XLVIIL— ANALYTICAL DRAWINGS OF 
CATKIN-BEARING TREES. 
(< Salicacece , Myricacece , Betulacece , and Fagacece.) 
T HE eight types here represented are now referred to four different Families and 
to three distinct Orders. These are the Order Salicales and Family Salicacece, 
the Order Juglandales represented by the Family Myricace<e, and the Order Fagales 
including the Families Betulacece and Fagacece. They seem, however, to be all 
related, as was suggested by their former classification into the one group Amentacece 
or Amentiferce , their flowers, inconspicuous individually but grouped into fairly 
conspicuous catkins, forming the obvious link between them. 
Nearly all of them are woody plants, though some are quite small, especially 
those members of the group that characterise Arctic and alpine situations. 
Flowering before their leaves unfold and producing catkins which often sway in the 
spring breezes, the staminate ones discharging clouds of pollen and then falling, 
they are mostly obviously adapted to wind-pollination. At the same time, the 
branching of the catkin itself is by no means simple, and in a large proportion of 
these trees there is an adherent perianth and consequently an inferior ovary. 
These characters somewhat suggest degeneration from some higher type. The 
number of seeds matured is in this group commonly less than that of ovules 
originally present ; but this character seems distinctive rather of the tree form of 
perennial than of any particular ancestry or general degeneracy. On the other hand, 
the very general feature in the group known as chalazogamy, i.e. the entrance of the 
pollen-tube into the base of the ovule instead of the micropyle, does certainly 
suggest primitiveness. It might, however, be a reversion. Whatever be the origin 
of these Families, the general absence of a perianth, or its representation by a 
single whorl of minute leaves, serves to place them conveniently in the Sub-class 
Archichlamydece , just as formerly they were known as lncompletce , Achlamydece , and 
Mono chi amydece or Apetalce. 
The Salicales are stipulate and dioecious ; have no perianth ; and have two carpels 
united into a one-chambered ovary, forming a dehiscent capsule with many seeds. 
The Juglandales are exstipulate and have a drupaceous fruit with a single erect basal 
ovule. The Fagales have a perianth and are monoecious ; and have from two to six 
carpels with one or two ovules each ; but as a rule only one seed in the nut-like fruit. 
Of the two Families included in the last-mentioned Order, Betulacece has two 
carpels ; Fagacece , three or more. 
The first row of figures on our Plate are taken from the Goat Willow, Salix 
caprea Linne. Of these, the first is a single staminate flower enlarged, showing the 
entire hairy bract before it has turned colour at the tip, the two free stamens with 
their yellow anthers, and the nectary or honey-gland. The second is a female flower, 
