624 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HEKBAKIUM. 



13. TRAGI A L. Sp. PI. 980. 1753. 



Plants scandent or erect, suffrutescent or herbaceous, the pubescence partly 

 of stinging hairs ; leaves alternate, more or less cordate at base, variously 

 dentate ; flowers small, apetalous, racemose ; fruit a 3-lobate capsule. 



Several herbaceous species occur in IMexico. The species listed below scarcely 

 deserve to be classified as shrubs. 



Racemes bifurcate. 

 Leaves about 16 cm. wide, deeply cordate at base; pistillate flowers on short 



stout pedicels 1. T. bailloniana. 



Leaves 3 to 7 cm. wide, truncate or shallowly cordate at base ; pistillate 



flowers on very long, slender pedicels 2. T. volubilis. 



Racemes simple. 

 Leaves entire or shallowly crenate, with a broad shallow sinus at base. 



3. T. mexicana. 

 Leaves conspicuously dentate, with a deep, narrow or closed sinus at base. 



4. T. affinis. 



1. Tragia bailloniana Muell. Arg. Linnaea 34: 178. 1865-G6. 

 Known only from the type locality, Teapa, Tabasco. 

 Plants scandent, pilose ; leaves 20 cm. long, acuminate. 



2. Tragia volubilis L. Sp. PI. 980. 1753. 



Veracruz. Central America, West Indies, South America, and tropical 

 Africa and Asia. 



Suffrutescent, scandent, copiously pubescent ; leaves conspicuously dentate 

 or serrate. " Pringa-mozu " (Nicaragua, Porto Rico). 



Reputed to have diuretic and sudorific properties; used in the West Indies 

 for venereal diseases. Grosourdy states that the juice, mixed with salt, was 

 sometimes applied to ulcers. 



3. Tragia mexicana Muell. Arg. Linnaea 34: 182. 1865-66. 



Type from Hacienda de Jovo, in southern Mexico. Guatemala. 

 Scandent ; leaves oblong-ovate, 6 to 17 cm. long, 3 to 7 cm. wide, acuminate ; 

 capsule densely hispid. 



4. Tragia affinis Robins. & Greenm. Proc. Amer. Acad. 29 : 393. 1894, 

 Jalisco to Morelos ; type collected near Guadalajara, Jalisco. 

 Scandent, copiously pubescent; leaves 5 to 11 cm. long, acute. 



14. ACALYPHA L. Sp. PI. 1003. 1753. 



Reference: Mueller von Argau in DC. Prodr. 15': 799-889. 1866. 



Shrubs ; leaves alternate, usually ovate, variously toothed, 3 or 5-nerved or 

 pinnate-veined ; staminate flowers glomerate, in slender spikes, the calyx 

 4-parted ; pistillate flowers 1 or more subtended by a foliaceous bract, the 

 bracts usually in ament-like spikes, the calyx of 3 or 4 sepals ; fruit a 3-celled 

 capsule. 



A large number of herbaceous species occur in Mexico. Acalypha wilkesiana 

 Muell. Arg., a shrub native of the islands of the Pacific, is sometimes grown 

 in Mexico for ornament. It has large glossy green leaves, variously bordered 

 or mottled with pink or red. 

 Pistillate flowers long-pedicellate. 



Stipules ovate-lanceolate 1, A. flagellata. 



Stipules subulate. 



Pistillate inflorescence 1 or 2-flowered 2. A. coryloides. 



