RUTACEAE 
55 1 
British, of which several, known as docks and sorrels, are among our 
commonest plants). Firs, of the type usual in the order, wind-fertilised, 
with large stigmas (see order for diagram, and cf. Rheum). R. Hydro - 
lapathuvi Huds. is said to produce aerating roots like a mangrove 
(p. 161). The roots of R. hymenosepalus Torr. (N.W. Am.), the 
Canaigre, are used for tanning. 
Ruppia Linn. Potamogetonaceae. i sp., R. maritima L., in salt or 
brackish water, temp, and subtrop. A slender swimming plant, with 
the habit of a small-leafed Potamogeton. The firs, are borne just 
at the surface of the water, where fertilisation occurs by pollen 
floating upon the surface. Each spike consists of 2 firs, not enclosed 
in the spathe at the flowering time. The flr. has 2 sta. with small 
outgrowths from the connectives, and four cpls. 
Ruprechtia C. A. Mey. Polygonaceae (111. 6). 20 sp. S. Am. 
Ruscus (Tourn.) Linn. Liliaceae (vii). 3 sp. Medit., Eur. R. acu- 
leatus L., butcher’s broom, in Brit., a small shrub. In the axils of 
scaly leaves stand leaf-like phylloclades ; halfway up each is another 
scaly leaf, in whose axil stands the flr. Fruit a berry. 
Russelia Jacq. Scrophulariaceae (il. 6). 6sp. Mexico, Chili. R.jimcea 
Zucc. is often cultivated in greenhouses. It is a xerophyte with 
much reduced leaves and pendulous green stems. Shoots sometimes 
appear under cultivation with broad leaves (reversion to ancestral type). 
Ruta (Tourn.) Linn. Rutaceae (11). 50 sp. Medit., As. R. graveolens 
L., the rue, is commonly cultivated in Brit. It is a strongly smelling 
shrub owing to the presence in the leaves &c. of an ethereal oil. 
The terminal flr. of the infl. is 5-merous, the lateral flrs. 4-merous. The 
sta. lie in pairs in the boat-like petals ; one by one they bend up- 
wards over the stigma, dehisce and fall back ; when all have done 
this, the stigma ripens, and finally the sta. again move up and effect 
self-fertilisation. The dirty-yellow strongly-scented flrs. are chiefly 
visited by small flies. Rue is employed in medicine as a narcotic and 
stimulant. 
Rutaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Geraniales). 100 gen. with 800 sp. 
trop. and temp., esp. S. Afr. and Austr. Most are shrubs and trees, 
often xerophytic and frequently of heath-like habit (e.g. Diosma). 
Leaves alt. or opp., exstip., usually compound, with glandular dots, 
often aromatic. In many Aurantieae there are short shoots whose 
leaves are reduced to thorns (cf. Cactaceae). Infl. of various forms, 
usually cymose. Flr. g , rarely unisexual, regular or zygomorphic, 
5 — 4-merous (see Ruta), with a large disc below the gynoeceum. 
K 5 or 4, the odd sepal posterior; C 5 or 4, imbricate; A 10 or 8, 
obdiplostemonous, or 5, 3, 2, or 00, with introrse anthers; G (5 or 4), 
rarely (3 — 1) or (00), often free at base and united above by the style 
(cf. Apocynaceae), multiloc.; ovules 2 — 00 in each loc., anatropous 
with ventral raphe and micropyle facing upwards. Fruit various; 
schizocarps, drupes, berries, &c. Seeds with or without endosperm. 
