1330

ARBORETUM AND FltUTICETUM.

PART III.

A. gla&ca Desf., Bot. Mag., 1.1115., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, is a native of Barbery; introduced in1785. It is evergreen, like the preceding sort.

A. altissima Desf., A. caudata Desf., and A. trilobata Willd., are described in the Nouv. Du Hamel as growing in French gardens, with protection during winter. A. trilob&ta Bot. Reg., 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-lbchia, 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 £UPHORB7/l'CjSJS.

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 : —

i?DPHo'RBL7 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, chaff;scales. — 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. ( Lindley’s Inkto Bot.) Valves 3, with a partition from the centre of each, by which the;form 3 cells. Seeds 1 in a cell; cells bursting elastically.—Sap, in all, milk;,resinous; and, in most, acrid. Leaves, in most, alternate. Inflorescence!disposed in umbels or panicles. (T. Nees ah Esenbecle, Gen. PI. PL Gem.',Smith, Png. 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. figustrina, upon distinctplants. — Male. Seven flowers together, within an entire involucre; or, inS. flgustrina, with the flowers not involucrated, but solitary in the axil of*bractea. Calyx like a corolla, of 1 piece, funnel-shaped, its margin jagged; inS. figustrina the calyx is 3-cleft, and rather flat. Stamens 2-3; in S. /igustrins,prominent, the filaments very slightly connected at the base. — FemaleInvolucre 1-flowered ; otherwise as in the male. Calyx superior, shaped*in the male. Ovary roundish. Style thread-shaped. Stigmas 3. Fruit tregma ( Lindley’s Intr. to Bot.), surrounded at the base by the involucreilittle enlarged, somewhat turbinate, bluntly triangular, 3-lobed, 3-celW1-seed in each cell.—Sap milky. Leaves alternate, stipuled, entire. Spikeof flowers solitary or dichotomous, terminal or lateral. ( Smith in Rea iCyclop.; and Nutt, in his Gen. Amer.)

Bv'xvs Tourn. Flowers in axillary groups; unisexual in effect, but the matflowers 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«male ones. Calyx as in the male. Ovary sessile, roundish, of 3 cells, and-ovules in each cell. Styles 3. Stigmas 3. Fruit a regma, leather;', beak*with the styles; consisting of 3 incomplete cells that open down the cent#and divide the style, and of 3 valves that bear the incomplete dissepiments*their centres. Seeds 2 in a cell, pendulous, both enclosed in the endocarpi*lining of the cell; and this endocarpial lining, after the seed is ripe, dispart'elastically, to admit of, and conduce to, their dispersion. (T. Nees abS&beck’s Gen. PI. FI. Ger.) —Evergreen shrubs, or small trees, with rig 11 '