CAMELLIA 01{ TEA FAMILY. 75 



23. STERCULIACE^, STERCULIA FAMILY. 

 Chiefly a tropical family, to which belongs the Theobroma or 

 Chocolate-tree; in common cultivation known here only by a 

 i^ingle species of 



1. MAHEBITIA. (Name an anagram of Hermcmnia, a gemis very like 

 It.) Calyx, corolla, &c. as in the Mallow Family; but the stamens only 5 

 one before each petal ; the filaments monadelphous only at the base and en- 

 larged about the middle, and the anthers with 2 parallel cells. The edges of 

 the base of the petals rolled inwards, making a hollow claw. Ovary 5-celled 

 with several ovules in each cell : styles 5, united at the base. 

 M. Verticill^ta. Cult, from Cape of Good Hope, in conservatories pro- 

 ducing a succession of honey-yellow sweet-scented small blossoms, on slender 

 peduncles, all winter and spring ; a sort of woody perennial, with slender and 

 spreadmg or hanging roughish branches and small green irregularly pinnatifld 

 leaves ; the specific name given because the leaves seem to be whorled ; but this 

 is because the stipules, which are cut into several linear divisions, imitate leaves. 



24. TILIACE.^, LINDEN FAMILY. 

 Chiefly a tropical family, represented here only by an herbaceous 

 CORCHORUS on our southernmosl; borders, and by the genus of fine 

 trees -which gives the name. 



1. TILIA, LINDEN, LIME-TREE, BASSWOOD. (The old Latin 

 name.) Sepals 5, valvate in the bud, as in the Mallow Family, but decidu- 

 ous. Petals 5, imbricated in the bud, spatulate-oblong. Stamens numerous ; 

 their filaments cohering in 5 clusters, sometimes with a petal-like body in each 

 cluster ; anthers 2-ceUed. Pistil with a 5-celled ovary, having 2 ovules in 

 each cell, in fruit becoming a rather woody globular 1 - 2-seeded little nut. 

 Style 1 : stigma 5-toothed. Embryo with a slender radicle and leaf-like lobed 

 cotyledons folded up in the albumen. Trees with mucilaginous Shoots, fibrous 

 inner bark (bast), soft white wood, alternate roundish and serrate leaves more 

 or less heart-shaped and commonly oblique at the base, deciduous stipules, 

 and a cyme of small, dull cream -colored, honey-bearing flowers, borne In early 

 summer on a nodding, axillary peduncle which is united to a long and narrow 

 leaf-like bract. 

 « A petal-like scale before each petal, to the base of which the stamens are joined. 



T. Americana, Amekican Linden or Common Basswood. A hand- 

 some and larjte forest-tree, with leaves of rather firm texture and smooth or 

 smoothish both sides, or in one variety thinner and more downy but not white 

 beneath. 



T. heteroph^Ua, White Linden. Along the Alleghany region from 

 Penn. and Kentucky S. ; has larger leaves silvery white with a fine down under- 

 neath. 



* « No scales uiith the stamens. Natives of Europe. 



T. Suropsea, Eukopban L., embraces both the Small-leaved variety, 

 which is commonly planted about cities, and the Large-leaved or Dutch L., 

 with leaves as large and firm as those of our wild Basswood. 



25. CAMELLIACEiE, CAMELLIA or TEA FAMILY. 



Trees or sbrubs, with alternate and simple feather-veined leaves, 

 and no stipules ; the flowei-s large and showy, mostly axillary, reg- 

 ular, with both sepals and petals imbricated in the bud ; the very 

 numerous stamens vi'ith filaments more or less united at the base 

 with each other and with the base of the corolla : anthers 2-celled : 

 ovary and thick or woody pod 5-celled, with one or more seeds in 



