144 
rarely erect ; styles lateral ; stigmas usually simple, and emarginate on one side. Fruit 
either 1 -seeded nuts, or acini, or follicles containing several seeds. Seeds suspended, 
rarely ascending. Embryo straight, with a taper short radicle pointing to the hilum, and 
flat cotyledons. usually almost obliterated when the seeds are ripe ; if present, 
fleshy. — Herbaceous or shrubs. simple or compound, alternate, usually with 
2 stipules at their base. 
Anomalies. Stipules absent in Lowea. Albumen present in Neillia, according to 
Don. 
Affinities. The genera of this order naturally divide into four principal 
groups, distinguished from each other by their structure, and in some measure 
by their sensible properties. Rosacese proper have distinct carpels, which do 
not adhere to the calyx, and are simply astringents ; Pomeae differ in having 
the carpels adherent to a succulent calyx : they are astringents and tonics ; 
Amygdaleae have solitary carpels becoming drupes, gum in their bark, and 
hydrocyanic acid in their leaves ; Sanguisorbeae are apetalous, with a much 
reduced calyx, whose tube is hardened. Neuradeae are undoubtedly plants im- 
properly referred here. 
Rosaceae proper are distinguished from Pomeae by their superior fruit and 
usually suspended seeds ; from Leguminosae by their regular petals and 
stamens, and especially by the odd segment of the 5-lobed c^yx of that order 
being anterior, not posterior ; from Chrysobalanaceae by their styles proceed- 
ing from the side of the ovary near the apex, and not from the base, by their 
regular petals and stamens, and by their fruit not being a drupe. Related in 
many points to Saxifragaceae, which have albumen and two diverging carpels. 
Geography. Natives chiefly of the temperate or cold chmates of the 
northern hemisphere ; a very few are found on high land within the tropics, 
and an inconsiderable number in the southern hemisphere. Only one species 
is found in the West Indies, viz. Rubus jamaicensis ; thirteen are natives of 
high land in the East Indies, within the tropics, viz. PotentiUa Leschenaultiana, 
and twelve species of Rubus ; the South American species chiefly consist of a 
few kinds of Rubus ; at the Cape of Good Hope the order is unknoAvn. 
Properties. No Rosaceous plants are unwholesome ; they are chiefly 
remarkable for the presence of an astringent principle, which has caused some 
of them to be reckoned febrifuges, llie root of TormentiUa is used for 
tanning in the Feroe Isles. DC. PotentiUa anserina has been used by 
tanners ; P. reptans as a febrifuge. Ibid. Geum urbanum and rivale have 
been compared, for efficacy, to Cinchona. Ibid. The fruits of many species 
of Fragaria (Strawberry) and Rubus (Raspberry and Blackberry) are valuable 
articles of the dessert. The leaves of Rubus arcticus and Rosa rubiginosa 
have been employed as substitutes for Tea. Ibid. The roots of GiUenia 
trifoliata and stipiilacea are emetic, and perhaps tonic. Barton, 1. 69. They 
are used in the United States as Ipecacuanha. DC. The root of Spiraea 
ulmaria has been used as a tonic. A. R. Agrimonia eupatoria yields a decoc- 
tion useful as a gargle. Ibid. The root of Rubus viUosus is a popular 
astringent medicine in North America. Two or three tea-spoonsful of the 
decoction, administered three or four times a- day, has been found useful in 
cholera infantum. Barton, 2. 157. One of the most powerful anthelmintics 
in the world belongs to this family. It is an Abyssinian plant, known to 
botanists by the name of Brayera anthelmintica. Upon the authority of 
Brayer, after whom it is named, two or three doses of the infusion are sufficient 
to cure the most obstinate case of tsenia. See Brayer s Notice upon the subject. 
The various species of Rosa form some of the greatest beauties of the garden. 
The fruit of R. canina and other allied species is astringent, and employed in 
medicine against chronic diarrhoea and other maladies. The petals of R. 
damascena yield a higlily fragrant essential oil, called Attar of Roses ; those of 
