DICOTYLEDONES— MONOCHLAMYDE^ 



257 



Pig. 1017. Fig. 1018 



Series 8. — Ordines Anomali. 



Order 42. Salicace^, the Willow Order.— Character — 

 Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, deciduous, with per- 

 sistent or deciduous stipules. Flowers unisexual, dicecious, 

 amentaceous, naked, or with a membranous or cup-like calyx. 

 Male flowers with 1 — 30 stamens, distinct or monadelphous. 

 Female flowers sessile or stalked, with a superior 1-celled 

 ovary, and numerous erect anatropous ovules on 2 parietal pla- 

 centas. Fruit 1-celled, 2-valved, dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds 

 minute, numerous, with long sOky hairs springing from a 

 funicle and covering the seed, ex- 

 albuminous ; embryo erect, with an 

 inferior radicle. 



Distribution and Numbers. — 

 Chiefly natives of cold and temperate 

 climates. Illustrative Genera: — Salix, 

 Tourn. ; Populus, Tourn. These are 

 the only genera ; there are about 250 

 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Many 

 species are either valuable for their 

 timber, or for basket-work and other 

 economic purposes. The bark com- 

 monly possesses tonic, astringent, and 

 febrifugal properties. The hairs which 

 invest the seeds have been employed 

 for stuffing cushions, and for other 

 purposes. The buds of some species 

 secrete an oleo-resinous substance of a 

 stimulating nature. 



Order 43. LacistemacejE. — The Lacistema Order. — Cha- 

 racter. — Shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, dotted, stipvilate. 

 Flowers in axillary catkins, perfect or unisexual. Calyx inferior, 

 with several divisions, enclosed by a bract. Stamen 1, hypogy- 

 nous, with a 2-lobed connective, each lobe bearing 1 cell of the 

 anther, which bursts transversely. Ovary superior, seated hi u, 

 disc, 1-celled, with numerous ovules attached to parietal pla- 

 centas. Fruit capsular, l-ceUed, 2 — 3-valved Seeds generally 

 2 or 3, arillate, suspended, with fleshy albumen. 



Distribution, Numbers, and Properties. — Natives of woody 

 places in tropical America. Illustrative Genera : — There are 

 2 genera, namely, Lacistema, Stvartz, and Synzyganthera, P. 



VOL. II. s 



Fit/. 1017. Male flower of a 

 species of Willow i^^alix), 

 witb two stamens and a 

 single bract at their base. 



Fiij. 1018. Female flower 



of tlie same wi th bract at tlie 

 base, and a solitary stalked 

 ovary and style surmounted 

 by two stigmas. 



