Phytolacea. | PHYTOLACCACE# (Hill). 457 
embryo annular, enclosing the endosperm ; cotyledons semiterete ; 
radicle long. 
Herbs or shrubs, rarely trees, erect or scandent ; leaves alternate, entire, 
petiolate ; flowers in dense racemes ; pedicels bracteate and bibracteolate. 
_ Distrip. Species 26, tropical or subtropical, mainly natives of America, a few 
in Africa, Eastern Asia, Himalaya and Asia Minor. 
Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, emarginate ... wis ... (1) heptandra. 
Leaves ovate- or elliptic-lanceolate, acute, mucronate or 
slightly mucronulate : 
Stamens longer than the perianth-lobes ea ... (2) dodecandra. 
Stamens shorter than the perianth-lobes : : 
Pedicels 3-4 lin. long; bracts broadly subulate, 
situated midway on the pedicel... ee ie 
Pedicel very short; bracts elongate subulate, close 
to the perianth ... dis ies ae ey 
(3) americana. 
(4) octandra. 
1. P. heptandra (Retz. Obs. vi. 29); a herb 1-3 ft. high; stems 
numerous, erect, angular, smooth ; leaves alternate, elliptic-lanceo- 
late, emarginate, mucronulate, 2-3} in. long, 3-3 or 1 in. broad, 
decurrent into the petiole, margin entire, slightly inrolled, sometimes 
waved ; petiole }-4 in. long, slightly decurrent into the stem-angles ; 
racemes glabrous, few- or many-flowered, somewhat drooping, 2-6 in. 
long ; peduncle as long as the leaves ; bracts subulate ; pedicels as 
long as or longer than the flowers ; bracteoles 2, linear-subulate ; 
flowers hermaphrodite ; perianth greenish or reddish-green, urceolate, 
142 lin. long ; lobes obovate or elliptic, obtuse ; stamens 7 or 8, about 
equal in length to the perianth-lobes ; carpels 7; fruit orange or 
yellow. Walter in Engl. Das Pflanzenr. iv. 83, 39, fig. 14. P. stricta, 
Hoffm. in Comm. Goett. xii. (1796) 27, t. 3; Heimerl in Engl. & 
Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iii. 1p. 11. P. resediformis & P. resedifolia, 
Hort. Berol. ex Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 30. Pircunia stricta, 
Mogquin, l.c. 30 (incl. vars. resediformis & latifolia). 
Sourn Arrica : without locality, Zeyher, 1856 ! 
Coast Recion: Fort Beaufort Div. ; Kat River Poort, Drége! Kunap River, 
Baur, 1048! Queenstown Div. ; Shiloh, Baur, 771! Hangklip Mountain, near 
Queenstown, Galpin,1804! British Kaffraria, Cooper, 366 ! 
CentraL REGION: Graaff Reinet Div. ; Wagenpads Berg, Burchell, 2821! 2966! 
near Graaff Reinet, MacOwan, 1483! Albert Div., Cooper, 1858! Aliwal North 
Div. ; bank of the Orange River, Burke ! 
Katanart Reoion : Orange River Colony, near Harrismith, Sankey, 239! and 
without precise locality, Cooper, 829 ! Transvaal ; hills above Aapies River, Rekmann, 
4290! near Lydenburg, Wilms, 1264! and without precise locality, Sanderson. 
Eastern Reaion : Transkei; valleys near Kentani, Miss Pegler, 744! Griqua- 
land East ; around Kokstad, T'yson, 1985! Natal ; Itafamasi, Wood, 1178! hills 
near Byrne, Cooper, 1817! near Pietermaritzburg, Wilms, 2240! and without 
precise locality, Gerrard, 1985! Gueinzius, 76! 
2. P. dodecandra (L’Hérit. Stirp. 143, t. 69) ; a woody climber ; 
stems slender, sometimes 15-20 ft. long ; leaves alternate, ovate or 
oblong, acute, 3-4 in. long, cuneate or rounded at the base, distinctly 
petioled ; racemes dense, many-flowered, at first 3-4 in., finally 
