404 ALLIONIACEAE 
3. PHYTOLACCA L. 
Large perennial herbs or shrubs, with erect or climbing stems and glabrous foliage, 
except in the inflorescence. Leaf-blades entire, thickish. Stipules wanting. Flowers per- 
fect or rarely dioecious, in terminal racemes, which become lateral by the prolongation of 
thestems: pedicels bracted, angled. Calyx herbaceous or slightly colored. Sepals 4-5, im- 
bricated, not accrescent. Stamens 5-25, inserted at the base of the ovary, reduced to stami- 
nodia in the pistillate flowers : filaments filiform or subulate : anthers opening lengthwise. 
Ovary depressed, sessile, of 5-12 more or less united carpels: styles 5-12, distinct. Ovules 
campylotropous. Berry depressed, pulpy. Seeds reniform, flattened, with a shining testa. 
Embryo bent around the mealy endosperm. 
1. Phytolacca decándra L. Perennial from a very large poisonous root, glabrous, 
except the racemes, bright green. Stem stout, erect, 1-3 m. tall, more or less branched, 
green or magenta, its pith in transverse plates: leaf-blades ovate, oblong or elliptic, 1-3 
dm. long, acute or short-acuminate, undulate, rather abruptly narrowed into the petiole : 
racemes puberulent or glabrate, somewhat drooping, 1-2 cm. long: pedicels pink, about 1 
em. long, subtended by narrow lanceolate bracts, bearing several narrow scales: calyx 
white or greenish, rather flat: sepals obovate, 3 mm. long, obtuse, somewhat hooded at 
the apex: berries spheroidal, 7-10 mm. broad, dark purple, filled with a crimson juice. 
Common, Maine to Minnesota, Florida and Texas. Summer and fall. POKE. INKBERRY. SCOKE. 
PIGEON-BERRY. 
Famity 6. BATIDACEAE Dammer. Baris FAMILY. 
Maritime shrubs, with erect or prostrate branching stems. Leaves opposite, 
fleshy, half-terete, linear or club-shaped, entire, sessile, without stipules. Flow- 
ers small, dioecious, in axillary cones. Staminate cones with persistent imbricated 
scales each subtending a flower: calyx cup-shaped, 2-lobed : stamens 4-5, in- 
serted at the base of the calyx: filaments thick, alternating with staminodia: 
anthers introrse, the sacs attached to each other above the middle.  Pi-tillate 
cones peduncled, 4-12-flowered, the scales deciduous: calyx and corolla want- 
ing: stamens and staminoidia wanting: ovary sessile, 4-celled, stigma sessile, 
cushion-like, somewhat 2-lobed. Ovule 1 in each cavity, erect, anatropous. 
Fruit a fleshy aggregate from the pistillate inflorescence, 4-seeded. Seeds erect, 
club-shaped, slightly curved. Testa membranous. Endosperm wanting. Em- 
bryo shaped like the seed, with large cotyledons. 
1. BATIS L. 
Characters of the family. 
1. Batis maritima L. A glabrous pale green strong-scented shrub, with spreading or 
prostrate stems 0.5-1.5 m. long. Branches angled, often erect : leaves fleshy, half terete, 
curved, 1-2.5 cm. long, acutish : spikes 5-10 mm. long, ovoid ; staminate sessile ; pistil- 
late on peduncles 2-5 mm. long: bracts reniform or suborbicular, often apiculate: calyx 
shorter than the bract: stamens 4-5, exserted, longer than the staminodia whose blades 
are triangular: fruit oblong or obovoid, 1-2 em. long, short-stalked, drooping. 
In sand along the coast and in salt marshes, North Carolina to Florida and Texas and through the 
tropies to northern South America. Alsointhe West Indies. SALT-WORT. 
FAMILY 7. ALLIONIACEAE Reichenb. FOUR-0’CLOCK FAMILY. 
Herbs, shrubs or trees, with branching or dichotomous-forking stems. Leaves 
alternate or opposite, without stipules: blades simple, entire or repand. In- 
florescence various. Flowers regular, perfect, or sometimes unisexual, often 
subtended by a conspicuous involucre. Calyx usually corolla-like, campanulate, 
trumpet-shaped or rotate, usually deciduous above the ovary. Corolla wanting. 
Androecium of 1-many stamens. Filaments filiform, distinct or united at the 
base, often unequal in length. Anthers 2-celled, opening by longitudinal cracks. 
Gynoecium of a single carpel. Ovary 1-celled, superior, but surrounded by the 
calyx-tube, sessile or short-stalked. Style slender. Stigma usually capitate. 
Ovule solitary, erect, campylotropous. Fruit an anthrocarp, indehiscent, fleshy, 
leathery or hard, angled, ribbed or grooved. Seed erect, with a hyaline testa, 
