loa 



Teibe VI. CROTONE^. ' 



KICINUS, Linn. 



(From ricinus a tick ; resemblance in the seeds.) 



Howers monoecious, apetalous ; calyx 5-partite, finally Talvate. 

 Stamens in male flower numerous, inserted on rather convex receptacle ; 

 filaments numerous, ramified, many times divided above ; anthers 

 small, _2-dymo-globose ; cells laterally or extrorsely rimose, 

 longitudinally adnate to thin connective. Ovary (none in the male 

 flowers) 3-locular, subsessile, style-branches 3, afterwards beyond 

 middle 2 partite, within and on all sides much papillose, stigmatiferous 

 (red). Ovules in cells solitary descendent; micropyle extrorse 

 superior ; obturator thick subhemispherical. Capsule 3-locular ; 

 exocarp finally ^solute, externally smooth or echinate ; cocci solute from 

 axis. Seeds smooth (more or less spotted), aril of exostome depressed, 

 conical, obscurely 2-lobed ; cotyledons of large embryo-foliaceous, 

 subelliptical, equal in breadth to albumen. Arborescent or tall 

 herbaceous plants ; leaves alternate stipulate ; petiole long at 

 ventral line, bearing glanduliform tubercles; limb wide, usually 

 peltate ; palmatinerved, 7 to 15-lobed, unequally dentate ; flowers in 

 terminal, contracto-ramified, cymif erous racemes ; female superior ; 

 inferior male, 1-braeteate and 2-braeteolate ; pedicel articulate. 



"R. communis, Linn. The common Castor Oil plant. The only 

 species with numerous varieties. An evergreen shrub or small tree, 

 snoots and panicles glaucous. Leaves green or reddish 1 to 2 feet 

 diam., membranous, lobes from oblong to linear .acute or acuminate, 

 gland-serrated, petiole 4 to 12 inches. Racemes stout, erect. Male 

 flowers i inch in diameter ; female calyx nearly as long ; styles often 

 highly coloured. Capsule J inch to 1 inch long, globosely oblong, 

 smooth or echinate. Seed oblong, smooth, mottled. 



Order GEAMINE.ffi. 



This was long considered to be the largest Order amongst 

 Monocotyledons ; it is now found, however, that the Orchids* far 

 outnumber it in species, although not in individuals, for grasses abound 

 and cover a large portion of the earth's surface, and in importance to 

 man no family of plant stands higher. 



Mowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, in little green or more or less 

 scarious spikes called spikelets, consisting of several scale-like 

 distichous bracts called glumes, the 2 or sometimes 1 or rarely 3 or 

 more lower ones and sometimes 1 or more upper ones empty, the other 

 one or more with a sessile flower in the axil of each. No normal 

 perianth, but the flower usually enclosed in a 2-nerved glume-like scale 

 called a palea (supposed to represent the 2 bracteoles of Hypolytrece 

 or the perigynium of Craicese), and the perianth probably represented 

 by 2 or rarely 3 small usually very thin and hyaline scales called 

 lodicules, the palea or the lodicules or both deficient in a few genera. 

 Stamens usually 3, occasionally reduced to 2 or 1, in a few genera 6 or 

 more ; filaments free, filiform ; anthers usually exserted from the 

 spikelet, versatile, ovate-oblong or linear, with 2 parallel cells opening 

 longitudinally without any prominent connective. Ovary entire, 



* Number of species respectively — Orchids, between 4,000 and 5,000 ; Gramineae, 

 between 3,000 and 4,000. 



