POLYGONACEAE. 101 



compressed, dehiscing elastically at the circumscissile 

 base. Cotyledons very short. 



1. R. occidentalis (Engelm.) Kuntze. Stems much branched, 

 5-15 cm. long, 3-5 mm. thick; staminate plants brownish-yellow, 

 bearing numerous dense spikes, many-flowered; calyx-lobes 3-4 mm. 

 long, lanceolate, acuminate; pistillate plants olive-brown; spikes 

 short, 5-6-flowered or with the upper reduced to 1; berry brown, 

 oblong, tapering to each end, 4-5 mm. long. {Arceuthobium occi- 

 dentalis Engelm.) 



Frequent on pines. 



2. PHORADENDRON Nutt. Mistletoe. 



Woody plants with terete usually jointed and brittle 

 stems. Leaves foliaceous, entire, faintly nerved, or re- 

 duced to connate scales. Flowers sunk in the jointed 

 rachis, usually several in the axil of each bract. Stami- 

 nate flowers with a mostly 3-lobed globose calyx, bearing 

 a sessile transversely 2-celled anther at the base of each 

 lobe. Pistillate flowers with a similar calyx adnate to 

 the inferior ovary. Berry sessile, ovoid or globose, 

 fleshy. 



1. P. villosiim Nutt. Foliage deep green; leaves elliptic, obtuse, 

 3-nerved, pubescent, 2-2.5 cm. long, on short petioles; berries pink- 

 ish, 3 mm. in diameter. 



On oaks about Pasadena. 



2. P. macrophyllum (Engelm.) Cockerell. Foliage deep green; 

 leaves orbicular-obovate, 5-7 cm. long, usually 5-nerved; spikes 

 large; flowers pubescent. 



Common on the sycamores. 



Family 24. POLYGONACEAE. Buckwheat Family. 



Herbs or rarely shrubs, with alternate or verticillate 

 leaves, w^hich are often only radical, with sheathing 

 stipules or none. Flowers mostly perfect, on jointed 

 pedicels. Calyx of 4-9 sepals, usually petaloid, persist- 

 ent. Stamens as many as the sepals, perigynous. 

 Styles 2-4, distinct or somewhat united, opposite the 

 angles of the lenticular or triquetrous achene. Seed 

 erect; embryo straight within the mealy endosperm or 

 curved around it. 



