LAURINES. 285 
duous or the tube enlarged and dry or fleshy, supporting or en- 
closing the fruit. Seed pendulous, without albumen. Embryo 
with thick fleshy cotyledons filling the seed and enclosing the 
plumule and short superior radicle—Trees or shrubs, with usuall 
alternate simple leaves, rarely leafless twiners. Stipules none. 
Flowers usually small, the inflorescence various. 
A large order of considerable importance to the forester. All 
species are more or less aromatic and fragrant, and cinnamom, cassia, 
and the true sassafras are the produce of trees of this order. 
Camphor is produced by several species of laurels, but chiefly 
from Camphora officinarum, and benzoin is produced also by a few 
trees growing in Burma. The seeds of some yield good oil, while 
the fruits of a few have found their way to our tables, like the 
avocado pear (Persea gratissima). It is, however, chiefly the timber 
B : 
which interest the forester most. e Borneon iron-wood 
(Eusideroxylon Zwageri) is probably the heaviest and hardest 
00 0 es of this falling on the ground sound like 
iron, and the timber is said to be as durable too; white ants or 
teredo do not attack it. The well-known greenheart of Demerara 
comes from Nectandra Rodiaei ; sweet-wood of Jamaica comes from 
Oreodaphne exaltata. Most of the species grow in the tropical 
forests, and hence it seems that so little is as yet known of the 
quality of the wood of Indian laurels. There are about 50 species 
nown from Burma. 
in naked inflorescences, not surrounded 
y a proper involucre or imbricate bracts. 
%* Anther-cell opening by upwards-turning valves. 
-+ Flowers ed i es 
b a e 
‘Anthers 4-locellate ; fruit superior and free, 
not enclosed in the pericarp. : 
Perianth-segments breaking off at their middle, leaving a persise 
tent 6-lobed cup or disk under the fruit : . Cinnamomum. 
Perianth wholly persistent and indurating, the segments erect and 
appressed to the fruit, resting on a more or less thickened ‘ie 
icel . . : ; "esa ace | . ~ «+ © Phoebe. 
Perianth wholly persistent, not indurating, the segments in fruit 
reflexed or spreading; pedicel usually not thickened. . Machilus. 
Perianth nearly wholly deciduous, the fruit (large) resting on the 
thickened often fleshy pedice ee .  «  « Alseodaphne. 
X X Anthers 2-celled. 
a + Fruit superior and quite free, not adnate. 
Perianth wholly deciduous, the segments near ual, or Gn 
. 
minute; ovary 1- or imperfectly _ ee 
ed; berry resting on a thickened often fleshy pedicel . Beilschmiedia. 
+t Fruit wh e enlarged 
only the apex sometimes exserted. 
Fertile stamens 9, free. Fruits free, not adnate to the perianth ; 
flowers in racemes or panicles pie ae tee Wed me hae 
Fertile stamens only 3, free, the 6 outer stamens reduced to glands 
or to a glandular ring ; fruit enclosed in the truncate 
perianth-tube ; flowers in panicles ee . 
Cryptocarya. 
Endiandra. 
