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DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



The Garlic Shrub Family. 



(Petiveriace^.) 



Small upright-branched shrubs, with simple, alternate, 

 entire leaves, sometimes dotted, and furnished with stipules. 

 Flowers small, in spikes, racemes, or panicles. Fruit small, 

 1 -celled, dry, wedge-shaped with a spiny apex, or a narrow- 

 winged samara. 



By some botanists, this small family, consisting of about 

 10 species, is considered to form a section of PhytoJaccacece, but 

 on account of having a dry samar-like fruit, others separate 

 them — the typical species, Petiveria alliacecBy is a small shrub, 

 very common throughout the West Indies and tropical 

 America. It is well known as the Garlic shrub, the whole 

 of the plant having a strong odour of garhc, which is im- 

 parted to beef when the plant has been eaten by cattle. In 

 Jamaica it is called Guinea Hen Weed, guinea fowls being 

 fond of it. 



The Buck-wheat Family. 



(POLYGONACE^.) 



Small trees, shrubs, or herbs, perennial or annual, some 

 twining, generally with knotted stems. " Leaves alternate, 

 simple, sheathing round the stem, sometimes with a large 

 membrane. Flowers in spiked racemes, axillary or terminal, 

 bisexual or unisexual. Bracts and calyx sometimes large 

 and coloured. Fruit a small, generally triangular, nut. 



This family consists of about 500 species, which, with the 

 exception of the tropical genus Coccoloba and Triplaris, are 

 weedy plants, represented in this country by Dock, Buck- 

 wheat, &c. They are Avidely dispersed over the earth, even 

 extending to high northern latitudes, but rare in the Southern 

 Hemisphere. 



Oxyria reniformis, a small perennial plant mth kidney- 

 shaped leaves, is a native of the Arctic regions. It is re- 

 markable for being found on Moimt Lebanon, and is supposed 



