Part 58

Nuphar has 5 sepals, and an hypogynous flower. ~The petals, which are small, have a nectary on the back; the coloured inner side of the sepals functions as petals; the ovate gynœceum is quite free.--N. luteum is a native plant (Yellow Water-Lily), with, most frequently, 13 petals and 10–16 loculi in the ovary. The rhizome is horizontal, as much as 5–6 cm. in thickness, and bears on its under surface a number of roots, which on dying-off leave deep scars; the leaves are borne in spiral lines, and the flowers are solitary in certain leaf-axils. The construction of the rhizome is very peculiar; the vascular bundles are scattered and closed as in a monocotyledonous stem.~

Nymphæa has 4 sepals, and the flower is more or less epigynous. Petals and stamens are inserted at different heights on the ovary to just beneath the stigma (Fig. 383). Nymphæa alba (White Water-Lily). Victoria regia from the Amazon, and Euryale ferox from Asia, have entirely epigynous flowers. ~The shield-like leaves of Victoria are as much as 2 metres in diameter, and the edge is bent up to a height of 5–14 cm.; the flowers are 20–40 cm. in diameter, and change in twenty-four hours from white to rose-red. A development of heat, as much as 14°C. above the temperature of the air, together with a strong formation of carbonic acid, has been observed during flowering.~

POLLINATION. Nymphæa alba and other species of the sub-genus Symphytopleura are self-pollinated; the sub-genus Leptopleura is insect-pollinated. Nuphar and Victoria can effect self-fertilisation; Euryale is self-fertilised, often in entirely closed and submerged flowers.--The dissemination of the seeds in Nuphar luteum is effected by the fruit, which rests on the water, becoming detached from its stalk, and dehiscing from the base upwards so that the seeds are set free; while in Nymphæa alba the spirally-twisted stalk draws the fruit under water, and it dehisces by its upper part being thrown off as a hood, and the seeds which are enclosed in air-tight sacs rise to the surface of the water. In this condition they are able to float and can only sink to the bottom when the air has disappeared.

53 species; in fresh water in all parts of the world, but especially in the Tropics.--The rhizomes and seeds of some may be used as food; Euryale ferox is even cultivated. Nymphæa cœrulea and Lotus were sacred among the Egyptians.

Order 3. =Ceratophyllaceæ.= About 3 species. Aquatic plants, submerged, rootless; leaves cartilaginous, verticillate, dissected into repeatedly dichotomous branches which are finely toothed; only one of the leaves in a whorl supports a vegetative branch. The flowers are monœcious, axillary. Inside the 6–12 perianth-leaves are situated in the ♂-flower 10–20 stamens with thick connective, and in the ♀-flower a gynœceum formed by one carpel, with one orthotropous and pendulous ovule, which has only one integument. Fruit a nut, which, in some species, bears on each side a pointed horn, and at the apex a similar one, formed by the persistent style.--The embryo has an unusually well developed plumule with several whorls of leaves. The plant is rootless throughout its whole life.--Ceratophyllum (Horn-wort).

Order 4. =Annonaceæ.= Sepals 3; petals 3+3 (most frequently valvate); succeeding these (as in the Ranunculaceæ) are numerous acyclic stamens and an apocarpous gynœceum; the flowers are hypogynous, regular and ☿, generally very large (2–3 cm. in diameter), and the leaves of the perianth are more or less fleshy or leathery. The majority have syncarps with berry-like fruitlets, but in Annona and some others the carpels fuse together into a large, head-like fruit--a kind of composite berry. The seeds have ruminate endosperm as in Myristica.--Trees or shrubs with alternate, simple, entire, penninerved leaves without stipules. 450 (700?) species; especially tropical. The best known are Anona cherimolia, squamosa and reticulata (all from America) cultivated on account of their large, delicious fruits. Some have acrid and aromatic properties (Xylopia, Cananga--the flowers of the latter yield Ylang-ylang); Artabotrys odoratissimus; Asimina (N. Am.).

Order 5. =Magnoliaceæ.= Trees or shrubs with scattered, often leathery, entire leaves, generally with stipules, which (as in Ficus) are rolled together and form a hood round the younger internodes above them, and are cast off by the unfolding of the next leaf, leaving a ring-like scar. The endosperm is not ruminate. Corolla imbricate. Fruit a syncarp.

=A.= MAGNOLIEÆ. The flowers are borne singly, and before opening are enveloped in an ochrea-like spathe which corresponds to the stipules of the foliage-leaves. The perianth generally consists of 3 trimerous whorls, the external one of which is sometimes sepaloid (Liriodendron, and the majority of Magnoliaspecies), sometimes coloured like the others; the perianth is sometimes many-seriate. Numerous spirally-placed stamens and carpels. The latter are situated on the elongated, cylindrical receptacle, and are individually more or less united, except in Liriodendron, where they are free. This last genus has winged achenes; the fruitlets in Magnolia open along the dorsal and ventral sutures, and the seeds then hang out, suspended by elastic threads formed from the vascular bundles of the funicle and raphe; they are red and drupaceous, the external layer of the shell being fleshy--a very rare occurrence.

=B.= ILLICIEÆ has no stipules. The carpels are situated in a whorl on a short receptacle. Follicles, one-seeded. The leaves are dotted by glands containing essential oil. Illicium; Drimys.

70 species; in tropical or temperate climates; none in Europe or Africa. They are chiefly used as ornamental plants, e.g. the Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera, N. Am.), Magnolia grandiflora (N. Am.), M. yulan and fuscata (China), and others. The remains of Liriodendron occur as fossils in the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.--The fruits of Illicium anisatum (Star-aniseed from Eastern Asia) are OFFICINAL. The bark of Drimys winteri (S. Am.) is also strongly aromatic.

Order 6. =Calycanthaceæ.= These are very closely related to the Magnoliaceæ, but differ in having perigynous flowers with many perianth-leaves, stamens and (about 20) carpels in a continuous spiral, seeds almost devoid of endosperm with rolled up, leaf-like cotyledons, and leaves opposite on a square stem.--There are some species in N. America (Calycanthus florida, occidentalis, etc.) and 1 in Japan (Chimonanthus præcox), all strongly aromatic.

Order 7. =Monimiaceæ.= Aromatic shrubs with opposite leaves. Perigynous flowers. The anthers dehisce by valves like those of the Lauraceæ, and the Monimiaceæ may thus be considered as an apocarpous form of this order. They are also closely related to Calycanthaceæ. 150 species, tropical.--Hedycarya, Mollinedia, Monimia.

Order 8. =Berberidaceæ (Barberries).=--The regular, ☿, hypogynous flowers are dimerous or trimerous and have regularly alternating whorls of free sepals, petals, and stamens and 1 unilocular carpel; the corolla and stamens have each 2 whorls, the calyx at least 2. The anthers open, as in Lauraceæ, by (2) valves, but are always introrse (Fig. 384). The pistil has a large, disc-like, almost sessile stigma (Fig. 385), and in the ovary several erect ovules are placed close to the base of the ventral suture. The fruit is most frequently a berry. Seeds endospermous.--Shrubs or herbs with scattered, most frequently compound leaves (without stipules), and racemose inflorescences.--~They show a relationship to the Lauraceæ in the number of the parts of the flower and the dehiscence of the anthers.~

Berberis is a shrub; it has sepals 3 + 3, petals 3 + 3, stamens 3 + 3 (Fig. 384). The petals (honey-leaves) bear internally at the base 2 darkish-yellow nectaries. The filaments are sensitive at the base, and suddenly bend inwards if touched at that spot (Fig. 385). ~The racemes often have a terminal, 5-merous flower; they are borne on dwarf-branches. The leaves on the long-branches develope into thorns, but the buds in their axils, in the same year as themselves, develope as the short-branches with simple foliage-leaves, articulated at the base, from which fact some authorities have considered that the leaf is compound with a single, terminal leaflet.~--Mahonia has imparipinnate leaves. The flower has 3 whorls of sepals. Otherwise as in Berberis.--~Epimedium; herbs with spurred petals; the flowers dimerous; 4–5 whorls of sepals, 2 of petals and stamens. Fruit a capsule. Leontice, fruit dry. The anthers of Podophyllum dehisce longitudinally.--Nandina. Aceranthus.~

100 species; North temp., especially Asia: fossils in Tertiary. Berberis vulgaris is a native of Europe. This and other species, together with Mahonia aquifolium (N. Am.), Epimedium alpinum, etc., are cultivated as ornamental plants. Several have a yellow colouring matter in the root and stem. OFFICINAL: the rhizome of Podophyllum peltatum (from N. Am.) yields podophyllin.

Order 9. =Menispermaceæ.= This order has derived its name from the more or less crescent-like fruits and seeds. Diœcious. The flowers are 2–3-merous, most frequently as in Berberis (S3 + 3, P3 + 3, A3 + 3), with the difference that there are 3 free carpels, each with 1 ovule; in some genera, however, the number is different. Stamens often united into a bundle (as in Myristica); anthers dehiscing longitudinally; fruit a drupe.--The plants (with herbaceous or woody stems) belonging to this order are nearly all twining or climbing plants, and have scattered, palmate or peltate, sometimes lobed leaves without stipules. Structure of stem anomalous. Cocculus, Menispermum, Cissampelos, Anamirta.

150 species; Tropical; very rich in bitter and poisonous properties. OFFICINAL: Calumba-root from Jateorhiza columba (E. Africa). The following are cultivated as ornamental plants:--Menispermum canadense (N. Am.) and M. dahuricum (Asia). The fruits of Anamirta cocculus (E. Ind.) are very poisonous (“Grains-of-Paradise”; the poisonous matter is picrotoxine).

Order 10. =Lardizabalaceæ.= This order, by the free, apocarpous carpels, belongs to a more primitive type, and by the united stamens to a more developed one. Akebia; Holbœllia; principally climbing or twining shrubs. About 7 species in S.E. Asia and S. Am.

Order 11. =Lauraceæ= (=True Laurels=). Trees or shrubs; the leaves, always without stipules, are simple, most frequently scattered, lanceolate or elliptical, entire, penninerved, finely reticulate (except Cinnamomum with 3–5-veined leaf), leathery and evergreen (except, e.g. Cinnamomum); they are frequently studded with clear glands containing volatile oil. The flowers are borne in panicles and are small and of a greenish or whitish colour. They are regular, perigynous, with most frequently a bowl or cup-shaped receptacle (Fig. 386), usually ☿, and trimerous (rarely dimerous) through all (most frequently 6–7) whorls; viz. most frequently, perianth 2 whorls, stamens 3–4 and carpels 1 (P3 + 3, A3 + 3 + 3 + 3, G3) in regular alternation (Fig. 387). Each of the 2 or 4 loculi of the anthers open by an upwardly directed valve (Fig. 386); of the stamens, the 2 outermost whorls are generally introrse, the others extrorse, or 1–3 whorls are developed as staminodes (Fig. 387 g). The gynœceum has 1 loculus with 1 style and 1 pendulous ovule (Fig. 386), and may be considered as formed of 3 carpels. The fruit is a berry (Fig. 388) or drupe, which often is surrounded at its base by the persistent receptacle (as an acorn by its cupule), which becomes fleshy and sometimes coloured during the ripening of the fruit. The embryo has 2 thick cotyledons, but no endosperm (Fig. 388).

The Lauraceæ present affinities with the Polygonaceæ, in which there is found perigyny, as well as a similar number of parts in the flower and a similar gynœceum, but with erect and orthotropous ovule. From their general characters they should be classed among the Polycarpicæ, but stand, however, isolated by the syncarpous gynœceum, if it is in reality formed by 3 carpels and not by 1 only. Hernandia, which has epigynous monœcious flowers, deviates most.--Cassytha is a Cuscuta-like, herbaceous, slightly green parasite with twining, almost leafless stems. The flower however agrees with the diagram in Fig. 387. Some Lauraceæ have curved veins or palminerved and lobed leaves (often together with entire ones) e.g. Sassafras.

There are 1000 species; especially in the forests of tropical S. America and Asia, of which they form the principal part. Only Laurus nobilis is found in Europe, and there is little doubt that its proper home is in Western Asia. They are rare in Africa.--On account of the volatile oil found in all parts of the plant, they are used as spices, e.g. the false Cinnamon-tree (Dicypellium caryophyllatum, in the Brazils). The OFFICINAL ones are--the Cinnamon-tree (Cinnamomum zeylanicum from Ceylon, E. India, Eastern Asia), which is also cultivated; the Camphor-tree (Cinnamomum camphora, Eastern Asia). The Laurel-tree (Laurus nobilis, Mediterranean), the berries and leaves of which give laurel oil, is medicinal.--Scented wood for furniture, etc., is obtained from Sassafras officinalis (from N. Am.). The wood from its roots is officinal. Pichurim “beans” are the large cotyledons of Nectandra pichury, whilst the famous “Greenheart” wood of Demarara is the wood of Nectandra rodiæi. The pulp and seeds contain a fatty oil. The pear-like fruit of Persea gratissima (Mexico, also cultivated) is very delicious. Lindera benzoin is a garden shrub; Laurus nobilis likewise.

Order 12. =Myristicaceæ= (=Nutmegs=). In this order there is only 1 genus, Myristica. Trees or shrubs. The leaves agree closely with those of the Lauraceæ, with which this order has many points in common. The majority of the species are aromatic, having in their vegetative parts pellucid glands with volatile oils. The flowers are regular, diœcious, trimerous, and have a single gamophyllous (cupular or campanulate) 3-toothed, fleshy perianth. In the ♂-flowers the anthers vary in number (3–15), and they are extrorse and borne on a centrally-placed column; in the ♀-flower the gynœceum is unilocular, unicarpellary, with 1 ovule. The FRUIT (Fig. 389) has the form of a pear; it is a fleshy, yellow capsule, which opens along the ventral and dorsal sutures, exposing the large seed. This seed has a large, red, irregularly branched aril--the so-called “mace”; the “nutmeg,” on the other hand, is the seed itself with the inner thin portion of the testa, which has pushed its way irregularly into the endosperm, and causes the marbled appearance of the cut seed (Fig. 390); the external, dark brown, hard, and brittle part of the seed-shell is however removed. Mace and nutmeg contain volatile and fatty oils in abundance.--80 species. Tropical. The majority are used on account of their aromatic seeds and aril, the most important being M. fragrans (moschata), from the Moluccas. This is cultivated in special plantations, not only in its native home, but in other tropical countries also. Nutmegs were known as commodities in Europe in very ancient times (e.g. by the Romans), but it was not until the year 1500 that the tree itself was known. The seed is OFFICINAL.

Family 10. =Rhœadinæ.=

The plants belonging to this family are almost exclusively herbaceous, with scattered, exstipulate leaves. The flowers are eucyclic di- or tetramerous, with the calyx and corolla deciduous, hypogynous, ☿, regular, the gynœceum with 2–several carpels (generally 2, transversely placed) (Figs. 391, 392, 393, 397). The ovary is unilocular with parietal placentæ, but in Cruciferæ and a few others it becomes bilocular by the development of a false, membranous wall between the placentæ. The stigmas in the majority of cases are commissural, i.e. they stand above the placentæ, and not above the dorsal line of the carpels. The fruit is nearly always a capsule, which opens by the middle portions of the carpels detaching themselves as valves, bearing no seed, whilst the placentæ persist as the seed-bearing frame. Endosperm is found in Papaveraceæ and Fumariaceæ, but is absent in Cruciferæ and Capparidaceæ.--~This family through the Papaveraceæ is related to the Polycarpicæ (the Nymphæaceæ), through the Capparidaceæ to the Resedaceæ in the next family.~

Exceptions to the above are: Eschscholtzia, Subularia (Fig. 403) and a few Capparidaceæ, in which perigynous flowers are found. A few Papaveraceæ and Fumariaceæ have trimerous flowers. In Fumaria and certain Cruciferæ, the fruit is a nut. The Fumariaceæ have zygomorphic flowers. Trees and shrubs are almost entirely confined to the Capparidaceæ, in which order stipules also are found.

Order 1. =Papaveraceæ= (=Poppies=). Herbaceous plants with stiff hairs and latex; flowers regular (Fig. 391) with generally 2 (-3) sepals (which fall off as the flower opens), 2 + 2 petals (imbricate and crumpled in the bud) without spur, numerous stamens in several alternating whorls (generally a multiple of 2); carpels 2–several, united into a unilocular gynœceum. Trimerous flowers also occur. Capsule with very numerous seeds on the parietal placentæ; embryo small, with large, oleaginous endosperm (Fig. 392).--The leaves have no stipules and are generally pinnately lobed.

Papaver (Poppy) has large, solitary, terminal flowers; petals firmly and irregularly folded in æstivation; gynœceum formed by many (4–15) carpels; stigmas velvety, sessile and stellate (the rays stand above the placentæ) (Fig. 391 B). The edges of the carpels project deeply into the ovary, but do not meet in the centre, so that it remains unilocular. The capsule opens by pores placed close beneath the stigma, and formed of small valves alternating with the placentæ and the rays of the stigma (Fig. 391). P. dubium, P. argemone, P. rhœas.--Chelidonium (Greater Celandine) has yellow latex, flowers in umbellate cymes (the terminal, central flower opening first) and only 2 carpels; the fruit resembles the siliqua of the Cruciferæ in having two barren valves, which are detached from the base upwards, and a seed-bearing frame, but there is no partition wall formed between the placentæ. Ch. majus.--~The majority of the other genera have, like Chelidonium, 2 carpels (lateral and alternating with the sepals: Fig. 391 A) and siliqua-like fruit, thus: Eschscholtzia (perigynous) with a linear, stigma-bearing prolongation extending as far above the placentæ as above the dorsal suture of the carpels; Glaucium (Horn-Poppy); G. luteum, whose extremely long, thin capsule differs from that of Chelidonium by the formation, during ripening, of a thick, spongy (false) replum, which persists when the valves are detached; Sanguinaria with red latex, the 2 petals divided into 8–12 small petals (perhaps by dédoublement); Macleya and Bocconia (1-seeded capsule) with 2 sepals and no petals.--Trimerous flowers are found in Argemone and Platystemon (with a curious fruit, carpels free, and transversely divided and constricted into joints which separate as nut-like portions).--Meconopsis.--Hypecoum (Fig. 393 C) has tri-lobed and three cleft petals, 4 free stamens with 4-locular anthers and a jointed siliqua; it presents a transitional form to the Fumariaceæ, with which order it is sometimes included.~

POLLINATION. Papaver and Chelidonium have no honey, and are without doubt only visited by insects for the sake of the pollen. The anthers and stigmas mature about the same time.--There are 80 species; especially from warm climates. OFFICINAL: Papaver somniferum (Opium-Poppy); the latex of its unripe capsules is obtained by incisions, and dried (opium); it contains many alkaloids: morphine, papaverine, narcotine, thebaine, etc. The oleaginous seeds are also used in the manufacture of oil. Its home is in the East, where it is extensively cultivated. The petals of the Corn-poppy (P. rhœas) are also officinal. Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants.