i84 CLASSIFICATION 



discrete or separately sunk in the flat top of tiie obconic 

 thalamus; and (5) seeds without albumen. 



, It is represented by the well-known sacred padma 

 or Lotus {Nelumbium speciosum) (fig. 154)) with its 

 large peltate orbicular leaves standing out of the 

 water, and big white solitary flowers on naked scapes 

 also sticking out of the water. The long hollow 

 petioles and peduncles of shalook and padma serve 

 as air-passages to aerate the embedded rhizome. 

 Padma is a conspicuous protogynous pollen-flower. 



Nat. Order 14. Violacece. 

 — This is an order of the tem- 

 perate regions, represented 

 in Bengal by the common 

 garden annual Pansy or 

 Heart's Ease (Viola tri- 

 color), with irregular spurred 



flowers and expanded co- 

 Fig-. 154. -section of Padma or Lotus rollas showing colour con- 



mo..,.iNelu«^uun^speciosun,) ^^^^^^ Thc Order is charac- 

 ., Obconic thalamus. J, Imbedded ^g^ized by the conncctivc of 



the anthers being usually 

 dilated or prolonged, connivent over the pistil, syn- 

 carpous unilocular ovary with three parietal placentas 

 and small more or less closed cleistogamous flowers, 

 while the ordinary showy flowers are seldom fertile. 



Nat. Order 15. Bixacece. — Trees or shrubs, often 

 spinous. Leaves alternate, simple. Stipules small, 

 caducous, or o. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual. 

 Petals as many as the sepals, imbricate or contorted, 

 sometimes o. Stamens many, free. Ovary composed 

 of 2 to many carpels, syncarpous, unilocular, with 

 parietal placentation. Ovules 2 to many. Fruit a 

 capsule with loculicidal dehiscence, or a berry. They 

 are distributed chiefly in the tropics. The common 



