GENUS 2. 



SANDALWOOD FAMILY. 



i. Pyrularia pubera Michx. Oil-nut. 

 Buffalo-nut. Elk-nut. Fig. 1569. 



Pyrularia pubera Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2 : 233. 1803. 

 Hamiltonia oleifera Muhl. ; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 1120. 1805. 

 Pyrularia oleifera A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 382. 1858. 



A straggling or erect much branched shrub, 3-i5 

 tall, with terete twigs, the young foliage pubescent. 

 Leaves oblong, oblong-lanceolate or somewhat obo- 

 vate, nearly glabrous when mature, acute or acumi- 

 nate at both ends, 3'-$' long, 8"-iJ' wide; petioles 

 2"-4" long; racemes terminating short branches, 

 the staminate many-flowered, i'-2' long, the pistil- 

 late few-flowered and shorter; pedicels slender, 

 ii"-2" long; staminate flowers about 2" broad; 

 calyx 3-5-cleft ; drupe about i' long, crowned by the 

 ovate acute calyx-lobes. 



In rich woods, southern Pennsylvania to Georgia, 

 mostly in the mountains. May. Fruit ripe Aug.-Sept. 



3. NESTRONIA Raf. New Flora 3: 12. 



1836. 



[DARBYA A. Gray, Am. Journ. Sci. (II) i: 388. 1846.] 



A low glabrous dioecious shrub, with opposite short-petioled, oblong to ovate entire 

 leaves. Staminate flowers small, in axillary peduncled umbels; calyx top-shaped, 4~5-cleft, 

 the lobes spreading, each with a tuft of wool; stamens as many as the calyx-segments and 

 opposite them ; disk crenate. Pistillate flowers solitary in the axils, short-peduncled ; calyx 

 narrowly top-shaped, 4-lobed ; stamens 4 ; style short, 4-lobed ; ovary adnate to the calyx. 

 Fruit an oval i-seeded drupe. [From the Greek name of Daphne.] 

 A monotypic genus of the southeastern United States. 



i. Nestronia umbellula Raf. Nestronia. 

 Fig. 1570. 



Nestonia umbellula Raf. New Flora 3: 13. 1836. 

 Darbya umbelliilata A. Gray, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) I : 

 388. 1846. 



Shrub i-3 high, branching. Leaves thin, 

 i '-2' long, acute or obtuse at the apex, narrowed 

 or rounded at the base, pinnately veined, bright 

 green above, petioles i"-3" long; peduncles of 

 the staminate 3-9-flowered umbels filiform, nearly 

 or quite one-half as long as the leaves, the pedi- 

 cels about 2" long, equalling the green calyx; 

 stamens shorter than the oblong-ovate calyx- 

 segments ; pistillate calyx glaucescent, about 3" 

 long, the lobes much shorter than the tube ; drupe 

 globose, about i' in diameter. 



In woods and along streams, parasitic on tree- 

 roots, Virginia to Georgia and Alabama. April-May. 



Family 14. ARISTOLOCHIACEAE 

 Blume, Enum. PI. Jav. i : 81. 1830. 



BIRTH WORT FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs, acaulescent, or with erect or twining and leafy stems. 

 Leaves alternate or basal, petioled, mostly cordate or reniform, exstipulate. 

 Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or clustered, perfect, mostly large, regular 

 or irregular. Calyx-tube (hypanthium) mostly adnate to the ovary, its limb 

 3-lobed, 6-lobed or irregular. Petals none. Stamens 5-many, inserted on the 

 pistil, the anthers 2-celled, extrorse, their sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary 

 wholly or partly inferior, mostly 6-celled ; ovules numerous in each cavity, anatro- 

 pous, horizontal or pendulous. Fruit a many-seeded mostly 6-celled capsule. 

 Seeds ovoid or oblong, angled or compressed, the testa crustaceous, smooth or 

 wrinkled, usually with a fleshy or dilated raphe ; endosperm copious, fleshy. 



Six genera and about 200 species, of wide distribution. The family is not closely related to 

 those that precede and follow it in the arrangement followed in this work ; its affinity is uncertain. 



