MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 479 



late, compound; flowers racemose, solitary 

 or clustered ; sepals 3-6, in two rows ; petals 

 six, in two rows, opposite, or ; stamens six, 

 opposite ; anthers mostly extrorse ; rudi- 

 mentary ovaries in male flowers ; female 

 flowers larger, with six imperfect stamens ; 

 carpels mostly 3, 1 -celled ; ovules many ; 

 style short ; stigma simple ; fruit short- 

 stalked, berried, usually many-seeded ; seeds 

 parietal; embryo minute. Found in tem- 

 perate parts of South America, and in China. 



4. Family. — Nutmegs (Myristicaceae). Trees ; leaves 



alternate, exstipulate, not dotted ; inflo- 

 rescence axillary or terminal, in racemes, 

 glomerules, or panicles ; flowers very small, 

 completely unisexual ; perianth trifid, rarely 

 quadrifid, deciduous in the female ; aestiva- 

 tion valvate; stamens 3-12; filaments often 

 united into a cylinder ; anthers extrorse ; 

 ovary of one or more carpels ; ovule anatropal ; 

 style very short ; stigma somewhat lobed ; 

 fruit succulent, 1-celled, 2-valved ; albumen 

 ruminate; embryo small. Natives of tropical 

 India and America. The chief species is 

 Myristica officinalis, affording mace and 

 nutmegs. 



5. Family. — Plume-nutmegs (Atherospermacese). 



Trees ; leaves opposite, exstipulate ; flowers 

 axillary, racemose, rarely bisexual ; perianth 

 tubular, divided at the top into segments, 

 usually in two rows, the inner petaloid, and 



