290 LAUREL FAMILY. 



R. salioif61iuS, 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, theii- grain very 

 large ; root white. 



R. vertioill&tUS, Swamp D. Common N. : 3° -5° high; whorls loose; 

 fruit-bearing 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 heart-shaped at base. 



♦ * Weeds nat. from Europe in cult, or waste ground: stem erect, 2° -4° h'ffh : 

 lower leaves or some of them heart-shaped at base, all more or less wavy : 

 root commonly yellow and spindle-shaped, y. 



R. crispus, CuEtED D. Leaves green, lanceolate, very wavy-curled, the 

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

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



R. saugulueas, BeoOdt-veined or Ked D. Leaves less curled and 

 redrveined, lanceolate or oblong; whorls distant,; pedicel^ very short ; valves 

 narrowly oblong, one or more grain-bearing. 



R. Otatusifolius, 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 teeth near the 

 base, usually only one grain-bearing. 



* * » Sandy sea-shore and river-banks N. : 5'- 12' high, spreading. (T) ■ 



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

 the lower auriclcd of heart-shaped at hase ; 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. SoRKELS. Herbage acid: some leaves halberd-shaped, others with entire 

 narrowed base : Jiowers dioecious, small, in a terminal naked panicle : italves 

 naked : Jl. spring and summer. ^ 

 R. AcetoS^Ua, Common or Sheep Sorrel. 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. Engelm&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-ffiJ, LAUREL 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 'terminate^ 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. 

 » Flowers perfect, in axillarif panicles. 



1. PERSEA. Oalyx 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 ; 

 alsp 3 glands or sterile filaments forming an innennost row. The two proper 

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

 ments, each opening by a valve in the manner of a ti'ap-door. 

 « * Flowers wholly or nearly dicedous, greenish-yeUow, leaves deciduous. 



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



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

 of the three inner with a pair of yellow stalked glands on their base. Anthers 

 with i chambers as in tlie' preceding. ' Fertile"fiower9 with 6 rudiments of 

 stamens and an ovoid ovai'y, becoming a drupe. 



