176 BOTANY. 
deciduous, distinct, or partially united ; eestivation imbricated. Petals four or 
five, sometimes slightly cohering, with imbricated estivation. Stamens five, 
distinct, alternate with the petals. Ovary single, two- to five-celled ; style, 
one ; stigmas two to five, equal in number to the placentas. Fruit capsular 
or berried, with many-seeded cells, which are sometimes incomplete; 
dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds often enveloped in a glutinous or resinous 
pulp, anatropal, with a minute embryo lying in fleshy albumen; radicle 
long; cotyledons very short. ‘Trees or shrubs, with simple, alternate, 
exstipulate leaves and flowers, occasionally polygamous. They are fonnd 
chiefly in Australia. Many of them are resinous, and, in some instances, 
the berries are eaten. Lindley mentions twelve genera, including seventy- 
eight species. Examples: Pittosporum, Billardiera, Sollya. 
Orver 170. Tropzotace”, the Indian Cress Family. Sepals usually 
five, the upper spurred; estivation slightly imbricate. Petals often five, 
hypogynous, more or less unequal, sometimes abortive; eestivation convo- 
lute. Stamens eight or ten, seldom fewer, free, almost perigynous ; anthers 
bilocular, innate. Ovary triquetrous, composed of three to five carpels, 
with a single style, and three to five acute stigmas; ovules solitary, often 
pendulous. Fruit indehiscent, usually composed of three pieces. Seeds 
exalbuminous, with a large embryo, which has thick, often united cotyledons, 
and a radicle next the hilum. Herbaceous trailing or twining plants, 
having a delicate texture, with alternate, exstipulate leaves, and axillary, 
often gay flowers. They are extensively cultivated on account of their 
showy yellow, orange, scarlet, and occasionally blue flowers. They have 
more or less pungency in their fruit, which is used as a cress. The unripe 
fruit of Tropzeolum majus, common Indian cress, has been pickled and used 
as capers. Their roots aresometimes eaten. Lindley includes Limnanthez 
in this order, and enumerates six genera, including forty-four species. 
Example: Tropzolum. 
Orver 171. Oxatipaces, the Wood-Sorrel Family. Sepals five, equal, 
sometimes cohering slightly at the base, persistent, imbricate in eestivation. 
Petals five, equal, unguiculate, hypogynous, with a twisted eestivation. 
Stamens ten, more or less monadelphous, in two rows ; those opposite the 
petals being longer than those in the outer row; anthers erect, bilocular. 
Ovary usually quinquelocular; styles filiform, distinct; stigmas capitate 
or slightly bifid. Fruit capsular, membranous or fleshy, usually five-celled, 
and when dehiscent five- to ten-valved. Seeds few, anatropal, albuminous, 
attached to a central placenta, sometimes with a peculiar elastic integument ; 
embryo straight, as long as the fleshy albumen, with a long radicle and leafy 
cotyledons. Herbs, undershrubs, or trees, with alternate, rarely opposite 
compound (occasionally simple) leaves, which are generally without stipules. 
They are found in the hot as well as the temperate parts of the world, and 
are abundant in North America and at the Cape of Good Hope. In some 
cases phyllodia, or winged petioles, occupy the place of leaves. There are 
about six known genera, and upwards of 320 species. Examples: Oxalis, 
Averrhoa, Hugonia. Five species of Oxalis represent this order in North 
America. One of the species, O. acetosella, has an acid taste derived from 
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