98 CVIII, PHYTOLACCACEH (BAKER AND wricHT).  [Phytolacca. 
Lower Guinea. Angola, without precise locality, ex Hngler. 
Mozamb. Dist. Without precise locality, ex Engler. 
Var. macrophylla, Baker & Wright. Leaves up to 3-4 in. broad, with a mucro 
14 lin. long. Stamens shorter than the perianth.—P. abyssinica, var. macrophylla, 
De Wild. & Dur. Pl. Thonn. Congol. 15. 
South Central. Congo Free State: Ngali, 1200 ft., Thonner, 33. 
2. P. octandra, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. ii. 631. A perennial herb. 
Stems stout, erect, branched, 2-3 ft. long. Leaves oblong, acute, 
cuneate at the base, 3-4 in. long, distinctly petioled. Flowering 
racemes very dense; pedicels very short. Flowers hermaphrodite. 
Perianth green; segments ovate. Stamens and carpelsabout 8. Fruit 
globose, umbilicate, purplish black, syncarpous.—Mogquin in DC. Prodr. 
xilil. 11,32. P. mexicana baccis sessilibus, Dill. Hort. Eltham. ii. t. 239, 
fig. 308. 
Upper Guinea. Lagos, Rowland! 
Also in Natal and Tropical America, 
OrvEeR CIX. POLYGONACEA. (By J. G. Baker, 
with additions by C. H. Wright.) 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or polygamo-dicecious. Perianth 
inferior, coloured or greenish; tube short; lobes 4-6, imbricate. 
Stamens usually 6-9, inserted at the. base of the perianth; filaments 
filiform, free or connate at the base; anthers 2-celiled, dehiscing 
longitudinally, Disk annular. Ovary superior, sessile, trigonous or 
lenticular ; styles 2-3, distinct; stigmas dilated or capitate; ovule 
solitary, orthotropous, basal, sessile or stipitate. Fruit an indehiscent 
trigonous or lenticular nut. Seed similar in shape to the nut; testa 
membranous; endosperm abundant; embryo usually more or less 
excentric ; cotyledons flat, narrow or broad; radicle long.—Herbs or 
shrubs. Leaves alternate, with the base of the petiole dilated into 
a membranous sheath. Flowers small, racemose or axillary, usually 
fascicled in the axils of persistent membranous bracts. 
Species about 600, cosmopolitan. 
Stems herbaceous (except in Rumex nervosus). 
Base of the perianth accrescent and becoming nut- 
like : ; . . ; ; ; . 1. Oxyeonvm. 
Base of the perianth not accrescent, 
Perianth-segments equal . : ‘ 
Inner and outer perianth-segments very un- 
equal 4 : : “ ; ; . 38. RumMeEx. 
Stems shrubby. 
Flower dicecious. Female perianth very accres- 
cents... - : : : : : . 4, SYMMERIA. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Pedicel with a coria- 
ceous wing , . ° a ° : - 5. BRUNNICHIA. 
2. PoLygonum. 
