ORDER LIX.—CELASTRINEÆ.
Fig. 135.—The Holly.
This order is divided into three sections, each containing well-known plants. The first of these takes its name from Staphylæa pinnata, the Bladder-nut. In the flowers of this plant the calyx is in five divisions, and white tinged with pink, so as to be scarcely distinguishable from the corolla. There are two or three carpels, which are surrounded by the receptacle, and the styles of which adhere slightly together. The capsule is bladdery, and consists of two or three cells, each containing one smooth, brownish, bony seed, which looks as though one end had been cut off at the hilum. The leaves are compound, each having five leaflets. The second section contains, among other plants, the Spindle-tree (Euonymus europæus), Cassine, and the Staff tree (Celastrus scandens). The Euonymus has small whitish-green inconspicuous flowers; but it is remarkable for the beauty of its capsules, which are fleshy, and of a bright rose-colour, while the seeds, which are of a bright orange, are enwrapped in a covering called an aril, by which they remain attached to the capsule after the valves have opened. Each capsule has five cells and five seeds, and each seed has a little white stalk attached to its aril, like the funicle of a pea. There are several species. The Celastrus is a climbing shrub, remarkable for its clusters of flowers, but which has nothing else to recommend it. The third section, Aquifoliaceæ, is made a separate order, under the name of Ilicineæ, or Aquifoliaceæ, by many botanists; some of whom place it in the sub-class Corollæfloræ, because the petals are connected at the base. The most common plants that it contains are included in the genera Ilex and Prinos. In Ilex aquifolium, the Holly, the corolla (a in fig. 135), is in four or five petals connected at the base; there are four stamens, the cells of the anthers of which adhere to the sides of the filament (b). The berry (c) is four -celled, each cell containing a one-seeded nut. The leaves (d) are simple, and smooth, shining and prickly at the edges, which are curved upwards. Prinos, the Winter-berry, is a little evergreen shrub, with red berries.
ORDER LX.—RHAMNACEÆ.
The most interesting genera in this order are Paliurus, Zizyphus, Rhamnus, and Ceanothus. Christ’s Thorn (Paliurus aculeatus) is easily known by its crooked prickly stem, and its singular fruit, which, from its resembling a head with a broad flat hat on, the French call, Porte-chapeau. The flowers are yellow, but they are too small to be ornamental. Zizyphus Jujuba differs from Paliurus chiefly in its fruit, which resembles a small plum, and from the fruit of which the Jujube lozenges are made. There are numerous species of Rhamnus, some of which are trailing-shrubs, and others low trees. Some of the species, such as R. Alaternus, are evergreen shrubs, very useful in town-gardens, as they are not injured by smoke; others, such as the Purging Buckthorn (R. catharticus), have deciduous, rough, feather-nerved leaves, and the branchlets terminating in a thorn. The berries of the plants in this division are sold for dyeing yellow, under the name of French or Avignon berries. Another division includes the species which are without thorns. All these plants have their male and female flowers distinct. The last division of Rhamnus has perfect flowers, and dark-purple berries, as for example, the Berry-bearing Alder (R. frangula). The genus Ceanothus is well known from the beautiful C. azureus. The other species have generally the same kind of terminal, upright panicles of feathery flowers, but they are very inferior in beauty. C. americanus, which has white flowers, is sometimes called American Red-root, or New Jersey Tea.