Stalk-plants.
1670. Plants with a predominating development of stalk, leaves narrow, mostly opposite, quaternary corollæ upon the calyx, ovarium multilocular, and containing few seeds.
1671. Here everything, both root and leaf, must be stalk-like in character; the stalk is therefore woody, the root fibrous, the foliage twig-like or narrow, like needles.
1672. This structure is chiefly found in the Heaths and Stellatæ. The stalk is mostly woody; the foliage either aciculiform or leathery in texture, and never pinnated. The leaves are either arranged in whorls or opposite, a position which indicates a lower grade of development. Moreover, they are related to the plants of the preceding class; they are either Epigynous or Perigynous. The corolla and ovarium follow the opposite position of the leaves; the former being quadripartite, the latter bi-and quaternary. Most of them grow in hot countries upon dry ground, and their virtues reside in the stalk, e. g. the Peruvian bark.
1673. The Stellatæ or Rubiaceæ are without doubt the lowest, because they are epigynous and have a quadri-petalous corolla, with a binary and frequently only follicular ovarium.
1674. First order. Cauliariæ parenchymatosæ. The Stellatæ proper along with the Coffeaceæ, all of them being two-seeded.
1675. Second order. C. vaginatæ. The Rubiaceæ with bilocular many-seeded capsules—Rondeletiæ and Cinchoneæ.
1676. Third order. C. axonales. Rubiaceæ with fruits—Guettardidæ, Hameliæ, Gardeniæ.
1677. Fourth order. C. florales. Quadripetalar Perigynæ, with similar capsules or berries—Epacrideæ, Vacciniaceæ, Ericaceæ.
1678. Fifth order, C. fructuariæ. Quaternary Perigynes with fruits—Myrobalaneæ, Olacineæ, Diospyroideæ and Sapoteæ. (For the arrangement of their families vid. Tab. B.)