S96 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



and is taken to Mozambique as an article of commerce. It 

 is not known if this substance is obtained from the stem or 

 the kernel of the fruit, and some doubts are entertained as 

 to its really being the produce of a Comhretum, but judging 

 by the gluey substance obtained from the preceding species, 

 it seems not improbable that a kind of butter may be pro- 

 duced by an allied species. 



A small family, called Alangiacecs, comprises about 8 or 

 10 species ; small trees, natives chiefly of India ; several 

 species of Nyssa, called the Tupelo tree, being natives of 

 North America. They have all simple entire leaves, and 

 agree in some respects with Myrtle, Myrohalan, and other 

 allied families. They possess no special properties. 



* * Ovai'y superior. 

 f Stamens perigynmis. 



FIG-MARIGOLD AND HOUSE-LEEK ALLIANCE. 



The House-leek Family. 



(Crassulace.e.) 



Herbs, frutlets, or small shrubs, with succulent, fleshy stems 

 and leaves, which are alternate, oj^posite, distant or compact, 

 rosulate, entire, or divided. Flowers generally in umbel- 

 like cymes, one-sided spikes, or panicled racemes, yellow, 

 •white, red, or pink. Stamens 5, 10^ or more. Pistils 

 generally 5. Fruit consisting of several free follicles, or 

 united, forming a capsule. 



Nearly 500 species constitute this family, of which about 

 100 are found throughout Europe, on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean and in the Canary Islands ; about one-fourth 

 of the whole number in South Africa, and the remainder in 

 Northern Asia, Japan, and Mexico. They generally grow in 

 hot, dry, rocky places, their succulency preserving them 

 through the most prolonged drought. 



House-leek (^Sempervivum tectorum). A well-known do- 



