THYMELEACE^l. (MEZEBEUM FAMILY.) 395 



large shrub, with numerous^preading and forked branches. Leaves somewhat 

 coriaceous, '- 1' long. 



6. CASSYTA, L. 



Flowers perfect. Calyx 6-cleft, persistent, the exterior lobes minute. Sta- 

 mens 12, in 4 rows, the inner row sterile : anthers 2-cellcd, the inner ones 

 extrorse, the outer introrse. Style very short : stigma disk-like. Fruit enclosed 

 in the fleshy persistent tube of the calyx. A leafless parasitic plant, with 

 twining filiform stems, and spiked flowers. 



1. C. filiformis, Miller. South Florida. Spikes 2- 4-flowered. Calyx- 

 lobes thick, triangular, acute. Anthers oval, obtuse. 



ORDER 112. THYMELEACEJS. (MEZEREUM FAMILY.) 



Shrubs, with acrid juice, tough bark, simple entire dotless leaves, with- 

 out stipules, and regular perfect flowers, with a tubular or bell-shaped 

 4 - 5-cleft rarely entire calyx. Stamens commonly twice as many as the 

 calyx-lobes, in 2 rows : anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Style sim- 

 ple : stigma capitate. Drupe with a single suspended anatropous seed, 

 containing little or no albumen. Cotyledons plano-convex. Radicle 

 superior. 



1. DIRCA, L. LEATHERWOOD. 



Calyx bell-shaped, entire, or obscurely 4-toothed. Stamens 8, unequal, ex- 

 serted. Style filiform. Albumen none. A low branching shrub, with alter- 

 nate petioled oblong or obovate at length smooth and deciduous leaves, and 

 light yellow flowers, from hairy buds, appearing before the leaves. 



1. D. palustris, L. Shady banks of streams, Florida, and northward. 

 Feb. and March. Shrub 2 -3 high, with pale spreading jointed branches. 

 Leaves 2' long, silky when young. Flowers three in a cluster, on short pedicels. 

 Drupe small, red. 



ORDER 113. SANTALACE^E. (SANDAL WOOD FAMILY.) 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with simple entire exstipulate leaves. Calyx 

 tubular, 4 - 5-cleft, valvate in the bud, the tube coherent with the ovary. 

 Stamens 4-5, opposite the lobes, and inserted on the fleshy disk at their 

 base : anthers introrse, opening lengthwise. Ovary 1-celled, with 2-4 

 anatropous ovules suspended from the apex of the free central placenta. 

 Style single. Fruit 1-seeded. Embryo small, at the apex of copious 

 albumen. Cotyledons cylindrical. Radicle superior. 



