570 



PEOTEACBjE — ELiEAGNACEJi;. 



the name of wild or male nutmegs. The bark of many plants of the 

 order yields an acrid juice, which is sometimes of a crimson colour. A 

 red pigment is furnished by Pyrrhosa tingens. 



Order 145. — Peoteace.*;, the Protea Family. (Apet, Perigyn.) 

 Perianth more or less deeply 4-divided ; aestivation valvate. Stamens 

 perigjnttous, 4 (1 sometimes sterile), opposite the segments of the 

 perianth ; anthers dithecal, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 

 single, superior, unilocular ; ovules single or in pairs, anatropal or 

 amphitropal ; style simple ; stigma undivided, discoid. Fruit dehis- 

 cent or indehiscent. Seed exalbuminous, sometimes winged ; embryo 

 straight ; cotyledons 2 or more ; radicle inferior, next the hilum. — 

 Shrubs or small trees, with hard, dry, opposite or alternate, exstipulate 

 leaves. They are natives principally of Australia and the Cape of 

 Good Hope. In general they occur in land unfit for cultivation, 

 and seldom attain to a large size. The order has been divided 

 into two sections : — 1. Nucumentacese, with nucumentaceous indehis- 

 cent fruit. 2. FoUiculares, with follicular dehiscent fruit. Lindley 

 mentions 46 genera, including 654 species. Examples — Protea, Per- 

 soonia, Grevillea, Hakea, Banksia, Dryandra. 



The plants of this order have no medicinal properties of import- 

 ance. They present great diversity of appearance, hence the name of 

 the order, and they are cultivated for their handsome habit and the 

 peculiarity of their flowers. The clustered cone-like heads of the 

 flowers of Banksias have a remarkable appearance. In Grevillea the 

 style is at first bent downwards, and the discoid stigma is enclosed 

 within the upper part of the perianth, where the anthers are placed ; 

 but after the pollen has been scattered, the stigma is emancipated, 

 and the style rises upwards. The fruit and seeds of a few plants of 

 the order are eaten, and the wood is used for economical purposes. 

 Guevina Avellana yields nuts, which are sold in Chili under the name 

 Avellano. Protea mellifera is called Sugar-bush, on account of the 

 honey furnished by its flowers. Leucadmdron argentetira is the Silver- 

 tree or Witteboom of the Cape. The bark of Protea grandijlora, 

 called Wagenboom, is used by the Cape settlers in diarrhoea. It 

 attains a height of 8-14 feet, and its wood supplies fuel at Simon's 

 Town. Orevillea rohusta is called Silver-oak. Macadamia ternifolia 

 yields an edible fruit. 



Order 146. — ELiEAGNAOB.E, the Oleaster Family. {Apet. Didin. 

 and Perigyn.) Flowers usually unisexual, rarely hermaphrodite. 

 Male flowers amentaceous, with 2-4 leaves forming the perianth ; 

 stamens 3, 4, or 8 ; anthers nearly sessile, dithecal, introrse, and 

 dehiscing longitudinally. In the female and hermaphrodite flowers, 

 perianth tubular, persistent, with an entire or 2-4-toothed limb. 

 Disk fleshy. Ovary superior, 1 -celled ; ovule solitary, ascending, on a 

 short funiculus, anatropal; style short; stigma simple, subulate, 



