466 ZYGOPHYLLACE^. 



imbricated sestivation. Stamens 5, distinct, alternate with the petals. 

 Ovary single, 2-5-celled ; style 1 ; stigmas 2-5, equal in number to 

 the placentas. Fruit capsular or berried, with many-seeded cells, 

 which are sometimes incomplete ; dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds often 

 enveloped in a glutinous or resinous pulp, anatropal, with a minute 

 embryo lying in fleshy albumen ; radicle long ; cotyledons very short. 

 — Trees or shrubs, with simple, alternate, exstipulate leaves, and flowers 

 occasionally polygamous. Some place the order next Tremandracese 

 and Bixacese. They are found chiefly in Australia. Many of them 

 are resinous, and, in some instances, the berries are eaten. Bursaria 

 spinosa is called native Box and native Myrtle ^in Van Diemen's 

 Land. Authors mention 9 genera, including 90 species. Examples — 

 Pittosporum, BOlardiera, SoUya, Bursaria. 



Order 51. — Zygophyllace^, the Guaiaeum Family. (Polypet. 

 Hypog.) Calyx 4-5-parted, with convolute sestivation. Petals alter- 

 nate with the calycine segments, aestivation imbricated. Stamens 

 twice as many as the petals ; filaments dUated at the base, usually 

 arising from scales (fig. 345, p. 217). Ovary simple, 4-5-celled; 

 divisions occasionally formed by spurious dissepiments (figs. 534, 535, 

 p. 300). Ovules 2 or more in each cell, usually pendulous ; style 

 simple, 4-5-furrowed ; stigma simple, or 4-5-lobed. Fruit capsular 

 or rarely fleshy, with 4-5 angles or wings, 4-5-valved, either opening 

 by loculicidal dehiscence, or indehiscent. Seeds few, usually with 

 whitish albumen, sometimes exalbuminous ; embryo green, with foli- 

 aceous cotyledons and a superior radicle. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees, 

 with opposite, stipulate, usually compound leaves, which are not 

 dotted, and hermaphrodite flowers. They occur in various parts of 

 the world, chiefly in warm extra-tropical regions, as in the south of 

 Europe, America, Africa, and India. The order has been divided into 

 two sections : — 1. Zygophyllese, having albuminous seeds. 2. Tri- 

 bulese, having exalbuminous seeds. Authors mention 10 genera, 

 comprising 60 species. Examples — Zygophyllum, Guaiaeum, Tribulus. 

 Some of the plants abound in a stimulant resin, which pervades 

 the wood and bark ; others are bitter and acrid. The medicinal 

 species are used as sudorifics. Zygophyllum Fabago is called the Bean- 

 caper, on account of its flowers being used as a substitute for capers. 

 The plant is said to act as a vermifuge. Guaiaeum officinale is a 

 beautiful West Indian tree, the wood of which, commonly called 

 lignum- vitse, is prized for its hardness. The alburnum is of a grejdsh- 

 yellow colour, while the duramen is greenish-black. The fibres of the 

 wood are remarkable for their direction, being cross-grained, in conse- 

 quence of one layer crossing another diagonally. It yields a resinous 

 matter known as the resin of Guaiac, or Gum-guaiac. This resin 

 exudes spontaneously, or it may be procured by incisions, or by the 

 application of heat. A solution of the resin in alcohol, when applied 



