about 2 mm. long, equaling or exceeding somewhat the calyx lobes; capsule to 2 

 mm. broad, glabrous, more or less wholly inferior, the seeds angular and very 

 numerous. Oldenlandia corymbosa L. 



Introd. in lawns and in wettish soils in waste places, rarely in e. Tex. (also Gulf 

 Coast?), July-Sept.; occasional from Fla. to Tex., a widespread pantropic weed. 



3. Pentodon Hochst. 



Two species; represented in both hemispheres. 



1. Pentodon pentandrus (Schum. & Thonn.) Vatke. Fig. 725. 



Annual glabrous herb, the 4-angled stems often diffusely branched and partly 

 creeping; leaves petioled, ovate to elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse to acute, 

 2-5 cm. long, entire; flowers in axillary or terminal cymes; hypanthium clavate; 

 sepals 5, triangular-lanceolate to lanceolate, about 1 mm. long; pedicels thick, 

 3-4 mm. long; corolla white, funnelform, the tube 2-3 mm. long, the abbreviated 

 lobes ovate to lanceolate; stamens 5, the filaments adnate to above the middle 

 of the corolla tube; style columnar; capsule included in the hypanthium, 2-lobed, 

 2-4 mm. long. P. Halei (T. & G.) Gray. 



In swampy ground in s.e. Tex., Aug.-Sept.; from Tex. to Fla. 



4. Cephalanthus L. Buttonbush 



Shrubs or small trees; leaves opposite or with some verticillate, petiolate; 

 flowers white or yellowish, densely aggregated into spherical peduncled heads; calyx 

 tube obpyramidal, the limb 4- or 5-toothed; corolla tubular-funnelform, the 4 or 5 

 teeth imbricated in the bud; stamens 4, inserted on the corolla throat; anthers 

 bicuspidate at base; ovary 2-celled, with one ovule in each cell; style filiform, 

 much-exserted; stigma capitate; fruit small, at length splitting from the base 

 upward into 2 to 4 closed 1 -seeded segments. 



About 17 species that are natives of America and Asia; sometimes placed in the 

 segregate family Naucleaceae. 



Seeds of these plants are a source of food for various waterfowl and marsh 

 birds; beaver and muskrat nibble the wood while browsers occasionally eat their 

 twigs and foliage. 



1. Calyx glabrous outside or the tube with a few long white hairs at the base 



1. C occidentalis. 



1. Calyx densely pubescent outside with short appressed hairs 2. C. salicifoUus. 



1. Cephalanthus occidentalis L. Common buttonbush, honey-balls, globe- 

 flowers. Fig. 726. 



Shrub or small tree, sometimes to 15 m. high, with a trunk rarely 3 dm. in 

 diameter, the branchlets slender, brown or grayish, glabrous or short-pilose; 

 stipules 2-4 mm. long, deltoid, acute to acuminate, usually with glands along the 

 margins; leaves opposite or ternate, sometimes 4-nate (but this varies on a single 

 plant), the stout or slender petioles to 3 cm. long, glabrous or pilose, ovate to 

 ovate-oblong or narrowly lanceolate, to 19 cm. long and 85 mm. wide, subcordate 

 to cuneate at the base, abruptly or subabruptly long- or short-acuminate at the 

 apex, bright-green above, glabrous or pilose beneath, with prominent lateral veins; 

 peduncles terminal and axillary, simple or branched, stout, to 1 dm. long, glabrous; 

 heads about 15 mm. in diameter; bractlets filiform-clavate, pilose above; hypan- 

 thium and calyx together 2-3 mm. long, glabrous or sparsely long-pilose at the 

 base; calyx about 1 mm. long, shallowly 4- or 5-dentate, densely pubescent within, 

 the lobes rounded, usually glandular; corolla 5-9 mm. long, glabrous outside, the 

 4 or 5 lobes ovate or oval, sparsely pubescent within, with a small black gland in 

 each sinus; capsule 4-8 mm. long; seed solitary, brown, with a large white aril. 



1548 



