ORDER ARISTOLOCHIALES
[FAMILY 63.] ARISTOLOCHIACEAE
Leaves alternate, entire or lobed. Flowers axillary, solitary or in clusters, irregular, hermaphrodite. Perianth simple, corolla-like, with a distinct tube. Stamens 5-24, adnate to the style. Anthers opening outwards or laterally by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, 4-6-celled. Ovules several or many in each cell, pendulous descending or horizontal, inverted. Style or stigma 6-lobed. Fruit capsular. Seeds with a small embryo and copious albumen. (Plate 38.)
Genus 1, species 30. Some are used medicinally. Aristolochia L.
[FAMILY 64.] RAFFLESIACEAE
Parasitic herbs, partly immersed in the tissue of the plants upon which they grow. Leaves reduced to scales. Flowers terminal, solitary or in racemes, regular, unisexual. Perianth-segments 4 or more. Stamens 8 or more; filaments united into a column. Ovary inferior, 1-celled with 4 or more parietal placentas, or several-celled with axile placentas. Ovules numerous. Style simple; stigmas situated beneath its thickened apex. Fruit a berry. Seeds minute, with a hard testa, oily albumen, and undivided embryo.—Genera 2, Species 4. (CYTINACEAE.)
Ovary 1-celled, with usually 4 slightly projecting parietal placentas.
Ovules inverted. Anthers affixed beneath the thickened apex of the staminal column, opening by transverse slits. Perianth-segments free.
Flowers solitary.—Species 1. Southern West Africa (Angola). (Under
Apodanthes Poiteau). [Tribe APODANTHEAE.] Pilostyles Guill.
Ovary more or less completely 6- or more-celled; placentas parietal, but much projecting, sometimes uniting in the middle. Ovules straight.
Anthers laterally affixed to the thickened apex of the staminal column, opening by longitudinal slits. Perianth-segments united below. Flowers in spikes, racemes, or panicles.—Species 3. North and South Africa and
Madagascar. They have edible fruits and are used medicinally. [Tribe
CYTINEAE.] Cytinus L.
[FAMILY 65.] HYDNORACEAE
Fleshy, herbaceous, leafless root-parasites with a creeping root-stock. Flowers solitary, regular, hermaphrodite. Perianth simple, fleshy, tubular, with 3-4 (very rarely 5) valvate segments. Stamens as many as and alternate with the perianth-segments, inserted in the tube; filaments united; anther-cells numerous, linear, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with many placentas hanging down from the top of the cell. Stigma sessile. Fruit succulent. Seeds with a hard testa, copious albumen, and undivided embryo. (Under CYTINACEAE).
Genus 1, species 8. Tropical and South Africa. Some are edible or used for tanning. Hydnora Thunb.