1 
146 
14 styles, 14 ovaries, and a calyx with 10 divisions in two rows, is described 
in the Revue EncyclopMique, (43. 762.); it exhibits a tendency, on the part of 
Pomeae, to assume the indefinite ovaries and double calyx of Rosaceae. I have 
seen a Prunus in a similar state. Amygdaleae are known by their superior 
sohtary ovary and drupaceous fruit, and by the presence of hydrocyanic acid, 
which, however, exists in Cotoneaster microphyUa, a plant of this sub-order. 
Geography. Found plentifully in Europe, Northern Asia, the mountains 
of India, and North America ; rare in Mexico, unknown in Africa, except on 
its northern shore, and in Madeira, and entirely absent from the southern hemis- 
phere ; a solitary species is found in the Sandwich Islands. 
Properties. The fruit as an article of food, and the flowers for their 
beauty, are the chief peculiarities of this order, which consists exclusively of 
trees and bushes, without any herbaceous plant. The Apple, the Pear, the 
Medlar, the Quince, the Service, the Rowan Tree or Mountain Ash, are all 
weU known, either for their beauty or their use. The wood of the Pear is 
almost as hard as Box, for which it is even substituted by wood engravers ; 
the timber of the Beam Tree (Pyrus Aria) is invaluable for axletrees. The 
bark of Photinia dubia is used in Nipal for dyeing scarlet. DC. Prodr. 238. 
Malic acid is contained, in considerable quantity, in apples ; it is also almost 
the sole acidifying principle of the berries of the Mountain Ash (Pyrus 
aucuparia). Turner, 634. 
Crataegus, L. 
Raphiolepis, Lindl. 
Chamaemeles, Lindl. 
Photinia, Lindl. 
Eriobotrj'a, Lindl. 
GENERA. 
Cotoneaster, Medic. 
Amelanchier, Med. 
Mespilus, L. 
Mespilophora, Neck. 
Osteomeles, Lindl. 
Pyrus, L. 
S or bus, L. 
Aronia, Pers. 
Cydonia, Tourn. 
Chcenomeles, Lindl. 
Sub-Order. AMYGDALEAE. The Almond Tribe. 
AMYGDALEiE, Juss. Gcu. 340. a % of Rosaceae (1789). — Drupace^, DC. FI. Franpaise, 
4. 479. (1805) ; Prodr. 2. 529. (1825) a § o/ Rosaceae; Lindl. Synops. 89. (1829) 
a ^ of Rosaceae. 
Essential Character. — Calyx 5-toothed, deciduous, lined with a disk ; the fifth 
lobe next the axis. Petals 5, perigynous. Stamens 20, or thereabouts, arising from the 
throat of the calyx, in aestivation curved inwards ; anthers innate, 2-celled, bursting longi- 
tudinally. Ovary superior, solitary, simple, 1-celled; ovules 2, suspended; terminal, 
with a furrow on one side, terminating in a reniform stigma. Fruit a drupe, with the puta- 
men sometimes separating spontaneously from the sarcocarp. Seeds mostly solitary, sus- 
pended, in consequence of the cohesion of a funiculus umbilicalis, arising from the base or 
the cavity of the ovap^, with its side. Embryo straight, with the radicle pointing to the 
hilum ; cotyledons thick ; albumen none. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, usually 
glandular towards the base ; stipules simple, mostly glandular. Flowers white or pink. 
Hydrocyanic acid present in the leaves and kernel. 
Affinities. Distinguished from Rosaceae and Pomeae by their fruit being 
a drupe, their bark yielding gum, and by the presence of hydrocyanic acid ; 
from Leguminosae by the latter character, and also by their regular petals and 
stamens, and especially by the odd segment of the 5-lobed calyx of that order 
being inferior, not superior; from Chrysobalanaceae, by their hydrocyanic 
acid, terminal styles, and regular petals and stamens. I have seen a monstrous 
Plum with an indefinite number of ovaries arising irregularly from the tube of 
the calyx, and therefore exhibiting a tendency, on the part of this sub-order, 
to assume one of the distinguishing characters of Rosacese. It is not a little 
