MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 475 



S-5-valved ; seeds arillate ; albumen oily or 

 fleshy. Principally from tropical America; 

 a few are African or Asiatic. 



11. Family. — Laeistemads (Lacistemacese). Shrubs 



or small trees; leaves alternate, exstipulate (?) ; 

 flowers amentaceous, polygamous ; perianth 

 in several narrow divisions, covered by an 

 enlarged bract ; stamen one, unilateral ; 

 anther 2-celled (?) ; ovary 1 -celled ; ovules 

 anatropal; placentae parietal; stigmas 2-3, 

 sessile or on a style ; fruit capsular, 1 -celled, 

 2-3-valved; seed arillate ; albumen fleshy. 

 Natives of Equinoctial America. 



12. Family. — Bixads (Flacourtiacese). Shrubs or 



small trees ; leaves alternate, exstipulate, often 

 dotted ; peduncles axillary, many-flowered ; 

 sepals 4-7; petals 4 -7, alternate, or none ; sta- 

 mens equal to, or some multiple of, the petals; 

 ovary sessile or nearly so, 1-or more-celled ; 

 placentae parietal ; style filiform or none ; 

 stigmas several; fruit 1 -celled, fleshy and 

 indehiscent, or capsular and 4-5-valved; 

 albumen fleshy. Chiefly occur in hot parts of 

 the East and West Indies and Africa, also at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and in New Zealand. 

 " Arnotto " is supplied by the reddish pulp 

 surrounding the seeds of Bixa Orellana. 



II. SUB-CLASS. — Diclinous-Exogens (Dielinese). 



Flowers unisexual, without any customary ten- 

 dency to hermaphroditism. 



