Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Lineæ  From Wikisource Jump to:
navigation, search Manual of the New Zealand Flora by Thomas
Frederick Cheeseman Order XII: Lineæ   Herbs or shrubs, rarely
trees. Leaves alternate, simple, usually entire; stipules
present or wanting. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 5,
rarely 4, free or coherent at the base, imbricate. Petals the
same number, hypogynous or slightly perigynous, imbricate, often
contorted. Stamens as many as the petals or twice as many,
rarely more; filaments united below into a ring which frequently
has 5 small glands at the base; anthers 2-celled, versatile.
Ovary free, entire, 3–5-celled; styles the same number, distinct
or more or less united; ovules 1–2 in each cell, pendulous,
anatropous. Fruit either a capsule splitting into 3–5 cocci, or
more rarely a drupe. Seeds 1–2 in each cell; albumen fleshy or
wanting; embryo usually straight, radicle superior.  A small
order, scattered over the whole world, the herbaceous species
mainly temperate, the shrubby