164 BOTANY. 
follicles. Trees or shrubs, more rarely herbs, with simple or compound 
leaves ; the flowers white, yellow, or red, solitary or grouped in definite or 
indefinite inflorescence. They contain astringent principles, together with 
resin and volatile oil. 
Sub-tribe 1. Spirew. Seeds not winged. Inhabitants of the northern 
hemisphere, north of the tropic of Cancer. Examples: *Spirea, *Gillenia, 
*Nuttalia. | 
Sub-tribe 2. Quiltajee. Seeds winged. Inhabitants of tropical and 
South America. Example: Lindleya. , 
Sub-order 3. Amygdalew. Calyx five-partite, with imbricate estivation. 
Petals five. Stamens numerous or indefinite. Carpel single, with style 
entirely or nearly terminal, containing two suspended collateral ovules, 
becoming one drupe. Seed with a membranaceous integument. ‘Trees 
and shrubs, with the branches sometimes spined; leaves simple, often 
bi-glandular ; flowers white or rose colored, disposed in racemes, corymbs, or 
panicles, often developed before the leaves. Most of the species natives of 
the north temperate zone, some inhabit Asia or tropical America, none 
found in the southern hemisphere beyond the tropics. Many of the species 
generaily distributed by cultivation. The bark yields gum; the leaves, 
bark, and the kernels of many species contain hydrocyanic acid. Examples: 
Pygeum, Amygdalus, Persica,*Prunus. Amygdalus communis, the Almond 
tree, grows native in Barbary and Eastern Asia. Of two principal varieties, 
one (dulcis) furnishes the Sweet and the other (amara) the Bitter almond. 
Sweet Almonds come from Valencia and Malaga, Bitter from Mogadore. 
The Peach (Persica vulgaris), a native of Persia, has fruit of two kinds, 
Freestone and Clingstone ; in the latter the pulp is adherent to the stone when 
ripe. The Apricot, Armeriaca vulgaris, is also Asiatic. Prunus domestica 
furnishes the different varieties of plum, one of which, when dried, occurs in 
commerce as prunes. Several species of plum are indigenous to the 
United States. The leaves of P. spinosa, the Sloe, are used to adulterate 
tea. Cherries are the fruit of Prunus (Cerasus) avium. The poisonous 
laurel of Europe is P. (Cerasus) laurocerasus. 
Sub-order 4. Chrysobalanew. Calyx free from the ovary, or cohering 
on one side with its base. Petals and the (somewhat definite or indefinite) 
stamens more or less irregular in size and position. Ovary solitary, with 
two collateral, erect ovules, the style arising from its base. Fruit a drupe. 
Seed with a membranous integument. Trees or shrubs with simple, 
glandless, entire leaves; flowers more or less irregular in racemes or 
corymbs. Mostly natives of tropical America and Africa, rare in Asia. 
Example: *Chrysobalanus. The fruit of ©. icaco is the Cocoa plum of 
Florida and the West Indies. 
The entire order embraces about 82 genera and 1000 species, of which 
30 genera and about 200 species are North American. 
Potentilla anserina, Silver Weed, Europe and N. America (pl. 70, jig. 4); 
a, the plant; 6, the flower; c, calyx with the sexual apparatus , d, calyx 
from beneath ; e, anther. 
Rosa moschata, Musk Rose, North Africa and South Asia (pl. 70, jig. 3). 
164 
