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DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



f I •[• Corolla regular; stamens 2, 4, 8, 16, or 5, 10. 

 THE HOLLY, JASMINE, AND EBONY ALLIANCE. 

 The Aderno-tree Family. 



(Myrsinace^.) 



Evergreen shrubs or small trees with alternate simple, 

 firm, smooth, entire, or spiny leaves, often with transparent 

 dots. Flowers in lateral spikes or loose umbels. Corolla 

 generally of a firm texture and dotted. Fruit a hard firm 

 berry. 



About 320 species are enumerated as belonging to this 

 family. They are widely distributed, abounding in the 

 Islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, extending to New 

 Zealand, and also found in Madeira and the Azores. None 

 are natives of Europe. They possess no special medicinal 

 qualities, but many are ornamental as hothouse and green- 

 house plants. 



Aderno tree [Ai'disia excelsa). A small sized hard-wooded 

 tree, native of Madeira. It forms a bushy head with shining 

 laurel-like leaves, but it is of slow growth, a plant at Kew, 

 fully seventy years of age, having attained the height of only 

 8 feet. In cultivation, A. ci^enata forms a small bush 2 to 3 

 feet high ; it has shining green leaves, and bears a profusion 

 of red coral-hke berries, which give it an ornamental appear- 

 ance in greenhouses. A. paniculata, A. solanacea, A. humilis, 

 and A. hymenandra are also ornamental species. 



Jacquinia armillaris, a native of the West Indies, and 

 J. aurantiaca of the Sandwich Islands, have been long known 

 in this country as pretty shrubs. In the West Indies the 

 first is called Bracelet-wood, its hard berries being used for 

 making bracelets. 



Theophrasta Jussicei. An erect single-stemmed shrub or 

 small tree, native of St. Domingo, having rigid spiny leaves 

 2 feet in length and about 2 inches broad, their edges being 

 prickly like Holly leaves. The flowers are bell-shaped, of 

 a brownish colour, and on first opening emit a peculiar 



