CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 345. 



d. PUNICACE^ OR POMEGRANATE FAMILY includes 

 a single genus of two species. The Pomegranate {Punica grana- 

 tum) indigenous to the Levant and now extensively cultivated is 

 of chief interest. The plants are small trees, the young twigs of 

 which are 4-angled and frequently thorn-like. The leaves are 

 opposite, ovate-lanceolate, entire, short-petiolate. The torus, 

 calyx and corolla are scarlet, and the gynsecium consists of two 

 whorls of carpels. The fruit is an inferior edible berry with hard 

 pericarp or rind. The pulpy portion is formed from the outer 

 layer of the seed-coat. The bark of the root and stem is used 

 in medicine. (See Granatum, p. 534.) The rind of the fruit is 

 used as an astringent because of the tannin which it contains. 

 It does not appear, however, to contain the alkaloids found in the 

 ofificial bark. 



e. FAMILY LECYTHIDACE^.— The plants are mostly 

 shrubs and trees indigenous to the Tropics. They are of 

 chief interest on account of the Brazil-nut or Para-nut 

 obtained from Bertholletia excelsa, and the Sapucaya^nut 

 obtained from the Monkey-pot tree (one or more species of 

 Lecythis), both genera of South America. The seeds (so-called 

 nuts) are rich in oil and proteids and are edible. The fruit of 

 Carey a arborea is drupaceous and is also edible, the seeds being 

 considered, however, to be poisonous. Bitter narcotic or poisonous 

 principles are also found in the fruit of Planchonia valida of the 

 Molucca Islands and the seeds of a number of species of Lecythis. 

 The fruits and roots of a number of species of Barringtonia are 

 used in China and Java to stupefy fish. The pericarp of the fruit 

 of Fcetida moschata of Guiana contains considerable quantities of 

 an ethereal oil. The flowers of Grias cauMora of the Antilles 

 are used like tea. A cooling drink is made from the sarcocarp of 

 Coiiroupita giiianensis of the West Indies and Guiana. 



f. RHIZOPHORACE^ OR MANGROVE FAMILY.— 

 These are tropical shrubs or small trees with evergreen, cori- 

 aceous leaves, small cymose and axillary flowers, and seeds which 

 germinate while the fruit is still attached to the plant. The best 

 known genus of this family is Rhizophora (Mangrove tree), of 

 which there are three species, the American Mangrove being R. 

 mangle. This tree produces aerial roots on the stems and 



