TEREBINTHA OEJE. 



273 



parts of their dioecious and apetalous flowers, only possessing 

 a calyx of from two to five small imbricate leaves. In the male 

 flowers around a rudimentary gynseceum (which may even dis- 

 appear), only flve stamens with introrse anthers are seen, and in the 

 female, a gynseceum whose unilocular ovary is surmounted by a 

 style with three branches, and containing an ovule suspended at the 



Pistaoia vera; 



Pig. 316. Female 

 flower (^). 



Kg. 314. Portion of male 

 inflorescence. 



Fig. 315. Male 

 flower (I). 



Fig. 317. Longitudinal 



section of female 



flower. 



summit of an upright and flattened funicle. The fruit (pistachio 

 nut) is an unsymmetrical drupe whose flesh is of little thickness, 

 the stone thin, and it may even become finally completely dry ; it only 

 contains one large seed with a fleshy embryo. The Pistachias, 

 trees or shrubs with a resinous odour, compound leaves, pinnate or 

 trifoliolate, inhabit the Mediterranean region, temperate Asia and the 

 western islands on the coasts of Africa and central America. 



The double perianth reappears in the subseries of Mangos {Mangi- 

 fera\ whose polygamo-dioecious flowers (Fig. 318-320) have four or 

 flve sepals, and as many imbricate petals, four or five stamens, 

 only one or two beiug fertile, inserted round a thick disc encircling 

 the base of an uni-carpellary gynseceum. Its ovary contains a single 

 ovule, borne by an ascendent funicle and inserted more or less 

 close to the base of the cell ; it is surmounted by a simple style. 

 The Mangos are trees from southern Asia, introduced into all tropical 

 countries. The fruit is a drupe with a large stone, fibrous outside, 

 indehiscent or bivalvate. The leaves are simple and the flowers 

 collected in ramifled clusters of cymes. The organs of vegetation 



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