194 
POPULAR FLORA. 
ers scattered in a long and naked slender spike ; calyx greenish, 4-parted ; stamens 5 ; styles 2, 
bent down in fruit. Thickets. P. Virginianum. 
Somewhat climbing, or supported by recurved sharp prickly bristles on the strong angles of the 
stems, &c.; flowers white or flesh-color in small racemes or heads; root annual. The prickly 
angles cut like a saw, whence the plants are called Tear- Thumb. 
11. Arrow-leaved K. Leaves arrow-shaped (Fig. 100), short-stalked; akene 3-angled. P. sagittatum. 
12. Halberd-leaved K. Leaves halberd-shaped (Fig. 102), long-stalked ; akene flattish. Low 
grounds. P. arifolium. 
-t- *h— Twining annuals, with smooth stems and greenish or whitish flowers in panicled racemes; 
leaves heart-shaped and partly halberd-shaped. 
13. Climbing K. Smooth, climbing high over shrubs, &c. ; racemes leafy; 3 of the calyx-lobes more 
or less winged in fruit. Thickets in low ground. P. dumeibvum. 
14. Bindweed K. Low, stems roughish ; racemes corymbed; three of the calyx-lobes ridged in the 
middle. Cult, and waste grounds. P. Convolvulus. 
80. LAUHEL FAMILY. Order LAURA CEiE. • 
Trees or shrubs, with spicy bark and leaves ; the latter marked with transparent dots 
under a magnifying-glass, alternate and simple ; the calyx of 6 petal-like sepals. Stamens 
9 or 12 on the very bot- 
anthers opening by up- 
lifted valves. Pistil sim- 
ple, with a one-celled 
ovary, in fruit forming 
a berry or drupe, one- 
seeded. Flowers gener- 
ally polygamous or dioe- 
cious in spring. — Avery 
well-marked family, most- 
ly in hot countries, but 
we possess two or three 
representatives. 
Flowers perfect : stamens 9, with good anthers, and 3 sterile ones. Tree, with entire 
oblong leaves; common South, ( Persea ) Red-Bay. 
Flowers dioecious or nearly so, greenish-yellow: stamens 9, about 3 of them with yel- 
low glands at the base of the filaments (Fig. 486). 
Anthers 4-celled and 4-valved. Tree: flowers in stalked corymbs, appearing with 
the leaves ; some of the latter 3-lobed, ( Sassafras ) Sassafras. 
Anthers 2-celled and opening by a single valve to each cell. Shrub : flowers in ses- 
sile clusters, appearing earlier than the entire leaves a ( Benzoin ) Spiceb'Ush. 
tom of the calyx ; the 
484. Sterile flower of Sassafras.* 485. Fertile flower of the same. 485. Magnified stamen, 
with two glands at the base , the anther openingbv two large and two small valves. 487. Pistil, 
with the ovary divided to show the ovule hanging from the top. 488. Leaf and cluster of fruit. 
489. Lower half of fruit, cut across*. 
