.■|'.>i NYCTAGINACE^. (KOUK-O'cLOCK FAMILY.) 



2. BOERHAAVIA, l>. 



FlowiTS perfect. Calyx tube lylimlriial or obcoiiical, .')-ribbed ; tlie limb 

 colored, finiiiel-shaped, Slobed, deciduous. Stainuiis 1-4: aathers niiuute, 

 roundish. Style slender: .stigniaobtu.se. Embryo folded. — jVnuual herbs, 

 with iliffuse branching stems, and opposite ovale or rounded leaves. Flowers 

 small, in solitary or panicleci clusters. 



1 . B. erecta, !.<. Stems ascending, branched from the base, smooth ; 

 bnmches alternate ; leaves ovate or roundish, acute or mucronate, often more 

 or less cordate, wavy along the margins, whitened and minutely dotted with 

 black beneath; clusters 3 - 5-tlowered, iu ample panicles; stamens 2; fruit 

 smooth, obconical, truncate, strongly ribbed. — Cultivated ground, Florida to 

 South Carolina. July- Sept. — Stem P-3^1ong. Leavesrather thick, 2'-3' 

 long. Flowers small, purple. 



2. B. hirsuta, Willd. stem diffuse, alternately branched, minutely 

 pubescent, hirsute above; leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, mucronate, obtuse at 

 the base, undulate, smooth, and simibirly colored on both sides, ciliate on the 

 margins; clusters 3 -6-flowered, forming a loo.se spreading panicle; flowers 

 minute; caly.\ limb hairy at the ape.\ ; fruit obconical, rounded at the apex, 

 with the ribs glaudular-viscid. — South Florida. — Stem stout, 2^-3° long. 

 Leaves I' -2' long. 



3. B. viseosa, Lag. Viscid or minutely pubescent ; stem terete, 

 straight ; liranches opposite ; leaves ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, mucro- 

 nate, acute at the base, smooth, whitish beneath, slender-petioled ; peduncles 

 solitary, axillary, 2-cleft, mo.stly shorter than the leaves; fl(jwers capitate, 

 minute; stamens 3; fruit club-shaped, acutish, with the ribs glandular. — 

 South Florida. — Stem 2° - 3^ long. Leaves 1 ' - 1 ^' long. 



3. PISONIA, rium. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx 5- or 10 toothed, fuimel-shaped in the sterile flow- 

 ers, tubular and persistent in the fertile. Stamens 6-10, exserted : antlier 

 cells distinct. Style mostly lateral: stigma many-cleft. Fruit terete or 

 ribl)ed, smooth or glandular. Embryo straight. Cotyledons folded around 

 the albumen. — Trees or shrubs, with opposite or alternate leaves, and mostly 

 rose-colored flowers in corymb<j.se cymes. 



1. P. aculeata, L. Spiny; stem smooth; branches widely spreading; 

 leaves alternate, ovate or elliptical, acute or ol)tuse, smooth ; cymes terminal, 

 peduncled, pubescent, many-flowered; calyx of the .sterile flower 10-toothed; 

 stamens 7 ; fruit club-shaped, lO-striate, and beset with 5 rows of shining vis- 

 cid glands. — South Florida. — Shrub 5° high ; the spines short and recurved. 

 Leaves r-2' long. 



2. P. obtusata, Swartz. Smooth, spineless; leaves ohovate-ohlong, 

 revolute on the margins, rigid; cymes long-peduncled, many-flowered, the 

 branches horizontal ,- fertile calyx .5-cleft, with the lobes narrow and acute ; 

 stamens 7; fruit oblong, many-furrowed, glandless; capsule truncate. — 

 South Florida. — Leaves opposite, V -2' lung. Flowers I" -2" long. 



