76 FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY 



BATIS FAMILY (Batidaceae) 



Batis maritima. Saltwort. Low shrub, stems spreading, 

 1-4 ft. long. Leaves pale green, fleshy, opposite, strong- 

 scented, 1 in. long or less. Flowers minute, in short, axillary, 

 conical spikes. Stamens and pistils in separate spikes. 

 Along the coast. Fla. to N. C. and Texas. 



FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY {Nyctagirmceae) 



This family, which gives the South American bougain- 

 villeas to Florida gardens, and whose smaller member the 

 four-o'clock is well known, is represented here by less 

 noticeable plants. Among these are several species of 

 Boerhaavia, which, though not at all showy, are rather 

 interesting weeds of dry soil. They branch widely, and 

 from midwinter to autumn bear minute pink, purple, or 

 white flowers seated on the top of the small ribbed fruit. 

 There is no corolla in the flowers of this family, but the 

 calyx and bracts in a number of species are colored and 

 corolla-like. The wavy-margined leaves of the common 

 Boerhaavia erecta are broadest near the base, and are 

 whitish beneath. The leaves are opposite, and a peculi- 

 arity of these weeds is that one leaf of each pair is larger 

 than the other, an inequality in size that is continued on 

 alternate sides of the stem from pair to pair. 



A larger species of the family, Pisonia aculeata, seen 

 in hammocks in the southern part of the peninsula, has 

 the descriptive names of devil's claws, and pull-and-hold- 

 back vine. It is viciously armed with stout recurved 

 thorns, and in different localities and under different 

 conditions it grows as a scrambling shrub, a vine, or a 

 tree. The minute, greenish yellow, slightly fragrant 

 flowers are in compact axillary panicles, two inches or 

 more across, and bloom in winter and spring. Stamens 



