CORRIGIOLACEAE. 



VOL. II. 



pressed; embryo annular in the mealy endosperm. [Name Greek and French, referring to 

 the crimson juice of the berries.] 



About 24 species, the following typical one of eastern North America, the others tropical. 



i. Phytolacca americana L. Poke. Scoke. Pigeon-berry. Garget. Fig. 1715. 



Phylolacca americana L. Sp. PI. 41. 1753. 

 Phytolacca decandra L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 631. 1762. 



A glabrous strong-smelling succulent erect 

 branching herb, 4-i2 tall, the root perennial, 

 large, poisonous, the stem stout, its pith divided 

 into disks separated by lens-shaped cavities. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 pinnately veined, acute or acuminate at both 

 ends, 8'-i2' long; petioles '-4' long; racemes 

 peduncled, 2'-8' long; pedicels divergent, 2"-6" 

 long, each with a subulate-lanceolate bractlet at 

 its base and usually 2 similar ones above ; flow- 

 ers perfect; calyx white, 2" -2" broad, its sepals 

 suborbicular, or oval ; stamens 10, slightly 

 shorter than the sepals ; ovary green, lo-celled ; 

 styles recurved ; berry dark purple, s"-6" in di- 

 ameter, 3"-4" high, its 10 carpels conspicuous 

 when dry. 



In various situations, Maine and Ontario to Min- 

 nesota, Arkansas, Florida and Mexico. Bermuda. 

 Sometimes a troublesome weed. Naturalized in 

 Europe. Young shoots eaten like asparagus. June- 

 Sept. Berries ripe Aug.-Oct. Inkberry. Redweed. 

 Red-ink plant. Pocan-bush. Coakum. Cancer-jalap. 

 American nightshade. Pokeweed. 



Family 19. CORRIGIOLACEAE Reichenb. ; Moessl. Handb. i 1 : 51. 1827. 



WHITLOW-WORT FAMILY. 



Low herbs, erect or prostrate, with opposite mostly stipulate entire leaves, and 

 small, perfect flowers in cymes. Sepals 4 or 5, distinct, or partly united, white or 

 greenish, persistent. Petals none. Stamens i-io, usually 4 or 5, borne at the 

 base of the ovary, or rarely on the calyx-tube (hypanthium) ; filaments slender; 

 anthers 2-celled, short. Ovary sessile, i-celled; styles mostly 2, more or less 

 united, often short; ovule solitary, amphitropous. Fruit an achene or utricle, 

 i-seeded. Endosperm nearly enclosing the embryo. 



About 1 8 genera and 100 species of wide geographic distribution. 

 Leaves stipulate. 



Sepals awn-tipped ; calyx sessile. i. Paronychia. 



Sepals not awned ; calyx pedicelled. 



Styles long ; sepals cuspidate ; radicle ascending. 2. Anychiastrum. 



Styles very short or wanting ; sepals mucronate ; radicle descending. 3. Anychia. 



Leaves not stipulate. 4. Scleranthus. 



i. PARONYCHIA [Tourn.] Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 272. 1763. 



Tufted herbs, our species perennials, often woody at the base, with opposite leaves, 

 scarious stipules, and small clustered scarious-bracted apetalous flowers. Calyx 5-parted, 

 the segments awn-tipped. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the calyx, sometimes alternate 

 with as many staminodia. Ovary ovoid or subglobose, narrowed upward into the style ; 

 styles united nearly to the stigmas; ovule solitary, amphitropous. Utricle membranous, 

 included in the calyx, i-seeded. [Greek, for a disease of the fingers and a plant supposed 

 to cure it.] 



About 50 species, natives of warm and temperate regions. Besides the following about 7 others 

 occur in the southern and western United States. Type species : Illecebrum Paronychia L. 

 Flowers clustered. 



Flowers hidden among the bracts and stipules. i. P. argyrocoma. 



Flowers not hidden among the bracts and stipules. 

 Stems erect ; inflorescence open. 



Calyx i"-iJ4" long, the sepals oblong to oblong-lanceolate. 



Branches of the inflorescence ascending. 2. P.Jamesii. 



Branches of the inflorescence spreading. 3. P. Wardii. 



Calyx 2" long, the sepals lanceolate. 4. P. dichotoma. 



Stems prostrate or diffuse ; inflorescence contracted. 5. P. depressa. 



Flowers solitary. 6. P. sessiliflora. 



