EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



405 



the Southern States) are exalbuminous ; the latter is 10-coccous, 

 just as Linum is, by a false partition. Guaiacum, Larrea (Creo- 

 sote-plant of New Mexico and Texas), and the rest of the family, 

 have a corneous albumen. The wood of Guaiacum (Lignnm-vitm) 

 is extremely hard and heavy, and yields a gum-resinous, bitter, and 

 acrid principle (^Gum Guaiacum), well known in medicine. 



789. Ord. SimarnbaceBB {Quassia Family), of tropical shrubs or 

 trees, resembles the last in generally having a peculiar scale to the 

 filaments. It is, however, more nearly related to the next order, 

 but its apocarpous ovaries are one-ovuled, and the (mostly com- 

 pound) leaves are dotless. The wood, &c. is intensely bitter : that 

 of Quassia amara is used as a stomachic tonic. The seed of Cedron 

 (Simaba Cedron) is the famous antidote for the bites of venomous 

 snakes in Central America. 



790. Ord. Rutacea; {Rue Family). Herbs, shrubs, or trees ; the 

 leaves punctate with pellucid dots, and without stipules. Calyx of 

 four or five sei3als. Petals four or five, or rarely none. Stamens 



759 7d4 765 



as many or twice (rarely three times) as many as the petals, insert- 



FIG. 759. A flowering branch of Zanthoxylum Americanum (the Northern Prickly Ash). 

 760. A piece of a leaf, to show the pellucid dots. 761. Staminate flower. 762. A pistillate 

 flower, the sepals spread open. 763. Two of the pistils ; one of them divided vertically to show 

 the ovules. 764. A branch in fruit. 765. One of the dehiscent pods, and the seed. 766. Ver- 

 tical section of an unripe pod and seed ; the latter pendent from a descending funiculus, show- 

 ing a slender embryo in copious albumen. 



