THE MOCK ORANGE FAMILY. 



S77 



remarkable for its fruit, resembling a ball 6 or 8 inches in 

 diameter, circumscribed by a mark ; the seeds are embedded 

 in pulp, which, when fresh, is of an agreeable flavour, but 

 when dried or exposed to the air, has a most abominable 

 odour, which it retains for years. 



The Mangrove Family. 



(Ehizophorace^.) 



Trees or shrubs, growing on muddy sea-shores, having op- 

 posite simple leaves, sometimes with convolute stipules. 

 Flowers solitary, on axillary or terminal footstalks. Petals 

 and stamens rising from the calyx, the parts varying in 

 number. Pistilum 1 short. Fruit woody, indehiscent, 1- 

 seeded, crowned by the permanent calyx. 



About 20 species constitute this family, all being natives 

 within or near the tropics, where they form impenetrable 

 barriers for hundreds of miles along the mud shores of low 

 coasts, rising to the height of 15 feet or more, rooting from 

 the branches like the Banyan Tree of India. They are also 

 remarkable in their fruit germinating while hanging from 

 the branch, and producing a root ultimately falling into the 

 mud and forming a new centre. By these means they ex- 

 tend their domain seawards, their roots and branches inter- 

 lacing in every direction. The exhalations from Mangrove 

 swamps are of a most unhealthy nature, causing malaria and 

 fever. Oysters and other shellfish attach themselves to 

 these plants, thus verifying the once-doubted assertion that 

 oysters grew on trees. They have no special virtues, except 

 that in some parts the bark is used for tanning and dyeing. 

 The typical species of the family is Rhizophora Mangle. 



The Mock Orange Family. 



(Philadelphace^. ) 



Deciduous shrubs, with simple opposite leaves. Flowers 

 axillary or in terminal racemes or cymes. Calyx adherent, 



