POPULAR FLORA. 



195 



81. MEZEREUM FAMILY. Order THYMELEACE^. 



Shrubs, with very tough and acrid bark ; entire generally alternate leaves | and perfect 

 flowers, with a tubular 

 calyx colored like a co- 

 rolla, bearing 8 or 10 

 stamens, free from the 

 sinaple pistil. Ovary one- 

 celled, one-ovuled, mak- 

 ing a berry in fruit. — We 

 have one wild plant of 

 the family ; Daphne Mc- 

 zereum is a hardy low 

 shrub in gardens, and D. 

 odora in houses. Flowers 

 appearing earlier than 

 the leaves. 



490. Flowering'branchletnf Lenth- 

 erwood. 491. Brancll with folmirii 

 and fruit. 492. A flower, mugnifiet). 

 493. Same, more magnil^ed, the calyx 

 iaid open. 



Calyx salver-shaped or funnel-shaped, generally rose-color, the border 4-lobed : stamens 8, 



in two sets, included; filaments hardly any, (Daphne) *Daphne. 



Calyx tubular, pale yellow, with no spreading border, obscurely 4-toothed : stamens 8, 



with long protruded filaments, (Dirca) Leathekwood. 



82. NETTLE FAMILY. Order URTICACE^. 



Monoecious, dioecious, or barely polygamous herbs, shrubs, or trees, with stipules, and a 

 regular calyx, free from the ovary, which forms a one-seeded fruit. Divides into four dis- 

 tinct subfamilies which might be reckoned as families, viz. : — 



I. ELM Subfamily. Trees, with alternate simple leaves, and polygamous or often nearly perfect 

 flowers : styles or long stigmas 2. 

 Ovary 2-celled, a hanging ovule in each cell: stamens 4 to 9. Flowers earlier than the 



leaves. Fruit a thin key, winged all round, one-seeded (Fig. 207), ( Ulmue) Elm. 



Ovary one-celled, with one hanging ovule: stamens 6 or 6. Fruit a small drupe. Leaves 



ovate or heart-shaped, ( Celtis) Hackberry. 



IL BREADFRUIT Subfamily. Trees, with a milky or colored juice, and alternate leaves; the 

 flowers in heads or catkin-like spikes, the fertile ones fleshy in fruit, or both kinds in a fleshy receptacle- 

 Styles 1 or 2 : ovary becoming an akene in fruit. Inner bark often tough and fibrous. 

 Flowers, of both kinds mixed, enclosed in a pear-shaped fleshy receptacle like a rose-hip 



which is pulpy when ripe, (Ficus) *FiG. 



