The plants belonging to this family, with very few exceptions, are
trees or shrubs. The leaves are usually simple; stipules may be
absent or present. The flowers in almost all the orders are _small,
green or whitish_; they are _always regular_, 4-_or_ 5-_merous_ with
2–5 _carpels_, but never have more than 1 _whorl of stamens_, which
in _Rhamnaceæ_ and _Ampelidaceæ_ are placed _opposite_ the petals
(typically 5 + 5 or 4 + 4 stamens, of which however either the
external or internal whorl is always wanting); hypogynous or slightly
perigynous, in _Rhamnaceæ_ only strongly perigynous or epigynous;
generally ☿; the calyx is inconspicuous; petals free or slightly
united. Gynœceum simple; _ovary generally multilocular_; style short or
entirely wanting. A _disc_ is nearly always developed in the flower,
but is found sometimes inside the staminal whorl, sometimes outside
it or between the stamens. The ovules are apotropous (anatropous with
dorsal or ventral raphe).
Order 1. =Celastraceæ.= _Euonymus europæa_ (Spindle-tree) may be
chosen as a type. It is a shrub with simple, opposite leaves and
small caducous stipules. The small, greenish-yellow flowers, borne
in regularly-branched dichasia, are regular, ☿, with 4 whorls, 4-(or
5-) merous in regular alternation. There is a _thick disc_ upon which
the polypetalous corolla (imbricate in the bud) and the stamens are
borne, with a slightly perigynous insertion. The style is short and
thick; the ovary has 2 _erect_ ovules in each loculus. The fruit is
a red, 4-valvate capsule with loculicidal dehiscence; the seeds are
few in number, and have a large, red-yellow _aril_ (developed from
the micropyle). Embryo green, in a large, fleshy, white endosperm.
~The dingy yellow flowers are generally visited only by flies and ants
for the sake of the honey secreted by the disc, and while they run
about on the flowers they touch the anthers and stigmas, now with one
part of the body, now with another. The flower is protandrous. The
stigmas are not developed till several days after the opening of the
anthers.--_Celastrus_, _Cassine_, _Catha_, etc.~
38 genera; 300 species. Distributed over the entire globe, with
the exception of the colder districts, and especially in the
Tropics. Some are ornamental bushes (_Euonymus japonica_). The
leaves of _Catha edulis_ are used by the Arabs and Abyssinians
in the same way as those of _Coca_ by the Peruvians.
Order 2. =Hippocrateaceæ.= 150 species; tropical; chiefly
lianes. S5, P5, A3, G3. Anthers extrorse.
[Illustration: FIG. 477.--_Ilex aquifolium_: magnified flower.]
Order 3. =Aquifoliaceæ (Hollies).= The genus _Ilex_ forms almost the
entire order. (175 species out of 180; especially from S. Am.) They
are shrubs or trees with scattered, leathery, simple leaves (in _Ilex
aquifolium_, spiny) with very small stipules. The flowers are small,
white, and borne in few-flowered inflorescences in the axils of the
foliage-leaves; they are most frequently unisexual and diœcious. There
are 4–5 sepals, petals, stamens and carpels in regular alternation;
the calyx and _corolla_ have their leaves _slightly_ connate; stamens
slightly adnate to the corolla; the ovary is generally almost spherical
with a thick, sessile stigma (Fig. 477). This order deviates especially
from _Celastraceæ_ in the _absence of the disc_ and in having only
1 (_pendulous_) ovule in each of the 4 loculi of the ovary, and in
having a _drupe_ with generally 4 stones. Embryo extremely small, at
the apex of the large endosperm, with the radicle directed upwards.--~3
genera.--_I. aquifolium_ (Holly) principally on the coasts of European
countries; from Norway to W. Denmark, and further westward. It is a
common garden shrub with stiff, shining leaves and red fruits. Several
South American species contain so much _caffeine_ that they may be used
as a beverage in the place of tea (_I. paraguayensis_, Paraguay tea, or
Maté). The Holly does not contain caffeine.~
Order 4. =Ampelidaceæ (Vines).= Shrubs with the stem swollen at the
insertion of the petioles and climbing by _tendrils borne opposite
the leaves_ (Figs. 478, 479). The leaves are scattered (generally
1/2), stalked, stipulate, frequently palminerved and lobed, divided or
compound. The small, greenish flowers are generally borne in paniculate
_inflorescences, whose position is the same as that of the tendrils_
(Fig. 478); they are hypogynous or slightly perigynous, ☿, with 4–5
sepals, petals, stamens (which, as in the Rhamneæ, are _opposite the
petals_; Fig. 480 _A_, _B_) and 2 carpels. The calyx is very small,
entire, or slightly dentate; corolla _valvate_, and in some falling off
as a hood, since the individual parts remain united at the summit (Fig.
480 _A_). Between the stamens and gynœceum is situated an hypogynous
_disc_, with 5 lobes alternating with the stamens (Fig. 480 _A_, _B_,
_E_). In each loculus of the 2-locular ovary there are 2 _erect_
ovules (_E_); the style is short or wanting. The fruit is a _berry_.
The embryo is small and lies in a horny, sometimes slightly folded
(ruminate) endosperm (Fig. 480 _C_, _D_).
[Illustration: FIGS. 478–481.--_Vitis vinifera._
FIG. 478.--Branch with bunch of grapes.
FIG. 479.--Diagram of the position of leaf and tendrils. The
branch is divided into sections on the sympodial theory (the
successive generations, I, II, III, IV, are alternately white and
shaded); _k_ buds.
FIG. 480.--A Flower throwing off the corolla; _B_ flower after
the removal of the corolla; _C_, _D_ longitudinal and transverse
section of seed; _E_ longitudinal section of gynœceum; _s_ calyx.
FIG. 481.--Diagram of branch and position of leaves; _sl_
tendril; _lt_ the main axis; _ax_ stipules of the foliage-leaf
shown below; _g_ axillary-bud (the dwarf-branch); _v_ its
fore-leaf; _l_{1} l_{2}_ its first two foliage-leaves with
their stipules; _lt_{1}_ long-branch in the axil of _v_
(everything appertaining to this branch is entirely black);
_v_{1}_ the first leaf of this branch.]
_Vitis_ and _Ampelopsis_ (5-merous flowers); _Cissus_ (4-merous
flower); _Leea_ (without stipules, corolla gamopetalous). The
inflorescence in _Pterisanthes_ (E. Ind.) has a peculiar, flat,
leaf-like axis, on the edges of which ♂-flowers are borne, and
on the surface ♀-flowers.
The TENDRILS in Ampelidaceæ are modified branches, since they
bear leaves and may be abnormally developed as branches with
foliage-leaves, and finally the inflorescences are borne in
the position of the tendrils, and tendrils are met with which
are partly inflorescences. The explanation of the position
of the tendril, namely, right opposite the foliage-leaf but
without a subtending-leaf, has been much disputed. The relative
positions are as follows: in _Vitis vinifera_ the following
two kinds of shoots and relative positions are found (the
other species deviate in one or other particular), (_a_)
LONG-BRANCHES, which have 2 scale-leaves and a large number of
foliage-leaves with a divergence of 1/2; opposite the lowest
3–5 foliage-leaves no tendrils are found, then follow: 2
foliage-leaves with tendrils, 1 without a tendril, 2 with and
1 without, etc., with great regularity. Buds are developed in
the axils of the foliage-leaves (Fig. 479): these develop into
(_b_) DWARF-BRANCHES, which commence with 1 laterally-placed
scale-leaf (fore-leaf; Fig. 481 _v_) succeeded by several
foliage-leaves with a divergence of 1/2 (in a plane at right
angles to that of the mother-shoot), but the whole shoot is
extremely small, and often dries up and drops off in the
autumn, so that only the scale-leaf, _v_, with the bud (Fig.
481 _lt_{1}_) in its axil remains. This bud in the following
year developes into a new long-branch, and since its leaves
lie in a plane at right angles to that of the dwarf-branch,
their plane coincides with that of the long-branch from which
it is developed (the grandmother axis).--The tendrils no doubt
may most correctly be regarded as the modified main axis which
has been pushed aside by a lateral branch. The branches are
then sympodia, whose successive shoots bear alternately 1
and 2 foliage-leaves: thus, on the figure there are portions
altogether of 5 shoots (I.-V.), the 1-leaved ones are shaded,
the 2-leaved ones are white. The following facts however are
adverse to this theory: (1) the first leaf on an axillary bud
is then situated 180° from the subtending leaf (_e.g._ the
lowermost shaded leaf, Fig. 479, 180° from the lowermost white
leaf), whilst the rule in the Dicotyledons is that it is placed
only about 90° to one side. (2) The buds (Fig. 479 _K_) from
which the dwarf-branches develop, must then be accessory and
sister-buds to the sympodial shoots, but their first leaves have
a different relative position to this, which is very peculiar,
and a still more remarkable fact is that the buds, _K_, etc. are
similar in structure and present in _all the axils_; thus we
_only_ find accessory buds in the cases where no tendrils are
opposite to the leaves, and the main bud must then be considered
to be suppressed. (3) The development proves that the tendrils
arise on the side of a vigorous growing-point of the stem or by
its division, and do not develop, as might be expected, from
the apex of the shoot. But these relations however, find their
analogues and are all capable of explanation, whereas other less
natural modes of explanation are opposed to them.
435 species; especially in the Tropics; they are rarer in
America. In N. Am. some _Vitis_-species and _Ampelopsis
quinquefolia_ are found. _Vitis vinifera_ is supposed to have
originated in the districts East and South of the Caspian Sea.
Wine is obtained from _Vitis_-species, especially _V. vinifera_,
and “raisins,”--(the name “currants,” given to a special variety
with small, seedless fruits, is derived from Corinth).--The
species of _Ampelopsis_ (Virginian Creeper) are cultivated as
ornamental plants.
Order 5. =Rhamnaceæ.= _The stamens are placed opposite the petals_
as in the Ampelidaceæ (Fig. 482), but the flowers are _much more
perigynous or entirely epigynous_. The trees and shrubs belonging
to this order have simple, most frequently penninerved leaves with
stipules; frequently thorny (modified branches). The flowers are
inconspicuous, sometimes unisexual (Fig. 482), and have 5 (-4) sepals,
petals, stamens, and generally 3 (2–5) carpels. The calyx has _valvate_
æstivation. The petals are very _small_ (generally less than the
sepals), often spoon-like, hollow, and embracing the stamens; _a disc
covers the inner surface of the thalamus_ or the base of the style in
the epigynous flower; gynœceum simple, with one style and one _erect
ovule in each loculus_. The fruit is most frequently a _drupe_. The
embryo is large, often green or yellow, with endosperm.
_Rhamnus_ (Buckthorn) has a juicy drupe with 3 (2–4) stones, surrounded
at the base by the persistent portion of the receptacle; the disc is
thin. _R. cathartica_ (common Buckthorn): diœcious, with opposite,
serrate leaves. _R. frangula_ (Alder Buckthorn): flowers ☿, with
scattered, entire leaves.--~_Ceanothus_ (N. Am., with richly-flowered
inflorescences and a fruit closely resembling that of the Euphorbias).
_Phylica_, _Pomaderris_ (Austr., fruit a capsule). _Zizyphus_,
_Paliurus_, _Colletia_ (S. Am.) are thorny shrubs; _C. spinosa_ has
thorny shoots with small, caducous leaves; the seedling has normal
foliage-leaves. Others climb by tendrils as in the Ampelidaceæ, _e.g._
_Gouania_.~
[Illustration: FIG. 482.--_Rhamnus cathartica_: _A_ long-styled
♂-flower; _pet_ petals; _B_ short-styled ♂-flower; _C_
long-styled ♀-flower; _D_ short-styled ♀-flower (after Darwin).]
475 species, 40 genera; chiefly in temperate and tropical
climes. Some are medicinal plants, the bark and fruit
having purgative properties (the bark of _Rhamnus frangula_
and “Cascara Sagrada” from the bark of _R. purshiana_ are
officinal). The fruits and seeds of others are edible, for
example, the fruits of _Zizyphus lotus_, _Z. vulgaris_, _Z.
spina Christi_, etc. Green and yellow _dyes_ are obtained from
the fruit of _R. cathartica_, _infectoria_ and others (Avignon
grain). _Ceanothus-_, _Rhamnus-_ and evergreen _Phylica_-species
are ornamental shrubs.