410 ALLIONIACEAE 
2. Boerhaavia linearifólia A. Gray. Perennial, slender, puberulent, hirsute and 
more or less glandular. Stem diffusely branched at the base, the branches erect or ascend- 
ing, 3-9 dm. long: leaf-blades linear to lanceolate, 1-3 cm. long, acute or acutish, usually 
revolute, rounded or subcordate at the oblique base, short-petioled : peduncles slender: 
calyx purple; tube glabrous or nearly so; limb rotate, 12-14 mm. broad : stamens 5, ex- 
serted : fruit oblong-clavate, 3 mm. long, 5-ribbed, rounded at the apex, glabrous. 
In arid places, Texas and New Mexico to Mexico. Spring and summer. 
3. Boerhaavia decümbens Vahl. Perennial, glabrous or nearly so. Stem branched 
at the base, the branches decumbent, 4-11 dm. long: leaf-blades ovate, 2-4 cm. long, 
rounded at the apex, strongly undulate, ciliate, whitish beneath, rounded or subcordate at 
the base ; petioles J as long as the blades or shorter: peduncles filiform, loosely spreading : 
calyx purple; tube glandular; limb campanulate, nearly 1 mm. high, glabrous or nearly 
so: stamens exserted: fruit club-shaped, about 3 mm. long, 5-angled, glandular-pilose, 
obtuse at the apex. 
In dry soil, Florida to Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Spring to fall. 
4. Boerhaavia hirsüta L. Annual or biennial, minutely pubescent and more or less 
hirsute above. Stem branched at the base, the branches diffusely spreading, 6-12 dm. long: 
leaf-blades ovate to oblong-ovate, 2-8 em. long, acute or obtuse, and mucronate, ciliate, 
undulate, both surfaces of almost the same color, the base rounded or truncate, or that of 
the upper ones acute ; petioles 3 as long as the blades or shorter: peduncles wire-like : calyx 
pink or purplish ; tube glandular-pubescent ; limb campanulate, 1.5 mm. high, glabrous or 
sparingly pubescent: stamens exserted : fruit obpyramidal, 3 mm. long, the ribs glandular, 
the top rounded. 
MEE an dry soil, peninsular Florida and southern Texas to Mexico. Also in tropical America. Spring 
all. 
5. Boerhaavia viscòsa Lag. & Rodr. Annual or biennial, stout, with viscid pilose 
hairs or puberulent. Stem widely branched at the base and throughout, the branches 
spreading in all directions : leaf-blades ovate to oblong, 2-4 cm. long, obtuse or mucronate, 
or acute, undulate, rounded or obtuse at the base, whitish beneath, becoming glabrous ; 
petioles 4 as long as the blades or shorter : peduncles slender : calyx pink or purple-pink, 
glandular; limb campanulate, 1-1.5 mm. long: stamens 3, exserted : fruit club-shaped, 
3-3.5 mm. long, acutish. 
In sandy soil, peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. Summer and fall. 
6. Boerhaavia erécta L. Annual or perennial, roughish pubescent or glabrous. 
Stem simple below, erect or ascending, or branched at the base, the branches decumbent or 
spreading, 3-12 dm. long : leaf-blades ovate to deltoid-ovate, sometimes inequilateral, 2-8 
cm. long, acute or obtuse and apiculate, repand or undulate, varying from acute to cordate 
at the base, minutely black-dotted on the lower whitish surface ; petioles usually about 3 as 
long as the blades or longer : peduncles filiform : flowers 2-6 in a cluster : calyx white to 
purple ; tube glabrous; limb campanulate, 1-1.5 mm. long, sparingly pubescent: stamens 
Fi fruit obpyramidal, 3.5-4 mm. long, 5-angled, the grooves transversely wrinkled, 
e top flat. 
_ In dry soil, South Carolina to Texas, south to Florida and Mexico. Also in tropical America. 
Spring to fall. 
8. PISONIA L. 
Tropical shrubs or trees, with erect or partly climbing armed or unarmed stems. 
Leaves opposite or alternate, without stipules: blades entire. Flowers perfect, dioecious 
or rarely monoecious, small, green or yellow, in pedunculate compound cymes : 
pedicels bracteolate, subtended by small bractlets. Calyx campanulate, tubular or funnel- 
form, accrescent : limb 5-lobed or 5-toothed, erect or spreading. Stamens 5-30, usually 
5-8, inserted on the base of the calyx or under the ovary : filaments filiform, distinct or 
united at the base, exserted, unequal: anthers introrse. Style stoutish, terminal or nearly 
so: stigma capitate, radiate or fimbriate. Fruit angled or ribbed, sometimes with rows 
of glands. 
Fruit with 5 rows of glands. 
Plant spiny: leaf-blades acute or short acuminate: fruit glandular from the base to the apex. 
1. P. aculeata. 
Plant unarmed : leaf-blades blunt or retuse: fruit glandular above the middle. 2. P. rotundata. 
Fruit without glands. 
Leaf-blades glabrous: fruit not constricted under the apex. 3. P. obtusata. 
Leaf-blades copiously pubescent : fruit constricted under the apex. 4. P. Floridana. 
_ 1. Pisonia aculeàta L. A shrub, 1-2 m. tall, with widely spreading branches, 
spine-armed. Leaf-blades elliptic, oval or ovate, 2.5-5 em. long, acute or short acumi- 
