ANONACE^. 429 



indehiscent, sometimes samaroid. Seeds, wlien ripe, often hang sus- 

 pended from the carpels by a long slender cord ; embryo minute, at 

 the base of a fleshy, not ruminate, perisperm.— Trees and shrubs, with 

 alternate coriaceous leaves, and deciduous convolute stipules. They 

 abound in North America, and species occur in India, South America, 

 China, Japan, New HoUand, and New Zealand. The order has been 

 divided into — 1. Winterese ; aromatic plants, in which the leaves are 

 dotted, the carpels are in a single verticil, and the wood is often marked 

 with punctations or dots. 2. Magnoliese ; bitter plants with fragrant 

 flowers, in which the carpels are arranged in several rows on an ele^ 

 vated receptacle (fig. 337, p. 213), and the leaves are not dotted. The 

 Indian mountains and islands are the great centres of Magnolias. 3. 

 Schizandrese ; usually climbing shrubs, with unisexual flowers, numer- 

 ous baccate carpels, arranged in heads or spikes, no stipules. Authors 

 mention 10 or 12 known genera, comprising 70 Species. Examples — 

 Illicium, Drunys, Magnolia, Liriodehdron, Schizandra, Trochodendron. 

 The properties of the order are bitter, tonic, and often aromatic. 

 Illicium anisatum, Star-anise, is so called from its carpels being arranged 

 in a star-like manner, and having the taste and odour of anise. It is 

 also called Badiane. Its fruit is employed as a carminative. Drymis 

 Winteri or aromatica, brought by Captain Winter from the Straits of 

 Magellan (Magulhaens) in 1578, yields Winter's bark, which has been 

 employed medicinally as an aromatic stimulant. It somewhat re- 

 sembles CaneUa bark. Magnolias are remarkable for their large odori- 

 ferous flowers, and their tonic aromatic qualities. The bark of Mag- 

 nolia glauca, Swamp Sassafras or Beaver-tree, is used as a substitute 

 for Peruvian bark. The seeds oi Magnolia Yulan, a species with deciduous 

 leaves, are used in China as aj febrifuge. Liriodendron tulipifera, the 

 tulip-tree (fig. 337, p. 213), marked by its truncate leaves, has similar 

 properties. Takmma fragrantissima supplies the Organ-nut of Brazil. 

 Order 4. — Anonace*, the Custard Apple Family. (Polypet. 

 Hypog.) Sepals 3-4, persistent, often partially cohering. Petals 6, 

 hypogynous, in two rows, coriaceous, with a valvate aestivation. Sta- 

 mens indefinite (very rarely definite) on a large torus ; anthers 

 adnate, extrorse, with a large 4-cornered connective. Carpels usually 

 numerous, separate or cohering slightly, rarely definite ; ovules ana- 

 tropal, solitary or several, erect or ascending. Fruit succulent or dry, 

 very rarely capsular, the carpels being one- or many-seeded, and either 

 distinct or united into a fleshy mass ; spermoderm brittle ; embryo 

 minute, at the base of a ruminated or mottled perisperm or albumen, 

 which constitutes an important character of the order. — Trees or shrubs, 

 with alternate, simple, exstipulate leaves, found usually in tropical 

 countries. Authors enumerate 50 genera, includiijg about 300 species. 

 Examples — Bocagea, Anonaj Uvaria, Guatteria, Xylopia, Duguetia, 

 Asimina. 



