376 PHYTOLACCACEAE. . {[ Phytolacca. 
OrperR LXIX. PHYTOLACCACEAE. 
Perianth cut down to the, base into 4—5 rounded segments, greenish 
or colored. Stamens 4 or 5 and alternate with the segments of the 
perianth, or indefinite. Several carpels (a single one in Rivina) either 
connate at the base or discreet, Aneel in fruit, each with a single 
erect te Styles distinct, usually introrse, or none. Embryo excentrical; 
albumen mealy or wanting. — Herbs with alternate entire leaves, without 
stipules, mostly with drastic properties. Flowers small, racemose. 
A cosmopolitan Order of about 70 species. 
1. PHYTOLACCA, L. 
Segments of perianth 5, often colored. Stamens 5—30. Ovary of 
5—12 carpels united in a ring, with as many short introrsely stigmati- 
~~ styles, in fruit forming a te globose 5—12-celled berry. 
ryo curved in a ring round the albumen. — Tall perennials with 
hn and lateral racemes. 
A small genus, distributed over the warmer regions of the world, but chiefly of America. 
1, P. brachystachys, Moq. in DC. Prod. XU, Sect. I, p. 31. — An erect 
undershrub, 3—5 ft. high. Leaves ovate, 4—6‘ < 2—3', on petioles of 
3/4—1’, acuminate, contracting at the base, membranous, glabrous. ageing’ 
about the middle. Sepals 1'/2—2”, obtuse, pink or purplish. Stamens 
5—10. Carpels 5—7, not beaked in fruit. Berry dark purple, umbilicate, 
2" in diameter, 5—7-ribbed. — P. Abyssinica, Hook. & Arn. in Bot. 
Beech. p. 94. — P. sen, Mann, Enum. no. 396. ‘he Andine 
species has 7—13 stamens and 7—9 eurbielig with a small stant which 
is white as in P. hiaieg: 
Common in the lower forests, the Poke of the Americans. Nat. name: «Popolo» 
f 
species of Rivina, probably 7m laevis, L., has of late years appeared as & weed a3 
gardens and may become naturaliz 
Orper LXX. POLYGONACEAE. 
Perianth of 6, 5 or fewer segments, regular and equal, or the inner 
ones enlarged. Stamens variable in number, usually 9, 8 or 6, alternate 
with the segments when of the same number. Ovary free, with a single 
it 
protruding from the persistent perianth. Embryo straight or curved. 
Albumen mealy. — Herbs or rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate, usually 
entire. Stipules usually thin and scarious, rarely herbaceous, forming 4 
sheath or ring (ochrea) round the stem within the petiole. Flowers small, 
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