N. ORD.—PHYTOLACCACEA:. 139 
GENUS.—PH Y TOLAGCA,* TOURN. 
SEX. SYST.—DECANDRIA DECAGYNIA, 
PHY TLOLAGCC A. 
PORE WEED. 
SYN.—PHYTOLACCA DECANDRA, LINN.; P. VULGARIS, DILL.; P. AMERI- 
CANA, BOERHA.; BLITUM AMERICANUM, MUT. 
COM. NAMES.—POKE WEED OR ROOT,; SKOKH, GARGET, CROWBERRY,t 
PIGHON-BERRY, JALAP, CANCHR-ROOT,? AMERICAN NIGHTSHADE, 
POCAN OR COKAN (Virginian tribes), COCUM (Northern tribes), CHONGRAS, 
( Louisiana); (FR.) MORELLE A GRAPPES, HERBE DE LA LAQUE; (GER.) 
AMERIKANISCHE SCHARLACHBEERE OR KERMESBEERE. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOT OF PHYTOLACCA DECANDRA, LINN. 
Description.—This smooth, purplish stemmed perennial, grows to a height of 
from 4 to 10 feet. Root large, fleshy, fusiform, verrucose, and variously branched, 
the apex or head showing the scars of the previous stems; the body is easily cut 
or broken, its section being white, marked by annular rings and distinct radii, 
and the bark very thin, almost papyraceous. Szem stout, cylindrical, hollow and 
branching; fz¢h sectioned by numerous discoid septa, thin in the centre, but so 
thickened at the edges as to cause the interspaces to be fusiform. Leaves alter- 
nate or scattered, ample, ovate-lanceolate, acute at each end; fetioles thick. n- 
florescence terminal, many flowered racemes, which become lateral and opposite 
the leaves as the growth proceeds; peduncles ascending; pedicels divaricate, usually 
three-bracted, sometimes branched. Calyx white; sefa/s 5, petaloid, ovate-obtuse, 
concave and incurved. Cvoroia none. S/amens 10, somewhat shorter than the 
lobes of the calyx; fi/aments subulate; anthers elliptical, 2-lobed. Ovary green, 
composed of 10 carpels closely united into a ring; s¢y/es 10, short, separate, recurved 
at the apex; séigma simply a stigmatose surface on inner aspect of the recurved 
portion of the style. Fruit a deep purple, depressed-globose, juicy, 1o-celled 
berry, marked with 10 slight furrows ; seeds 10, one in each cell, vertical; emdryo 
curved in a circle around the albumen; coty/edous linear ; albumen farinaceous. 
Phytolaccacez.—The special characters of this small family are embodied in — 
the above description of its principal and typical genus. The order differs little 
from the next (Chenopodiacez), mostly in having alternate entire leaves, a several 
celled ovary, compounded of as many carpels united into a circle, and forming a 
berry in fruit. 
* burov, phyton, plant; ac, lake; from the coloring properties of the berries. : 
FA perversion of the Indian name. _ £ The true crowberry is Empetrum nigrum, Linn. ( Eenpetraces). 
2 This name properly designates the American species of Zpiphegus and Conopholis ( Orobanche), both of which 
are members of the Orobanchacez, and are now being proven. ‘ 
