SANDALWOOD FAMILY 



527 



2. Parietaria floridana Nutt. Florida 

 Pellitory. Fig. 1277. 



Parietaria tioridana Nutt. Gen. 2: 208. 1818. 



Stems very slender usually diffusely branching 

 from the base, 10-25 cm. long, somewhat hispid. 

 Leaves 5-10 mm. long or more, broadly ovate, 

 obtuse, rounded at base or abruptly cuneate ; bracts 

 linear or linear-lanceolate acute about 3 mm. long; 

 sepals lanceolate acute, nearly equalling the bracts ; 

 achene 1 mm. long. 



Moist shady places, Upper Sonoran Zone; central Cali- 

 fornia to Lower California, also in the southeastern 

 states. March-May. Type locality: "near St. Mary's, 

 west Florida." Parietaria dehilis Forst, to which the 

 species has been referred is a closely related old world 

 species. 



Family 32. SANTALACEAE. 



Sandalwood Family. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, with entire exstipulate leaves. Flowers, perfect or uni- 

 sexual, axillary or terminal. Calyx adnate to the base of the ovary or disk, 4—5- 

 cleft, valvate in the bud. Petals none. Stamens as many as the calyx-lobes and op- 

 posite them, inserted on the fleshy disk. Style 1, or sometimes none; stigma 

 capitate. Ovary 1-celled; ovules 2-4, suspended from the summit of the central 

 placenta. Fruit a drupe or nut. Seed 1, ovoid or globose; testa none; endosperm 

 copious ; embryo small, apical. 



About 26 genera and 250 species mostly in the tropical regions. 



1. COMANDRA Nutt. Gen. 1: 157. 1818. 



Smooth perennial herbs (sometimes parasitic on roots) with erect stems from a woody 

 base. Leaves alternate, entire, nearly sessile. Flowers perfect. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, 

 the tube lined with a 5-lobed disk. Stamens 5, inserted between the lobes of the disk ; 

 anthers attached to the calyx-lobes by a tuft of hairs. Fruit drupe-like, crowned by the 

 persistent calyx. [Greek referring to the hairy attachment of the anthers.] 



Four species, 3 in North America and 1 in Europe. Type species, Co>nandra umbellata (L.) Nutt. 

 Flowers in terminal corymbose or paniculate cymes. 



Leaves oblong, green; calyx-tube prodviced above the globose fruit. 1. C. umbellata. 



Leaves lanceolate, very pale; calyx-tube not produced above the ovoid fruit. 2. C. pallida. 



Flowers on axillary 2-3-flowered peduncles. 3. C. lii-ida. 



WTVTV 



1. Comandra umbellata (L.) Xntt. 



Bastard Toad-flax. 



Fig. 1278. 



Thcsium umbellatum L. Sp. PI. 208. 1753. 

 Comandra umbellata Nutt. Gen. 1 : 157. 1818. 



Stems slender, very leafy, usually branched, 

 15—45 cm. high. Leaves sessile, oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate, 15-30 mm. long, acute or 

 subacute at both ends ; cymes corymbose at the 

 summit or more commonly ellipsoid panicu- 

 late, several-flowered, calyx greenish white or 

 purplish, about 4 mm. long, the lobes oblong; 

 drupe globose, 5-6 mm. in diameter, the calyx- 

 tube produced above the drupe 1 mm. or more. 



Dry soil. Transition Zone; British Columbia to 

 Labrador south to western Oregon and (leorgia. 

 Type locality: Virginia. 



