282 



Plants and their Wars in South Africa 



in aniciits or catkins. The pistillate flowers form catkins as in 

 Willow and Poplar, or they may occur in few-flowered heads. 

 In the Oak the head is reduced to one flower. The fruit of 

 SalicaceK is a many-seeded capsule, in the other orders it is 

 a nut. The flowers are dicecious or moncecious. They are 

 out m good season in the early spring, and are swinging their 

 gold-and-silver tassels before the leaves get large enough to be 

 in the way of the wind- scattered pollen. 



Fk:. 255. — A, Catkin or nmcntuni of the Oak. I. I^'lower of Oak. II. 

 Female flowers. (Both x 3.) {I'Yoni Edriionds and Marlotll's " 1-^lenientary 

 r^otany for South Africa ". ) 



The flowers of Willows, Poplars, and Myrica (the Wax Bush) are sub- 

 tended by a sinijle bract. The staminate flowers of the Oak have a 

 greenish 6-parted perianth. The few genera in each order, the simple 

 flowers and fossil forms, indicate that these orders represent very old 



families of flowering plants. 



SalicacE/I';. — Mowers direcious. Capsules containing 

 many minute seeds. 'I'he order contains two genera, Populus 



