292 



MANUAL OF BOTANY 



Properties and Uses. — They abound usually in a resinous 

 yellow juice, wMoh is frequently purgative, as in Vismia 

 guianensis and V. micrantha. Other plants of the order, 

 as Hypericum perforatum and H. Androscemum, have tonic 

 and astringent properties, and Cratoxylon Hornschuchii is 

 slightly astringent and diuretic. 



Order 76. GuTTiFBEa; or Glusiace^, the Gamboge or 

 Mangosteen Order. — Character. — Trees or shrubs, sometimes 

 parasitical, with a resinous juice. Leaves coriaceous, entire, 

 simple, opposite, exstipulate. Flowers usually perfect, some- 

 times iTnisexual by abortion. Sepals 2, 4, 5, 6, or 8, imbricate, 

 usuaUy persistent, frequently unequal and petaloid. Petals 

 hypogynous, equal in number to, or a multiple of, the sepals, 



sometimes passing by im- 

 Fig. 1065. perceptible gradations into 



them. Stamens usually 

 numerous, rarely few, hy- 

 pogynous, distinct, mona- 

 delphous, or polyadel- 

 phous ; anthers adnate, not 

 beaked, introrse or extrorse, 

 opening]^by a pore or trans- 

 verse slit, 2-celled or some- 

 times 1-oelled. Zlisc ileshy, 

 or rarely with five lobes. 

 Ovary superior, 1- or many- 

 celled ; style absent ; 

 stigmas peltate or radiate ; 

 placentas axile. Fruit dehiscent or indehiscent, 1- or many- 

 celled. Seeds solitary or numerous, frequently arillate, without 

 albumen ; embryo large, straight, v/ith minute cotyledons. 



Diagnosis. — Trees or shrubs with a resinous juice, and with 

 opposite, simple, coriaceous, exstipulate leaves. Sepals and 

 petals usually having a binary arrangement of their parts ; the 

 former imbricate and frequently unequal ; the latter equal and 

 hypogynous. Stamens almost always numerous ; anthers 

 adnate, without a beak, opening by a pore or transversely. 

 Disc fleshy or lobed. Ovary superior, with sessile radiate 

 stigmas, and axile placentas. Seeds exalbuminous ; cotyledons 

 minute. 



Distribution amd Numbers. — Exclusively tropical, and 

 especially occurring in moist situations. The larger proportion 

 are natives of South America, but a few occur in Madagascar 



Fiq. 1065. Flowering stem find frnit of the 

 JIangosteeii plant (Garcima Mangostana). 



