440 BIXACE^. — VIOLACEil!. 



simple, usually exstipulate leaves, which are ofteri dotted. The plants 

 are chiefly natives of the ■warmest parts of the East and West Indies, 

 and of Africa. The order is divided into 4: tribes : — 1. Bixese. 

 2. Oncobese. 3. FlacourtiesB. 4. Pangiese. 



Many of the plants yield edible fruits. The pulp is often sweet 

 and wholesome. Some are astringent, others purgative. The red- 

 dish pulp surrounding the seeds of Bixa orellana supplies the sub- 

 stance called arnatto, which is used for yielding a red colour, and for 

 staining cheese. The seeds are cordial, astringent and febrifugal. The 

 seeds of Trichadenia zeylanica, a large tree of Ceylon, called Tettigaha 

 or Tettigass, yield an oil used for burning. The oU expressed from 

 the seeds of Gynocardia odorata (called chabnugra seeds) is used in 

 India for the cure of leprosy, and for various cutaneous diseases. 

 The tree is poisonous, but the seeds yield by expression a bland 

 fixed oil having a peculiar smeE. and taste. The surface of the 

 leprous ulcers is dressed with the oil, while a six-grain pill of the 

 seed is given three times a day. The seeds are prescribed in cases of 

 scrofula, skin diseases, and rheumatism. The fruit of Hydnocarpiis 

 venenatus and H. Toon is used to poison fish. There are 30 genera, 

 and 160 species, according to authors. Examples — Bixa, Oncoba, 

 Flacourtia, Aberia, Gynocardia, Pangium. 



Order 17. — Violace^, the Violet Family. (Polypet. Eypog.) 

 Sepals 5, persistent usually elongated at the base, aestivation imbri- 

 cated. Petals 5, hypogynous, equal or unequal, generally withering, 

 sestivation obliquely convolute. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals, 

 sometimes opposite to them, inserted on a hypogynous torus ; anthers 

 dithecal, introrse, often cohering, with a prolonged connective some- 

 times spurred (fig. 375, p. 225) ; filaments dilated, two of them in 

 the irregular flowers having an appendage at their base. Ovary uni- 

 locular, with many anatropal ovules, rarely one ; style single, usually 

 declinate, with an oblique hooded stigma (fig. 424, Is, p. 242). 

 Fruit a 3-valved capsule, dehiscence loculicidal, placentas on the 

 middle of the valves (fig. 424, p. 242). Seeds 00 or definite ; em- 

 bryo straight, erect, in the axis of a fleshy perisperm. — Herbs or 

 shrubs, with alternate, rarely opposite, leaves, having persistent 

 stipules, and an involute vernation. They are natives of Europe, 

 Asia, and America. The herbaceous species inhabit chiefly the tem- 

 perate parts of the northern hemisphere, while the shrubby species 

 are found in South America and India. They have been divided into 

 three tribes : — 1. Violese, with irregular flowers. 2. Papayrolese, with 

 irregular coroUa, and slightly coherent claws. 3. Alsodese, with regular 

 flowers. To these some authors add a fourth tribe, Sauvagesiese, 

 having anthers without appendages, and septicidal dehiscence. Their 

 distinctive peculiarity may be regarded as resting in their definite 

 stamens, whose anthers turn inwards, and extend their connective into 



