ORDER 103. NYCTAGINACE.E 279 



ORDER OIII. NYCTAGINACE^. MAR"VELWORTS. 



Herbs (shrubs or trees) with tumid joints, entire and opposite leaves 

 Flowers generally surrounded with an involucre (calyx-like when the flowei 

 is solitary). Calyx a delicate, colored, funnel-form or tubular perianth, 

 deciduous above the 1-celled, 1-seeded ovary, leaving its persistent base to 

 harden and envelop the fruit (achenium) as a kind of pericarp. Stamens 1 to 

 several, definite, slender, hypogynous, exserted, unequal. Embryo coiled 

 around the copious white albumen. Figs. 143, 207. 



Involucre just like calyx, including one flower MIRABILIS. 1 



Involucre 5-lcaved, including many flowers in an umbel-like head ABROXIA. 2 



Involucre 5-lobed, including 3 5 flowers OXYBAPHUS. 3 



Involucre 0. x Herbs, with minute flowers in little clusters BOKRHAAVIA. 4 



x Shrubs. Flowers dioecious, cymous. S. Fla PISONIA. 



1. MIRABILIS, L. MARVEL OP PERU. FOUR-O'CLOCK. Involucre 

 calyx-like, 5-lobed, 1-flowered, lobes acuminate. Perianth (calyx) tubular- 

 funnel-form, limb spreading. Sta. 5, and style more or less exserted. Fruit 

 (as in all the genera) an achenium invested in the permanent base of the 

 calyx. It Cultivated. Leaves ovate, more or less cordate, acuminate. 



1 HI. JALAPA. Erect, glabrous ; flowers 36 in each terminal fascicle, short-stalked,, 



opening at about 4 o'clock p. M., and remaining in bloom all night, infinitely various 

 in color. Peru. 2f. Summer. 



2 JH. EICHOTOMA. Erect, glabrous ; flowers sessile, mostly yellow, smaller than in M. 



Jalapa ; limb 8''. Mexico. 2f. Summer. 



3 HI. LONGIFLORA. Weak, diffuse, viscid-pubescent ; lower leaves long-petioled ; flow- 



ers sessile, tube 6' long, hairy, border 1', white. Mexico. 



2. ABRONIA, Juss. Involucre 5-leaved, surrounding an umbel-like 

 head of many small flowers on a long peduncle. Perianth salver-form, 

 limb 5-lobed, corolla-like, deciduous. Sta. 5, and style included, if Fleshy. 



1 A. UMBELLATA. St. prostrate ; Ivs. ovate, long-petioled ; umbellate heads compact ; fls. 



rosy-lilac or pink, the lobes obcordate. Sandy sea-coasts, California. 1 2f. 



2 A. FRAGHANS. Stem ascending ; leaves lance-ovate, long-stalked ; umbels loose, fls. 



and involucre white, tubes near 1'. Dalles, Oregon. 



3. OXYBAPHUS, Vahl. Invol. 5-cleft, containing 3 5 fls., persistent. 

 Perianth tube veiy short, limb bell-form, plicate, deciduous. Sta. 3, and 

 style exserted. Fruit obovoid, ribbed. U Flowers small, purple. 



1 O. nyctagineua Sweet. Smoothish, erect, forked ; Ivs. broad-ovate to lanceolate, 



snbcordate, acute ; ped. solitary ; involucre 3-5-flowered. Banks, W. June Aug. 



2 O. angnstifolius Sweet. Bushy, with alternate branches; Ivs. lanceolate, acute 



both ways, subsessile, 12' ; ped. i &', axillary ; involucre cup-shaped, hispid, & 

 flow ered ; ovary hispid. Dry soils, S. 2 3f. June July. 



3 O. iilbidus Sweet. Stem with strict slender branches, or simple ; leaves linear 



oblong, petiolate, the upper often bract-like ; ped. half as long (6" 10 as the leaven, 

 involucre hairy, 3-flowered. S. 1 2f. May. 



4. BOERHAAVIA, L. Involucre 0, bractlets deciduous. Perianth 

 funnel- or bell-form, colored, 5-lobed, upper half deciduous, lower persist- 



