YIVIANIACEiE — LINAGE A 463 



as Pelargonium triste (fig. 103, p. 41) are eatable. The root-stock of 

 Geranium oblongatum, called the yellow geranium, is used by the 

 natives of Namaqualand as an article of food. The species of ]?elar- 

 gonium are remarkable for the beauty of their flowers. By the art of 

 the gardener, and by hybridisation, many fine varieties of Pelargonium 

 have been produced. 



Order 45. — Vivianiace^, the Viviania Family. (Polypet. Hypog.) 

 Sepals 5, united. Petals 5, hypogynous, unguiculate, persistent, with 

 twisted aestivation. Stamens 10, hypogynous ; filaments free ; anthers 

 bilocular, opening longitudinally. Ovary free, 3-eeUed; stigmas 3. 

 Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal ; seeds, 2 in each cell, with a 

 curved embryo lying among fleshy albumen. — Herbaceous or sufiruti- 

 cose plants, with opposite or verticillate exstipulate leaves. All the 

 members of this order which have yet been discovered inhabit Chili 

 and South Brazil. They have no properties of importance. Genera 2 ; 

 species 8. Examples — Viviania, Csesarea. 



Order 46. — Linaceje, the Flax Family. (Polypet. Hypoff.) Sepals 

 3, 4, or 5, persistent, with an imbricated aestivation. Petals 3, 4, or 

 5, fugitive, unguiculate, hypogynous, with a twisted aestivation. Sta- 

 mens equal to the petals and alternate with them (with intermediate 

 teeth or abortive stamens), arising from a hypogynous annular disk ; 

 anthers ovate, erect. Ovary with as many cells and styles as sepals, 

 seldom fewer ; stigmas capitate ; ovules anatropal, pendulous. Fruit 

 a multilocular capsule, pointed generally with the indurated base of 

 the styles ; each loculament or cell more or less completely divided by 

 a spurious dissepiment, arising from the dorsal suture, and opening 

 by two valves at the apex. Seeds solitary in each spurious cell, com- 

 pressed, pendulous; albumen usually in small quantity, sometimes 0; 

 embryo straight ; cotyledons flat ; radicle next the hUum. — -Annual 

 and perennial plants, with exstipulate, simple, entire leaves, which are 

 usually alternate. Many species, of Linum have showy flowers, the 

 colours being blue, yellow, and crimson. Linum grandiflorum, from the 

 north of Africa, has a beautiful crimson flower. They are scattered 

 over the globe, but are said to be most abundant in Europe and in the 

 north of Africa. By some authors the order is associated with 

 Geraniacese, from which it difiers in its unbeaked fruit and exstipulate 

 leaves, as well as the absence of joints in the stem. There are 4 

 genera, comprising about 90 species. Examples — Linum, Eadiola. 



The plants yield mucilage and fibre. Flax, which consists of 

 xylem or bast fibre, is procured from the inner bark of the stalk of 

 Linwm usitatissimum, by the process of steeping and stripping off the 

 bark. Linen and cambric are prepared from it. The flax plant is 

 supposed to have been originally a native of Egypt, and mummy, 

 cloth has been shown to be formed of linen. The integument of the 

 seeds is mucilaginous, and an infusion of them in boUing water is used 



