Rosaceae
A large natural order of erect or prostrate, very rarely climbing, sometimes sarmentose herbs, shrubs, or trees, widely distributed. Flowers usually regular and hermaphrodite; calyx free or adnate to the ovary; tube short or elongated, narrowed or widened; limb equal (or in Chrysobalaneoe often unequal), usually five-lobed, imbricated and persistent, rarely of four lobes or none; petals inserted below the margin of the disk, as many as the calyx lobes, rarely none, equal (or in Chrysobalaneae unequal), obovate, oblong, rounded, or spathulate, usually exunguiculate, imbricated, deciduous; stamens usually indefinite, two to many-seriate, in a few species definite or reduced to one or two; filaments subulate or filiform, incurved in aestivation; anthers small, very rarely elongated; gynaecious carpels one or many, one or many-seriate. Fruit variable, superior or more or less inferior, naked or included within the persistent calyx tube; inflorescence variable. Leaves variable, simple or compound, alternate or rarely opposite, sometimes glandularly serrate; stipules two, free or adnate to the petiole, rarely absent; petioles often dilated at base, and biglandular at the apex. Rosaceoe is one of the most important orders from a garden standpoint. It is split up, by the authors of the "Genera Plantarum," into ten tribes--Chrysobalaneae, Neuradeae, Pomeae, Potentilleae, Poterieae, Pruneae, Quillajeae, Roseae, Rubeae, and Spiroeeae--several of which are regarded, by some other writers, as distinct orders. The principal fruits yielded by members of this order are: Almond, Apple, Apricot, Blackberry, Cherry, Medlar, Nectarine, Peach, Pear, Plum, Quince, Raspberry, Service Berry, and Strawberry. In addition to these, many beautiful flowering plants are included in Rosaceae, the Rose, of course, taking front rank. Rose-water is obtained, by distillation, from the petals of Rosa centifolia, R. damascena, R. moschata, &c., as is also the Attar of Roses used in perfumery, by maceration in oil of sesamum. Chrysobalanus Icaco furnishes the Cocoa Plum of the West Indies, Parinarium excelsum the Grey or Rough-skin Plum, and P. macrophyllum the Gingerbread Plum. The bark of Moquilia utilis, the Pottery-tree of the Amazons, contains such a large amount of silica, that, when powdered and mixed with clay, it is employed in making pottery by the natives of Para. The order comprises, according to Bentham and Hooker, about seventy-one genera and 1000 species; but some authors place the number of the latter as high as 1500. Characteristic genera: Chrysobalanus, Crataegus, Potentilla, Pyrus, Rosa, Rubus, Spiraea.