34 nVBlACEJE. BIitcuella. 



throat of the corolla : anthers oblong. Style filiform : stigmas 4, linear, 

 somewhat exserted. Fruit baccate, oblate-globose, usually composed of the 

 united ovaries of both flowers (one of them sometimes abortive, or want- 

 ing ?) ; each of which contains 4 small corneous 1-seeded nucules. Embrj'o 

 minute, at the extremity of somewhat cartilaginous albumen : cotyledons 

 short ; the radicle thick. Glabrous creeping evergreen herbs (indigenous to 

 North America, and perhaps to the mountains of Peru ?) with opposite ovate 

 or roundish petioled leaves. Stipules triangular-subulate, minute. Flowers 

 terminal, white or pale rose-color, odorous. Fruit bright red, edible, 

 persistent. 



We have drawn the character exclusively from M. repens ; since it is doubtful 

 whether M. ovata, DC. (which we have not seen,) belongs to this genus, ratlier 

 than to Xertera. Does not the Nertera depressa, Banks (or rather Sulanckr), as left 

 by De Candolle, include two or more species 1 



1. M. repens (Linn.) : leaves roundish-ovate, often slightly cordate ; pe- 

 duncle 2-flowered. — Linn. ! spec. 1. p. Ill ; Michx. ! ft. 1. p. 86 ; Pursh, 

 fl. 1. p. 101 ,• Ell. sk. 1. p. 198 ; Torr..' fl. 1. p. 174 ; Bigel. ji. Bost. ed. 

 2. p. 62 ; Bart. fl. Amcr. Sept. t. 95, /. 1 ; DC. ! j>rodr. 4. p. 452 ; 

 Hook.! fl. Bor.-Ain. 1. p. 287 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 105. Syringa bac- 

 cifera, &c., Phik. amalth. t. 444, /. 2 ; Catesb. Car. 1. t. 20. Lonicera 

 foliis subovatis &c. Gronov. ! fl. Virg. ed. 1. p. 22. 



Deep moist woods, about the roots of trees, Canada and throughout the 

 United States! to Florida! and Louisiana! (Also in Mexico, ex DC.) 

 June. (November to April in the Southern States. Ell.) — Stems slender, 

 branching, 6-12 inches long. Leaves on slender petioles, half an inch or 

 more in diameter, dark green and shining, usuall}^ with a pale longitudinal 

 line, of a firm texture, turning blackish in drying. Corolla about half an 

 inch long ; the limb sometimes 3-cleft (and then triandrous), occasionally 

 5-8-cleft, ijut never (we believe) with more than 4 stamens. Berries about 

 a third of an inch in diameter, broader than long, crowned with the persistent 

 teeth of two calyces, bright red, edible but insipid, persistent through the 

 winter and until the plant flowers again. — Partridge-Berry. 



Subtribe 3. Euguettarde^, DC. (excl. gen.) — Flowers distinct. Es- 

 tivation of the corolla usually contorted. Albumen fleshy. — Tropical trees 

 or shrubs. 



11. GUETTARDA. Linn. ; Vent, choix. i. 1 ; G(ertn.fr. 1. t. 36 ; A. 

 Rich. mem. I. c. p. 121. 



Calyx-tube ovate or globose ; the limb tubular, persistent or deciduous, 

 truncate or irregularly toothed. Corolla hypocrateriform ; the tube cylindri- 

 cal ; lobes 4-9, oval-oblong. Anthers 4-9, nearly sessile in the throat of the 

 corolla, linear. Stigma capitate, rarely 2-lobed. Fruit drupaceous, subglo- 

 bose or ovate, usually crowned with the persistent limb of the cal3'x : endo- 

 carp bony, obtusely angled, 4-9-celled; the cells 1-seeded. Seeds some- 

 what terete. — Small trees or shrubs (mostly tropical American) ; with ovate 

 or lanceolate, or rarely cordate leaves. Stipules lanceolate, deciduous. Pe- 

 duncles axillary, once or twice dichotomous ; the flowers sessile in the forks 

 and unilateral on the branches of the peduncle. 



