Division III. APETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.

Corolla none; the floral envelopes in a single series (calyx), or sometimes wanting altogether.

Order 84. NYCTAGINÀCEÆ. (Four-o'clock Family.)

Herbs (or in the tropics often shrubs or trees), with mostly opposite and entire leaves, stems tumid at the joints, a delicate tubular or funnel-form calyx which is colored like a corolla, its persistent base constricted above the 1-celled 1-seeded ovary, and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp; the stamens few, slender, and hypogynous; the embryo coiled around the outside of mealy albumen, with broad foliaceous cotyledons (in Abronia monocotyledonous by abortion).—Represented in our gardens by the Four-o'clock, or Marvel of Peru (Mirábilis Jalápa), in which the calyx is commonly mistaken for a corolla, the cup-like involucre of each flower exactly imitating a calyx.

1. Oxybaphus. Involucre of united bracts. Fruit wingless. Calyx bell shaped.

2. Abronia. Involucre of distinct bracts. Fruit 5-winged. Calyx salver-form.

1. OXÝBAPHUS, Vahl.

Flowers 3–5 in the same 5-lobed membranaceous broad and open involucre, which enlarges and is thin and reticulated in fruit. Calyx with a very short tube and a bell-shaped (rose or purple) deciduous limb, plaited in the bud. Stamens mostly 3 (3–5), hypogynous. Style filiform; stigma capitate. Fruit achene-like, several-ribbed or angled (pubescent in ours).—Herbs, abounding on the western plains, with very large and thick perennial roots, opposite leaves, and mostly clustered small flowers. (Name ὀξυβάφον, a vinegar-saucer, or small shallow vessel; from the shape of the involucre.)

1. O. nyctagíneus, Sweet. Nearly smooth; stem becoming repeatedly forked, 1–3° high; leaves all petioled (except the uppermost reduced ones), from broadly ovate to lanceolate, rounded or cordate or cuneate at base; inflorescence loose and but slightly pubescent, the peduncles slender (at first solitary in the axils); fruit oblong-obovate, 2´´ long, rather acutely angled.—Minn. and Wisc. to Tex. and La.; rare escape from gardens in E. Mass. and R. I.

2. O. hirsùtus, Sweet. More or less glandular-hirsute, especially about the nodes and the usually contracted inflorescence, 1–3° high; leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sessile and cuneate at base or narrowed to a short petiole; stamens often 5; fruit with thickened obtuse angles.—Plains of the Sask. to Wisc., Iowa., Neb., and Tex.

3. O. angustifòlius, Sweet. Often tall, glabrous except the more or less hirsute peduncles and involucres; leaves linear, thick and glaucous, often elongated (2–6´ long); fruit as in the last.—Minn. to Tex., and westward.

2. ABRÒNIA, Juss.

Involucre of 5–15 distinct bracts, enclosing numerous sessile flowers. Calyx salver-form, with obcordate lobes. Stamens 5, included, adnate to the calyx-tube. Style included; stigma linear-clavate. Perfect fruit 3–5-winged. Embryo monocotyledonous.—Low herbs, with thick opposite petioled unequal leaves, axillary or terminal peduncles, and showy flowers in solitary heads. (Name from ἁβρός, graceful.)

1. A. fràgrans, Nutt. More or less viscid-pubescent, from a perennial root; leaves oblong or ovate, truncate or cuneate at base; involucre conspicuous, of broad ovate white and scarious bracts; flowers white, fragrant, 4–10´´ long; fruit coriaceous, obpyramidal, with narrow undulate coarsely reticulated wings.—From W. Iowa to Utah and N. Mex.

Order 85. ILLECEBRÀCEÆ. (Knotwort Family.)

Herbs, with mostly opposite and entire leaves, scarious stipules (except in Scleranthus), a 4–5-toothed or -parted herbaceous or coriaceous persistent calyx, no petals, stamens borne on the calyx, as many as the lobes and opposite them or fewer, styles 2 and often united, and fruit a 1-seeded utricle. Seed upon a basal funicle, the embryo (in ours) surrounding the mealy albumen.—Small diffuse or tufted herbs, with small greenish or whitish flowers in clusters or dichotomous cymes.

1. Anychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted awnless calyx. Styles hardly any.

2. Paronychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted calyx; the sepals hooded at the summit and bristle-pointed. Style 1, 2-cleft at the top.

3. Scleranthus. Stamens borne on the throat of the indurated 5-cleft and pointless calyx. Styles 2. Stipules none.

1. ANÝCHIA, Michx. Forked Chickweed.

Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. Stamens 2–3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle larger than the calyx. Radicle turned downward.—Small, many times forked annuals, with small stipules, and minute flowers in the forks, produced all summer. (Same derivation as the next genus.)

1. A. dichótoma, Michx. More or less pubescent, short-jointed, low and spreading; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate; flowers nearly sessile and somewhat clustered.—Mostly in open places, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn. and Ark.

2. A. capillàcea, DC. Smooth, longer-jointed, slender and erect; leaves thinner, broader and longer (5–15´´ long); flowers more stalked and diffuse. (A. dichotoma, var. capillacea, Torr.)—Dry woodlands, same range as the last, but more abundant northward.

2. PARONÝCHIA, Tourn. Whitlow-wort.

Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave, awned at the apex. Petals (or staminodia) bristle-form, or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. Utricle enclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending.—Tufted herbs (ours perennial), with dry and silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (Greek name for a whitlow, and for a plant thought to cure it.)

1. P. argyrócoma, Nutt. Forming broad tufts, branched, spreading; leaves linear (½´ long); flowers densely clustered, surrounded by conspicuous large silvery bracts; calyx hairy, short-awned; petals mere teeth between the stamens.—Bare mountain slopes of the White Mts., and in the Alleghanies from Va. to Ga.; also coast of Maine and near Newburyport, Mass. July.

2. P. dichótoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted; stems (6–12´ high) ascending from a rather woody base; leaves (½–1½´ long) and bracts narrowly awl-shaped; cymes open, many-times forked; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place of petals.—Rocks, Md. to N. C. and Tex. July–Sept.

3. P. Jamèsii, Torr. & Gray. Subcespitose, much branched from the somewhat woody base, minutely puberulent; leaves filiform-subulate, obtuse or mucronate; forked cymes rather close; calyx narrow-campanulate with turbinate base.—Central Kan. to W. Neb., Col., and Tex.

3. SCLERÁNTHUS, L. Knawel.

Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the utricle. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct.—Homely little weeds, with awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name from σκληρός, hard, and ἄνθος, flower, from the hardened calyx-tube.)

S. ánnuus, L. Much branched, spreading (3–5´ high); flowers sessile in the forks; calyx-lobes scarcely margined.—Waste places. (Nat. from Eu.)

Order 86. AMARANTÀCEÆ. (Amaranth Family)

Weedy herbs, with nearly the characters of the next family, but the flowers mostly imbricated with dry and scarious persistent bracts; these often colored, commonly 3 in number; the 1-celled ovary in our genera 1-ovuled. (The greater part of the order tropical.)

[*] Anthers 2-celled; flowers unisexual; leaves alternate.

1. Amarantus. Flowers monœcious or polygamous, all with a calyx of 3 or 5 distinct erect sepals, not falling off with the fruit.

2. Acnida. Flowers diœcious. Calyx none in the fertile flowers.

[*][*] Anthers 1-celled; flowers perfect; leaves opposite.

3. Iresine. Calyx of 5 sepals. Filaments united below into a cup. Flowers paniculate.

4. Frœlichia. Calyx 5-cleft. Filaments united into a tube. Flowers spicate.

(Addendum) 5. Cladothrix. Flowers perfect, minute, axillary. Densely white-tomentose.

1. AMARÁNTUS, Tourn. Amaranth.

Flowers monœcious or polygamous, 3-bracted. Calyx of 5, or sometimes 3, equal erect sepals, glabrous. Stamens 5, rarely 2 or 3, separate; anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit an ovoid 1-seeded utricle, 2–3-beaked at the apex, mostly longer than the calyx, opening transversely or sometimes bursting irregularly. Embryo coiled into a ring around the albumen.—Annual weeds, of coarse aspect, with alternate and entire petioled setosely tipped leaves, and small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked clusters; in late summer and autumn. (Ἀμάραντος, unfading, because the dry calyx and bracts do not wither. The Romans, like the Greeks, wrote Amarantus, which the early botanists incorrectly altered to Amaranthus.)

§ 1. Utricle thin, circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid; flowers polygamous.

[*] Flowers in terminal and axillary simple or mostly panicled spikes; stem erect (1–6° high); leaves long-petioled; stamens and sepals 5.

[+] Red Amaranths. Flowers and often leaves tinged with crimson or purple.

A. hypochondrìacus, L. Glabrous; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute or pointed at both ends; spikes very obtuse, thick, crowded, the terminal one elongated and interrupted; bracts long-awned; fruit 2–3-cleft at the apex, longer than the calyx.—Rarely spontaneous about gardens. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

A. paniculàtus, L. Stem mostly pubescent; leaves oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate; spikes numerous and slender, panicled, erect or spreading; bracts awn-pointed; flowers small, green tinged with red, or sometimes crimson; fruit 2–3-toothed at the apex, longer than the calyx.—Roadsides, etc. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

[+][+] Green Amaranths, Pigweed. Flowers green, rarely a little reddish.

A. retrofléxus, L. Roughish and more or less pubescent; leaves dull green, long-petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate, undulate; the thick spikes crowded in a stiff or glomerate panicle; bracts awn-pointed, rigid, exceeding the acute or obtuse sepals.—Cultivated grounds, common; indigenous southwestward. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

A. chloróstachys, Willd. Very similar, but smoother and deeper green, with more slender, linear-cylindric, more or less flexuous spikes, the lateral ones spreading or divaricate, and the sepals more frequently acute or acuminate. (A. retroflexus, var. chlorostachys, Gray.)—Cultivated grounds; apparently also indigenous southwestward.—Var. hýbridus, Watson, is similar, but smooth and still more loosely panicled. (A. retroflexus, var. hybridus, Gray.) (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

[*][*] Flowers crowded in close and small axillary clusters; stems low, spreading or ascending; stamens and sepals 3, or the former only 2.

1. A. álbus, L. (Tumble Weed.) Smooth, pale green; stems whitish, erect or ascending, diffusely branched; leaves small, obovate and spatulate-oblong, very obtuse or retuse; flowers greenish; sepals acuminate, half the length of the rugose fruit, much shorter than the subulate rigid pungently pointed bracts; seed small, {2/3}´´ broad.—Waste grounds, common.

2. A. blitoìdes, Watson. Like the last, but prostrate or decumbent; spikelets usually contracted; bracts ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate; sepals obtuse or acute; fruit not rugose; seed about 1´´ broad.—From Minn. to Mo. and Tex., and westward, and introduced eastward as far as western N. Y.

A. Blìtum, L., resembles the last, but is usually erect, with shorter and more scarious bracts, and a smaller seed more notched at the hilum.—Near N. Y. City and Boston. (Adv. from Eu.)

§ 2. Utricle thinnish, bursting or imperfectly circumscissile; flowers monœcious.

A. spinòsus, L. (Thorny Amaranth.) Smooth, bushy-branched; stem reddish; leaves rhombic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, dull green, a pair of spines in their axils; upper clusters sterile, forming long and slender spikes; the fertile globular and mostly in the axils; flowers yellowish-green, small.—Waste grounds, N. Y. to E. Kan., and southward. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

§ 3. EÙXOLUS. Utricle rather fleshy, remaining closed or bursting irregularly; no spines; bracts inconspicuous.

3. A. pùmilus, Raf. Low or prostrate; leaves fleshy and obovate, emarginate, strongly nerved; flower-clusters small and axillary; stamens and sepals 5, the latter half the length of the obscurely 5-ribbed fruit.—Sandy beaches, R. I. to Va.

A. críspus, Braun. Very slender, procumbent, pubescent; leaves small, light green, rhombic-ovate to -lanceolate, acute, the margin crisped and undulate; flowers in small axillary clusters; bracts and sepals scarious, oblanceolate, acute or obtuse; utricle about as long, roughened, not nerved nor angled. (A. viridis, Man.)—Streets of Albany, New York City and Brooklyn; doubtless introduced, but the native habitat unknown.

2. ACNÌDA, Mitch. Water-Hemp.

Characters of Amarantus, except that the flowers are completely diœcious and the pistillate ones without calyx. Bracts 1–3, unequal. Staminate calyx of 5 thin oblong mucronate-tipped sepals, longer than the bracts; stamens 5, the anther-cells united only at the middle. Stigmas 2–5, often long and plumose-hispid. Fruit somewhat coriaceous and indehiscent, or a thin membranous utricle dehiscing irregularly (rarely circumscissile), usually 3–5-angled. (Name from α- privative, and κνίδη, a nettle.)

§ 1. ACNIDA proper. Fruit indehiscent, with firm and close pericarp.

1. A. cannábina, L. Usually stout, 2–6° high or more, glabrous; leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, long-petioled; sepals of sterile flowers ovate-oblong, obtuse or acutish; bracts usually thin and lax, much shorter than the fruit, sometimes more rigid and longer; fruit about 1´´ long, obovate, the pericarp rather thin, more or less rugosely angled; seed somewhat turgid, not angled, usually less than 1´´ long, shining.—Salt or brackish marshes, coast of N. Eng. to Fla.

2. A. rusocárpa, Michx. Very similar; fruit larger, 1½–2´´ long, the pericarp thicker, and the larger seed flattened with thick margins, usually thickest on the cotyledonar side.—N. Y. (?) and Penn. to S. Car.; apparently much less common than the last, though it is often difficult to positively distinguish the species from the immature fruit.

§ 2. MONTÈLIA. Fruit dehiscing irregularly, the pericarp thin, loose and usually roughened; not salt-marsh plants.

3. A. tuberculàta, Moq. Tall and erect, or sometimes low and decumbent; leaves lanceolate, acute or acutish or sometimes obtuse; sepals of sterile flowers lanceolate, acute or acuminate; pistillate flowers closely clustered in more or less dense naked or leafy axillary and terminal spikes (or the axillary capitate); bracts rather rigid, acuminate, equalling or exceeding the fruit; utricle about ½´´ long; seed shining, ½-{1/3}´´ in diameter. (Montelia tamariscina, Gray, in part.)—Ohio to Dak., Mo., Ala., and La.

Var. subnùda, Watson. Erect or often prostrate, the lower clusters at least of pistillate flowers more or less cymose and often in globose heads; bracts thinner, narrow and lax, shorter than the fruit. (M. tamariscína, var. concatenata, Gray, in part.)—W. Vt. (Oakes); Ont. to Minn., and southward. Often appearing quite distinct from the type, but intermediate forms are not rare.

3. IRESÌNE, P. Browne.

Flowers mostly polygamous or diœcious, 3-bracted. Calyx of 5 sepals. Stamens mostly 5; filaments slender, united into a short cup at base; anthers 1-celled, ovate. Fruit a globular utricle, not opening.—Herbs, with opposite petioled leaves, and minute scarious-white flowers, crowded into clusters or spiked and branching panicles; the calyx, etc., often bearing long wool (whence the name, from εἰρεσιώνη, a wreath or staff entwined with fillets of wool).

1. I. celosioìdes, L. Nearly glabrous, annual, erect, slender (2–4° high); leaves ovate-lanceolate; panicles very slender, often broad and diffuse, naked; bracts and calyx silvery-white, the fertile calyx twice longer than the broad bracts and densely silky-villous at base.—Dry banks, Ohio to Kan., and far southward. Sept.

4. FRŒLÍCHIA, Moench.

Flowers perfect, 3-bracted. Calyx tubular, 5-cleft at the summit, below 2–5-crested lengthwise, or tubercled and indurated in fruit, enclosing the indehiscent thin utricle. Filaments united into a tube, bearing 5 oblong 1-celled anthers, and as many sterile strap-shaped appendages.—Hairy or woolly herbs, with opposite sessile leaves, and spiked scarious-bracted flowers. (Named for J. A. Froelich, a German botanist of the last century.)

1. F. Floridàna, Moquin. Root annual; stem leafless above (1–3° high); leaves lanceolate, silky-downy beneath; spikelets crowded into an interrupted spike; calyx very woolly, becoming broadly winged, the wings irregularly toothed.—Dry sandy places, S. Minn, to Ill., Col., Tex., and Fla.

2. F. grácilis, Moq. More slender, with narrow leaves, the spikelets smaller, and the crests of the matured calyx of nearly distinct rigid processes—Col. to Tex., and is reported from Kansas.

(Addendum) 5. CLADÓTHRIX, Nutt.

Flowers perfect, 3-bracted. Sepals 5, erect, rigid-scarious, somewhat pilose. Stamens 5, the filaments united at base; anthers large, 1-celled. Stigma large, capitate, 2-lobed. Utricle globose, indehiscent.—Densely stellate-tomentose low herbs or woody at base, with opposite petiolate leaves and very small flowers solitary or few in the axils. (Name from κλάδος, a branch, and θρίξ, hair, for the branching tomentum.)

1. C. lanuginòsa, Nutt. Prostrate or ascending, much branched; leaves round-obovate to rhomboidal, 3–10´´ long.—Central Kan. (Meehan) and southwestward.

Order 87. CHENOPODIÀCEÆ. (Goosefoot Family.)

Chiefly herbs, of homely aspect, more or less succulent, with mostly alternate leaves and no stipules nor scarious bracts, minute greenish flowers, with the free calyx imbricated in the bud; the stamens as many as its lobes, or occasionally fewer, and inserted opposite them or on their base; the 1-celled ovary becoming a 1-seeded thin utricle or rarely an achene. Embryo coiled into a ring around the mealy albumen, when there is any, or else conduplicate, or spiral.—Calyx persistent, mostly enclosing the fruit. Styles or stigmas 2, rarely 3–5. (Mostly inert or innocent, weedy plants; several are pot-herbs, such as Spinach and Beet.)

[*] Embryo coiled into a ring about usually copious central albumen. Leaves flat, not spiny. Stem not jointed.

[+] Flowers perfect (or stamens only occasionally wanting), clustered or panicled; calyx obvious, persistent. Seed-coat crustaceous.

1. Cycloloma. Calyx 5-cleft, in fruit surrounded by a horizontal continuous membranaceous wing. Seed horizontal, crustaceous. Leaves sinuate-toothed.

2. Kochia. Like n. 1, but wing 5-lobed and seed-coat membranaceous. Leaves entire.

3. Chenopodium. Calyx 3–5-parted, unchanged or becoming fleshy in fruit.

4. Roubieva. Calyx 3–5-toothed, becoming saccate. Leaves pinnatifid.

[+][+] Flowers monœcious or diœcious; the staminate in clusters, mostly spiked; the pistillate without calyx, enclosed between a pair of appressed axillary bracts.

5. Atriplex. Fruiting bracts with margins often dilated and sides often muricate.

[+][+][+] Flowers perfect, naked or 1-sepaled, solitary in the axils of the reduced upper leaves.

6. Corispermum. Pericarp oval, flattened, adherent to the vertical seed. Leaves linear.

[*][*] Embryo narrowly horseshoe-shaped or conduplicate no albumen. Stem fleshy, jointed; leaves reduced to opposite fleshy scales or teeth. Flowers densely spiked, perfect.

7. Salicornia. Flowers sunk in hollows of the axis of the fleshy spike. Calyx utricle-like.

[*][*][*] Embryo coiled into a spiral; albumen mostly none. Leaves fleshy, alternate.

8. Suæda. Embryo flat-spiral. Calyx wingless. Leaves succulent.

9. Salsola. Embryo conical-spiral. Calyx in fruit horizontally winged. Leaves spinescent.

1. CYCLOLÒMA, Moquin. Winged Pigweed.

Flowers perfect or pistillate, bractless. Calyx 5-cleft, with the concave lobes strongly keeled, enclosing the depressed fruit, at length appendaged with a broad and continuous horizontal scarious wing. Stamens 5. Styles 3 (rarely 2). Seed horizontal, flat; coats crustaceous. Embryo encircling the mealy albumen.—An annual and much-branched coarse herb, with alternate sinuate-toothed petioled leaves, and very small scattered sessile flowers in open panicles. (Name composed of κύκλος, a circle, and λώμα, a border, from the encircling wing of the calyx.)

1. C. platyphýllum, Moquin.—Diffuse (6–15´ high), more or less arachnoid-pubescent or glabrate, light green or often deep purple.—Sandy soil, Minn, to W. Ill., S. Ind., Ark., and westward across the plains.

2. KÒCHIA, Roth.

Characters nearly as in Cycloloma, but the seed-coat membranaceous and the albumen wanting.—Annuals or suffruticose perennials, with flat or more usually linear and terete leaves. (Named for W. D. J. Koch, a German botanist.)

K. scopària, Schrad. Annual, erect, puberulent or glabrate, branching; leaves narrowly lanceolate to linear; flowers in small axillary clusters, sessile, each sepal developing a thick wing.—Sparingly introduced; Vt., Ont., and Ill. (Nat. from Eu.)

3. CHENOPÒDIUM, Tourn. Goosefoot. Pigweed.

Flowers perfect, all bractless. Calyx 5- (rarely 4-) parted or lobed, unchanged in fruit or becoming succulent and berry-like, more or less enveloping the depressed fruit. Stamens mostly 5; filaments filiform. Styles 2, rarely 3. Seed horizontal or vertical, lenticular; the coat crustaceous; embryo coiled partly or fully round the mealy albumen.—Weeds, usually with a white mealiness, or glandular. Flowers sessile in small clusters collected in spiked panicles. (Named from χήν, a goose, and ποῦς, foot, in allusion to the shape of the leaves.)—Our species are mostly annuals, flowering through late summer and autumn, growing around dwellings, in manured soil, cultivated grounds, and waste places.

§ 1. Annual, more or less mealy, not glandular nor aromatic; fruiting calyx dry; seed horizontal; embryo a complete ring.

[*] Pericarp very easily separated from the seed; leaves entire or rarely sinuate-dentate.

1. C. Bosciànum, Moq. Erect, slender (2° high), loosely branched, often nearly glabrous; leaves oblong- to linear-lanceolate (1–2´ long), attenuate into a slender petiole, acute, the lower sinuate-dentate or often all entire; flowers small, solitary or in small clusters upon the slender branchlets; calyx not strongly carinate. (C. album, var. Boscianum, Gray, Manual.)—N. Y. to Minn., south to N. C. and Tex.

2. C. leptophỳllum, Nutt. Densely mealy or rarely nearly glabrous (½–1½° high), simple or branched, often strict; leaves linear (½–1´ long), entire, rather shortly petioled; flowers closely clustered, in dense or interrupted spikelets; calyx-lobes strongly carinate.—Sea-coast, Conn. to N. J., north shore of L. Erie, and from Dak. to Col., N. Mex., and westward.

[*][*] Pericarp persistent upon the smooth seed; leaves more or less sinuate-dentate (except in C. polyspermum).

C. polyspérmum, L. Low, often spreading, green and wholly destitute of mealiness; leaves all entire, oblong or ovate and on slender petioles; flowers very small, in slender panicles in all the axils, the thin lobes of the calyx very incompletely enclosing the fruit; seed obtuse-edged.—Sparingly naturalized in the Eastern States. (Adv. from Eu.)

C. álbum, L. (Lamb's-quarters. Pigweed.) Erect (1–4° high), more or less mealy; leaves varying from rhombic-ovate to lanceolate or the uppermost even linear, acute, all or only the lower more or less angulate-toothed; clusters spiked-panicled, mostly dense; calyx (¾´´ wide in fruit) with strongly carinate lobes, nearly or quite covering the seed.—Introduced everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.)—Var. víride, Moq., more common eastward, is less mealy and with less dense inflorescence.

C. úrbicum, L. Rather pale or dull green, nearly destitute of mealiness, with erect branches (1–3° high); leaves triangular, acute, coarsely and sharply many-toothed; spikes erect, crowded in a long and narrow racemose panicle; calyx-lobes not keeled; seed with rounded margins.—Apparently throughout our range. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. muràle, L. Resembles the preceding, but less erect, loosely branched (1–2° high); leaves rhomboid-ovate, acute, coarsely and sharply unequally toothed, thin, bright green; spikes or racemes diverging, somewhat corymbed; calyx-lobes scarcely keeled; seed sharp-edged.—From N. Eng. to Mich, and Mo. (Adv. from Eu.)

3. C. hýbridum, L. (Maple-leaved Goosefoot.) Bright green throughout; stem widely much branched (2–4° high); leaves thin (2–6´ long), somewhat triangular and heart shaped, taper-pointed, sinuate-angled, the angles extending into a few large and pointed teeth; racemes diffusely and loosely panicled, leafless; calyx not fully covering the fruit, its lobes keeled.—Indigenous from western N. Y. and Ky., westward across the continent; introduced eastward.

§ 2. Annual or perennial herbs, somewhat mealy, not glandular-pubescent; fruiting calyx dry; seed large, subglobose, vertical, exserted; embryo a complete ring.

C. glaùcum, L. (Oak-leaved Goosefoot.) Low (5–12´ high), spreading, glaucous-mealy; leaves sinuately pinnatifid-toothed, oblong, obtuse, pale green above; clusters in axillary spikes, small; seed sharp-edged.—Throughout our range and westward. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. Bonus-Henrìcus, L. (Good-King-Henry.) Stout, erect (1–2° high), mostly simple; leaves broadly triangular-hastate (2–3´ long), obtuse or acute, subsinuate or entire; flowers somewhat densely paniculately spiked; seed with obtuse edges. (Blitum Bonus-Henricus, Reichenb.)—Sparingly introduced. (Adv. from Eu.)

§ 3. Annual, glabrous; calyx more or less fleshy in fruit and often colored, enclosing the utricle; seed mostly vertical; embryo a complete ring; flowers in crowded clusters, axillary or in spikes.

4. C. rùbrum, L. (Coast Blite.) Stem angled, much branched; leaves thickish, triangular-lanceolate, tapering below into a wedge-shaped base and above into a slender point, sparingly and coarsely toothed, the upper linear-lanceolate; clusters scattered in axillary leafy spikes; calyx-lobes 2–4, rather fleshy; stamens 1–2; seed shining, the margin acute. (Blitum maritimum, Nutt.)—Sea-coast of Northern States, and in saline places to Minn. (Eu.)

5. C. capitàtum, Watson. (Strawberry Blite.) Stem ascending, branching; leaves triangular and somewhat halberd-shaped, sinuate-toothed; clusters simple (large), interruptedly spiked, the upper leafless; stamens 1–5; calyx berry-like in fruit; seed ovoid, flattish, smooth, with a very narrow margin. (Blitum capitatum, L.)—Dry rich ground, along the Great Lakes, northward and westward. The calyx becomes pulpy and bright red in fruit, when the large clusters look like strawberries. (Eu.)

§ 4. Annual, not mealy, but more or less glandular-pubescent, aromatic; calyx 2–3-parted, dry in fruit; seed often vertical; embryo not a complete ring.

C. Bòtrys, L. (Jerusalem Oak. Feather Geranium.) Glandular-pubescent and viscid; leaves slender-petioled, oblong, obtuse, sinuate-pinnatifid; racemes cymose-diverging, loose, leafless; fruit not perfectly enclosed.—Widely introduced. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. ambrosioìdes, L. (Mexican Tea.) Smoothish; leaves slightly petioled, oblong or lanceolate, repand-toothed or nearly entire, the upper tapering to both ends; spikes densely flowered, leafy, or intermixed with leaves; fruit perfectly enclosed in the calyx.—Waste places, common throughout our range, especially southward. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

Var. anthelmínticum, Gray. (Wormseld.) Leaves more strongly toothed, the lower sometimes almost laciniate-pinnatifid; spikes more elongated, mostly leafless.—From Long Island and southward, west to Wisc. and Tex. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

4. ROUBIÈVA, Moquin.

Flowers minute, perfect or pistillate, solitary or 2–3 together in the axils. Calyx urceolate, 3–5-toothed, becoming enlarged and saccate, contracted at the apex and enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5, included; styles 3, exserted. Fruit membranaceous, compressed, glandular-dotted. Seed vertical. Embryo annular.—Perennial glandular herb, with alternate pinnatifid leaves.

R. multífida, Moq. Prostrate or ascending, branching and leafy; leaves lanceolate to linear (½–1½´ long), deeply pinnatifid with narrow lobes; fruiting calyx obovate. (Chenopodium multifidum, L.)—Sparingly introduced in the Atlantic States. (Adv. from S. Amer.)

5. ÁTRIPLEX, Tourn. Orache.

Flowers monœcious or diœcious; the staminate like the flowers of Chenopodium, but sterile by the abortion of the pistil; the fertile consisting simply of a naked pistil enclosed between a pair of appressed foliaceous bracts, which are enlarged in fruit, and sometimes united. Seed vertical. Embryo coiled into a ring around the albumen. In one section, including the Garden Orache, there are some fertile flowers with a calyx, like the staminate, but without stamens, and with horizontal seeds.—Herbs (ours annuals) usually mealy or scurfy with bran-like scales, with spiked-clustered flowers; in summer and autumn. (The ancient Latin name, a corruption of the Greek, ἀτράφαξις.)

A. ròseum, L. Hoary-mealy; leaves short-petioled or the upper sessile, rhombic-ovate or oblong with a wedge-shaped base, coarsely sinuate-toothed; fertile flowers mostly clustered in the axils; fruiting bracts broad, often cut-toothed and warty.—Sparingly introduced at the east. (Adv. from Eu.)

1. A. pátulum, L. Erect or prostrate (1–4° high), dark green and glabrous or somewhat scurfy; leaves narrowly lanceolate hastate (1–4´ long), the lower sometimes opposite, entire or sparingly sinuate-dentate, petioled, the upper lanceolate to linear; flowers clustered in rather slender spikes, the two kinds together or separate; fruiting bracts ovate-triangular or rhombic-hastate, entire or toothed, often muricate on the back, united to near the middle.—Very variable. The typical form scarcely occurs except as naturalized from Europe.—Var. hastàtum, Gray. Erect or spreading, stout, at least the lower leaves broadly triangular-hastate, often coarsely and irregularly toothed. Salt and brackish places, on the coast from Can. to Va., along the Great Lakes, and far westward.—Var. littoràle, Gray. Slender; leaves linear-lanceolate to linear, rarely subhastate or toothed. Canada to N. J., and westward along the Great Lakes.—Var. subspicàtum, Watson. A low erect and often simple form (3–12´ high), usually quite scurfy; leaves lanceolate-hastate (½–1´ long). Minn. to central Kan., and westward.

2. A. arenàrium, Nutt. Silvery-mealy, diffusely spreading; leaves oblong, narrowed at base, nearly sessile; fruiting bracts broadly wedge-shaped, united, 3-nerved, 2–5 toothed at the summit, and usually strongly muricate and reticulate on the sides.—Sandy beaches, along the coast, Mass. to Fla.

3. A. argénteum, Nutt. Usually low, much branched, gray-scurfy, leafy; leaves deltoid or subrhombic, often subhastate; staminate flowers in terminal spikes; fruiting bracts round-rhombic, indurated, united, the free margins more or less dilated and deeply toothed, the sides variously appendaged.—Red River Valley, Minn., south and westward.

6. CORISPÉRMUM, A. Juss. Bug-seed.

Flowers perfect, single and sessile in the axils of the upper leaves reduced to bracts, usually forming a spike. Calyx of a single delicate sepal on the inner side. Stamens 1 or 2, rarely 5. Styles 2. Fruit oval, flat, with the outer face rather convex and the inner concave, sharp-margined, a caryopsis, i.e. the thin pericarp adherent to the vertical seed. Embryo slender, coiled around a central albumen.—Low branching annuals, with narrow linear alternate 1-nerved leaves. (Name formed of κόρις, a bug, and σπέρμα, seed.)

1. C. hyssopifòlium, L. Somewhat hairy when young, pale; floral leaves or bracts awl-shaped from a dilated base or the upper ovate and pointed, scarious-margined; fruit wing-margined.—Sandy beaches along the Great Lakes, central Neb., Tex., and westward.—Leaves usually pungent.

7. SALICÓRNIA, Tourn. Glasswort. Samphire.

Flowers perfect, 3 together immersed in each hollow of the thickened upper joints, forming a spike; the two lateral sometimes sterile. Calyx small and bladder-like, with a toothed or torn margin, at length spongy and narrowly wing-bordered, enclosing the flattened thin utricle. Stamens 1 or 2. Styles 2, united at base. Seed vertical, without albumen. Embryo thick, the cotyledons incumbent upon the radicle.—Low saline plants, with succulent leafless jointed stems, and opposite branches; the flower-bearing branchlets forming the spikes. (Name composed of sal, salt, and cornu, a horn; saline plants with horn-like branches.)

1. S. mucronàta, Bigel. Annual, erect, stout, naked below (2–12´ high), turning red in age; spikes thick, closely jointed; scales mucronate-pointed and conspicuous, especially when dry; middle flower half higher than the lateral ones or less, occupying nearly the whole length of the joint; fruit pubescent; seed ½–¾´´ long. (S. Virginica, Gray, Manual; not L.)—Sea-coast from N. Scotia to Va.

2. S. herbàcea, L. Annual, erect or at length spreading (6–18´ high), green; scales obscure and very blunt, making a truncate barely emarginate termination of the longer joints of the stem or elongated narrower spikes; middle flower much higher than the lateral ones, slightly shorter than the joint; fruit pubescent; seed {2/3}–1´´ long.—Salt marshes of the coast and interior salt springs, and alkaline localities.

3. S. ambígua, Michx. Numerous tufted stems (3–12´ long) decumbent or ascending from a hard and rather woody creeping base or rootstock, greenish, turning lead-colored; spikes slender, short-jointed, the scales short, acutish or acute; flowers nearly equal in height and equalling the joint; seed pubescent, {1/3}´´ long. (S. fruticosa, var. ambigua, Gray, Manual.)—Sea-coast, Mass. to Fla. and Tex.

8. SUÆ̀DA, Forskal. Sea Blite.

Flowers perfect, sessile in the axils of leafy bracts. Calyx 5-parted, fleshy, enclosing the fruit (utricle) and often carinate or crested. Stamens 5. Stigmas 2 or 3. Seed vertical or horizontal, with a flat-spiral embryo, dividing the scanty albumen (when there is any) into two portions.—Fleshy saline plants, with alternate nearly terete linear leaves. (An Arabic name.)

1. S. lineàris, Moq. Annual, prostrate or usually erect, 1–2° high, branched; leaves narrow at base, ½–2´ long, acute; floral bracts acuminate, on slender branchlets; sepals very thick; anthers exserted; seed horizontal, round-oval, black, ½´´ broad. (S. maritima, Gray; not Dumort.)—Sea-coast, N. Scotia to Fla.—A doubtful form of E. Mass. has the bracts and shorter leaves obtuse, larger flowers on less slender branchlets, and reddish seeds nearly 1´´ broad.

2. S. depréssa, Watson. Annual, decumbent or erect, branching from the base; leaves broadest at base, the cauline 3–12´´ long, the floral lanceolate to ovate; one or more of the calyx-lobes very strongly carinate or crested.—Saline soil, Red River Valley, Minn., to Col., and westward.

9. SÁLSOLA, L. Saltwort.

Flowers perfect, with 2 bractlets. Calyx 5-parted, persistent and enclosing the depressed fruit in its base; its divisions at length horizontally winged on the back, the wings forming a broad and circular scarious border. Stamens mostly 5. Styles 2. Seed horizontal, without albumen, filled by the embryo, which is coiled in a conical spiral (cochleate).—Herbs or slightly shrubby branching plants of the sea-shore, with fleshy and rather terete or awl-shaped leaves, and sessile axillary flowers. (Diminutive of salsus, salty.)

1. S. Kàli, L. (Common Saltwort.) Annual, diffusely branching, bushy, rough or smoothish; leaves all alternate, awl-shaped, prickly-pointed; flowers single; calyx with the converging lobes forming a sort of beak over the fruit, the large rose or flesh-colored wings nearly orbicular and spreading.—Sandy sea-shore, N. Eng. to Ga. Aug. (Eu.) (Addendum)—Salsola Kali. This species has been found in Emmet Co., Iowa (Cratty), at Yankton, Dak. (Bruhin), and in river-bottoms in N. W. Neb. and central Dak.

Order 88. PHYTOLACCÀCEÆ. (Pokeweed Family.)

Plants with alternate entire leaves and perfect flowers, having the general characters of Chenopodiaceæ, but usually a several-celled ovary composed of as many carpels united in a ring, and forming a berry in fruit.

1. PHYTOLÁCCA, Tourn. Pokeweed.

Calyx of 5 rounded and petal like sepals. Stamens 5–30. Ovary of 5–12 carpels, united in a ring, with as many short separate styles, in fruit forming a depressed globose 5–12-celled berry, with a single vertical seed in each cell. Embryo curved in a ring around the albumen.—Tall and stout perennial herbs, with large petioled leaves, and terminal racemes which become lateral and opposite the leaves. (Name compounded of φυτόν, plant, and the French lac, lake, in allusion to the crimson coloring matter which the berries yield.)

1. P. decándra, L. (Common Poke or Scoke. Garget. Pigeon-Berry.) Stamens and styles 10.—Low grounds. July–Sept.—A smooth plant, with a rather unpleasant odor, and a very large poisonous root, often 4–6´ in diameter, sending up stout stalks at length 6–9° high; calyx white; ovary green; berries in long racemes, dark-purple and filled with crimson juice, ripe in autumn.

Order 89. POLYGONÀCEÆ. (Buckwheat Family.)

Herbs, with alternate entire leaves, and stipules in the form of sheaths (ocreæ, these sometimes obsolete) above the swollen joints of the stem; the flowers mostly perfect, with a more or less persistent calyx, a 1-celled ovary bearing 2 or 3 styles or stigmas, and a single erect orthotropous seed. Fruit usually an achene, compressed or 3–4-angled or -winged. Embryo curved or straightish, on the outside of the albumen, or rarely in its centre. Stamens 4–12, inserted on the base of the 3–6-cleft calyx. (Juice often acrid, sometimes agreeably acid, as in Sorrel; the roots, as in Rhubarb, sometimes cathartic.)

[*] Flowers involucrate; stamens 9; stipules none.

1. Eriogonum. Involucre several-flowered, with flowers exserted. Calyx 6-cleft.

[*][*] Flowers without involucre; stamens 4 to 8.

[+] Stipular sheaths manifest; ovule erect from the base of the cell.

[++] Sepals 4 or 6, the outer row reflexed, the inner erect and enlarging in fruit.

2. Oxyria. Sepals 4. Stigmas 2. Achene orbicular-winged. Leaves reniform.

3. Rumex. Sepals 6. Stigmas 3. Achene 3-angled.

[++][++] Sepals 5 (sometimes 4), equal and erect in fruit. Achene triangular or lenticular.

4. Polygonum. Embryo slender, curved around one side of the albumen. Pedicels mostly fascicled.

5. Fagopyrum. Embryo in the albumen, its very broad cotyledons twisted-plaited.

6. Polygonella. Embryo slender, nearly straight. Pedicels solitary. Leaves jointed at base.

[+][+] Stipules obsolete; ovule hanging from the apex of a slender stalk.

7. Brunnichia. Calyx 5-parted, in fruit with a wing decurrent on the pedicel. Tendril-climber.

1. ERIÓGONUM, Michx.

Flowers perfect, involucrate; involucre 4–8-toothed or lobed, usually many-flowered; the more or less exserted pedicels intermixed with narrow scarious bracts. Calyx 6-parted or -cleft, colored, persistent about the achene. Stamens 9, upon the base of the calyx. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achene triangular. Embryo straight and axile, with foliaceous cotyledons.—Annuals or perennials, with radical or alternate or whorled entire leaves, without stipules. (Name from ἔριον, wool, and γόνυ, knee.)

1. E. ánnuum, Nutt. Annual, erect, leafy, naked above, 2° high, white-floccose-tomentose throughout; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute at both ends, short-petiolate, flat; bracts small, triangular; involucres numerous in terminal cymes, turbinate, shortly pedicelled, 1–1½´´ long, very tomentose; flowers white, the outer sepals oblong obovate, 1´´ long or less.—Central Kan. to Col., and southward.

(Addendum) 2. E. Allèni, Watson. Perennial, white-tomentose throughout, the tall scape-like stem repeatedly dichotomous above; radical leaves lanceolate, long-petiolate, the upper in whorls of 4 or 5, ovate to oblong-ovate, very shortly petiolate, much reduced above; involucres mostly sessile; flowers glabrous, yellow, the segments elliptical.—Near White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. (T. F. Allen).

2. OXÝRIA, Hill. Mountain Sorrel.

Calyx herbaceous, of 4 sepals; the outer smaller and spreading, the inner broader and erect (but unchanged) in fruit. Stamens 6. Stigmas 2, sessile, tufted. Achene lenticular, thin, flat, much larger than the calyx, surrounded by a broad veiny wing. Seed flattened contrary to the wing. Embryo straight, in the centre of the albumen, slender.—Low alpine perennial, with round-kidney-form and long-petioled leaves chiefly from the root, obliquely truncate sheaths, and small greenish flowers clustered in panicled racemes on a slender scape. (Name from ὀξύς, sour, in allusion to the acid leaves.)

1. O. dígyna, Hill. Leaves all round-kidney-form, usually notched at the end; fruit orbicular.—Alpine region of the White Mts., and far north and westward. (Eu.)

3. RÙMEX, L. Dock. Sorrel.

Calyx of 6 sepals; the 3 outer herbaceous, sometimes united at base, spreading in fruit; the 3 inner larger, somewhat colored, enlarged after flowering (in fruit called valves) and convergent over the 3-angled achene, veiny, often bearing a grain-like tubercle on the back. Stamens 6. Styles 3; stigmas tufted. Embryo slightly curved lying along one side of the albumen, slender.—Coarse herbs, with small and homely (mostly green) flowers, which are crowded and commonly whorled in panicled racemes; the petioles somewhat sheathing at base. (The ancient Latin name; of unknown etymology.)

§ 1. LÁPATHUM. (Dock.) Flowers perfect or monœciously polygamous; herbage not sour or scarcely so; none of the leaves halberd-shaped. (Flowering through the summer.)

[*] Perennials, 1–7° high, mostly with fusiform roots; valves not bearing bristles.

[+] Valves (large, 3´´ broad or more, thin) all naked or one with a small grain.

R. Patiéntia, L. (Patience Dock.) A very tall species, with ovate-oblong and lanceolate leaves (broadest above the base), those from the root 2–3° long, and one of the heart-shaped nearly or quite entire valves (3´´ broad) bearing a small grain, or its midrib thickened at base.—N. Eng and N. Y. (Adv. from Eu.)

1. R. venòsus, Pursh. Stems from running rootstocks, erect (1° high or less), with conspicuous dilated stipules; leaves on short but rather slender petioles, ovate or oblong to lanceolate (3–6´; long), acute or acuminate, only the lowest obtuse at base; panicle nearly sessile, short, dense in fruit; valves entire, glandless, broadly cordate with a deep sinus, 9–12´´ in diameter, bright rose-color.—Sask. to central Mo. and Kan., and westward.

[+][+] Valves smaller, one or more of them conspicuously grain-bearing.

[++] Indigenous; leaves not wavy, none heart-shaped, except the lowest of n. 5.

2. R. Británnica, L. (Great Water-Dock.) Tall and stout (5–6° high); leaves oblong-lanceolate, rather acute at both ends, transversely veined, and with obscurely erose-crenulate margins (the lowest, including the petiole, 1–2° long, the middle rarely truncate or obscurely cordate at base); racemes upright in a large compound panicle, nearly leafless; whorls crowded; pedicels capillary, nodding, about twice the length of the fruiting calyx; the valves orbicular or round-ovate, very obtuse, obscurely heart-shaped at base, finely reticulated, entire or repand-denticulate (2–3´´ broad), all grain-bearing. (R. orbiculatus, Gray.)—Wet places, N. Eng. to N. J., west to Minn, and Kan.

3. R. altíssimus, Wood. (Pale Dock.) Rather tall (2–6° high); leaves ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, acute, pale, thickish, obscurely veiny (the cauline 3–6´ long, contracted at base into a short petiole); racemes spike-like and panicled, nearly leafless; whorls crowded; pedicels nodding, shorter than the fruiting calyx; valves broadly ovate or obscurely heart-shaped, obtuse or acutish, entire, loosely reticulated (about 2´´ broad), one with a conspicuous grain, the others with a thickened midrib or naked. (R. Britannica, Gray; not L.)—Moist grounds, N. Y. and N. J. to Minn., and Kan.

4. R. salicifòlius, Weinmann. (White Dock.) Rather low (1–3° high); root white, leaves narrowly or linear-lanceolate, or the lowest oblong; whorls much crowded; pedicels much shorter than the fruiting calyx; valves deltoid-ovate, obtusish or acutish (about 1½´´ long), one, two or sometimes all with a conspicuous often very large grain; otherwise nearly as n. 3.—Salt marshes, from Newf. to N. Eng., about the Great Lakes, and far westward.

5. R. verticillàtus, L. (Swamp Dock.) Rather tall (3–5° high); leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, rather obtuse, thickish, pale-green, the lowest often heart-shaped at base; racemes nearly leafless, elongated, loose, the whorls crowded or the lower ones distant; fruit-bearing pedicels slender, club-shaped, abruptly reflexed, 3–4 times longer than the fruiting calyx; valves dilated-rhomboid, obtusely somewhat pointed, strongly rugose-reticulated, each bearing a very large grain.—Wet swamps, common.

[++][++] Naturalized European weeds; lower leaves mostly heart-shaped at base.

R. críspus, L. (Curled Dock.) Smooth (3–4° high); leaves with strongly wavy-curled margins, lanceolate, acute, the lower truncate or scarcely heart-shaped at base; whorls crowded in prolonged wand-like racemes, leafless above; valves round-heart-shaped, obscurely denticulate or entire, mostly all grain-bearing.—In cultivated and waste ground, very common. A hybrid of this with the next is reported from Mass., N. Y., and Md.

R. obtusifòlius, L. (Bitter Dock.) Stem roughish; lowest leaves ovate-heart-shaped, obtuse, rather downy on the veins beneath, somewhat wavy-margined, the upper oblong-lanceolate, acute; whorls loose and distant; valves ovate-halberd-shaped, with some sharp awl-shaped teeth at base, strongly reticulated, one of them principally grain-bearing.—Fields, etc., common.

R. sanguíneus, L. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, often fiddle shaped, wavy-margined; whorls distant, in long slender leafless spikes; pedicels very short, jointed at base; valves narrowly oblong, obtuse, entire, one at least grain-bearing; veins of the leaf red, or green.—Waste and cultivated ground.

R. conglomeràtus, Murray. (Smaller Green Dock.) Like the last, but leaves not fiddle-shaped, and panicle leafy; pedicels short, jointed below the middle; valves acutish, all grain-bearing.—Moist places.

[*][*] Annuals, low; valves bearing long awns or bristles.

6. R. marítimus, L. (Golden Dock.) Minutely pubescent, diffusely branched, 6–12´ high; leaves lance-linear, wavy-margined, the lower auricled or heart-shaped at base; whorls excessively crowded in leafy and compact or interrupted spikes; valves rhombic-oblong, lance-pointed, each bearing 2–3 long awn-like bristles on each side, and a large grain on the back.—Sea-shore, Mass. to N. C.; also from Ill. to Minn., and westward.

§ 2. ACETÒSA. (Sorrel.) Flowers diœcious, small, in a terminal naked panicle; herbage sour; some leaves halberd-shaped; smooth perennials, spreading by running rootstocks, flowering in spring.

7. R. hastátulus, Baldw. Stem simple, 1–2° high; leaves nearly as in the next; pedicels jointed at or below the middle; valves of the fruiting calyx round-heart-shaped, thin, finely reticulated, naked, many times larger than the achene. (R. Engelmanni, Ledeb.)—S. W. Ill. to E. Kan., Tex., and Fla.; Riverhead, Long Island (Young).

R. Acetosélla, L. (Field or Sheep Sorrel.) Low (6–12´ high); leaves narrow-lanceolate or linear, halberd-form, at least those of the root, the narrow lobes entire; pedicels jointed with the flower; valves scarcely enlarging in fruit, ovate, naked.—Abundant everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.)

R. Acetòsa, L. (Sorrel Dock.) Like the last, but taller (1–3° high); leaves oblong or broadly lanceolate; valves enlarging in fruit and orbicular, the outer reflexed.—Charlotte, Vt., and Penn Yan, N. Y. (Nat. from Eu.)

4. POLÝGONUM, Tourn. Knotweed.

Calyx mostly 5-parted; the divisions often petal-like, all erect in fruit, withering or persistent. Stamens 4–9. Styles or stigmas 2 or 3; achene accordingly lenticular or 3-angular. Embryo placed in a groove on the outside of the albumen and curved half-way around it; the radicle and usually the cotyledons slender.—Pedicels jointed. Ours all herbaceous, with fibrous roots (except n. 19), flowering through late summer and early autumn. (Name composed of πολύς, many, and γόνυ, knee, from the numerous joints.)

§ 1. POLYGONUM proper. Flowers in axillary fascicles or spicate with foliaceous bracts; leaves and bracts jointed upon a very short petiole adnate to the short sheath of the 2-lobed or lacerate scarious stipules; stems striate; calyx 5–6-parted, usually more or less herbaceous; stamens 3–8, the 3 inner filaments broad at base; styles 3; cotyledons incumbent; albumen horny; glabrous annuals, except n. 1. (§ Avicularia, Meisn.)

[*] Leafy throughout.

1. P. marítimum, L. Perennial, at length woody at base (or sometimes annual), prostrate, glaucous, the stout stems very shortly jointed; leaves thick, oval to linear-oblong (3–10´´ long), exceeding the nodes; stipules very conspicuous; sepals petaloid; stamens 8; achene smooth and shining, exserted.—Sea-coast from Mass. to Ga. (Eu.)

2. P. aviculàre, L. Slender, mostly prostrate or ascending, bluish-green; leaves oblong to lanceolate (3–10´´ long), usually acute or acutish; sepals hardly 1´´ long, green with pinkish margins; stamens 8 (rarely 5); achene dull and minutely granular, mostly included.—Common everywhere in yards, waste places, etc. (Eu., Asia.)

3. P. eréctum, L. Stouter, erect or ascending (1–2° high), yellowish; leaves oblong or oval (½–2½´ long), usually obtuse; flowers mostly 1½´´ long, often yellowish, on more or less exserted pedicels, stamens 5–6; achene dull, included (P. aviculare, var. erectum, Roth.)—Common, by waysides, etc.

[*][*] Leaves much reduced above and bract-like.

4. P. ramosíssimum, Michx. Erect or ascending (2–4° high), yellowish green; leaves lanceolate to linear (1–2½´ long), acute; flowers and achene as in n. 3, but sepals more frequently 6, the stamens 3–6, and the achene mostly smooth and shining—Sandy shores and banks of streams, E. Mass to N. Y., west to Minn., Ark., Tex., and far westward.

5. P. ténue, Michx. Stem angled, erect (½–1½° high), glabrous, or slightly scabrous at the nodes; leaves narrowly linear to lanceolate (1–2´ long), 3-nerved, acute at each end and often cuspidate, the margins somewhat scabrous and at length revolute; flowers often solitary, nearly sessile; stamens 8; achene included, dull black—Dry soil, N. Eng. to S. C., west to Minn., Mo., and Tex.

6. P. campòrum, Meisn. Stem terete, erect or ascending (2–3° high), glabrous; leaves deciduous, linear to oblong, usually short; pedicels slender, exserted from the scarious sheaths; stamens 8.—E. Kan. to Tex.

§ 2. PERSICÀRIA Flowers in dense spikes, with small scarious bracts; leaves not jointed on the petiole; sheaths cylindrical, truncate, entire, naked or ciliate-fringed or margined; calyx colored, 5-parted, appressed to the fruit; stamens 4–8, filaments filiform; cotyledons accumbent.

[*] Sheaths and bracts not ciliate or fringed; sepals not punctate; style 2-cleft.

7. P. lapathifòlium, L. Annual, branching, 1–4° high, glabrous or the peduncles often minutely glandular; leaves lanceolate, attenuate upward from near the cuneate base and acuminate somewhat scabious with short appressed hairs on the midrib and margin or rarely floccose-tomentose beneath; sheaths and bracts rarely somewhat ciliolate; spikes oblong to linear (½–2´ long), dense, erect or nearly so; flowers white or pale rose-color; stamens 6; achene ovate, rarely 1´´ broad. (P. nodosum, Pers., P. incarnatum, Man., in part.)—Wet places; N. Eng. and Can. to Ill., Wisc., and far westward. Very variable. (Eu.)

Var. incarnàtum, Watson. Leaves often large (6–12´ long, 1–3´ wide); spikes more slender and elongated (2–4´ long), nodding. (P. incarnatum, Ell.)—Penn. to Ill., Mo., and southward.

Var. incànum, Koch. Low (6–12´ high); leaves small, obtusish, more or less hoary beneath with floccose tomentum; spikes short.—Cayuga Lake, N. Y., Ont., shores of L. Superior, and northwestward. (Eu.)

8. P. Pennsylvánicum, L. A similar species, but the branches above and especially the peduncles beset with stipitate glands; flowers larger and often bright rose-color, in short erect spikes, often on exserted pedicels; stamens usually 8; achene nearly orbicular, over 1´´ broad.—Moist soil, in open waste places, common.

9. P. amphíbium, L. Perennial, aquatic or rooting in the mud, stout and glabrous or nearly so, not branching above the rooting base; leaves usually floating, thick, smooth and shining above, mostly long petioled, elliptical to oblong or sometimes lanceolate, acutish, cuneate or cordate at base (2–5´ long); spike terminal, dense, ovate or oblong (½–1´ long); flowers bright rose-color (1½–3´´ long); the 5 stamens and 2-cleft style exserted.—Widely distributed and rather common. (Eu., Asia)

10. P. Muhlenbérghii, Watson. Perennial, in muddy or dry places, decumbent or suberect, scabrous with short appressed or glandular hairs; leaves thinner, rather broadly lanceolate, narrowly acuminate (4–7´ long); spikes more elongated (1–3´ long), often in pairs; flowers and fruit nearly as in the last. (P. amphibium, var. terrestre, Gray, Manual; not Lurs)—N. Eng. to Fla., westward across the continent.

[*][*] Sheaths and bracts bristly ciliate or the sheaths foliaceously margined.

[+] Sepals not punctate; style 2-cleft; achene somewhat flattened.

11. P. Hartwrìghtii, Gray. Perennial, very closely allied to n. 9, growing usually in mud, the ascending stems rooting at base and very leafy, more or less rough-hairy, at least on the sheaths and bracts, the former ciliate and often with abruptly spreading foliaceous borders; leaves rather narrow (2–7´ long), on very short petioles; flowers and fruit as in n. 9.—N. Eng. and N. Y., to Minn., Iowa, and far westward. When growing in water the floating leaves are thicker and glabrous.

12. P. Càreyi, Olney. Annual, erect, the stem (3–5° high) and peduncles glandular-bristly; leaves narrowly lanceolate, attenuate to both ends, roughish; sheaths ciliate or sometimes margined; spikes slender, loose and nodding; flowers purplish; stamens mostly 5.—Shady swamps, S. Maine and N. H. to Penn. and Ont.

P. orientàle, L. (Prince's Feather.) Tall branching annual, soft-hairy; leaves ovate or oblong, pointed, distinctly petioled; sheaths ciliate or often with an abrupt spreading border; flowers large, bright rose-color, in dense cylindrical nodding spikes; stamens 7.—Sparingly escaped from gardens into waste grounds. (Adv. from India)

P. Persicària, L. (Lady's Thumb.) Nearly smooth and glabrous (12–18´ high); sheaths more or less bristly-ciliate; leaves lanceolate, pointed, roughish, often marked with a dark triangular or lunar spot near the middle; spikes ovoid or oblong, dense, erect, on smooth (or at least not glandular) peduncles; stamens mostly 6; styles half 2–3-cleft; achene gibbous-flattened or sometimes triangular, smooth and shining.—Waste and damp places, very common. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] Sepals conspicuously dotted and leaves punctate (except n. 13), with acrid juice; style mostly 3-parted, and achene triangular; sheaths bristle-fringed.

13. P. hydropiperoídes, Michx. (Mild Water-Pepper.) Perennial, not acrid; stem smooth (1–3° high), branching; the narrow sheaths hairy; leaves narrowly lanceolate, sometimes oblong; spikes erect, slender, sometimes filiform, often interrupted at base (1–2½´ long); flowers small, flesh-color or nearly white; sepals not dotted; stamens 8; achene sharply triangular, smooth and shining.—Wet places and in shallow water; common, especially southward.

14. P. Hydrópiper, L. (Common Smartweed or Water-Pepper.) Annual, 1–2° high, smooth; leaves narrowly to linear-lanceolate; spikes nodding, usually short or interrupted; flowers mostly greenish; stamens 6; style 2–3-parted; achene dull, minutely striate.—Moist or wet grounds; apparently introduced eastward, but indigenous north and westward. (Eu.)

15. P. àcre, HBK. (Water Smartweed.) Perennial, nearly smooth; stems rooting at the decumbent base, 2–5° high; leaves larger and longer than in the last, taper-pointed; spikes erect; flowers whitish, sometimes flesh-color; stamens 8; style mostly 3-parted; achene smooth and shining.—Wet places; common, especially southward.

§ 3. BISTÓRTA. Glabrous alpine perennials, with thick creeping rootstocks and simple stems; flowers in a spike-like raceme; calyx colored, deeply 5-cleft; stamens 8; styles 3, long.

16. P. vivíparum, L. Smooth, dwarf (4–8´ high), bearing a linear erect spike of flesh-colored flowers (or often little red bulblets in their place); leaves lanceolate.—Alpine summits of N. Eng., shores of L. Superior, and northward. (Eu.)

§ 4. TOVÀRA. Perennials; flowers in loose naked long and slender spikes; calyx rather herbaceous (greenish), unequally 4-parted; stamens 5; styles 2, distinct, rigid and persistent on the smooth lenticular achene.

17. P. Virginiànum, L. Almost smooth; stem terete, upright (2–4° high); sheaths cylindrical, hairy and fringed; leaves ovate, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, rounded at the base, short-petioled, rough-ciliate (3–6´ long); flowers 1–3 from each bract, somewhat curved, the styles deflexed in fruit, minutely hooked.—Thickets in rich soil, common. (Asia.)

§ 5. TINIÀRIA. Annuals or perennials, mostly twining or climbing, and with petioled cordate or sagittate leaves; flowers in loose panicles or racemes or in terminal or axillary clusters; calyx green with colored margins, 5- (rarely 4-) parted; stamens mostly 8; styles or stigmas 3 (2 in n. 18).

[*] Annuals, erect, or somewhat climbing by reflexed prickles on the angles of the stem and petioles; sepals (pale rose-color or white) not keeled; bracts chaff-like.

18. P. arifòlium, L. (Halberd-leaved Tear-thumb.) Stem grooved-angled; leaves halberd-shaped, taper-pointed, long-petioled; flowers somewhat racemed (few); peduncles glandular-bristly; calyx often 4-parted; stamens 6; styles 2, very short; achene lenticular (large).—Low grounds. (Asia.)

19. P. sagittàtum, L. (Arrow-leaved Tear-thumb.) Stem 4-angled; leaves arrow-shaped, short-petioled; flowers capitate; peduncles smooth; stamens mostly 8; styles 3, slender; achene sharply 3-angled.—Low grounds, common.—Slender, smooth except the angles of the stem and midrib beneath, which are armed with fine and very sharp saw-toothed prickles. (Asia.)

[*][*] Stems not prickly; calyx with the 3 outer divisions keeled, at least in fruit; flowers in loose panicled racemes; bracts short-sheathing.

P. convólvulus, L. (Black Bindweed.) Annual, twining or procumbent, low, roughish, the joints naked; leaves halberd-heart shaped, pointed; flowers in small interrupted corymbose racemes; outer calyx-lobes keeled; achene smoothish.—Cult. and waste grounds, common. (Nat. from Eu.)

20. P. cilinòde, Michx. Perennial, minutely downy; the sheaths fringed at the base with reflexed bristles; leaves heart-shaped and slightly halberd-shaped, taper-pointed; racemes panicled; calyx-lobes obscurely keeled; achene very smooth and shining.—Copses and rocky hills, N. Eng. to mountains of N. C., west to Mich, and Minn. Climbing 3–9° high.

21. P. dumetòrum, L., var scándens, Gray. (Climbing False Buckwheat.) Perennial, smooth; sheaths naked; leaves heart-shaped or slightly halberd-shaped, pointed; racemes interrupted, leafy; the 3 outer calyx-lobes strongly keeled and in fruit winged; achene smooth and shining.—Moist thickets, common. Twining 8–12° high over bushes.

P. cuspidàtum, Sieb. & Zucc. Perennial, erect, stout and tall, glabrous except the loose axillary panicled racemes; leaves round-ovate, shortly acuminate, truncate or cordate at base; outer sepals broadly winged in fruit.—Occasionally escaped from gardens. (Japan.)

5. FAGOPỲRUM, Tourn. Buckwheat.

Calyx petal-like, equally 5-parted, withering and nearly unchanged in fruit. Stamens 8. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-sided, longer than the calyx. Embryo large, in the centre of the albumen, which it divides into 2 parts, with very broad and foliaceous plaited and twisted cotyledons.—Glabrous annuals, with triangular-heart-shaped or halberd-shaped leaves, semicylindrical sheaths, and corymbose racemes or panicles of white flowers, often tinged with green or rose-color. (Name from fagus, the beech, and πυρός, wheat, from the resemblance of the grain to the beech-nut; so the English name Buckwheat, from the German buche, beech.)

F. esculéntum, Moench. (Buckwheat.) Smoothish; flower with 8 honey-bearing yellow-glands interposed between the stamens; achene acute and entire, smooth and shining.—Old fields, remaining as a weed after cultivation, and escaping into copses. June–Sept. (Adv. from Eu.)

F. tatáricum, Gaertn. (India-wheat.) Flowers very small, on shorter pedicels; achene very dull and roughish, the sides sulcate.—An occasional escape from cultivation. (Adv. from Asia.)

6. POLYGONÉLLA, Michx.

Flowers perfect or polygamous-diœcious. Calyx 5-parted, petaloid, loosely persistent about the achene, the 3 inner divisions often enlarging in fruit, in which case the outer are usually spreading. Stamens 8. Styles 3, and achene 3-angular. Embryo slender, straight or nearly so, toward one side of the albumen.—Slender glabrous annuals or perennials, with alternate mostly linear leaves jointed at the base, and rather rigid truncate or oblique naked sheaths and bracts. Flowers on solitary jointed pedicels (nodding in fruit) in slender panicled racemes. (Diminutive of Polygonum.)

1. P. articulàta, Meisn. Annual, erect, branching, glaucous, 4–12´ high; leaves linear-filiform, deciduous; flowers rose-color, nodding, in very slender racemes, the calyx a little enlarged in fruit; 3 inner filaments dilated at base; achene exserted, smooth. (Polygonum articulatum, Gray.)—Dry, sandy soil; on the coast from Maine to N. J., and along the Great Lakes.

7. BRUNNÍCHIA, Banks.

Calyx 5-parted; the divisions somewhat petal-like, oblong, connivent and coriaceous in fruit, the base and almost the whole length of the pedicel winged on one side. Stamens 8; filaments capillary. Styles 3, slender; stigmas depressed-capitate. Ovule pendulous on a slender erect funiculus; seed erect, 6-grooved. Achene obtusely triangular, partly 3-celled, enclosed in the indurated calyx. Embryo in one of the angles of the mealy albumen, somewhat curved.—Somewhat shrubby with grooved stems, climbing by tendrils from the ends of the branches. (Named for F. Brunnich, a Danish naturalist.)

1. B. cirrhòsa, Banks. Glabrous; leaves ovate or heart-shaped pointed, entire; petioles dilated at base and partly clasping, but with no distinct sheath or stipules; flowers greenish, 2–5 in a fascicle from the axil of an awl-shaped bract, these crowded in axillary and terminal racemes; pedicel jointed near the base; fruiting calyx with the wing 1´ long.—S. Ill. to S. C. and Fla.

Order 90. PODOSTEMÀCEÆ. (River-weed Family.)

Aquatics, growing on stones in running water, some with the aspect of Sea-weeds, or others of Mosses or Liverworts; the minute naked flowers bursting from a spathe-like involucre as in Liverworts, producing a 2–3-celled many-seeded ribbed capsule;—represented in North America by

1. PODOSTÈMON, Michx. River-weed.

Flowers solitary, nearly sessile in a tubular sac-like involucre, destitute of floral envelopes. Stamens 2, borne on one side of the stalk of the ovary, with their long filaments united into one for more than half their length, and 2 short sterile filaments, one on each side; anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2, awl shaped. Capsule pedicellate, oval, 8-ribbed, 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds minute, very numerous on a thick persistent central placenta, destitute of albumen.—Leaves 2-ranked. (Name from ποῦς, foot, and στήμων, stamen; the two stamens being apparently raised on a stalk by the side of the ovary.)

1. P. ceratophýllus, Michx. Leaves rigid or horny, dilated into a sheathing base, above mostly forked into thread-like or linear lobes.—Not rare in shallow streams, E. Mass, to Minn., and southward. July–Sept.—A small olive-green plant, of firm texture, resembling a Seaweed, tenaciously attached to loose stones by fleshy disks or processes in place of roots.

Order 91. ARISTOLOCHIÀCEÆ. (Birthwort Family.)

Twining shrubs, or low herbs, with perfect flowers, the conspicuous lurid calyx valvate in bud and coherent (at least at base) with the 6-celled ovary, which forms a many-seeded 6-celled capsule or berry in fruit. Stamens 6–12, more or less united with the style; anthers adnate, extrorse.—Leaves petioled, mostly heart-shaped and entire. Seeds anatropous, with a large fleshy rhaphe, and a minute embryo in fleshy albumen. A small family of bitter-tonic or stimulant, sometimes aromatic plants.

1. Asarum. Stemless herbs. Stamens 12, with more or less distinct filaments.

2. Aristolochia. Caulescent herbs or twining shrubs. Stamens 6, the sessile anthers adnate to the stigma.

1. ÁSARUM, Tourn. Asarabacca. Wild Ginger.

Calyx regular; the limb 3-cleft or parted. Stamens 12, with more or less distinct filaments, their tips usually continued beyond the anther into a point. Capsule rather fleshy, globular, bursting irregularly or loculicidal. Seeds large, thick.—Stemless perennial herbs, with aromatic-pungent creeping root-stocks bearing 2 or 3 scales, then one or two kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and a short-peduncled flower close to the ground in the lower axil; in spring. (An ancient name, of obscure derivation.)

§ 1. Calyx-tube wholly adnate to the ovary, the tips inflexed in bud; filaments slender, much longer than the short anthers; style barely 6-lobed at the summit, with 6 radiating thick stigmas; leaves a single pair, unspotted.

1. A. Canadénse, L. Soft-pubescent; leaves membranaceous, kidney-shaped, more or less pointed (4–5´ wide when full grown); calyx bell-shaped, the upper part of the short-pointed lobes widely and abruptly spreading, brown-purple inside.—Hillsides in rich woods; common, especially northward. (Addendum)—Asarum Canadense. In this species there are rudimentary subulate petals, alternate with the calyx-lobes.

§ 2. Calyx-tube inflated bell-shaped, somewhat contracted at the throat, its base adnate to the lower half of the ovary; limb 3-cleft, short; anthers sessile or nearly so, oblong-linear; styles 6, fleshy, diverging, 2-cleft, bearing a thick extrorse stigma below the cleft; leaves thickish, persistent, usually only one each year, often whitish-mottled; peduncle very short; rootstocks clustered, ascending.

2. A. Virgínicum, L. Nearly glabrous; leaves round-heart-shaped (about 2´ wide); calyx short, reticulated within; anthers pointless.—Va. to Ga., in and near the mountains.

3. A. arifòlium, Michx. Leaves halberd-heart-shaped (2–4´ long); calyx oblong-tubular, with very short and blunt lobes; anthers obtusely short-pointed.—Va. to Fla.

2. ARISTOLÒCHIA, Tourn. Birthwort.

Calyx tubular; the tube variously inflated above the ovary, mostly contracted at the throat. Stamens 6, the sessile anthers wholly adnate to the short and fleshy 3–6-lobed or angled style. Capsule naked, septicidally 6-valved. Seeds very flat.—Twining, climbing, or sometimes upright perennial herbs or shrubs, with alternate leaves and lateral or axillary greenish or lurid-purple flowers. (Named from reputed medicinal properties.)

§ 1. Calyx-tube bent like the letter S, enlarged at the two ends, the small limb obtusely 3-lobed; anthers contiguous in pairs (making 4 cells in a row under each of the three truncate lobes of the stigma); low herbs.

1. A. Serpentària, L. (Virginia Snakeroot.) Stems (8–15´ high) branched at base, pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong (or narrower) from a heart-shaped base or halberd-form, mostly acute or pointed; flowers all next the root, short-peduncled.—Rich woods, Conn. to Fla., west to Mich., Mo., and La. July.—The fibrous, aromatic-stimulant root is well known in medicine.

§ 2. Calyx-tube strongly curved like a Dutch pipe, contracted at the mouth, the short limb obscurely 3-lobed; anthers contiguous in pairs under each of the 3 short and thick lobes of the stigma; very tall twining shrubs; flowers from one or two of the superposed accessory axillary buds.

2. A. Sìpho, L'Her. (Pipe-Vine. Dutchman's Pipe.) Nearly glabrous; leaves round-kidney-shaped (sometimes 8–12´ broad); peduncles with a clasping bract; calyx (1½´ long) with a brown-purple abrupt flat border.—Rich woods, Penn. to Ga., west to Minn. and Kan. May.

3. A. tomentòsa, Sims. Downy or soft-hairy; leaves round-heart-shaped, very veiny (3–5´ long); calyx yellowish, with an oblique dark purple closed orifice and a rugose reflexed limb.—Rich woods, mountains of N. C. to Fla., west to S. Ill. and Mo. June.

§ 3. Calyx-tube straight, open, with ample 6-lobed limb, the lobes appendaged; anthers equidistant; erect herbs; flowers in axillary cymose fascicles.

A. clemátitis, L., with long-petioled cordate leaves, from Europe, is said to have permanently escaped near Ithaca, N. Y. (Dudley).

Order 92. PIPERÀCEÆ. (Pepper Family.)

Herbs, with jointed stems, alternate entire leaves, and perfect flowers in spikes, entirely destitute of floral envelopes, and with 3–5 more or less separate or united ovaries.—Ovules few, orthotropous. Embryo heart-shaped, minute, contained in a little sac at the apex of the albumen.—The characters are those of the Tribe Saurureæ, the Piperaceæ proper (wholly tropical) differing in having a 1-celled and 1-ovuled ovary.

1. SAURÙRUS, L. Lizard's-tail.

Stamens mostly 6 or 7, hypogynous, with distinct filaments. Fruit somewhat fleshy, wrinkled, of 3–4 indehiscent carpels united at base. Stigmas recurved. Seeds usually solitary, ascending.—Perennial marsh herbs, with heart-shaped converging-ribbed petioled leaves, without distinct stipules; flowers (each with a small bract adnate to or borne on the pedicel) crowded in a slender wand-like and naked peduncled terminal spike or raceme (its appearance giving rise to the name, from σαῦρος, a lizard, and οὐρά, tail).

1. S. cérnuus, L. Flowers white, fragrant; spike nodding at the end; bract lanceolate; filaments long and capillary.—Swamps, Conn. to Ont., Minn., Mo., and southward. June–Aug.

Order 93. LAURÀCEÆ. (Laurel Family.)

Aromatic trees or shrubs, with alternate simple leaves mostly marked with minute pellucid dots, and flowers with a regular calyx of 4 or 6 colored sepals, imbricated in 2 rows in the bud, free from the 1-celled and 1-ovuled ovary, and mostly fewer than the stamens; anthers opening by 2 or 4 uplifted valves.—Flowers clustered. Style single. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or drupe. Seed anatropous, suspended, with no albumen, filled by the large almond-like embryo.

[*] Flowers perfect, panicled; stamens 12, three of them sterile, three with extrorse anthers.

1. Persea. Calyx persistent. Anthers 4-celled. Evergreen.

[*][*] Flowers diœcious, or nearly so; stamens in the sterile flowers 9. Leaves deciduous.

2. Sassafras. Flowers in corymb- or umbel-like racemes. Anthers 4-celled, 4-valved.

3. Litsea. Flowers few in involucrate umbels. Anthers 4-celled, 4-valved.

4. Lindera. Flowers in umbel-like clusters. Anthers 2-celled, 2-valved.

1. PÉRSEA, Gaertn. Alligator Pear.

Flowers perfect, with a 6-parted calyx, persistent at the base of the berry-like fruit. Stamens 12, in four rows, the 3 of the innermost row sterile and gland-like, the rest bearing 4-celled anthers (i.e. with each proper cell divided transversely into two), opening by as many uplifted valves; the anthers of 3 stamens turned outward, the others introrse.—Trees, with persistent entire leaves, and small panicled flowers. (An ancient name of some Oriental tree.)

1. P. Carolinénsis, Nees. (Red Bay.) Hoary with a fine down, at least when young; leaves oblong, pale, soon smooth above; peduncle bearing few flowers in a close cluster; sepals downy, the outer shorter; berries dark blue, on a red stalk.—Swamps, S. Del. to Fla. and Tex. May. A small tree.

2. SÁSSAFRAS, Nees.

Flowers diœcious, with a 6-parted spreading calyx; the sterile kind with 9 stamens inserted on the base of the calyx in 3 rows, the 3 inner with a pair of stalked glands at the base of each; anthers 4-celled, 4-valved; fertile flowers with 6 short rudiments of stamens and an ovoid ovary. Drupe ovoid (blue), supported on a club-shaped and rather fleshy reddish pedicel.—Trees, with spicy-aromatic bark, and very mucilaginous twigs and foliage; leaves deciduous, often lobed. Flowers greenish-yellow, naked, in clustered and peduncled corymbed racemes, appearing with the leaves, involucrate with scaly bracts. Leaf-buds scaly. (The popular name, applied by the early French settlers in Florida.)

1. S. officinàle, Nees. Trees 15–125° high, with yellowish-green twigs; leaves ovate, entire, or some of them 3-lobed, soon glabrous.—Rich woods, E. Mass. to S. Ont., Mich., E. Iowa and Kan., and south to the Gulf. April.

3. LÍTSEA, Lam.

Flowers diœcious, with a 6-parted deciduous calyx; the sterile with 9 stamens in 3 rows; their anthers all introrse, 4-celled, 4-valved; fertile flowers with 12 or more rudiments of stamens and a globular ovary. Drupe globular. —Shrubs or trees, with entire leaves, and small flowers in axillary clustered umbels. (Name of Chinese origin.)

1. L. geniculàta, Benth. & Hook. (Pond Spice.) Flowers (yellow) appearing before the deciduous oblong leaves, which are hairy on the midrib beneath; branches forked and divaricate, the branchlets zigzag; involucres 2–4-leaved, 2–4-flowered; fruit red. (Tetranthera geniculata, Nees.)—Swamps, Va. to Fla. April.

4. LÍNDERA, Thunb. Wild Allspice. Fever-bush.

Flowers polygamous-diœcious, with a 6-parted open calyx; the sterile with 9 stamens in 3 rows, the inner filaments 1–2-lobed and gland-bearing at base; anthers 2-celled and 2-valved; fertile flowers with 15–18 rudiments of stamens in 2 forms, and a globular ovary. Drupe obovoid, red, the stalk not thickened.—Shrubs, with deciduous leaves, and honey-yellow flowers in almost sessile lateral umbel-like clusters, appearing before the leaves (in our species); the clusters composed of smaller clusters or umbels, each of 4–6 flowers and surrounded by an involucre of 4 deciduous scales. Leaf-buds scaly. (Named for John Linder, a Swedish botanist of the early part of the 18th century.)

1. L. Benzòin, Blume. (Spice-bush. Benjamin-bush.) Nearly smooth (6–15° high); leaves oblong-obovate, pale underneath.—Damp woods, N. Eng. to Ont., Mich., E. Kan., and southward. March, April.

2. L. melissæfòlia, Blume. Young branches and buds pubescent; leaves oblong, obtuse or heart-shaped at base, downy beneath; umbels few.—Low grounds, N. C. to Fla., west to S. Ill. and Mo. April.

Order 94. THYMELÆÀCEÆ. (Mezereum Family.)

Shrubs, with acrid and very tough (not aromatic) bark, entire leaves, and perfect flowers with a regular and simple colored calyx, bearing usually twice as many stamens as its lobes, free from the 1-celled and 1-ovuled ovary, which forms a berry-like drupe in fruit, with a single suspended anatropous seed. Embryo large; albumen little or none.

1. Dirca. Calyx tubular, without spreading lobes. Stamens and style exserted.

2. Daphne. Calyx-lobes (4) spreading. Stamens included. Style very short or none.

1. DÍRCA, L. Leatherwood. Moosewood.

Calyx petal-like, tubular-funnel-shaped, truncate, the border wavy or obscurely about 4-toothed. Stamens 8, long and slender, inserted on the calyx above the middle, protruded, the alternate ones longer. Style thread-form; stigma capitate. Drupe oval (reddish).—A much-branched bush, with jointed branchlets, oval-obovate alternate leaves, at length smooth, deciduous, on very short petioles, the bases of which conceal the buds of the next season. Flowers light yellow, preceding the leaves, 3 or 4 in a cluster from a bud of as many dark-hairy scales, forming an involucre, from which soon after proceeds a leafy branch. (Name of uncertain derivation.)

1. D. palústris, L. Shrub 2–5° high; the wood white, soft, and very brittle; but the fibrous bark remarkably tough (used by the Indians for thongs, whence the popular names).—Damp rich woods, N. Brunswick to Minn. and Mo., south to the Gulf. April.

2. DÁPHNE, Linn. Mezereum.

Calyx salver-shaped or somewhat funnel-shaped, the border spreading and 4-lobed. Stamens 8, included; the anthers nearly sessile on the calyx-tube. Style very short or none; stigma capitate. Drupe red.—Hardy low shrub. (Mythological name of the nymph transformed by Apollo into a Laurel.)

D. Mezèreum, L. Shrub 1–3° high, with purple-rose-colored (rarely white) flowers, in lateral clusters on shoots of the preceding year, before the lanceolate very smooth green leaves; berries red.—Escaped from cultivation in Canada, Mass., and N. Y. Early spring. (Nat. from Eu.)

Order 95. ELÆAGNÀCEÆ. (Oleaster Family.)

Shrubs or small trees, with silvery-scurfy leaves and perfect or diœcious flowers; further distinguished from the Mezereum Family by the erect or ascending albuminous seed, and the calyx-tube becoming pulpy and berry-like in fruit, strictly enclosing the achene.

1. Elæagnus. Flowers perfect. Stamens 4. Leaves alternate.

2. Shepherdia. Flowers diœcious. Stamens 8. Leaves opposite.

1. ELÆÁGNUS, Tourn.

Flowers perfect. Calyx cylindric-campanulate above the persistent oblong or globose base, the limb valvately 4-cleft, deciduous. Stamens 4, in the throat. Style linear, stigmatic on one side. Fruit drupe-like, with an oblong, 8-striate stone.—Leaves alternate, entire and petioled, and flowers axillary and pedicellate. (From ἐλαία, the olive, and ἄγνος, sacred, the Greek name of the Chaste-tree, Vitex Agnus-castus.)

1. E. argéntea, Pursh. (Silver-Berry.) A stoloniferous unarmed shrub (6–12° high), the younger branches covered with ferruginous scales; leaves elliptic to lanceolate, undulate, silvery-scurfy and more or less ferruginous; flowers numerous, deflexed, silvery without, pale yellow within, fragrant; fruit scurfy, round-ovoid, dry and mealy, edible, 4–5´´ long.—N. W. Minn. to Utah and Montana.

2. SHEPHÉRDIA, Nutt.

Flowers diœcious; the sterile with a 4-parted calyx (valvate in the bud) and 8 stamens, alternating with as many processes of the thick disk; the fertile with an urn-shaped 4-cleft calyx, enclosing the ovary (the orifice closed by the teeth of the disk), and becoming berry-like in fruit. Style slender; stigma 1-sided.—Leaves opposite, entire, deciduous; the small flowers nearly sessile in their axils on the branches, clustered, or the fertile solitary. (Named for John Shepherd, formerly curator of the Liverpool Botanic Garden.)

1. S. Canadénsis, Nutt. Leaves elliptical or ovate, nearly naked and green above, silvery-downy and scurfy with rusty scales beneath; fruit yellowish-red, insipid.—Rocky or gravelly banks, Vt. and N. Y. to Mich., Minn., and north and westward. May.—Shrub 3–6° high, the branchlets, young leaves, yellowish flowers, etc., covered with rusty scales.

2. S. argéntea, Nutt. (Buffalo-Berry.) Somewhat thorny, 5–18° high; leaves cuneate-oblong, silvery on both sides; fruit ovoid, scarlet, acid and edible.—N. Minn. to Col., and westward.

Order 96. LORANTHÀCEÆ. (Mistletoe Family.)

Shrubby plants with coriaceous greenish foliage, parasitic on trees, represented in the northern temperate zone chiefly by the Mistletoe and its near allies; distinguished from the next family more by the parasitic growth and habit, and by the more reduced flowers, than by essential characters.

1. Phoradendron. Anthers 2-celled. Berry globose, pulpy. Leaves foliaceous.

2. Arceuthobium. Anthers a single orbicular cell. Berry compressed, fleshy. Leaves scale-like, connate.

1. PHORADÉNDRON, Nutt. False Mistletoe.

Flowers diœcious, in short catkin-like jointed spikes, usually several to each short fleshy bract or scale, and sunk in the joint. Calyx globular, 3- (rarely 2–4-) lobed; in the staminate flowers a sessile anther is borne on the base of each lobe, transversely 2-celled, each cell opening by a pore or slit; in the fertile flowers the calyx-tube adheres to the ovary; stigma sessile, obtuse. Berry 1-seeded, pulpy. Embryo small, half imbedded in the summit of mucilaginous albumen.—Yellowish-green woody parasites on the branches of trees, with jointed much-branched stems, thick and firm persistent leaves (or only scales in their place), and axillary small spikes of flowers. (Name composed of φώρ, a thief, and δένδρον, tree; from the parasitic habit.)

1. P. flavéscens, Nutt. (American Mistletoe.) Leaves obovate or oval, somewhat petioled, longer than the spikes, yellowish; berries white.—On various deciduous trees, N. J. to S. Ind., Mo., and southward.

2. ARCEUTHÒBIUM, Bieb.

Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or several from the same axil. Calyx mostly compressed; the staminate usually 3-parted, the pistillate 2-toothed. Anthers a single orbicular cell, opening by a circular slit. Berry compressed, fleshy, on a short recurved pedicel.—Parasitic on Conifers, glabrous, with rectangular branches and connate scale-like leaves; flowers often crowded in apparent spikes or panicles, opening in summer or autumn and maturing fruit the next autumn. (From ἄρκευθος, the juniper, and βίος, life.)

1. A. pusíllum, Peck. Very dwarf, the slender scattered or clustered stems 3–10´´ high, usually simple, olive-green to chestnut; scales obtuse; flowers solitary in most of the axils; fruit narrowly oblong, 1´´ long.—On Abies nigra; N. New York; Hanover, N. H. (Jesup).

Order 97. SANTALÀCEÆ. (Sandalwood Family.)

Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with entire leaves; the 4–5-cleft calyx valvate in the bud, its tube coherent with the 1-celled ovary, which contains 2–4 ovules suspended from the apex of a stalk-like free central placenta which rises from the base of the cell, but the (indehiscent) fruit always 1-seeded.—Seed destitute of any proper seed-coat. Embryo small, at the apex of copious albumen; radicle directed upward; cotyledons cylindrical. Stamens equal in number to the lobes of the calyx, and inserted opposite them into the edge of the fleshy disk at their base. Style 1. A small order, the greater part belonging to warm regions.

1. Comandra. Flowers perfect, in umbel-like clusters. Low herbaceous perennials.

2. Pyrularia. Flowers diœcious or polygamous, in short spikes or racemes. Shrub.

1. COMÁNDRA, Nutt. Bastard Toad-flax.

Flowers perfect. Calyx bell-shaped or soon urn-shaped, lined above the ovary with an adherent disk which has a 5-lobed free border. Stamens inserted on the edge of the disk between its lobes, opposite the lobes of the calyx, to the middle of which the anthers are connected by a tuft of thread-like hairs. Fruit drupe-like or nut-like, crowned by the persistent calyx-lobes, the cavity filled by the globular seed.—Low and smooth (sometimes parasitic) perennials, with herbaceous stems from a rather woody base or root, alternate and almost sessile leaves, and greenish-white flowers in terminal or axillary small umbel-like clusters. (Name from κόμη, hair, and ἄνδρες, for stamens, in allusion to the hairs on the calyx-lobes which are attached to the anthers.)

1. C. umbellàta, Nutt. Stem 8–10´ high, branched, very leafy; leaves oblong, pale (1´ long); peduncles several and corymbose-clustered at the summit, several-flowered; calyx-tube conspicuously continued as a neck to the dry globular-urn-shaped fruit; the lobes oblong; style slender.—Dry ground, common. May, June. Root forming parasitic attachments to the roots of trees.

2. C. pállida, A. DC. Leaves narrower, more glaucous and acuter, linear to narrowly lanceolate (or those upon the main stem oblong), all acute or somewhat cuspidate; fruit ovoid, larger (3–4´´ long), sessile or on short stout pedicels.—W. Minn. to S. W. Kan., and westward.

3. C. lívida, Richardson. Peduncles slender, axillary, 3–5-flowered, shorter than the oval leaves; calyx-tube not continued beyond the ovary, the lobes ovate; style short; fruit pulpy when ripe, red.—Newf., N. Vt., sandy shores of L. Superior, and northward.

2. PYRULÀRIA, Michx. Oil-nut. Buffalo-nut.

Flowers diœcious or polygamous. Calyx 4–5-cleft, the lobes recurved, hairy-tufted at base in the male flowers. Stamens 4 or 5, on very short filaments, alternate with as many rounded glands. Fertile flowers with a pear-shaped ovary invested by the adherent tube of the calyx, naked at the flat summit; disk with 5 glands; style short and thick; stigma capitate-flattened. Fruit fleshy and drupe-like, pear shaped; the globose endocarp thin. Embryo small; albumen very oily.—Shrubs or trees, with alternate short-petioled and deciduous leaves; the small greenish flowers in short and simple spikes or racemes. (Name a diminutive of Pyrus, from the shape of the fruit.)

1. P. pùbera, Michx. Shrub straggling (3–12° high), minutely downy when young, at length nearly glabrous; leaves obovate-oblong, acute or pointed at both ends, soft, very veiny, minutely pellucid-punctate; spike small and few-flowered, terminal; calyx 5-cleft; fruit 1´ long. (P. oleifera, Gray.)—Rich woods, mountains of Penn. to Ga. Whole plant, especially the fruit, imbued with an acrid oil.

Order 98. EUPHORBIÀCEÆ. (Spurge Family.)

Plants usually with a milky acrid juice, and monœcious or diœcious flowers, mostly apetalous, sometimes achlamydeous (occasionally polypetalous or monopetalous); the ovary free and usually 3-celled, with a single or sometimes a pair of ovules hanging from the summit of each cell; stigmas or branches of the style as many or twice as many as the cells; fruit commonly a 3-lobed capsule, the lobes or carpels separating elastically from a persistent axis and elastically 2-valved; seed anatropous; embryo straight, almost as long as and the flat cotyledons mostly as wide as the fleshy or oily albumen. Stipules often present.—A vast family in the warmer parts of the world; most numerously represented in northern countries by the genus Euphorbia, which has very reduced flowers within a calyx-like involucre.

[*] Flowers all without calyx, included in a cup-shaped calyx-like involucre,—the whole liable to be mistaken for a single flower.

1. Euphorbia. Involucre surrounding many staminate flowers (each of a single naked stamen) and one pistillate flower (a 3-lobed pistil).

[*][*] Flowers with a calyx, without involucre.

[+] Seeds and ovules 2 in each cell; flowers monœcious.

2. Pachysandra. Flowers in basal spikes. Calyx 4-parted. Stamens 4, distinct.

3. Phyllanthus. Flowers axillary. Stamens 3, united.

[+][+] Seeds and ovules 1 in each cell.

a. Flowers apetalous, in cymose panicles (2–3-chotomous); stamens 10, erect in the bud.

4. Jatropha. Calyx corolla-like, the staminate salver-form; armed with stinging hairs.

b. Flowers in terminal racemes or spikes. Stamens inflexed in the bud. Stellate-downy or scurfy, or hairy and glandular; leaves mostly entire.

5. Croton. Flowers spiked or glomerate. Ovary and fruit 3- (rarely 2–4-) celled.

6. Crotonopsis. Flowers scattered on the branchlets. Ovary and fruit 1-celled.

c. Flowers in axillary spikes or racemes (except n. 9), apetalous (except n. 7). Stamens 8 or more; anthers erect in the bud.

7. Argythamnia. Petals and sepals 5. Stamens 10–15, united. Styles bifid, linear.

8. Acalypha. Calyx 4- (3–5-) parted. Stamens mostly 8. Fertile flowers in the axils of leafy bracts. Stigmas finely dissected.

9. Ricinus. Racemes terminal, subpanicled. Calyx 3–5-parted. Stamens very numerous; the filaments repeatedly branched. Styles 2-parted.

d. Flowers apetalous, in racemes or spikes pistillate at base. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles simple.

10. Tragia. Flowers racemose. Calyx-lobes valvate in bud. Hirsute or pubescent.

11. Stillingia. Flowers spicate. Calyx-lobes imbricate in bud. Fertile bracts glanduliferous. Glabrous.

1. EUPHÓRBIA, L. Spurge.

Flowers monœcious, included in a cup-shaped 4–5-lobed involucre (flower of older authors) resembling a calyx or corolla, and usually bearing large thick glands (with or without petal-like margins) at its sinuses. Sterile flowers numerous and lining the base of the involucre, each from the axil of a little bract, and consisting merely of a single stamen jointed on a pedicel like the filament; anther-cells globular, separate. Fertile flower solitary in the middle of the involucre, soon protruded on a long pedicel, consisting of a 3-lobed and 3-celled ovary with no calyx, or a mere vestige. Styles 3, each 2-cleft; the stigmas therefore 6. Pod separating into 3 1-seeded carpels, which split elastically into 2 valves. Seed often caruncled (ours only in §§ 5 and 6).—Plants (herbs in the United States), with a milky acrid juice. Peduncles terminal, often umbellate-clustered; in the first section mostly appearing lateral, but not really axillary. (Named after Euphorbus, physician to King Juba.)

A. Glands of the involucre with petal-like, usually white or rose-colored, margins or appendages; these almost obsolete in n. 1.

§ 1. ANISOPHÝLLUM. Leaves all opposite, short-petioled, small, oblique at base; stipules awl-shaped or scaly and often fringed, persistent; stems much branched, spreading or usually procumbent; involucres solitary in the forks or in terminal or pseudo-lateral clusters, small, with 4 glands; seeds ash-colored (except in n. 10); annuals.

[*] Seeds smooth and even; leaves entire; whole plant glabrous.

1. E. polygonifòlia, L. Prostrate-spreading; leaves oblong-linear, obtuse, mucronate, slightly cordate or obtuse at base (4–8´´ long); stipules setaceously divided; peduncles in the forks, as long as the petioles; lobes of the involucre longer than the minute not appendaged glands; pods obtusely angled; seeds ovate (over 1´´ long, the largest of this section).—Sandy shores of the Atlantic and of the Great Lakes.

2. E. Géyeri, Engelm. Procumbent; leaves oblong-ovate, obtuse, slightly mucronate, mostly acutish at base, lowermost cordate (3–6´´ long); stipules setaceously divided; peduncles as long as the petioles, at length in loose foliaceous lateral clusters; glands with narrow white or red appendages; pods acutely angled; seeds ovate, acute at one end (½´´ long).—Sandy soil, Ill. to Wisc., Minn., and Kan.

3. E. petaloìdea, Engelm. Resembling the last, but half-erect and spreading; leaves longer, narrower, retuse or emarginate; peduncles longer than the petioles; involucres larger, the broadly campanulate appendages much larger and conspicuous; pod obtusely angled; seeds nearly 1´´ long.—From Iowa and Mo., westward.

4. E. sérpens, HBK. Stems filiform, prostrate, and often rooting; leaves round-ovate, obtuse or cordate at base (only ½–1½´´ long); stipules membranaceous, triangular; peduncles much longer than the petioles, at length in loose foliaceous lateral clusters; glands of the very small involucre with minute crenulate appendages; pods acutely angled; seeds obtusely angled (½´´ long or less).—Rich soil, Ill. and Iowa to Kan., and southward. Rarely adv. eastward.

[*][*] Seeds minutely roughened or transversely wrinkled or pitted; leaves more or less serrulate, smooth or often hairy.

5. E. serpyllifòlia, Pers. Glabrous, prostrate-spreading; leaves obovate-oblong, narrowed at the very oblique base, sharply serrulate toward the obtuse apex (3–6´´ long, often with a red spot); stipules lanceolate, fimbriate; peduncles as long as or longer than the petioles, at length in loose foliaceous lateral clusters; glands of the small involucre with narrow somewhat toothed appendages; pods sharply angled; seeds acutely quadrangular, slightly cross-wrinkled, often pitted (nearly ¾´´ long).—Wisc. to Mo., and westward.

6. E. glyptospérma, Engelm. Glabrous (or very rarely puberulent), erect-spreading; leaves linear-oblong, mostly falcate, very unequal at base, slightly serrulate toward the obtuse apex (2–5´´ long); stipules lanceolate, setaceously divided; peduncles as long as the petioles, in dense foliaceous lateral clusters; glands of the very small involucre with narrow crenulate appendages; pods sharply angled; seeds sharply 4-angled and with 5 or 6 sharp transverse wrinkles (½´´ long).—Ont. to Wisc., Ill., Mo., and westward.

7. E. maculàta, L. Prostrate; stems puberulent or hairy; leaves oblong-linear, very oblique at base, serrulate upward, more or less pubescent or sometimes smoothish (4–6´´ long), usually with a brown-red spot in the centre; stipules lanceolate, fimbriate; peduncles as long as the petioles, in dense foliaceous lateral clusters; glands of the small involucre minute, with narrow slightly crenate (usually red) appendages; pods acutely angled, puberulent; seeds ovate ({2/5}´´ long), sharply 4-angled and with about 4 shallow grooves across the concave sides.—Open places, roadsides, etc., common.

8. E. humistràta, Engelm. Procumbent, puberulent or hairy; leaves elliptical or obovate, very oblique at base, serrulate toward the apex, sparsely hairy underneath (4–9´´ long, sometimes with a brown spot above); stipules lanceolate, fimbriate; peduncles rather shorter than the petioles, in dense scarcely foliaceous lateral clusters; involucre cleft on the back, its (red or white) appendages truncate or crenate; pods sharply angled, puberulent; seeds ovate, obtusely angled, minutely roughened (½´´ long).—Rich soil, Ind. and W. Tenn. to Minn. and Kan.

9. E. Préslii, Guss. Smooth or with scattered hairs, ascending or erect (1–2° high); leaves oblique at the obtuse or slightly cordate base, ovate-oblong or oblong-linear, sometimes falcate, serrate (½–1½´ long), often with a red spot or red margins; stipules triangular; peduncles longer than the petioles, collected in loose leafy terminal cymes; appendages entire, larger and white, or smaller and sometimes red; pod glabrous, obtusely angled; seeds ovate, obtusely angled, wrinkled and tubercled (½´´ long), blackish. (E. hypericifolia of Man., not L.)—Common throughout the U. S. east of the plains.

§ 2. ZYGOPHYLLÍDIUM. Leaves opposite, on short petioles, not oblique, with stipular glands; stems dichotomously branched, erect; cymes terminal; involucres with 5 glands; seeds tuberculate.

10. E. hexágona, Nutt. Somewhat hairy (1° high or more); branches striate-angled; leaves linear-lanceolate, entire; involucre hairy without and within; glands with green ovate-triangular appendages twice their length; capsule smooth; seeds ovate.—Iowa to Tex., west to Col. and Montana.

§ 3. PETALÒMA. Uppermost leaves with conspicuous white petal-like margins, whorled or opposite, the others scattered; erect annuals, with leaves equal at base and entire, and with lanceolate deciduous stipules; involucres 5-lobed, in an umbel-like inflorescence.

11. E. marginàta, Pursh. Stem stout (2–3° high), erect, hairy; leaves sessile, ovate or oblong, acute; umbel with 3 dichotomous rays; glands of the involucre with broad white appendages.—Minn. to Mo., west to Col., also spreading eastward to Ohio, and frequently escaped from gardens, where it is often cultivated for its showy broadly white-margined floral leaves.

§ 4. TITHYMALÓPSIS. Only the uppermost leaves whorled or opposite; erect perennials, with entire leaves equal at base; stipules none; involucres mostly 5-lobed, in the forks of the branches and terminal; inflorescence umbelliform.

12. E. corollàta, L. Glabrous or sometimes sparingly hairy (2–3° high); leaves ovate, lanceolate, or linear, entire, obtuse; umbel 5- (3–7-) forked, and the forks again 2–3- (or rarely 5-) forked; involucres long-peduncled, with showy white appendages (appearing like petals), the lobes minute and incurved; pod slender-pedicelled, smooth; seeds thick (1´´ long or more), ash-colored, slightly uneven.—Rich or sandy soil, N. Y. and N. J. to Fla., west to Minn. and La., also adventive in Mass. July–Oct.

B. Glands of the involucre without petaloid appendages.

§ 5. POINSÉTTIA. Involucres in terminal clusters, 4–5-lobed, with few (or often solitary) cup-shaped glands; erect annuals, with variable, entire, dentate, or sinuate leaves, all or only the upper ones opposite; the uppermost often colored, especially at base; stipules small and glandular.

13. E. dentàta, Michx. Erect or ascending, hairy (1° high); leaves ovate, lanceolate, or linear, petioled, coarsely toothed (1–2´ long), only the lowest alternate, the upper often paler at base; involucres almost sessile, with 5 oblong dentate lobes, and one or sometimes more short-stalked glands; seeds ovate-globular, slightly tubercled.—Rich soil, Penn. to Tenn., Iowa, E. Kan., and southward. July–Sept.

14. E. heterophýlla, L. Erect (1–3° high), glabrous; leaves alternate, petioled, ovate-fiddle-shaped and sinuate-toothed, or lanceolate or linear and entire, often only those of the branches linear; the upper usually with a red base; involucres about the length of the peduncle, with 5 ovate incised lobes and a single or few and almost sessile glands; seeds nearly globular, tubercled.—Slopes and rocky soil, Minn. to W. Ill., Iowa and Mo.

§ 6. TITHÝMALUS. Involucres in a terminal dichotomous or commonly umbelliform inflorescence, 5- or usually 4-lobed, with as many flat or convex entire or crescent-shaped glands; seeds carunculate (except n. 15); ours ascending or erect, and mostly glabrous, without stipules.

[*] Perennials with entire leaves, all or only the upper opposite; involucres long-peduncled in a dichotomous inflorescence, mostly with 5 transversely oblong glands; seeds without caruncle.

15. E. Ipecacuánhæ, L. Stems many from a very long perpendicular root, erect or diffusely spreading (5–10´ long), forking from near the base; leaves varying from obovate or oblong to narrowly linear, almost sessile, glabrous; peduncles elongated (½–1´ long); pod long-pedicelled, obtusely angled, nearly smooth; seed ovate, white, sparsely marked with impressed dots.—Sandy soil, near the coast; Conn. to Fla.; also barrens of S. Ind.

[*][*] Leaves scattered, only the floral in the umbelliform inflorescence whorled or opposite and of a different shape; glands mostly 4.

[+] Leaves serrulate or rarely entire; glands transversely oval, obtuse.

[++] Seeds smooth and even; pod warty or rough.

16. E. Darlingtònii, Gray. Tall perennial (2–4° high); leaves entire, minutely downy beneath; those of the stem lanceolate-oblong from a narrow base; the floral oval, very obtuse; the upper roundish-dilated with a truncate base; umbel 5–8-rayed, then simply forked; pod minutely warty; large globular seed with a small caruncle.—Copses, N. Y. and Penn., to the mountains of N. C. July–Sept.

17. E. obtusàta, Pursh. Erect annual (1–2° high); leaves oblong-spatulate, minutely serrulate, smooth, all obtuse; upper ones cordate at base; floral ones ovate, dilated, barely mucronate; umbel once or twice divided into 3 rays, then into 2; involucre with naked lobes and small stipitate glands; styles distinct, longer than the ovary, erect, 2-cleft to the middle; pod beset with long warts.—Damp woods, Va. to S. C., west to Iowa and Kan. May–July.

E. platyphýlla, L. Erect annual (8–18´ high); upper stem-leaves lanceolate-oblong, acute, cordate at base, minutely serrulate, mostly with scattered hairs beneath; floral ones triangular-ovate, subcordate; umbel 5-rayed; involucre with ciliate lobes and large sessile glands; styles longer than the ovary, united at base, slightly 2-cleft; pod covered with depressed warts.—Along the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes to Mich. June–Aug. (Adv. from Eu.)

[++][++] Seeds rugose or reticulated; leaves serrulate; annuals.

18. E. dictyospérma, Fischer & Meyer. Stem erect (8–18´ high); leaves oblong- or obovate-spatulate, smooth, all obtuse and obtusely serrate; upper ones cordate at base; floral ones roundish-ovate or obscurely heart-shaped, slightly mucronate; umbels once or twice 3-forked, then 2-forked; involucre with nearly naked lobes and small almost sessile glands; styles shorter than the ovary, spreading or recurved; pod warty; seeds delicately reticulated.—Prairies and roadsides, Md. to Minn., Ala., and westward. May–July.

E. Helioscòpia, L. Stems ascending (6–12´ high), stout; leaves all obovate and very rounded or retuse at the end, finely serrate, smooth or a little hairy, those of the stem wedge-shaped; umbel divided into 5 rays, then into 3, or at length simply forked; glands orbicular, stalked; pods smooth and even; seeds with coarse honeycomb-like reticulations.—Waste places, eastward and along the Great Lakes to Mich. July–Sept. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] Leaves entire; glands crescent-shaped or 2-horned.

[++] Seeds smooth and dark-colored; perennials, with running rootstocks.

E. Ésula, L. Stems clustered (1° high); leaves lanceolate or linear, the floral (yellowish) broadly heart-shaped, mucronate; umbel divided into many rays, then forking; glands short-horned (brown); pods smoothish and granular.—Mass., western N. Y., and Mich.; rare. (Adv. from Eu.)

E. Cyparíssias, L. Stems densely clustered (6–10´ high); stem-leaves linear, crowded, the floral heart-shaped; umbel many-rayed; glands crescent-shaped; pods granular.—Escaped from gardens, common. (Nat. from Eu.)

E. Nicæénsis, All. Stout and tall glabrous perennial; leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, the floral broadly heart-shaped, mucronate; terminal umbel many-rayed, the rays forking; glands short-horned; pods finely wrinkled.—A rare escape; Binghampton, N. Y. (Adv. from Eu.)

[++][++] Seeds sculptured, ash-colored; pod smooth; annuals or biennials.

E. Péplus, L. Erect or ascending (5–10´ high); leaves petioled, thin round-obovate, the upper floral ones ovate; umbel 3-rayed, then forking; glands long-horned; lobes of the pod 2-wing-crested on the back; seeds 2-grooved on the inner face, pitted on the back (scarcely over ½´´ long).—Waste places, N. Eng. to N. J. and western N. Y. (Adv. from En.)

19. E. commutàta, Engelm. Stems branched from a commonly decumbent base (6–12´ high); leaves obovate, obtuse; the upper all sessile, the upper floral ones roundish-dilated, broader than long; umbel 3-forked; glands with slender horns; capsule obtusely angled; seeds ovate, pitted all over (1´´ long).—Along streams and shady slopes, Md. to Fla., Minn., and Mo.

[*][*][*] Glabrous annual or biennial with entire opposite and decussate leaves, an umbelliform inflorescence, and short-horned glands.

E. Láthyris, L. Stem stout (2–3° high); leaves thick, linear or oblong, the floral oblong-ovate and heart-shaped; umbel 4-rayed, then forking.—Sparingly escaped from gardens, N. Eng. to N. C. (Adv. from Eu.)

2. PACHYSÁNDRA, Michx.

Flowers monœcious, in naked spikes. Calyx 4–5-parted. Petals none. Ster. Fl. Stamens 4, separate; filaments long-exserted, thick and flat; anthers oblong-linear. Fert. Fl. Ovary 3-celled; styles 3, thick, awl-shaped, recurved, stigmatic down their whole length inside. Ovules a pair in each cell, suspended, with the rhaphe dorsal (turned away from the placenta). Capsule deeply 3-horned, 3-celled, splitting into 3 at length 2-valved 2-seeded carpels.—Nearly glabrous, low and procumbent perennial herbs, with matted creeping rootstocks, and alternate, ovate or obovate, coarsely toothed leaves, narrowed at base into a petiole. Flowers each 1–3-bracted, the upper staminate, a few fertile ones at base, unpleasantly scented; sepals greenish or purplish; filaments white (their size and thickness giving the name, from παχύς, thick, and ἀνήρ, used for stamen).

1. P. procúmbens, Michx. Stems (6–9´ long) bearing several approximate leaves at the summit on slender petioles, and a few many-flowered spikes along the base; the intervening portion naked, or with a few small scales.—Woods, mountains of Ky., W. Va., and southward. March–May.

3. PHYLLÁNTHUS, L.

Flowers monœcious, axillary. Calyx usually 5–6-parted, imbricated in the bud. Petals none. Stamens mostly 3, erect in the bud, often united. Ovules 2 in each cell of the ovary. Capsule depressed; each carpel 2-valved, 2-seeded. Seeds not carunculate.—Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, with small stipules. (Name composed of φύλλον, leaf, and ἄνθος, blossom, because the flowers in a few species are borne upon leaf-like dilated branches.)

1. P. Carolinénsis, Walt. Annual, low and slender, branched; leaves obovate or oval, short-petioled; flowers commonly 2 in each axil, almost sessile, one staminate, the other fertile; calyx 6-parted; stamens 3; styles 3, each 2-cleft; glands of the disk in the fertile flowers united in a cup.—Gravelly banks, E. Penn. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and Ill. July–Sept.

4. JÁTROPHA, L.

Flowers monœcious, rarely diœcious, in a terminal open forking cyme; the fertile ones usually in the lower forks. Calyx corolla-like, in the staminate flowers often salver shaped, 5-lobed; in the pistillate, 5-parted, imbricated or convolute in the bud. Corolla of 5 distinct or apparently united petals, or none. Glands of the disk opposite the calyx-lobes. Stamens 10–30, in 2 or more whorls; filaments monadelphous at base. Ovary mostly 3-celled; styles 3, united below, their summits once or twice forked. Capsule 3-celled, 3-seeded, separating into 3 two-valved carpels. Seed carunculate.—Perennial herbaceous or shrubby plants, chiefly tropical, with alternate mostly long-petioled palmately-veined leaves, and stipules.—Our species is of the section Cnidóscolus, with apetalous flowers, the staminate corolla salver-form, and the plants mostly armed with stinging bristles. (Name said by Linnæus to be formed of ἰατρὸν, a remedy, and φάγω, to eat.)

1. J. stimulòsa, Michx. (Tread-softly. Spurge-Nettle.) Herbaceous, from a long perennial root, branching (6´–2° high); leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3–5-lobed nearly to the base, on long petioles; the divisions entire or acutely toothed, cut, or even pinnatifid, often discolored; flowers white, fragrant, 9´´ long or more; filaments 10, monadelphous only at the woolly base, or the outer set almost distinct. (J. urens, var. stimulosa, J. Muell.)—Dry sandy soil, Va. to Fla. and La. June–Sept.

5. CRÒTON, L.

Flowers monœcious, rarely diœcious, mostly in terminal spike-like racemes or spikes. Ster. Fl. Calyx 5- (rarely 4–6-) parted; the divisions lightly imbricated or nearly valvate in the bud. Petals usually present, as many, but mostly small or rudimentary, hypogynous. Glands or lobes of the disk as many as and alternate with the petals. Receptacle usually hairy. Stamens 5 or more; filaments with the anthers inflexed in the bud. Fert. Fl. Calyx 5–10-cleft or parted, nearly as in the staminate flowers; but petals none or minute rudiments. Ovary 3- (rarely 2–4-) celled, with a single ovule in each cell; styles as many, from once to thrice 2-cleft. Capsule separating into as many 2-valved 1-seeded carpels. Seeds carunculate.—Stellate-downy, or scurfy, or hairy and glandular plants, mostly strong-scented; the fertile flowers usually at the base of the sterile spike or cluster. Leaves alternate, or sometimes imperfectly opposite, with or without obvious stipules. (Κροτών, the Greek name of the Castor-oil Plant, of this family.)

[*] Sterile flowers with 4-parted calyx, as many petals, a 4-rayed disk and 8 stamens; fertile flowers with 5-parted calyx, very minute rudimentary petals, and the 3 styles 2-cleft.

1. C. glandulòsus, L. Annual, rough-hairy and glandular (1–2° high), somewhat umbellately branched; leaves oblong or linear-oblong, obtusely toothed, the base with a saucer-shaped gland on each side; fertile flowers capitate-clustered at the base of the sterile spike, sessile in the forks and terminal.—Open waste places, Va. to Iowa, E. Kan. and southward.

[*][*] Sterile flowers with 5-parted calyx, as many glands alternating with the petals, and 10–14 stamens; fertile flowers with 7–12-parted calyx, no petals, and the 3 styles twice or thrice 2-parted.

2. C. capitàtus, Michx. Annual, densely soft-woolly and somewhat glandular (1–2° high), branched; leaves long-petioled, lance-oblong or elongated-oblong, rounded at base, entire; petals obovate-lanceolate, densely fimbriate; fertile flowers several, capitate-crowded at the base of the short terminal sterile spike.—Barrens, N. J. to Ga., west to S. Ind., Iowa, and E. Kan. July–Sept.

[*][*][*] Sterile flowers with unequally 3–5-parted calyx, as many petals and scale-like glands, and 3–8 stamens; fertile flowers with equally 5-parted calyx, no petals, 5 glands, and 2 sessile 2-parted stigmas.

3. C. monanthógynus, Michx. Annual, whitish-stellate-pubescent and rusty-glandular; stems (1–2° high) slender, erect, below often umbellately 3–4-forked, then repeatedly 2–3-forked or alternately branched; leaves oblong-ovate or narrowly oblong, entire, often acutish (6–12´´ long, about twice the length of the petioles); flowers in the forks, the sterile few on the summit of a short and erect peduncle, the fertile few and clustered or mostly solitary on short recurved peduncles; ovary 2-celled; fruit often by abortion 1-celled and 1-seeded; the seed broadly oval.—Barrens and dry prairies, S. Ind. to N. C. and Fla., west to E. Kan. June–Sept.

[*][*][*][*] Diœcious; calyx equally 5-parted; petals none; stamens 10 or more; styles twice or thrice dichotomously 2-parted.