194 BOTANY. 
single; stigma simple. Fruit capsular, three-, five-, to ten-valved, either 
one-celled or imperfectly five- to ten-celled, with loculicidal dehiscence. 
Seeds usually indefinite ; embryo inverted, either spiral or curved, in the 
midst of mealy albumen; radicle remote from the hilum. Shrubs or 
herbaceous plants with entire, opposite or alternate, stipulate or exstipulate 
leaves. They inhabit chiefly the southern regions of Europe, and the 
north of Africa. Some of the species are remarkable for the irritability 
of their stamens. Many of them yield a resinous balsamic juice, which 
imparts viscidity to the branches. The resinous matter called ladanum or 
labdanum, is yielded by Cistus creticus. Of the seven genera and 185 
species which are assigned to Cistaceee, North America has twelve species, 
and three genera. 
Helianthemum vulgare (Europe) (pl. 68, jig. 8); 0, the red fliwecame 
variety. 
Orver 206. FLacourtiaces, the ‘Arnotto Family. Sepals four to seven, 
slightly cohering. Petals equal to and alternating with the sepals, or 
wanting. Stamens hypogynous, equal in number to the petals, or some 
multiple of them. Ovary roundish, sessile, or slightly stalked ; style either 
none or filiform ; stigmas several, more or less distinct; ovules attached to 
parietal placentas, which sometimes branch all over the inner surface of the 
valves. Fruit one-celled, containing a thin pulp, either fleshy and inde- 
hiscent, or capsular with four or five valves. Seeds numerous, enveloped 
in a covering formed by the withered pulp ; albumen fleshy, somewhat oily ; 
embryo axile, straight ; radicle turned towards the hilum; cotyledons flat, 
toliaceous. Shrubs or small trees, with alternate, simple, usually exstipulate 
leaves, which are often dotted. The plants are chiefly natives of the 
warmest parts of the East and West Indies, and of Africa. 
Sub-order 1. Flacourtianee. Placentas ramifying over the inner surface 
of the fruit. 7ribe 1. Flacourtiew. Fruit dehiscent. Example: Flacourtia. 
Tribe 2. Erythrospermee. Fruit indehiscent. Example: Erythrospermum. 
Sub-order 2. Bixacee. Placentas narrow and running in lines along the 
parietes. Tribe 3. Bixiew. Fruit dehiscent. Flowers hermaphrodite. 
Example: Bixa. Tribe 4. Carpotrochee. Fruit indehiscent. Flowers 
often unisexual. Example: Carpotroche. 
The entire order embraces thirty-one genera and eighty-five species, none 
of them North American. The most important is Bixa orellana, the plant 
yielding arnotto. This is the reddish pulp surrounding the seeds, and is 
used to color cheese, and for various red dyes. 
Bixa orellana, Arnotto tree (South America) (pl. 68, jig. 7); @, @ 
flowering branch; 6, anther; c, pistil; d, e, capsule in verticle and cross- 
section ; f, burst capsule. 
Orver 207. Resepacem, the Mignonette Family. Calyx many-parted. 
Petals four to six, unequal, entire, or lacerated, in the latter case consisting 
of a broad scale-like claw, with a much-divided limb. Stamens ten to 
twenty-four, hypogynous, attached to a glandular torus; filaments variously 
united; anthers bilocular, innate, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 
sessile, ‘threelobed, one-celled, multiovular, with three to six parietal 
194 
