



) 2. Armentaca (T.). Prof., \ul—Germaria Presl., EpimeL, 221.— 



) 3. Persica (T.). Diffoster MiQ., Fl. Ind.-Bat., Suppl., 329, 619. 

 ( 4. Amygdalus (T.). ' I'i' ' 



