604 CLXVIII. ACANTHACE^. 



rudimentary ; antliers 2-celled, dehiscence longitudinal. Ovakt seated on an annular 

 disk, free, of 2 connate antero-posterior carpels, 1-celled ; placentas 2 or 4, parietal, 

 sometimes produced as false septa; style simple; stigma 2-lamellar; ovules very 

 numerous, horizontal. Fbuit woody, indehiscent, many-seeded, pulpy within. 

 Seeds large, amygdaloid ; testa loose, leathery. Embbto straight, exalbuminous ; 

 cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy ; radicle short, thick, next the hilum. 



Tkibe I. Tan^ciej). — Fruit fleshy, elongate, 2- or more-celled. Leaves opposite, rarely 

 whorled. Galea, Phyllarthron, Parmentiera, Tanmcium, &c. 



Teibe II. Ceescentie^. — Fruit corticate, ovoid or globose. Leaves alternate. Grescentia, 

 Kigelia, &o. 



Crescentteis are clearly related to Bignoniacece, of which De Candolle, and subsequently Boreau, 

 have regarded them as a sub-order, distinguished by their indehiscent fruit, pulpy within, and 

 wingless seeds. They are all tropical and widely dispersed, abounding in Madagascar and the 

 Mauritius. 



The Calabash-tree {Crescentiu Ctijete) of America is the most important to man of all Crescentiece ; its 

 sub-acid pulp is edible, and its dried pericarp, which is used as a substitute for bottles, &c., is so hard as 

 to admit of water being repeatedly boiled in it. Parmentiera cerifera, the Candle-tree or Palo de Velas 

 of Panama, bears a long candle-like fruit, greedily eaten by cattle, to the flesh of which it communicates 

 its apple-like flavour. P. eduKs is eaten by the Mexicans. Various species yield timber. — Ed.] 



CLXVIII. ACANTHACE^. 

 (Acanthi, A.-L. de Jussieu. — Acanthace^, U, Brown.) 



CoKOLLA hypogynous, monopetalous, h-cleft, usually irregular, anisostemonous, 

 (Estivation imbricate. Stamens inserted on the corolla, 4 didynamous, or 2. Ovakt 

 2-celled ; ovules campylotropous, seated on a prolongation of the placenta. Fkuit 

 capsular. Embeto usually curved, exalbuminous. — Leaves opposite or whorled. 



Hekbs sub- woody at the base, or woody, stem and branches jointed, nodes tumid. 

 Leaves opposite, or in whorls of 3 or 4, exstipulate. Flowers § , irregular, axillary 

 or terminal, spiked racemed or fascicled, rarely solitary, bracteate and 2-bracteolate; 

 bracteoles minute, or very large when the calyx is small or obsolete. Calyx of 

 6 segments, equal or unequal, distinct or variously coherent or 4-M or -partite, 

 sometimes obsolete or reduced to a truncate entire or toothed ring. Coeolla 

 monopetalous, tubular, hypogynous ; limb usually bilabiate, upper lip bifid, sometimes 

 obsolete, lower 3-lobed, sestivation imbricate. Stamens inserted on the corolla- 

 tube, usually 4 didynamous, the fifth or posterior rudimentary or obsolete, sometimes 

 2 by arrest of the 2 anterior ; filaments filiform or subulate ; anthers sometimes 

 2-celled with opposite parallel cells, often appearing 1-celled from the contiguity of 

 the cells ; sometimes 1-celled from the unequal insertion or obliquity or super- 

 position or divergence of the cells, of which one is rudimentary or obsolete. Ovaet 

 superior, cells 2, antero-posterior, septum double, 2-3-4-many-ovuled ; style termi- 

 nal, simple, filiform ; stigma usually 2-fid, rarely undivided ; ovules campylotropous 

 or semi-anatropous, 2-seriate along the middle of the septum, usually seated on a 

 process of the placenta. Capsule membranous coriaceous or cartilaginous, sessile. 



