26 SYNOPSIS OF ORDERS AND GENERA. 



Apetalce. 



Order XLIII. CHENOPODIACE^. 



Herb, 2 to 5 feet high, angled and branched. Leaves alternate, 6-15 inches 

 long, 4 to 8 inches wide, upper ones smaller ; dingy copper-color to dark-pur- 

 ple ; ovate lanceolate or spatulate. Flowers greenish-white in slender spikes, 

 arranged in leafy panicles. Calyx hollow and contracted at the mouth, 5-cleft, 

 persistent, becoming hardened at the base. Stamens 5. Stigmas 2. Seeds 

 rugose or wrinkled. Root conical or napiform. 



Beet, Beta. 



Herb, 18 to 24 inches high, slightly branched or simple. Leaves alternate, 

 petioled, 3-5 inches long, frequently hastate and lanceolate. Flowers dicecious, 

 bractless, axillary, clustered, staminate flowers with a 4-5-parted calyx. Calyx 

 of the fertile flower tubular, swelled in the middle, 3-toothed. Ovary egg- 

 shaped, 1 -celled, 1-ovuled, with 4 lengthened stigmas. Fruit 1-seeded, included 

 within the hardened 2-4-horned calyx. Seeds flattened. 



Spinach, Spinacia. 



Order XLIV. POLYGONACE-ffi. 



Herb, I to 3 feet high, furrowed, stout, and hollow. Leaves cordate, trian- 

 gular, or hastate. Flowers in terminal and axillary racemes, rose-colored or 

 white. Calyx composed of 5 colored, equal sepals. Stamens 8. Styles 3. 

 Fruit with three triangular faces. 



Buckwheat, Fagopyrum. 



Herb, 4 feet high, furrowed, stout, hollow. Leaves stipulate, large, sheath- 

 ing, entire, cordate, smooth, upper leaves smaller. Flowers in racemose, panicu- 

 late fascicles. Calyx colored. Sepals 6, in double series, persistent. Stamens 9. 

 Akenes 3-angled, edges winged. Root large, fleshy, yellow within. 



E-hubarb, Rheum. 



Order XLV. PIPERACE^. 



Shrub, 5 to 8 feet long, climbing, nodes swollen. Leaves opposite, ovate, 

 cordate, uneven at base, leathery, glossy above, 5-7-nerved, 5 inches long. 

 Flowers without perianth. Stamens 2-4 or 5. Ovary 1 -celled. Stigmas 2-5. 

 Fruit a small berry, globular or egg-shaped. Tropical and subtropical. 



Pepper, Piper. 



Order XLVL MYRISTICACE^. 



Trees and shrubs. Juice astringent, turning red when exposed to the air. 

 Leaves alternate, coriaceous, simple, entire, penninerved, clothed with hairs 

 or scales. Flowers dicecious, axillary, inconspicuous, white or yellow, in 

 racemes, panicles, or heads, with a solitary bract. Staminate flowers with 3- 

 1 5 stamens, monadelphous, filaments united into a column. Pistillate flowers 

 with a solitary carpel. Seed-vessel fleshy. Seed enveloped in a laciniate 

 aromatic aril. 



Nutmeg, Myristica. 



Order XLVIL LAURACEJE. 



Tree, 30 to 80 feet high, 1 to 2 feet in diameter. Leaves alternate, bright- 

 green above, glaucous beneath, evergreen, thick. Flowers small, in cymes, 



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