1330

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART 111.

A. glaiica Desf., Bot. Mag., 11115., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, is a native of Barbary; introduced in1785. It is evergreen, like the preceding sort.

A. altissima Desf., A. caudata Desf., and A. trilobdta Willd., are described in the Nouv. Du Hamelas growing in French gardens, with protection during winter. A. trilob&ta Bot. Beg.» t. 1399., is anative of South America, where it grows to the height of 6 ft. or 7 ft. There is a species of ^risto-Ibchia, a native of China, against a wall in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, which is not yetnamed. It has stood there four years, and appears quite hardy.

CHAP. XCIX.

OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THEORDER EUPHORR/^'CF^E.

The hardy species belonging to this order are included in 3 genera, namely-Euphorbia L., Stillingia Garden, and -Buxus Tourn. ; and these have the fol-lowing characters:—

.Eupho'rb ia L. What seem flowers, and were formerly deemed flowers,are now regarded as each an inflorescence. This consists of an involucre,within which flowers of both sexes are associated, many male flowers arounda solitary central female one. Involucre of one leaf, bell-shaped or top-shaped, with a limb in 8—10 segments, the outer coloured and resemblingpetals. — Male flower. This consists of a stamen, articulated upon asupporting column that is attended, (?) at its base, by, mostly minute, chaffyscales. — Female flower. Pistil solitary, central, upon a long pedicel, andbecoming protruded. Ovary roundish, of 3 cells, each containing 1 ovule,affixed to the angle next the centre of the ovary. Styles 3, connate atthe base, each ending in a bifid stigma. Fruit a regma. ( Bindley’s Intr.to Bot.) Valves 3, with a partition from the centre of each, by which theyform 3 cells. Seeds 1 in a cell; cells bursting elastically.—Sap, in all, milky,resinous; and, in most, acrid. Leaves, in most, alternate. Inflorescencesdisposed in umbels or panicles. ( P. Nees ab Esenbeck, Gen. PI. FI. Germ .;Smith, Eng. FI.; and observation.)

Stilli'nG-M Garden. Flowers unisexual. Males in a spike; females at thebase of the same spike: (?) the two kinds, in S. /igustrina, upon distinctplants. — Male. Seven flowers together, within an entire involucre ; or, inS. /igustrina, with the flowers not involucrated, but solitary in the axil of abractea. Calyx like a corolla, of 1 piece, funnel-shaped, its margin jagged; inS. /igustrina the calyx is 3-cleft, and rather flat. Stamens 2-3; in S. /igustrina,prominent, the filaments very slightly connected at the base. — Female.Involucre 1-flowered ; otherwise as in the male. Calyx superior, shaped asin the male. Ovary roundish. Style thread-shaped. Stigmas 3. Fruit aregma ( Bindley' s Intr. to Bot.), surrounded at the base by the involucre a'little enlarged, somewhat turbinate, bluntly triangular, 3-lobed, 3-celled,.1-seed in each cell.—Sap milky. Leaves alternate, stipuled, entire. Spikesof flowers solitary or dichotomous, terminal or lateral. ( Smith in Rees’sCyclop.; and Nutt, in his Gen. Amer.)

-Bu'xus Tourn. Flowers in axillary groups; unisexual in effect, but the maleflowers have a rudiment of a pistil; those of both sexes borne on oneplant. — Male. Calyx of 4 minute leaves. Stamens 4, inserted under therudiment of a pistil. — Female. Flowers singly, at the tip of groups ofmale ones. Calyx as in the male. Ovary sessile, roundish, of 3 cells, and 2ovules in each cell. Styles 3. Stigmas 3. Fruit a regma, leathery, beakedwith the styles; consisting of 3 incomplete cells that open down the centreand divide the style, and of 3 valves that bear the incomplete dissepiments intheir centres. Seeds 2 in a cell, pendulous, both enclosed in the endocarpiallining of the cell; and this endocarpial lining, after the seed is ripe, dispartselastically, to admit of, and conduce to, their dispersion. (T. Nees ab Esen-beck’s Gen. PI. FI. Ger.) —Evergreen shrubs, or small trees, with rigid,