34 CLASS-BOOK OF BOTANY. 
(The leaves of a great number of plants close in the same manner at 
night—e.g., clovers, lupins, acacias, &c.) 
Fig. 37. Same, during 
sleep. 
Fig. 86. Leaf of Oxralis, 
during the day. a 
The fruit is a 5-celled capsule, the cells dehiscing along the back. 
Carefully observe the pendulous seeds. You will find that each one is 
covered with a fleshy-looking skin, and if you touch or scratch this with 
the point of a needle it will suddenly rupture and throw the seed out to 
a considerable distance. These plants are thus furnished with a most 
excellent means of seed-dispersion. On cutting the seeds longitudinally 
you will see that the embryo is not nearly so much developed as in 
Geranium, but is placed in the midst of fleshy albumen. 
(d.) 16 will be advisable, if possible, to carry the examination of this 
series further, and get flowers and fruit of single Balsams (Impatiens sp.). 
The flowers are very irregular, the posterior sepal being produced into a 
large spur, and the others usually much reduced in size. The petals are 
apparently 3 in number, 2 on each side being united together. The 
stamens have short flat coherent filaments, and lie close upon the ovary. 
The fruit is a 5-valved capsule. When nearly mature, take one of the 
capsules in your hand and gently press it, and you will observe the valves 
suddenly spring apart and coil up elastically. It is to this peculiarity 
that the generic name Jimpatiens is due. 
7. Turu (Coriaria ruscifolia). 
This plant—formerly most abundant throughout the 
colony, but now exterminated in many of the more highly- 
cultivated districts—is a straggling shrub with weak 4-angled 
branches. The opposite leaves appear as if distichous,* or 
two-ranked, in their arrangement: this is due to the partial 
twisting of the internodes, the arrangement being in reality 
decussate.| Careless observers are apt to look upon the 
whole branch as a compound leaf with pinnate leaflets, but the 
occurrence of axillary leaf-buds is sufficient to disprove this 
mistake. Note the venation of the leaves with their 3 ord 
strong ribs. The inconspicuous greenish flowers are produced 
in elongated pendulous racemes in the axils of the lower 
leaves on 1-year-old branches; each flower has 5 sepals. 
5 petals, 10 stamens (the inner 5 adnate to the petals), and 0 
or 10 carpels. (Sometimes the symmetry is tetramerous ol 
We See dis, twice ; stichos, a row. 
} Having the opposite pairs placed at right angles, so that the leaves 
stand in four ranks on the stem. 
