BUETTNERIACEAE 781 
1. Ayenia pusilla L. Herbaceous from a woody base, the foliage puberulent. Stems 
diffusely branched, 1-3 dm. long: leaf-blades various, suborbicular to ovate or lanceolate, 
5-12 mm. long, serrate or nearly entire, the broader ones subcordate at the base, all slender- 
etioled : flowers solitary on peduncles 5-10 mm. long, or 2-3 in a cluster: sepals lanceo- 
ate, about 2 mm. long, acuminate: petals nearly twice as long as the sepals, with 
filiform claws and a dorsal appendage to each hooded blade: staminal column with a 
cup-like top :staminodia rounded: ovary shorter than its stalk: capsules depressed, 4-5 
mm. broad. 
2 In dry or sandy soil, Florida Keys and Texas to California. Also in the West Indies and tropical 
erica. 
6. NEPHROPÉTALUM Robinson & Greenman. 
Shrubs, resembling species of Ayenia in habit, with stellate-tomentulose foliage. 
Leaves alternate: blades broadest below the middle, toothed. Flowers perfect, incon- 
spicuous, few in peduncled umbel-like cymes. Sepals 5, nearly distinct. Petals 5, with 
slender claws and concave reniform unappendaged blades. Stamens 5: filaments united 
into a tube with the staminodia alternating with the 3-celled anthers. Ovary 5-celled : 
styles united: stigma capitate. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Capsule globular, muricate. 
Seed solitary. Endosperm wanting. Embryo with convolute cotyledons. 
1. Nephropetalum Prínglei Robinson & Greenman. A branching shrub, with cine- 
reous-tomentulose or early glabrate branches. Leaf-blades ovate, 8-13 cm. long, acuminate 
but blunt, crenate-dentate, palmately 7-nerved, pale-tomentulose beneath, with a deep 
narrow sinus: peduncles 10-14 mm. long: cymes 2-3-flowered, 2-2.5 cm. long: pedicels 
about as long as the peduncles: sepals ovate: corolla greenish, about 2 mm. broad. 
In the Rio Grande valley, southern Texas. 
7. PIRMIANA Marsigli. 
Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate: blades entire or lobed. Flowers paniculate or 
rarely racemose, unisexual or polygamous. Sepals 5 or rarely 4, partially united, often 
petaloid. Petals wanting. Staminal column broad, bearing 15, or rarely 10, anthers. 
Carpels 5, nearly distinct, each terminating in a peltate, sometimes lobed stigma. Ovules 
2-many in each carpel. Capsule leathery, opening long before maturity, the carpels dis- 
tinct, stellately spreading. Seeds usually wingless. 
1. Firmiana platinifdlia (L.) R. Br. A shrub, or a tree often 12 m. tall. Leaf- 
blades 1-3 dm. broad, suborbicular or reniform in outline, palmately, but sometimes shal- 
lowly, 3-5-lobed, copiously pubescent beneath, at least when young, long-petiolod : panicles 
commonly 2-3 dm. long, the branches pubescent: sepals linear or nearly so, 8-10 mm. 
long, reflexed, greenish : capsule stipitate, the carpels 6-9 cm. long, finely pubescent and 
veiny. 
On roadsides. in thickets and fields, Georgia and the Gulf States. Native of eastern Asia. JAPA- 
NESE VARNISH TREE. CHINESE PARASOL TREE. 
Order 20. HYPERICALES. 
Herbs, shrubs or trees. Leaves various. Flowers mostly perfect, complete 
and regular (irregular in VIOLACEAE), sometimes involucrate. Calyx of distinct 
or essentially distinct sepals. Corolla of distinct petals (partially united in Fov- 
QUIERIACEAE) rarely wanting. Androecium of usually numerous stamens, but 
sometimes as few asfive. Gynoecium of several united carpels. Ovary superior, 
mostly with parietal placentae. 
Placentae parietal. Fam. 1, CANELLACEAE. 
Placentae axile. Fam. 2, CLUSIACEAE. 
Stamens distinct. 
Styles wanting: stigmas introrse. 
Placentae axile : herbs or shrubby plants. Fam. 3, ELATINACEAE. 
Placentae basal: shrubs or trees. Fam. 4, TAMARICACEAE. 
yles present, distinct or united : stigmas terminal. 
Petals united to above the middle. Fam. 5. FOUQUIERIACEAE. 
base. . 
A. Styles distinct or partially united orcoherent until maturity, 
if united to the stigmas, then grooved 
Herbs or shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves. Fam. 6. HYPERICACEAE. 
Shrubs or trees, with alternate leaves. Fam. 7. THEACEAE. 
