Several species of Malpighia, the Barbadoes Cherry, are found occasionally in our stoves. The corolla of these plants, when closed, bears considerable resemblance to that of a Kalmia; but the flower when expanded is more like that of a Clarkia, from the long claws of the five petals, and the distance they are placed apart. Several of the species have their leaves and stems beset with stinging bristles, which adhere to the hands when touched. The fruit, which is eatable, but insipid, is a berry-like drupe, containing three one-seeded nuts. The species are natives of the West Indies, and they require a stove in England. The flowers are generally rose-coloured or purplish; but they are sometimes yellow. The common Barbadoes Cherry is called M. glabra, and its leaves are without stings. In Hiptage, another genus of this order, four of the petals of the flowers are white, and one yellow; and in Banisteria, the species are generally climbing shrubs, always with yellow flowers. Some of the species of Banisteria are occasionally found in stoves in this country, where their beautiful feathery yellow flowers have very much the appearance of those of the Canary bird flower (Tropæolum peregrinum).
ORDER XLIV.—ACERINEÆ.—THE MAPLE TRIBE.
Fig. 123.—Flower and Samara of the Sycamore.
(Acer Pseudo-Platanus.)
The common Maple (Acer campestre) and the Sycamore (A. Pseudo-Platanus) are the only plants belonging to this order, that are natives of Britain; though so many kinds of ornamental Acers are now found in our parks and pleasure-grounds. Few trees are indeed more deserving of culture than the American Maples, both for their beauty in early spring, and for the rich shades of yellow and brown which their leaves assume in autumn. The Maple tribe is a very small one; it consists indeed of only the genera Acer and Negundo, and an obscure Nepal genus, of which there are no plants in Britain. Of all the Acers, one of the handsomest is the Sycamore tree (A. Pseudo-Platanus); the flower of this species (see e in fig. [123]) is of a yellowish green; and as in early spring, when it appears, we are delighted at the sight of any thing in the way of flowers, it really looks very beautiful. Before I began to study botany, I had never noticed the blossoms of the forest trees, and when I was shown the light-feathery flowers of the Lime, and the gracefully-drooping ones of the Sycamore, I was quite astonished. The flowers of the Sycamore grow in a drooping raceme; the calyx is divided into five parts, but as it is scarcely distinguishable from the petals, which are five in number, and placed alternately with the sepals, it appears to be in ten divisions (see a). These flowers are partly male and female (see b and c), and partly perfect. In the perfect flowers there are eight stamens, and two stigmas; and the ovary when ripe expands into a curiously winged pod, called a samara (d), but differently shaped to the samara of the Ash, the thickened parts at the base of which contain the seeds. There is no albumen in the seed, which, when put into the ground, expands into two long thin cotyledons, (a in fig. 124) which, if once pointed out, will always be known again instantly. If a ripe seed be opened when quite fresh, the cotyledons or seed leaves will be found within it, fresh, green, and succulent; and these leaves (a in fig. 124), which rise above the ground as soon as the seed begins to germinate, differ widely in shape from the true leaves (b) which are serrated, and of a much thicker texture. The bracts of the Sycamore (f in fig. 123) are thick and leathery, and of a rich dark brown. The leaves are serrated at the margin; and the lower ones are cut into five lobes; but those near the flowers have generally only three lobes (e), and in all the leaves, two of the lobes are not so deeply cut as the others.
Fig. 124.—Young Sycamore.