372 NYOTAGINACEJE. (FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY.) 
twining herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, cordate at the base. Flowers long- 
peduncled, axillary, or near the base of the stem. 
* Low herbs. 
1. A. Serpentaria, L. Stems single or clustered, pubescent, zigzag and 
leafy above; leaves short-petioled, varying from ovate to linear-lanceolate, eor- 
date or hastate at the base ; flowers near the base of the stem, on bracted spread- 
ing peduncles ; calyx tortuous, 3-lobed, dull purple. (A.hastata, Nutt.) — Shady 
woods, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. June- Aug. — Stem 8'- 12! 
high. Leaves 2'—4'long. Calyx shaped like the letter S. 
* * Woody vines: capsule oblong, six-angled, 3! — 4! long. 
9. A. Sipho, L'Her. Stem smoothish; leaves large, orbicular-cordate, 
slightly pubescent beneath ; peduncles slender, solitary, with a roundish clasping — 
bract near the base; calyx ‘curving upward, with the broad spreading brownish- 
purple border obscurely 3-lobed. — Rich woods along the mountains, Georgia, 
and northward. May.—Stem climbing high. Leaves 6/-12! broad. Calyx 
shaped like a Dutch pipe, 11! long. 
3. A. tomentosa, Sims. Hoary-pubescent; leaves cordate; peduncles 
opposite the leaves, bractless, woolly ; calyx bent in the middle, the greenish 
rugose unequally 3-lobed border reflexed, thickened and dark brown at the 
nearly closed throat. — River-banks, Florida, to the mountains of North Caro- 
lina, and westward. May.—Stem very long. Leaves 3'-5' long. Calyx 
similar in shape to the preceding, but smaller. 
Orvrr 100. NYOTAGINACE/E. (Fovn-o'cLock FAMILY.) 
Herbs or shrubs with tumid joints. Leaves mostly opposite, simple, 
petioled, without stipules. — Calyx colored and resembling 4 corolla, 
tubular-bell-shaped or funnel-shaped, free from the 1-celled and 1-ovuled 
ovary, plaited in the bud, contracted in the middle, with the upper por 
tion deciduous. Stamens 1 — several, hypogynous: anthers 2-celled, round- 
ish. Ovule erect. Style simple: stigma simple or branched. Achenium 
enclosed in the indurated, mostly ribbed, often glandular base of di 
calyx. Embryo coiled or folded around copious mealy albumen. Cotyle- 
dons leafy. Radicle inferior. 
Synopsis. a 
Sm * Flowers surrounded by a calyx-like involucre. : 
1. OXYBAPHUS. Involucre open, membranaceous, 5-lobed. Herbs. 
: * * Flowers without an involucre. * 
2. BOERHAAVIA. Flowers perfect. Embryo coiled. Herbs. e 
3. PISONIA. Flowers diœcious. Embryo straight. Shrubs. 
* 
: .— Flowers perfect, 1-5 in a cluster, surrounded by an open cup-shaped 
_ involucre. Calyx-tube very short; the bell-shaped limb 5-lobed, i e 
