40 PHYTOLACCA DECANDRA. 
In the autumnal months no plant among us is 
more remarkable than the Phytolacca for its large 
size, and the fine colour of its clusters of berries. 
Its most general appellation is Poke, an abbrevia- 
tion, perhaps, of Pocan, the name by which it was 
known in Virginia a century ago. In New Eng- 
land it is more frequently called Garget, Cocum, 
Jalap and Pigeon berries. 
Jussieu has arranged this genus among his 
Atriplices, and Linnzus with the Oleracee. 
The number of its stems and styles, place it in 
the class Decandria and order Decagynia. Its 
generic character consists in having no calya, a 
corolla of five petals, and its berries superior with 
ten cells and ten seeds. ‘The species decandra is 
the only one which strictly agrees with its class 
and order, and is known by having ovate leaves, 
acute at both ends, and its flowers with ten stamens 
and styles, | 
The root of this plant is of large size, frequent- 
ly exceeding a man’s leg in thickness, and is usu- 
ally divided into two or three principal branches. 
Its substance is fleshy and fibrous, and easily cut 
or broken. Internally it is distinctly marked with 
concentric rings of considerable thickness, while 
its outer surface is covered with a very thin brown- 
ish bark, which seems to be little more than a cu- 
