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CARYOPHYLLACEAE
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CARYOPHYLLACEAE , a botanical See also:order of dicotyledonous See also:plants, containing about 6o genera with 1300 See also:species, and widely distributed, especially in temperate, alpine and See also:arctic regions. The plants are herbs, sometimes becoming shrubby at the See also:base, with opposite, See also:simple, generally uncut leaves and swollen nodes. The See also:main See also:axis ends in a See also:flower (definite inflorescence), and flower-bearing branches are See also:borne one on each See also:side by which the branching is often continued (known technic-ally as a dichasial cyme). The See also:flowers are See also:regular, with four or five sepals which are See also:free or joined to See also:form a See also:tube in their See also:lower portion, the same number of petals, free and springing from belowthe ovary, twice as many stamens, inserted with the petals, and a See also:pistil of two to five carpels joined to form an ovary containing a large number of ovules on a central See also:placenta and bearing
two to five styles; the ovary is one-celled or incompletely partitioned at the base into three to five cells; See also:honey is secreted at the base of the stamens. The See also:fruit is a See also:capsule containing a large number of small seeds and opening by apical See also:teeth; the See also:seed contains a floury endosperm and a curved embryo.
The order is divided into two well-defined tribes which are
of flower; 3, flower in See also:vertical See also:section.
distinguished by the See also:character of the flower and the arrangements for ensuring See also:pollination.
Tribe I. Alsineae: the sepals are free and the flowers are open, with spreading petals, and the honey which is secreted at the base of the stamens is exposed to the visits of See also:short-tongued
See also:insects, such as flies and small bees; the petals are See also: Sileneae: the sepals 9 are joined below to form a p narrow tube, in which stand the See also:long claws of the petals and the stamens, partly closing the tube and rendering the honey in- accessible to all but long-tongued a, Pistil of Cerastium hirsu- See also:Lepidoptera. The flowers are tum cut vertically; o, uni- often red. It includes several Jocular or monothecal ovary; British genera:—Dianthus (See also:pink) p, free central placenta; g, ovules; s, styles. fig. 2 Silene (catchfly, See also:bladder b, The same cut horizontally, tampion), Lychnis (See also:campion, L. and the halves separated so as Flos-Cuculi is ragged See also:robin), and to show the interior of the Githago or Agrostemma (See also:corn cavity of the ovary o, with the See also:cockle). Several; such as Lychnis free central placenta p, covered vespertina, Silene nutans and with ovules g. others, are See also:night-flowering, open- See also:ing their flowers and becoming scented in the evening or at night, when they are visited by night-flying moths. The plants of this order are of little or no economic value, See also:soap-wort, Saponaria officinalis, forming a lather in See also:water was formerly See also:officinal. Dianthus (See also:carnation and pink) Gypsophila, Lychnis and others, are See also:garden plants. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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