178 BOTANY. 
well shown by its microscopical structure. The integument of the seed is 
mucilaginous, and the cotyledons yield linseed oil by expression. rm 
Linum usitatissimum, Flax (Egypt originally) (pl. 68, jig. .18); a, 
flowering branch; 6, sepal; c, sexual apparatus; d@, petal; ¢, 7, seed. 
Orver 174. Grrantace&, the Cranesbill Family. Sepals five, persistent, 
more or less unequal, one sometimes spurred at the base; eestivation 
imbricated. Petals five (or by abortion four), unguiculate, with contorted 
eestivation. Stamens monadelphous, hypogynous, twice or thrice as many as 
the petals, some occasionally abortive. Ovary of five carpels, placed round 
an elongated axis ; ovules pendulous, solitary; styles five, cohering round 
the axis. Fruit formed of five one-seeded cocci, terminated each by an 
indurated style, which curls upwards, carrying the coccus or pericarp with 
it. Seeds exalbuminous, solitary, with a curved folded embryo, and leaty, 
convolute, and plaited cotyledons. Herbs or shrubs with simple, stipulate 
leaves, which are either opposite, or alternate with peduncles opposite to 
them. They are distributed over various parts of the world. The species 
of Pelargonium abound at the Cape of Good Hope. Lindley mentions four 
genera, including, after separating hybrids, about five hundred species. 
Examples: Geranium, Pelargonium. North America possesses two genera 
(Geranium and Erodium), with eight species. The geraniums of the horti- 
culturist in their different varieties, all belong to Pelargonium. 
Geranium sanguineum, Cranesbill (Europe) (pl. 67, jig. 9); a, a flower 
branch; 6, flower bud; c, petal of natural size; d, fruit; ¢, seed. 
Orver 175. Viracea#, the Vine Family. Calyx small, nearly entire. 
Petals four to five, sometimes cohering above, inserted outside an annular 
hypogynous disk; sestivation valvate. Stamens four to five, opposite to the 
petals, inserted on the disk; filaments free, or united at the base; anthers 
ovate, versatile. Ovary two- to six-celled; ovules erect, anatropal; style 
ne, very short; stigmasimple. Fruit pulpy and globular, not united to the 
calyx, sometimes one-celled by abortion. Seeds one to four or five, erect, 
‘with an osseous spermoderm, horny albumen, and an erect embryo. 
‘Climbing shrubs, having the lower leaves opposite, the upper ones alternate. 
Flowers in racemes, which are often opposite the leaves; floral peduncles 
sometimes becoming cirrhose. They inhabit the milder as well as the 
hotter parts of ‘both hemispheres, and abound in the West Indies. There 
are seven genera and 260 species. Examples: *Vitis, *Cissus, *Ampelopsis. 
Of this limited order, North America possesses the three genera 
enumerated above, with nine species. Ampelopsis quinquefolia 1s a wel] 
known climbing shrub, called American ivy or Virginian creeper, which 
runs along fences and up trees, and is capable of adhering to the sides of 
houses and walls by expansions of the extremities of the tendrils. 
Owing to its rapid growth and intrinsic beauty, it is in much request as an 
ornamental plant. The leaves in autumn acquire the deepest crimson tint 
of any American species. It is perfectly innocuous, although looked on with 
suspicion on account of a general resemblance to the poison vine (Rhus 
radicans), from which it may always be readily distinguished by the leaflets 
occurring in groups of fives and not of threes as in the latter species. The 
178 
