165 



they are opposite : in Phytolaccea?, if they ate not more numerous than tho 

 segments of the calyx, they are alternate with them. 



Geography. Weeds inhabiting waste places in all parts of the world, but, 

 unlike Amarantaccge, abounding least within the tropics, and most in extra-tro- 

 pical regions. They are exceedingly common in all the northern parts of Eu- 

 rope and Asia. 



Properties. Some of these are used as potherbs, as Basella, Spinage, Gar- 

 den Orach ( Atriplex hortensis), and Chard Beet ; the roots of others form valu- 

 able articles of food, as Beet and Mangel Wurzel. Many of them possess an 

 essential oil, which renders them tonic and antispasmodic ; such are Chenopo- 

 dium ambrosioides and botrys. Chenopodium quinoa is a common article of 

 food in Peru. But the most important of their qualities is the production of 

 soda, which is yielded in immense quantities by the Salsolas, Salicornias, 

 and others. The essential oil of Chenopodium anthelminticum, known in 

 North America under the name of Worm-seed Oil, is powerfully anthelmintic. 

 Barton, 2. 187. The seeds of Atriplex hortensis are said to be so unwhole- 

 some as to excite vomiting. M. Chevallier has remarked the singular fact, that 

 Chenopodium vulvaria exhales pure ammonia during its whole existence. This 

 is the only observation upon record of a gaseous exhalation of azote by vege- 

 tables ; and the facility with which this principle is abandoned by ammonia 

 may perhaps explain the presence of azotic products in the vegetable kingdom. 

 Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1. 444. [M. Meyer has given a full synoptical table of this 

 family in the Flora Altaica of Ledebour, published at Berlin in 1829. See 

 Ferrusacs Bull. No. 6. June 1830.] 



CLIV. PHYTOLACCEiE. The Virginian Poke-Tribe 



Phytolacce^:, R. Brown in Congo, 454. (1818). 



Diagnosis. Apetalous dicotyledons, with definite erect ovula, an inferior 

 many-leaved calyx, distinct perigynous stamens, a multilocular ovarium, an 

 embryo rolled round mealy albumen, with the radicle next the hilum, and ter- 

 minal stigmas. 



Anomalies. Rivina has only 1 carpellum. 



Essential Character. — Calyx of 4 or 5 petaloid leaves. Stamens either indefinite, or, if 

 equal to the number of the divisions of the calyx, alternate with them. Ovarium of from 1 to 

 several cells, each containing 1 ascending ovulum ; styles and stigmas equal in number to the 

 cells. Fruit baccate or dry, entire or deeply lobed, 1- or many celled. Seeds ascending, soli- 

 tary, with a cylindrical embryo curved round mealy albumen, with the radicle next the hilum. 

 — Under-shrubs or herbaceous plants. Leaves alternate, entire, without stipula;, often with pel- 

 lucid dots. Flowers racemose. 



Affinities. Nearly related to Chenopodese and Polygonea?, from the first 

 of which they are distinguished hy their multilocular ovarium, and by their 

 stamens exceeding the number of divisions of the calyx ; a circumstance 

 which never occurs in Chenopodese. From Polygoneae they are known by 

 the radicle being turned towards the hilum, and the want of stipulse. Rivina, 

 which has the albumen very much reduced in quantity, and a unilocular fruit, 

 connects Phytolaccere with Petiveriaceae. Mr. Brown remarks (Congo, 455) 

 that these two orders, widely as they differ in the structure of the ovarium, are 

 connected by a species of Phytolacca related to P. abyssinica, in which the 5 

 cells are so deeply divided that they merely cohere by their inner angles ; and 



