[FAMILY 150.] DIPTEROCARPACEAE
Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, entire, stipulate. Flowers in cymes or panicles, regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, imbricate in bud, enlarged in fruit. Petals 5, with contorted aestivation. Stamens numerous, hypogynous or nearly so, with a prolonged connective. Ovary superior, 3-celled. Ovules 2 in each cell, descending, inverted. Style simple. Fruit a one-seeded nut. Seeds without albumen or with a very thin albumen.—Genera 2, species 15. Tropics.
Receptacle flat. Filaments short. Anthers linear, adnate. Ovary glabrous.
Embryo with thick, fleshy cotyledons. Tall trees.—Species 1. Seychelles.
Yields timber, resin, and fatty seeds. [Subfamily DIPTEROCARPOIDEAE.] Vateria L.
Receptacle raised. Filaments long. Anthers oval, versatile. Embryo with thin, leaf-like, twisted cotyledons.—Species 15. Central Africa.
(Under Vatica L.) [Subfamily MONOTOIDEAE.]. Monotes A. DC.
SUBORDER TAMARICINEAE
[FAMILY 151.] ELATINACEAE
Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite or whorled, undivided, stipulate. Flowers solitary or in cymes, regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 3-5, free or united at the base, imbricate in bud. Petals 3-5, free, hypogynous, imbricate in bud, persistent in fruit. Stamens hypogynous, as many or twice as many as the petals. Anthers attached by the back, opening inwards by longitudinal slits. Ovary 3-5-celled. Ovules numerous, axile, inverted, with a short funicle. Styles 3-5, free. Fruit a septicidal capsule. Seeds exalbuminous.—Genera 2, species 15. (Plate 100.)
Flowers 3-4-merous. Sepals united below, with a faint midrib and without membranous margins. Ovary depressed at the top. Flowers solitary.—Species 3. North Africa. Elatine L.
Flowers 5-merous. Sepals free or almost free, with a very projecting midrib and with membranous margins. Ovary narrowed at the top. Leaves serrate.—Species 12. Central and South Africa and Egypt. (Plate
100.) Bergia L.
[FAMILY 152.] FRANKENIACEAE
Herbs or undershrubs, rarely low shrubs. Stem jointed. Leaves opposite, undivided, stipulate. Flowers in cymes, bracteolate, regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx 4-5-lobed or-cleft, valvate in bud. Petals 4-5, hypogynous, free or united in the middle, clawed, usually with a scale-like appendage, persistent. Stamens 4-6, hypogynous. Filaments united at the base, broadened in the middle. Anthers versatile, opening outwards by longitudinal slits. Ovary 1-celled, with 2-3 parietal placentas bearing the ovules at their base. Style simple with 2-3 stigmas, or 2-3-cleft at the top. Ovules with a long ascending funicle, inverted. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds with a copious, mealy albumen and a straight, axile embryo.—Genera 2, species 10.
Stamens 5, equal. Carpels 2. Petals without a ligule. Small shrubs.—Species
1. Island of St. Helena. Used as a substitute for tea. (Under
Frankenia L.) Beatsonia Roxb.
Stamens 4 or 6, the outer ones shorter. Carpels usually 3. Petals usually with a ligule.—Species 10. North Africa, northern Central Africa, and South Africa. Frankenia L.