96 



FAMILIES OF FLO WEEING PLANTS 



flower-clusters in some species are bright red, and these types are cul- 

 tivated in gardens, together with Celosia, the cockscomb, and Gom- 

 pJirena, the globe amaranth. 



Family Nyctaginaceae. Four-o-clock Family. Contains about 17 

 genera and 250 species of wide distribution, most of them American. 

 They are herbs, shrubs or trees, with simple entire leaves, and perfect 

 clustered flowers, often subtended by an involucre simulating a calyx, 

 the latter in its turn usually colored like a corolla, which is always 

 wanting. The sepals are united, and the calyx is thus called gamo- 

 sepalous. The ovary is one celled, becoming a grooved or winged fruit. 



Probably the most familiar ex- 

 ample of this family is the com- 

 mon four-o-clock or marvel-of-Peni 

 {Mirabilis Jalapa). The flower has 

 a funnel-shaped calyx of various 

 colors, exactly imitating a corolla, 

 while the green involucral bracts 

 at the base of the calyx tube are 

 usually taken by the student for a 

 true calyx. Mirahilis is repre- 

 sented by several species in the 

 southwestern States. Ahronia, also 

 a western genus, is commonly- cul- 

 tivated for its verbena-like clusters 

 of variously colored flowers. (See 

 Fig, 79. 



Family Batidaceae. Batis Fam- 

 ily. This consists of a single genus 

 and species, Baiis maritima, a 

 fleshy maritime shrub of the West 

 Indies and the Gulf coast. 



Family Cynocrambaceae. Cyno- 

 crambe Family. Likewise re- 

 stricted to a single type, Cynocrambe prostrata, a low^ shrub native of 

 the Mediterranean region. 



Family Phytolaccaceae. Pokeweed Family. Contains about 22 

 genera and 90 species, mainly tropical. They are herbs or shrubs, with 

 entire leaves destitute of stipules, and regular, polygamous or monoe- 

 cious flowers, the perianth consisting of calyx alone ; the structure of 

 the flower may be seen in the lowermost drawings of Fig. 77. The fruit 

 is either berry-like or capsular. The ovary contains several cells. 



Most of the pokeweeds possess bitter emetic or purgative proper- 

 ties, and some are violent poisons. On the other hand, the herbage of 



Fig. 79. The pink Abronia {Abronia micran- 

 tha) showing flowers and wing-margined fruit. 

 Original. 



