BUETTNERIACEAE 781 



1. Ayenia pusilla L. Herbaceous from a woody base, the foliage puberulent. Stems 

 diffusely branched, 1-3 dm. long : leaf-blades various, suborbicular to ovate or lanceolate, 

 5-12 mm. long, serrate or nearly entire, the broader ones subcordate at the base, all slender- 

 petioled : flowers solitary on peduncles 5-10 mm. long, or 2-3 in a cluster : sepals lanceo- 

 late, about 2 mm. long, acuminate : petals nearly twice as long as the sepals, with 

 filiform claws and a dorsal appendage to each hooded blade : staminal column with a 

 cup-like top :staminodia rounded : ovary shorter than its stalk : capsules depressed, 4-5 

 mm. broad. 



In dry or sandy soil, Florida Keys and Texas to California. Also in the West Indies and tropical 

 America. 



6. NEPHROPETALUM Eobinson & Greenman. 



Shrubs, resembling species of Ayenia in habit, witli stellate-tomentulose foliage. 

 Leaves alternate : blades broadest below the middle, toothed. Flowers perfect, incon- 

 spicuous, few in peduncled umbel-like cymes. Sepals 5, nearly distinct. Petals 5, with 

 slender claws and concave reniform unappendaged blades. Stamens 5 : filaments united 

 into a tube with the staminodia alternating with the 3-celled anthers. Ovary 5-celled : 

 styles united : stigma capitate. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Capsule globular, muricate. 

 Seed solitary. Endosperm wanting. Embryo with convolute cotyledons. 



1. Nephropetalum Pringlei Robinson & Greenman. A branching shrub, with cine- 

 reous-tomentulose or early glabrate branches. Leaf-blades ovate, 8-13 cm. long, acuminate 

 but blunt, crenate-dentate, palmately 7-nerved, pale-tomentulose beneath, with a deep 

 narrow sinus : peduncles 10-14 mm. long : cymes 2-3-flowered, 2-2.5 cm. long : pedicels 

 about as long as the peduncles : sepals ovate : corolla greenish, about 2 mm. broad. 



In the Rio Grande valley, southern Texas. 



7. FIRMIANA Marsigli. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate : blades entire or lobed. Flowers paniculate or 

 rarely racemose, unisexual or polygamous. Sepals 5 or rarely 4, partially united, often 

 petaloid. Petals wanting. Staminal column broad, bearing 15, or rarely 10, anthers. 

 Carpels 5, nearly distinct, each terminating in a peltate, sometimes lobed stigma. Ovules 

 2-many in each carpel. Capsule leathery, opening long before maturity, the carj^els dis- 

 tinct, stellately spreading. Seeds usually wingless. 



1. Firmlana platinifolia (L. ) E. Br. A shrub, or a tree often 12 m. tall. Leaf- 

 blades 1-3 dm. broad, suborbicular or reniform in outline, palmately, but sometimes shal- 

 lowly, 3-5-lobed, copiously pubescent beneath, at least when young, long-petiolod : panicles 

 commonly 2-3 dm. long, the branches pubescent : sepals linear or nearly so, 8-10 mm. 

 long, reflexed, greenish : capsule stipitate, the carpels 6-9 cm. long, finely pubescent and 

 veiny. 



On roadsides, in thickets and fields, Georgia and the Gulf States. Native of eastern Asia. Japa- 

 nese Varnish Tree. Chinese Parasol Tree. 



Order 20. HYPERICALES. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees. Leaves various. Flowers mostly i^erfect, complete 

 and regular (irregular in Violaceae), sometimes involucrate. Calyx of distinct 

 or essentially distinct sepals. Corolla of distrinct petals (partially united in Fou- 

 quieriaceae) rarely w^anting. Androecium of usually numerous stamens, but 

 sometimes as few as five. Gynoecium of several united carpels. Ovary superior, 



mostly with parietal placentae. 



stamens united into a tube which surrounds or encloses the gynoecium. 



Placentae parietal. Fam. 1. Canellaceae. 



Placentae axile. Fam. 2. Clusiaceae. 



Stamens distinct. 



Styles wanting : stigmas introrse. 



Placentae axile : herbs or shrubby plants. Fam. 3. Elatinaceae. 



Placentae basal : shrubs or trees. Fam. 4. Tamaricaceae. 



Styles present, distinct or united : stigmas terminal. 

 "Petals united to above the middle. Fam. 5. Fouquieriaceae. 



Petals distinct or merely coherent at the base. 



A. Styles distinct or partially united or coherent until maturity, 

 if united to the stigmas, "then grooved, 

 a. Stigmas not brush-like : endosperm little or none. 



Herbs or shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves. Fam. fi. Hypericaceae. 

 Shrubs or trees, "with alternate leaves. Fam. 7. Theaceae. 



