290 LAUKEL FAMILY. 



R. salicif61ius. White D. Salt marshes: l°-3°high; pedicels much 

 shorter than the fruiting calyx and in much-crowded whorls, forming a spike ; 

 valves more triangular than in the foregoing and smaller, their grain very 

 large ; root white. 



K. verticill&tus, Swamp D. Common N. : 3° -5° high ; whorls loose; 

 fruit-hearing pedicels slender and club-shaped, abruptly reflexed ; valves some- 

 what rhombic and with narrow blunt apex, each bearing a very large grain ; 

 leaves thickish, the lowest often heartshaped at base. 



« * Weeds nat. from Europe in cult, or waste ground: stem erect, 2° -4° high ; 

 lower l&ivt-s or some of them heart-shaped at base, all more or less wavy : 

 root commonly yellow and spindle-shaped. 21 



B. Crispus, Curled D. Leaves green, lanceolate, very wavy-curled, the 

 lower rather truncate than heart-shaped at base ; whorls crowded in long 

 racemes ; valves rounded, heartrshaped, nearly entire ; mostly grain-bearing. 



R. sanguineus, Bloody-veined or Ked D. Loaves less curled and 

 red-veined, lanceolate or oblong ; whorls distant ; pedicels very short ; valves 

 narrowly oblong, one or more grain-bearing. 



H. obtusifolius, Bitter D. Leaves little wavy, the upper lance-oblong 

 and acute, lower oblong-heart-shaped and obtuse ; whorls loose and distant ; 

 valves ovate, partly halberd-shaped, beset with some long sharp teetli near the 

 base, usually only one grain-bearing. 



« * * Sandy sea-shore and river-banks N. : 5' -12' high, spreading. @ 



R. maritimus. Minutely pubescent ; leaves lance-linear, wavy-margined, 

 the lower auricled or heart-shaped at base ; whorls much crowded into leafy 

 spikes ; valves rhombic-oblong with a tapering point, turning orange-colored, a 

 large grain on the back and 2 or 3 long stout bristles on each margin. 



§ 2. Sorrels. Herbage acid: some leaves halberd-shaped, others with entire 

 narrowed base: flowers dioecious, small, in a terminal naked panicle : valves 

 naked: fl. spring and summer, y. 

 R. Acetos^Ua, Common or Sheep Sokrel. Low weed in all sterile 

 fields ; leaves lance-oblong or halberd-shaped, the lobes or auricles narrow ; pedi- 

 cels jointed with the flower ; ovate valves hardly enlarging in fruit. 



R. iEngelm^nni, only S. & W., differs in pedicels jointed near the mid- 

 dle, and thin rounded heart-shaped valves becoming many times larger than 

 the akene. 



96. LAURACE^, LA.UREL FAMILY. 



Spicy-aromatic trees or shrubs, the alternate simple leaves (with 

 entire margins but sometimes lobed) more or less marked with* 

 minute pellucid dots ; the regular flowers with a calyx of 4 or 6 

 sepals imbricated in two ranks in the bud, and free from the 

 ovary ; the latter is terminated by a simple style and stigma, is 

 1-celled with a hanging ovule, and in fruit becomes a berry or 

 drupe. The stamens (in ours 9) furnish a special character, their 

 anthers opening by uplifted valves ! To this family belong the 

 classical Laurel or Bay, the Cinnamon, the Camphor-tree, &c. 

 • Fhmers perfect, in axiUairy panicles. 



1. PERSEA. Calyx 6-parted, persistent at the base of the berry. Stamens 9 



with anthers, the 3 outer of which are turned outwards, the 6 others inward; 

 also 3 glands or sterile filaments forming an innermost row. The two proper 

 cells of the anther with a lower and an upper chamber, making 4 compart- 

 ments, each opening by a valve in the manner of a trap-door. 

 * * Flowers wholly or nearly dix&cuym, greenish-yellow, leaves deciduous. 



2. SASSAFRAS. Flowers in an open corymbed and peduncled cluster, with 



spreading 6-parted calyx: sterile ones with 9 stamens in 3 rows, the filaments 

 of the three mner with a pair of yellow stalked glands on their base. Antliers 

 with 4 chambers as in the preceding. Fertile flowers with 6 rudiments of 

 ctamons and an ov"''' ovarv. oeooming a dnine. 



