BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
227 
plant which deserves notice. The base of the involucre ends in a kind of sheath which is at first attached to the 
roof, but as the flower-stalk becomes elongated, this sheath is tom off, and carried up with the flowers, so that 
it hangs half-way down the stalk, with its lower end loose and lacerated. 
THE SEA LAVENDER. (Statice Limonium, Lin.) 
This is a very curious plant, the flower-stalks being so covered with bracts as to look almost like flowers, and 
the flowers themselves being only on one side of each stalk so that they look like plumes or tufts. There are 
two other kinds of Sea Lavender, but they are less ornamental than the common kind and less abundant. All 
the species only grow on the sea-shore, and they are generally found in salt marshes. They are all perennials, 
and flower in July and August. 
CHAPTER LY. 
THE OLIVE FAMILY. 
Character of the Order. —Flowers hermaphrodite, sometimes 
dicecious. Calyx monophyllous, divided, persistent, inferior. Corolla 
hypogynous, monopetalous, four-cleft, occasionally of four petals, con¬ 
nected in pairs by the intervention of the filaments, sometimes without 
petals; aestivation somewhat valvate. Stamens two, alternate with 
the segments of the corolla or the petals ; anthers two-celled, opening 
longitudinally. Ovarium simple, without any hypogynous disk, two- 
celled ; the cells two-seeded ; the ovules pendulous aud collateral. 
(Oleace.®, Hoff, et Link.) 
Style one or none. Stigma bifid or undivided. Fruit drupaceous, 
berried, or capsular; often by abortion one-seeded. Seeds with dense, 
fleshy, abundant albumen ; embryo straight; cotyledons foliaceous, 
partly asunder; radicle superior ; plumula inconspicuous. Trees or 
shrubs. Leaves opposite, simple, seldom pinnated. Flowers in terminal 
or axillary racemes or panicles; the pedicels opposite, with single 
bractea:. (/?. Br.) 
Description, &c.— The only two British plants belonging to this order are the Common Privet (Ligustrum 
vulgare , Lin.), and the ash (Fraxinus excelsior, Lin.). There is another species of ash (F. heterophylla , Vahh), 
but it is rare. 
CHAPTER LYI. 
THE HEATH FAMILY. (Erice m,Juss.) 
Character of the Order. —Calyx monophyllous, four or five- 
cleft, nearly equal, inferior, persistent. Corolla hypogynous, mono¬ 
petalous, four or five-cleft, occasionally separable into four or five petals, 
regular,often withering, with an imbricated aestivation. Stamens definite, 
equal in number to the segments of the corolla, or twice as many, 
hypogynous, or inserted into the base of the corolla; anthers two- 
celled ; the cells hard and dry, separate either at the apex or the base, 
where they are furnished with some kind of appendage, and dehiscing 
by a pore or a cleft. Ovarium surrounded at the base by a disk or 
secreting scales, many-celled, many-seeded. Style one, straight. 
Stigma one, undivided, or toothed. Fruit capsular, many-celled, with 
central placentas; dehiscence various. Seeds indefinite, minute ; testa 
firmly adhering to the nucleus ; embryo cylindrical, in the axis of 
fleshy albumen ; radicle opposite the hilum. Shrubs or under shrubs. 
Leaves evergreen, rigid, entire, whorled, or opposite, without stipulee. 
Inflorescence variable ; the pedicels generally bracteate. ( Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —All the British species belonging to the Heath family have hair-like roots, showy 
flowers, with anthers of peculiar construction, and evergreen leaves ; and most of them are found abundantly 
both in Great Britain and Ireland. 
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