BOTANY. 127 
ones ; anthers sagittate, erect, bilocular, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 
free or slightly adherent, unilocular; ovules definite or indefinite, campylo- 
tropal, immersed in a free central placenta; style single; stigma simple or 
lobed. Fruit fleshy, one- or many-seeded. Seeds angular or roundish, with 
a concave hilum, and a membranous spermoderm ; albumen horny ; embryo 
usually curved, often heterotropal; cotyledons short; radicle horizontal 
when the seed is solitary, inferior when there are several seeds. ‘Trees, 
shrubs, or undershrubs, with alternate or opposite, coriaceous, exstipulate 
leaves. They are much restricted as regards their geographical limits, and 
they are said to abound chiefly in islands with an equable temperature. 
They are found in Africa, Asia, and America. Little is known regarding 
their properties. Theophrasta jussizi is a prickly-leaved shrub, which is 
called Coco in St. Domingo. Its seeds are eatable, and a kind of bread is 
made from them. The Ardisias are prized for the beauty of their foliage. 
There are thirty-one known genera, and 325 species. Examples: Myrsine, 
Ardisia, Mesa, Jacquinia. 
Orpver 103. Saroraces, the Sapodilla Family. Flowers hermaphrodite. 
Calyx regular, with five, sometimes four to eight divisions, persistent ; 
eestivation valvate or imbricate. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, 
deciduous, regular, its lobes equal to, rarely twice or thrice as many as, 
those of the calyx. Stamens inserted on the corolla, definite, distinct : 
fertile ones as many as, rarely more than, ihe segments of the calyx, with 
which they alternate ; sterile ones alternating with the fertile ones, rarely 
wanting. Disk 0. Ovary free, plurilocular; ovules solitary, anatropal, 
ascending or pendulous; style one; stigma simple, sometimes lobed. Fruit 
fleshy, plurilocular, or by abortion unilocular. Seeds nut-like, solitary ; 
testa bony and shining, with a long scar on its inner face; embryo large, 
erect, white; albumen usually fleshy; sometimes 0; cotyledons in the 
albuminous seeds, foliaceous, in the exalbuminous, fleshy ; radicle straight or 
slightly curved, pointing to the hilum. Lactescent trees or shrubs, with 
alternate, exstipulate, entire, coriaceous leaves. They are natives chiefly 
of the tropical parts of India, Africa, and America. The number of known 
genera noticed by Lindley is twenty-one, species 212. Examples: Isonandra, 
Achras, &c. 
Some species of this family furnish fruit of great excellence, as the 
Sappodilla plum, and naseberry in the West Indies from species of Achras. 
Shea butter is probably derived from Bassia parkii. The most important 
product is Gutta Percha, the concrete juice of Isonandra gutta and perhaps 
of other species, found in Singapore, Borneo, and Malacca. This substance 
is rapidly coming into use for a vast variety of purposes, being very tough, 
softening readily by the heat of boiling water, and sufficiently elastic at 
ordinary temperatures without being extensible like caoutchouc. 
Mimusops dissecta (Manilla) (pl. 64, fig. 3); a, flower branch with the 
leaves removed ; 8, flower opened; c, anther ; d, a fruit branch; e, a seed. 
Orper 104. Aauironsace# or Inicines, the Holly Family. Sepals four 
to six; estivation imbricated. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, four to 
six-parted; estivation imbricate. Stamens inserted into the corolla, 
127 
