110 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Dirca palustris. 



is linear. Daphnopsis^ shrubs of tropical America, has also dioecious 

 flowers, with a bell- or funnel-shaped perianth; but they are tetra- 

 merous. The gynsecium is accompanied by a hypogynous disk, 

 formed of four small glands independent or united in a short tube or 

 cupule. The flowers are alternate, and the inflorescence is in umbels 

 or pedunculate capitules, solitary or collected in cymes. 



Lagetta^ the Lac tree of the Antilles, has also tetramerous flowers ; 

 but they are hermaphrodite, and the coloured perianth is oval- 

 oblong, narrowed at the throat, then divided into four imbricate 

 lobes. The androecium is formed of two verticils of four enclosed 

 stamens, nearly sessile, and the ovary, whose base is destitute of 

 disk and its surface covered with long hairs, is surmounted by a 

 short style, swollen at its stigmatiferous extremity. The fruit is 

 dry, covered with hairs and surrounded by the 

 persistent base of the calyx. It is a tree with 

 large alternate and oval leaves, and flowers in 

 simple and terminal spikes. Funifera^ sometimes 

 united with Lagetta^ are Brazilian, and have 

 alternate or opposite leaves, with flowers col- 

 lected in racemiform or spiciform cymes, termi- 

 nal or occupying the axils of the upper leaves. 

 They are tetramerous, with eight enclosed sta- 

 mens, but dioecious, and the base of the ovary is 

 accompanied by eight long linear setaceous 

 glands intermixed with long silky hairs. The 

 fruit is also dry and surrounded by the ac- 

 crescent and persistent perianth. Peddiea^ shrubs 

 of southern and tropical Africa, have alternate or 

 nearly opposite leaves and hermaphrodite, um- 

 bellate, terminal flowers, with articulate pedicels. 

 The perianth is cylindro-conical, with 4 or 5 

 imbricate lobes. The androecium consists of 8 

 or 10 enclosed stamens, inserted within the tube 

 in two verticils, and the ovary is accompanied 

 by a hypogynous disk in form of a denticulate 

 cupule. The fruit is drupaceous and bare. 

 Birca palustris (fig. 79, 80), a shrub of North America, has also 

 hermaphrodite and tetramerous flowers. The petaloid perianth has 

 the form of a horn with an aperture cut obliquely, and the eight 



Fig. 79, Florif'erous 

 branch. 



Fig. 80. Flower, peri- 

 anth laid open (f). 



