LA URALES. 



493 



fabrics, cordatre, etc. Lagetta Untearia, of Jamaica, is the Lace-Bark 

 Tree, so called on account of its delicate inner bark. 



578.— Cohort X. Laurales. — Herbs, shrubs, and trees, 

 with mostly diclinous flowers ; ovary superior, one-celled, 

 the single seed sometimes with, and sometimes without 

 endosperm. 



Order Lauraceae. — The Laurel Family. Aromatic trees and shrubs 

 Figs. 403-5. — Illustrations of Mtkistica fragrans. 



Fig. 403. 



Fig. 405. 



Fig. 403.— Fruit, showing seed and aril. Fig. 404.— Seed and aril. 



Fig. 405. — Seed cut vertically, showing embryo below. 



{rarely parasitic herbs) with free stamens, and a pendulous seed with- 

 out endosperm. About 1000 species are known, occurring in the trop- 

 ical and temperate climates of both hemispheres. 



LauTUS nobilis, the Bay or Laurel of Southern Europe, is a fine 

 spreading-topped evergreen tree, twelve to fifteen metres (40 to 50 ft.l 

 high. In ancient times its leaves were used to crown heroes, but now 



