ORDER CLX.—PROTEACEÆ.
The principal genera are Protea, Banksia, Dryandra, and Grevillea, all very singular plants, the species of which, when one of each genus has been seen, are easily recognised. They are all natives of the Cape of Good Hope and New Holland.
ORDER CLXI.—THYMELÆÆ.
This order is well known from the Mezereon and the Spurge Laurel, both common garden shrubs belonging to the genus Daphne. The berries of both are poisonous, and the bark acrid. The flowers of the Mezereon (D. Mezereum) have a coloured calyx, which is tubular, with a four-cleft limb (see fig. 143), which is slightly hairy on the outer surface, and pitted
Fig. 143.—A flower of Mezereon. on the inner one. It is said that this calyx will separate readily into two, the inner part peeling off like a lining: but I have never been able to effect this without tearing the outer covering. There are eight anthers, with scarcely any filaments, affixed in two rows to the throat of the corolla; and an egg-shaped ovary, with a tufted stigma without any style. The fruit is a drupe, that is, formed like a plum, with a fleshy pericardium, enclosing a stone or nut, the kernel of which is the seed, and which sometimes appears to be partially enveloped in a sort of hairy bag, which is the lining of the ovary become loose. The flowers of the Mezereon grow round the stem, with a tuft of leaves at the top; but those of the Spurge Laurel (D. Laureola) are in a cluster of short drooping racemes. The most remarkable species of the genus is, however, the Lace Bark-tree of Jamaica (D. Lagetto, or Lagetta lintearia), the liber or inner bark of which has such tough fibres as to bear stretching out considerably without breaking; and in this state it resembles lace so much, that a collar and ruffles were made of it and sent to Charles II. Gnidia, a greenhouse plant, has little scales in the mouth of the calyx; and Pimelea has the flowers in heads, surrounded by a four-leaved involucre. The principal other genera are Lachnæa, a little Australian plant with woolly flowers, Passerina or Sparrow-wort, and Struthiola. The curious little tree called Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) also belongs to this order.
ORDER CLXII.—OSYRIDEÆ.