SANTA LA CEA E. 34 5 



berry ovoid-oblong, acute, about 2 mm. long, nodding on a slightly exserted 

 peduncle; seeds enclosed in a viscid mucus. On twigs of spruces, Me., N. H., 

 N. Y. and Penn. June. 



2. PHORADENDRON Nutt. 



Shrubs, parasitic on trees, with opposite coriaceous flat faintly nerved leaves, 

 terete twigs, and dioecious axillary spicate bracted small flowers, solitary or sev- 

 eral in the axil of each bract. Staminate flowers with a 3-lobed (rarely 2-4-lobed) 

 calyx, bearing a sessile transversely 2-celled anther at the base of each lobe. 

 Pistillate flowers with a similar calyx adnate to the ovoid inferior ovary. Style 

 short, obtuse or capitate. .Fruit a sessile fleshy berry. Endosperm copious. 

 [Greek, tree-thief, from its parasitic habit.] About 80 species, all American. 

 Besides the following, 5 or 6 others occur in the Western States. 



i. Phoradendron flavescens (Pursh) Nutt. AMERICAN MISTLETOE. (I. F. f. 

 1272.) A branching glabrous or slightly pubescent shrub, the twigs terete, brittle 

 at the base. Leaves oblong or obovate, rounded at the apex, narrowed into short 

 petioles, 3-5 -nerved, entire, 1-2 cm. wide, dark green; spikes solitary, or 2 or 3 

 together in the axils, linear, shorter than the leaves; berry globose, white, about 

 4 mm. in diameter. Parasitic on deciduous leaved trees, notably on the Tupelo 

 and Red Maple, N. J. to Ohio, Ind., Mo., Fla. and Tex. May-July. 



Family 2. SANTALACEAE R. Br. 

 Sandalwood Family. 



Herbs or shrubs (some exotic genera trees), with entire estipulate 

 leaves. Flowers perfect, monoecious or dioecious, mostly greenish. 

 Calyx adnate to the base of the ovary, or to the disk, 3-6-lobed, the 

 lobes valvate. Petals none. Stamens as many as the calyx-lobes and 

 inserted near their bases, or opposite them upon the disk. Ovary i- 

 celled ; ovules 2-4, pendulous from the summit of the central placenta ; 

 style cylindric, conic or sometimes none ; stigma capitate. Fruit a drupe 

 or nut. Seed i. Testa none ; endosperm copious, fleshy ; embryo small, 

 apical. About 26 genera and 250 species, mostly of tropical distribution, 

 a few in the temperate zones. 



Perennial herbs; flowers perfect, cymose or solitary. i. Comandra. 

 Shrubs ; flowers imperfect, mostly dioecious. 



Flowers racemose. 2. Pyrularia. 



Staminate flowers umbellate, the pistillate solitary. 3. Nestronia. 



i. COMANDRA Nutt. 



Glabrous herbs, some (or all?) parasitic on roots of other plants. Leaves 

 alternate, entire, pinnately veined. Flowers perfect, terminal or axillary, rarely 

 solitary, cymose, bractless. Calyx campanulate, the base of its tube adnate to the 

 ovary, its limb 5-lobed (rarely 4-lobed). Stamens 5, or rarely 4, inserted at the 

 bases of the calyx-lobes and between the lobes of the disk, attached to the middle 

 of the lobes by tufts of hairs. Anthers ovate, 2-celled. Fruit drupaceous, crowned 

 by the persistent calyx. [Greek, referring to the hairy attachments of the anthers.] 

 Four known species, the following N. Am., one European. 



Cymes mostly corymbose-clustered at the summit of the stem; leaves acute, sessile; 

 style slender. 



Leaves oblong, pale green; fruit globose-urn-shaped. i. C. umbellata. 



Leaves lanceolate or linear, glaucous; fruit ovoid. 2. C. pallida. 



Peduncles few, axillary; leaves oval, obtuse, short-petioled; style short. 3. C. livida. 



i. Comandra umbellata (L.) Nutt. BASTARD TOAD-FLAX. (L F. f. 1273.) 

 Stem slender, leafy, 1.5-5 dm. tall. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, pale 

 green, acute or subacute at both ends, sessile, ascending, 1-3 cm. long, the lower 

 smaller; cymes several-flowered, corymbose at the summit of the plant or also 

 axillary; peduncles filiform; pedicels very short; calyx greenish white or purplish, 



