MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 409 



placentas axile ; fruit capsular, 2-celled, de- 

 hiscence loculicidal, by two elastic valves ; 

 seeds wingless, exalbuminous, attached to 

 hard, persistent, placental processes; cotyle- 

 dons large, fleshy. Almost entirely a tropical 

 family ; one species occurs in Greece, and a 

 few in the United States. 



4. Family. — Trumpet - Flowers (Bignoniaceae). 



Trees, shrubs, or herbs ; leaves mostly op- 

 posite, exstipulate ; inflorescence terminal ; 

 calyx sometimes spathaceous ; corolla usually 

 irregular ; stamens five ; ovary 1-2-celled ; 

 placentae axile ; fruit capsular, 2-celled, 2- 

 valved ; seeds winged, sessile, exalbuminous ; 

 cotyledons large, leafy. Abound in tropical 

 countries, but occur in America, from Penn- 

 sylvania to Chili. 



5. Family. — Crescentiads (Crescentiaceae). Small 



trees ; leaves alternate or clustered, exstipu- 

 late ; flowers growing out of the old stems 

 or branches ; corolla irregular ; aestivation 

 imbricate; stamens four; ovary free; stigma 

 of two lobes ; fruit woody, melon-shaped, 

 succulent, containing numerous large seeds 

 immersed in the pulp of the placentae ; em- 

 bryo exalbuminous; radicle short. Natives of 

 tropical Asia, Africa, and America, especially 

 abundant in Madagascar and the Mauritius. 



6. Family. — Gesner-Worts (Gesneraceae). Herbs or 



shrubs, soft wooded, often springing from 

 scaly tubers ; leaves opposite or whorled, 



