176 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
highly expensive. fancy teas are made of the young leaves and flower 
buds, but only a small quantity of these grades is ever imported. The 
active principle in the leaves 
is an alkaloid known as theine, 
and the percentage of tannin 
is very high. The family 
Theaceae has also been known 
by the name Ternstroemiaceae. 
Family Guttiferae. Gam- 
boge Family. A tropical group 
comprising about 30 genera 
and 300 species, trees or shrubs 
abounding in resin, with oppo- 
‘site leaves and flowers often 
incomplete or irregular; sepals 
Fig. 156.. The flowers and fruit of the mammey ap- and petals 2-8; stamens nu- 
ole (Mammea Americana) greatly reduced. Original. merous, frequently united; 
fruit dry or pulpy. The family is of considerable economic import- 
ance. The yellow coloring matter 
known as gamboge is obtained 
from a species of Garcinia, the 
largest genus in the family. G. 
Mangostana is the mangostan or 
mangosteen, the fruit of which is 
described by all who have eaten it 
as being without a peer in the veg- 
etable kingdom. A writer on Jav- 
anese fruits says: “It is of the size 
of a small orange, when ripe red- 
dish-brown, and when old of a 
chestnut-brown color. Its succu- 
lent rind is nearly the fourth of an 
inch in thickness * * On re- 
moving the rind, its esculent sub- 
stance appears in the form of a 
juicy pulp having the whiteness 
and solubility of snow, and of a 
refreshing, delicate, delicious fia- 
vour. We were all anxious to 
: ‘ th 5 Fig. 157. The large golden St. Johnswort (Hy- 
carry away WIth US SOME PLECISE pericum aureum); flowering branch and detached 
expression of its qualities; but capsule, about one-half natural size. Original. 
after satisfying ourselves that it partook of the compound taste of the 
pineapple and the peach, we were obliged to confess that it had many 
