POLYANDBIA POLYGYXIA 325 



Order 3. Polygyria. 



A. Flowers complete, f Carpels fleshy, or pulpy. 



257. ASIMINA. Mans. DC. Prodv. 1. p. 87. 

 [A namo coined by Adansan; supposed to bo without meaning.] 



Calyx deeply 3-partcd, or rather of 3 sepals. Petals 6, spreading ; 

 inner ones smaller. Anthers subsessilc. Ovaries superior, mostly J, 

 oblong,or ovoid ; stigmas sessile. Carpels 3 (by abortion often 1 or 2), 

 baccate or pulpy, oblong, sessile. Seeds several, oblong, compressed. 



Smalt trees, or shrubs: leaves alternate, entire, without stipules ; flowers soli- 

 tary, axillary or lateral. Nat. Ord. 13. Lindl. Anonace*. 

 1. A. triloba, Danal. Branches smoothish; leaves obovate-oblong 

 and cuneatc, acuminate; flowers on short peduncles; outer petals 

 roundish-ovate, nearly 4 times as long as the calyx. Beck, Bot. p. 16. 

 Annona triloba. Marsh. ArbusU p. 10. Willd. Sp. 2. p. 1267. Ait. 

 Kciv. 3. p. 335, Muhl. Cat. p. 53. Mx.f.Syl.2.p.M. Icox, tab. 60. 

 Orchidocarpum arictinum. Jlfx. Am. I. p. 329. 



Porcelia triloba. Pers. Syn. 2. p. 95. Pursh, Am. 2. p. 383. Mitt. 

 Gen. 2. p. 19. Bart. Phil. 2. p. 18. Eat. Man. p. 278. 

 Three-lobed Asimixa. Vtilgo— Papaw. Custard Apple. 



Stem 8 to 12 and sometimes 20 feet high, branched ; branches alternate, slen- 

 der'and flexible, nearly smooth, marked with cinereous scars of the former petioles. 

 Leaves 6 to 9 inches long, and 3 to 4 wide, cuneate-oblong, more or less obovate, 

 sometimes nearly elliptic, with a short acumination, when young with a russet 

 pubescence on the nerves and under surface, finally smooth; petioles pubescent, 

 scarcely half an inch long. Flotcers solitary, lateral, appearing rather before the 

 leaves, on nodding or recurved pubescent peduncles 1 third to 3 fourths of an inch 

 in length. Sepals ovate, clothed externally with a short dark-purple pubescence. 

 Petals dark brownish-purple with tinges of yellow within, spreading or recurved, 

 rugose, the 3 outer ones larger (about an inch long), pubescent externally. Sla* 

 mens numerous, short, crowded in a globose head. Ovaries 3, oblong, pubescent, 

 longer than the stamens ; stigmas sessile. Carpels connate, becoming a fleshy 2 

 or 3-lobed berry,— vy more usually (by abortion) a simple ovoid-oblong berry, 2 to 

 3 inches long, and an inch or more in diameter, somewhat gibbous with irregular 

 protuberances, smooth, yellowish and pulpy when mature, esculent, and, under 

 cultivation, not unpalatable. 

 Hab. Banks of streams; Brandy wine; Schuylkill: not common. Fl. May. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. This occurs along the Brandywine, above Downingtown, where it was 

 collected by Mr. Joshua Hoopes, in 1827,— and also along the Schuylkill, at 

 Black Itock, &c. but I have not met with it elswhere within the County. It is 

 abundant on the banks of the Susquehanna. Three other species are enumerated 

 in the U. States. 



♦ ff Carpels dry, dehiscent ; ivith arillate seeds. 



258. MAGNOLIA. L. JSfutt. Gen. 479. 

 [Named in honor of Professor Magnol; a French Botanist] 



Calyx of 3 deciduous sepals. Petals 6 to 9 or 12, in concentric sc- 

 ries. Carpels crowded and somewhat imbricated in an ovoid or ob- 

 long spike, 2-valved, 1-seeded. Seeds coated with a fleshy arillus, sus- 

 pended by a long slender funiculus. 



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