124 NYCTAGINACEAE. 



oblong, 2.5 cm. long, narrowed to the base; spikes solitary in the 

 axils along the branches; the staminate 4-8 mm. long; the pistillate 

 2 mm. long, becoming 10-15 mm. long in fruit; bracts entire, obtuse 

 or acute, in vertical rows, persistent, those of the pistillate decidu- 

 ous; petals white; stamens 2 mm. long, exserted. 

 San Pedro and Redondo to San Diego. 



Family 28. PHYTOLACCACEAE. 



PoKEWEED Family. 



Ours perennial herbs with alternate entire leaves and 

 perfect racemose flowers. Sepals 4-5, imbricated in the 

 bud. Petals wanting. Stamens usually 10, hypogynous, 

 with subulate or filiform filaments; anthers 2-celled, 

 longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary superior, 10-celled; 

 ovules solitary, amphitropous ; styles 10; stigmas linear 

 or filiform. Fruit a berry. Seeds compressed; embryo 

 annular; endosperm mealy. 



1. PHYTOLACCA L. 

 With the characters of the family. 



1. P. decandra L. Stems branching from a perennial root, 

 1.5-3 dm. high, glabrous, strong smelling and succulent; leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at both 

 ends, 1-3 dm. long; petioles 2-8 cm. long; racemes formed at the 

 base of the branches, becoming opposite the leaf, peduncled, 5-20 

 cm. long; pedicels divergent, with a subulate-lanceolate bract at 

 base and usually with 2 similar ones above; calyx white, 4-6 mm. 

 long; sepals orbicular; ovary subglobose; style recurved; berry dark 

 purple, 10-12 mm. in diameter. 



Santa Monica, according to Davidson. 



Family 29. NYCTAGINACEAE. 



Four-o'clock Family. 



Ours herbs with fragile stems and tumid joints, and 

 entire petiolate exstipulate mostly opposite leaves. 

 Flowers perfect, with a calyx-like involucre. Petals 

 wanting. Calyx corolla-like, campanulate or salver- 

 shaped, 4-5-lobed or 4-5-toothed. Stamens hypo- 

 gynous; filaments filiform; anthers 2-celled, dehiscent by 



