MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 483 



4-celled, 4-valved ; seeds 0, minute, with a 

 loose testa ; radicle inferior. Natives of 

 swamps in the East Indies and China. 



2. Family. — Battels (Batidacese). Shrubs; leaves 



opposite, exstipulate, succulent ; flowers in 

 spikes ; male flowers, scales of cone 1- 

 flowered ; perianth a scale rolled up with its 

 back next the axis, and the edges united ; 

 female flowers absolutely naked (?), or com- 

 posed of succulent scales arranged in a 4- 

 rowed cone ; stamens four ; filaments flattened ; 

 ovary 5-6-celled; ovules erect; stigma sessile ; 

 fruit succulent. Comprises one genus abun- 

 dant in West-Indian salt marshes. 



3. Family. — Crowberries (Empetracese). Shrubs, 



heath-like ; leaves evergreen, alternate or 

 partially verticillate, exstipulate ; perianth 

 of persistent, imbricated scales, the inner 

 often petaloid ; stamens equal to, and alter- 

 nate with, scales in inner row f anthers 2- 

 celled ; ovary seated on a fleshy disk, 3-6-9- 

 celled ; ovules definite, ascending, anatropal ; 

 style one ; stigma with as many radii as there 

 are ovarian cells ; fruit a nuculanium, within 

 the persistent perianth ; radicle inferior. A 

 small group, inhabiting Europe, North Ame- 

 rica, and the straits of Magellan. The fruit 

 of Empetrum nigrum, the black crowberry, 

 which is not unpleasantly acid, is frequently 

 eaten in Northern Europe. 



4. Family. — Star-worts (Callitrichacese). Herba- 



T 2 



