DIOOTYLEDONES— MONOCHLAMYDE^ 239 



divided. Floivers , minute, generally hermaphrodite, or very 

 rarely unisexual, spathaceous. Calyx absent, or of 3 sepals. 

 Stamens 1 or many, hypogynous ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 

 superior, 2 — 3-eeUed ; stigmas 'i — 3; ovules ascending, numerous. 

 Fruit capsular, ribbed, with parietal or axile placentation. Seeds 

 numerous, exalbuminous, with a straight embryo. 



Distribution and Numbers. — Principally natives of South 

 America. Illustrative Genera : — Hydrostaehys, Thouars ; Podo- 

 stemon, L. C. B. There are about 120 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Unimportant. Some species of Lacis 

 a,re used for food on the Eio Negro, &c., in South America; 

 and other plants of the order are eaten by cattle and iish. 



Series 3. — Multiovulatce terrestres. 



Order 10. Nepbnthace^, the Pitcher-plant Order. — Cha- 

 r a c t e r. — Herbs or somewhat shrubby plants. Leaves alternate, 

 and when perfect, terminated by a pitcher which is provided with 

 an articulated lamina. Flowers terminal, racemose, unisexual, 

 dioecious. Calyx inferior, with four divisions. Stamens usually 

 16, united into a column ; anthers 2-celled, extrorse. Ovary 

 superior, 4-angled, 4-celled. Fruit a capsule, 4-celled, with 

 locuhcidal dehiscence. Seeds very minute, numerous, albu- 

 minous ; embryo with an inferior radicle. 



Distribution, Numbers, and Properties. — Natives of swampy 

 ground in China and the East Indies. Nepenthes, Linn., is the 

 only genus ; it includes about 14 species. Their properties are 

 unknown ; but they are remarkable from their pitchers entrap- 

 ping and digesting insects and other animal matters, in conse- 

 quence of the formation of a digestive ferment by their glands. 



Order 11. CYTiNACEa;, the Cistus-rape Order. — Character. 

 — Eoot-parasites destitute of chlorophyll, and with a fungoid 

 texture. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, and either soli- 

 tary and sessile or clustered at the end of a scaly stem. Calyx 

 tubular at the base, 3 — 6-partite. Anthers sessUe, opening 

 longitudinally. Ovary 1-celled, inferior; ovules very nume- 

 rous ; placentas parietal. Fruit l-celled, with numerous seeds 

 embedded in pulp. Seeds with or without albumen ; embryo 

 minute, amorphous or dicotyledonous. This and the next order 

 are frequently combined together in one order, Cytinacece. 



Distribution and Numbers. — Parasitic on the roots of Cistus, 

 and upon fleshy Euphorbiaoese and other succulent plants. 

 They occur in the South of Europe and Africa. Illustrative 



