FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 147 
ilies already discussed in having leaves without stipules.* The sepals 
and petals are 4 or 5; the stamens, equal in number or more numerous, 
are commonly united in a tube. The fruit is a berry,,a drupe or a cap- 
sule. Like the Simarubaceae, most of the trees of this family have 
bark possessing bitter and tonic properties. The “ pride-of-India” or 
chinaberry tree (Melia Azederach) is extensively cultivated in the South 
as a shade tree, and has now become thoroughly naturalized; it has 
enormous pinnate leaves and large panicles of pink flowers succeeded 
Sra 
Fig. 129. Byrsonima lucida, natural size. Original. 
by small straw-colored berries. The tropical genera Trichilia and 
Carapa yield useful oils. Swietenia Mahogoni is the source of mahog- 
any (Fig. 128, no. 3). 
Family Malpighiaceae. Malpighia Family. Contains about 50 
genera and 600 species, natives mainly of tropical America. They are 
trees or shrubs with opposite stipule-bearing leaves and regular flowers 
borne on jointed pedicels. Calyx 5-parted; petals 5, usually long- 
clawed; stamens 10, inserted with the petals on a disk; ovary 3-lobed, 
* A stipule is the small leaf-like body borne at the base of an ordinary leaf. 
