203 KATUHAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



instead of central, free or more less completely axile, with as many 

 ovules as there are cells or carpellary leaves. It is true the foliage 

 of the 3I((ppiciv, their aspect, and mode of inflorescence, are often those 

 of the Olacinccc, but these characters, without much A^alue hci-e, are not 

 found in the Plnitocrenco'., inseparable however from the 3Iaj)j)ica', by 

 the flower and fruit, and with their volubUe climbing stems, alternate 

 or opposite leaves, often lobate, resembling outwardly much less still 

 the Olacinca', Santa led', or Loranthca', than the Tcrchinthacca' them- 

 selves, recalling altogether by these characters the llcniupcnnacca', 

 Sapmdacece, Ampelideic, etc. 



The Tcrclinthacece are woody and in general remarkable by the pre- 

 sence of a gummy resinous juice, often balsamic and sometimes caustic. 

 Their latex ducts, especially studied by Trecul,^ are situated 

 both in the pitli and bark, or in the latter only. Certain Pistachios 

 and Sumachs have at first only one proper duct in the woody body 

 of their root opposite the middle of each of the four to six fibro- 

 vascular bundles. Later, others appear on two or three concentric 

 lines, then they are anastomosed, and may even form a very rich net- 

 work. According to the observer we have just named, " in the trunk 

 of H/ms, Pistacia, Schinus, etc., the proj^er ducts of the bark are 

 never exterior to the liber. The first appear ^ in the cortical bundles 

 themselves, at very nearly the same time as the trachete on the inside 

 of the bundle." The reservoirs of latex may show themselves in plants 

 destitiite of menabrane, and they show moreover very varied modifi- 

 cations in the diftcrent species observed. Often, at the time of the fall 

 of the leaf, the proper ducts of the base of the i^etiole are obstructed 

 by the multiplication of the cells forming the walls. ]Makchand ^ 

 has proved agrcat resemblance of organisation between the stems of the 

 Anacarclica'* and Burserea. The latter^ have the general structui-eof 

 Dicotyledons, and although the reservou's of balsamic juice are found 



' In Cmnpl. Itcml. A cud. Sc. Ixv. 1 7 ; in »•) dun- * On the trunlis of tlicso see also : Kiesek 



soniii, viii. 121. Mem. Siii: V0></. (ISH), t. IG, 17.— C. H. 



- Often under llio I'urm of slits not filled with 8envLTz, in Nov. Act. Xat. Cm: xviii. (IS41), 



liquid and surrounded by liu'ije cells whieh Sujipl. ii. t. 20. — Oi.i\. Slim, in Ilicut. 11. 



fr:ime them like a -n-ull. 6 Adaii-wiiia, viii. 56, t. 2, 3. 



3 .tUiucitid. 152, t. (J. ■ 



I 



