CHAPTER X 

 VARIOUS PLANT GROUPS 



106. The magnolia family (Magnoliaceae) is a compara- 

 tively small group well represented by magnolias (Mag- 

 nolia, page 262), the tulip-tree (Liriodendron, page 261), 

 and star-anise (Illicium, page 143). At first sight there might 

 seem to be small resemlilance between these and crowfoot- 

 like plants; but let us s(>c upon wliat points of difference we 

 can exclude them from tlie crowfoot family. 



The seeds are essentially the same as those of the crowfoot 

 family in having a small uncoiled embryo in copious albumen. 

 The fruit of star-anise consists of follicles, much like those of 

 the marsh-marigold, though witli only one seed in each; 

 while the carpels of the tulip-tree ripen into achenes differing 

 from those of anemonies mainly in. having wing-like out- 

 growths. Such winged fruits are termed samaras.^ The mag- 

 nolia fruit consists of a cone-like aggregation of follicles 

 differing from those of star-anise in dehiscing l_)y a dorsal 

 suture, and in producing one or two seeds which have a fleshy 

 outer layer of bright color, and which dangle on slender 

 threads when ripe. Neither the andrcccium nor the perianth 

 present any new features. Nor do we find anything essen- 

 tially different in regard to the inflorescence or the leaves 

 except that in the tulip-tree and magnolia there are leaflet- 

 like appendages at the base of the petiole. These stipides,- 

 as they are called, serve as organs of protection for the unex- 

 panded leaves. In these plants they soon fall off, and so do 

 not appear in the figures. Well-developed stipules are shown 



' Sa-ma'ra < L. sntnnrn, the winged fruit of the elm. 



^ Stip'ule < L. slipula, stubble, diminutive of stipes, stalk, the 

 stipule.s in their relation to the jietiolo heinR likened to the short stubble 

 standing at the ba.se of a stalk of Kniin. 



358 



