EXOGENOUS OK DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



389 



formed by the radiate stigmas. Eschscholtzia, now common in 

 gardens, is remarkable for the expanded apex of the peduncle, and 

 for the union of the two sepals into a calyptra, like a candle-extin- 

 guisher, which, separating at the base, is thrown off by the expan- 

 sion of the petals. The colored juice is narcotic and stimulant. 

 That of the Poppy yields Opium. That of the Celandine and of the 

 Bloodroot (Sanguinaria) is acrid. 



752'. Ol'd, Fumariaceae {Fumitory Family). Smooth herbs, with 

 brittle stems, and a watery juice, alternate dissected leaves, and no 

 stipules. Flowers irregular. Calyx of two sepals. Corolla of four 

 petals, in pairs ; the two outer, or one of them, spurred or sac-like 

 at the base ; the two inner, callous and cohering at the apex, includ- 

 ing tlie anthers and stigma. Stamens six, in two parcels opposite 

 the outer petals ; the filaments of each set usually more or less 

 imited ; the middle one bearing a two-celled anther ; the lateral, with 

 one-celled anthers. Fruit a one-celled and two-valved pod, or round 

 and indehiscent. Seeds with fleshy albumen and a small embryo. — 

 Ex. Fumaria, Dicentra (Fig. 369-374), Corydalis. 

 A small and unimportant tribe of plants, chiefly re- 

 markable for their singular irregular flowers ; by 

 which, with their watery juice, they are distin- 

 guished, and that not very definitely, from the pre- 

 ceding family. 



753. Ord, Crucifcra! {Mustard Family). Herbs, 

 with a pungent or acrid watery juice, and alternate 

 leaves without stipules ; the flowers in racemes or 

 corymbs, with no bracts to the pedicels. Calyx of 

 four sepals, deciduous. Corolla of four regular 

 petals, with ' claws, their spreading limbs forming a 

 cross (Fig. 694). Stamens six, two of them short- 

 er {tetradynamous, Fig. 695, 589). Fruit a pod 

 (called a silique when much longer than broad, or a 

 silicle when short. Fig. 703),. which is two-celled 

 by a membranous partition that unites the two ^"^ 



marginal placentas, from which the two valves usually fall away. 

 Seeds with no albumen : embryo with the cotyledons folded on tlie 

 radicle. — Ex. The Water-Cress, Radish, Mustard, Cabbage, &c. 

 A very natural order, perfectly distinguished by having six tetra- 

 dynamous stamens along with four petals and four sepals, and by the 



riG. 694. Flower of Mustard. 695. The stamens and pistil. 

 33* 



