Succulent herbs. Leaves herbaceous, undivided, penninerved, without stipules. Flowers solitary or in clusters or racemes, without bracteoles, irregular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 3, rarely 5, imbricate in bud, the hindmost more or less distinctly spurred. Petals 3 or 5. Stamens 5; filaments short and broad; anthers united, turned inwards, opening towards the apex. Disc none. Ovary superior, 5-celled. Ovules 3 or more, in the inner angle of each cell, pendulous, inverted, with dorsal raphe. Style 1; stigmas 1 or 5. Fruit succulent, dehiscing elastically. Seeds exalbuminous. (Under _GERANIACEAE_.) (Plate 87.) Genus 1, species 100. Tropical and South Africa. Some are used as ornamental plants (balsams), others yield dyes, medicaments, or edible oily seeds. (Including _Trimorphopetalum_ Bak.) =Impatiens= L. ORDER RHAMNALES FAMILY 137. RHAMNACEAE Shrubs or trees, rarely (_Helinus_) undershrubs. Leaves undivided, stipulate, more rarely (_Phylica_) exstipulate. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or polygamous. Receptacle more or less cup-shaped. Sepals 4-5, valvate in bud. Petals 4-5 or 0. Stamens as many as and alternate with the sepals. Anthers opening by 1-2 slits. Disc within the stamens, sometimes indistinct. Ovary 2-4-celled, sometimes not quite completely septate, rarely (_Maesopsis_) 1-celled. Ovules solitary in each cell, basal, inverted. Style undivided or cleft. Seeds with a large, straight embryo.--Genera 18, species 140. (Plate 88.) 1. Ovary superior or almost so. 2 Ovary inferior or half-inferior. 9 2. Ovary 1-celled. Stigma 5-lobed. Fruit one-seeded, indehiscent. Leaves opposite or nearly so, penninerved.--Species 2. Equatorial regions. The fruits are edible. (Including _Karlea_ Pierre) =Maesopsis= Engl. Ovary completely or almost completely 2-4-celled. Stigma 2-4-lobed, or 2-4 stigmas. 3 3. Anthers opening outwards. Sepals with a far projecting ledge on the inside. Disc ring-shaped. Style undivided, with a 2-lobed stigma. Leaves opposite or nearly so, crenate, with 2-4 lateral nerves on each side. Flowers in axillary spikes or in terminal panicles.--Species 1. Abyssinia. =Lamellisepalum= Engl. Anthers dehiscing inwards or laterally. Flowers solitary or in cymes, rarely in racemes or panicles, but then style 2-4-cleft or with 3 stigmas. 4 4. Leaves 3-, more rarely 5-nerved from the base. Style 2-4-cleft. Fruit wingless, fleshy, indehiscent, with a 1-4-celled stone.--Species 10. Some of them yield timber, tanning and dyeing materials, gum-lac, food for silk-worms, medicaments, and edible fruits (jujubes) from which a sort of bread and a beverage are prepared; others have poisonous fruits; some are used as hedge plants. =Zizyphus= Juss. Leaves penninerved. 5 5. Flowers in terminal panicles, 5-merous. Stigmas 3. Fruit with 3 stones. Shrubs with spiny branches. Leaves opposite.--Species 1. Northern East Africa. The fruits are edible. =Sageretia= Brongn. Flowers in axillary inflorescences. 6