66 LIMNaNTHACEJS AND ZANTHOXYLACE^. 



Order 29. LEHNANTHACEffi. 



Low annual herbs, with pinnated alternate leaves without stipules. Flowers regn- 

 lar, trimerous or pentamerous. Sepals 3 to 5 united at base persistent, valvate in 

 aestivation. Petals 3 to 5, withering on the plant, inserted upon an hypoygnous 

 disk. Stamens 6 to 10, inserted with the petals; filaments opposite the eepala, 

 Sttles united; stigma simple : ovary of 2 to 5 distinct carpels. Fruit 2 to 5 achenia, 

 rather fleshy. Seeds solitary. 



1. FLCERKIA. Willd. 



Named in honor of Flccrke. a German botanist 



Sepals 3, longer than the 3 petals. Stamens 6. Ovaries 

 3, tuberculate. Style 2-cleft. — A small annual aquatic, 

 with pinnately divided leaves and minute solitary flowers on 

 axillary peduncles. 



F. proserpinacoides, Lindl. False Mermaid. 



Stems decumbent, weak, and slender; leaves alternate, upper ones, or those 

 above the water, pinnately 5-parted ; lower or submersed ones mostly 3-partcd,. all 

 on slender petioles. 



Marshes and shores of rivers and lakes. April, May. Stem 4 to 10 inches long. 

 Flowers small, 3^ inch in diameter, white. Pdals about half as long as the sepala. 

 Whole plant slightly pungent to the taste. 



Order 30. ZANTHOXYLACEJE. 



Trees or shrubs, pungent and aromatic bitter, with alternate or opposite leaves, 

 without stipules, with pellucid dots and small regidar dioecious or polygamous 

 floxoers. Flowers regular diclinous, gray, green, or pink. Sepals 3 to 5, small, 

 cohering at the base. Petals longer than the sepals, as many, rarely wanting, 

 convolute. Stamens as many or twice as many as the petals. Pistils 2 to 5, dis- 

 tinct or united, 1 to 2 seeded, (ovules 2, collateral). Fruit baccate, membraneouj 

 or drupaceous, or 2-valved capsules. Seeds solitary or in pairs. 



1. ZANTHOXYLUM. Linn. Prickly Ash. 



Gr. xantnos, yellow, and xulon, wood. 



Flowers dioecious. Sepals 5, petal-like when the petals 

 are absent. Stamens 5. Pistils 3 to 5, raised on a 

 short base or stalk, distinct, the styles connivent. Carpels 

 thickish, 2-yalved. Seeds black and shining. — Fragrant 

 aromatic shrubs, with pellucid punctate, pinnately 3 to 5 

 foliate leaves, and greenish-yellow flowers. 



13. Americanum, Mill. FricMy Ash. 



Stem and branches prickly; leaves pinnate; leaflets in 4 to 5 pairs and an odd 

 coe, ovate-oblong, downy when young ; petioles round, unarmed ; prickles stipular; 

 flowers in short axillary sessile umbels. 



