VERBENACEAE. 



317 



1. Duranta repens L. PIGEON- 

 BERRY. (Fig. 339.) A shrub or small 

 tree reaching a height of 18, with gla- 

 brate or finely pubescent foliage and 

 unarmed or spiny, slender, often droop- 

 ing or trailing branches. Leaves numer- 

 ous, ovate-elliptic, oval or obovate, i'- 

 2" long, obtuse or apiculate, entire or 

 serrate above the middle, short-petioled ; 

 racemes 2'-6' long, recurving, panicu- 

 late; pedicels J"-2i" long; calyx 

 angled, its lobes acute, shorter than the 

 tube; corolla lilac, the tube surpassing 

 the calyx, the limb 3i"-5" broad; fruit 

 yellow, globular, 3J"-5" in diameter, 

 enclosed by the accrescent yellowish 

 calyx which is produced into a curved 

 beak. [D. erecta L. ; T>. Plumieri Jacq.] 



Frequent on hillsides. Naturalized. 

 Native of Florida, the West Indies and 

 tropical continental America. Flowers 

 from spring to autumn. Sometimes planted 

 for ornament 



8. VOLKAMERIA L. 



A vine-like, spiny shrub with opposite petioled entire leaves, and white 

 flowers in axillary cymes. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. Corolla salverform, 

 with a slender tube, the limb 5-lobed. Stamens 4, exserted, somewhat unequal. 

 Style filiform. Stigma 2-lobed. Fruit a subglobose drupe, the 2 nutlets each 

 2-celled. [In honor of J. C. Volkamer, a Nuremberg botanist, who died in 

 1720.] Only the following species, native of tropical America. 



1. Volkameria aculeata L. PRICKLY 

 MYRTLE. (Fig. 340.) Climbing to a length 

 of 10 or more, or nearly erect, the slender 

 branches densely puberulent, armed with 

 stout opposite spreading spines 4" long 

 or less. Leaves thin, slender-petioled, ob- 

 long to elliptic-obovate, obtuse or acute at 

 the apex, narrowed to the base, l'-2' iong; 

 cymes stalked, few-several-flowered ; pedi- 

 cels slender, puberulent, 3"-7" long, calyx 

 about li" long, puberulent, its teeth tri- 

 angular-ovate, acute ; tube of the corolla 

 about 9" long, its limb about 6" broad; 

 stamens purple; drupe 4-grooved, 3"-4" 

 in diameter. [Clerodendron aculeatum 

 Griseb.] 



Occasional in thickets and along roads, 

 escaped from cultivation. Naturalized. Na- 

 tive of the West Indies. Flowers m summer 

 and autumn. 



