AIZOACEAE 197 
,exserted; stigma capitellate. Utricle obovoid, coriaceous. (Adapted from 
the Latin “wonderful.’’) 
‘Species about 25, in tropical America, 1 now cultivated in many warm 
countries. 
1. M. sALAPA L.. A las cuatro, Oraciones (Sp.-Fil.) ; Four-o’clock, Marvel of 
Peru. 
An erect, nearly or quite glabrous, branched plant 20 to 80 cm high. 
Leaves 4 to 10 cm long, narrowly ovate, acuminate, base often subtruncate 
and somewhat inequilateral. Involucres crowded, calyx-like, 1 em long or 
less, 1-flowered. Perianth white, purple, or yellow, the tube cylindric, 
slightly enlarged upward, 3 to 4 em long, the limb spreading. Fruit 
narrowly ovoid, about 8 mm long, black, finely ribbed. 
Commonly cultivated, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines, in 
and about towns, cultivated and naturalized. A native of tropical America, 
now cultivated in many warm countries. 
4, BOERHAAVIA Linnaeus 
Diffuse spreading herbs with divaricate branches and opposite leaves. 
Flowers small, jointed on their pedicels, panicled or umbellate, bracteolate. 
Perianth-tube funnel-shaped, short, 5-lobed. Stamens 1 to 5, unequal 
exserted. Ovary oblique, stipitate. Fruit small, glandular, 5-ribbed, the 
utricle oblong. (In honor of H. Boerhaave, an early Dutch botanist.) 
Species 25 or more, in tropical and subtropical regions of both hemi- 
spheres, a single variable one in the Philippines. 
1. B. DirFusA L. 
A diffuse, spreading, laxly branched, glabrous or somewhat pubescent 
herb, the branches sometimes 2 m in length. Leaves scattered, ovate, 
elliptic, or oblong, sometimes undulate, pale beneath, 1 to 4 cm long, apex 
rounded or acute, base usually rounded. Cymes very lax, panicled, the 
branches slender, flowers usually fascicled or subumbellate on the ultimate 
branchlets, pink, about 1.5 mm long. Fruit glandular, narrowly oblong- 
obovoid, about 3 mm long. (FI. Filip. pl. 93.) 
In waste places, occasional, surely introduced, fl. Sept._May; widely 
distributed in the Philippines. Tropical Asia to Polynesia. 
46. AIZOACEAE (MOLLUGO OR TOSTON FAMILY) 
Herbs with entire, simple, alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves. Flow- 
ers in axillary or terminal clusters or cymes, small, regular, perfect. Calyx 
of 4 or 5 nearly free or more or less united segments, usually persistent. 
Petals none. Stamens perigynous or hypogynous, few or many. Ovary 
free, 2- to 5-celled, of 2 to 5 united carpels; styles as many as the carpels; 
ovules usually many, rarely few or one in each cell, axile. Fruit capsular, 
circumsciss or dorsally dehiscent. Seeds numerous, small. 
Genera 7, species 52, chiefly in Africa, a few in most tropical and sub- 
tropical countries, 3 genera, and 5 species in the Philippines. 
1. Capsule circumsciss; stamens inserted on the calyx-tube. 
2. Ovary and capsule 3- to 5-celled................0......cceeeeceeteeeeeee es .. 1. Sesuvium 
2. Ovary and capsule 1- or 2-celled..............0......2.--seceeeeeeeeeeeees 2. Trianthema 
1. Capsule dehiscing dorsally; stamens inserted on the receptacle. 
3. Mollugo 
