POLYGONACEAE 383 



ovoid, 3-angled, 6 mm. long, smooth, closely invested by the accrescent and leathery 

 hypanthium, which becomes nearly 3 cm. long. 



Along streams, Missouri to South Carolina, Georgia and the Gulf States. Spring and summer. 



13. COCCOLOBIS P. Br. 



Evergreen shrubs or trees, with erect branched trunks, or rarely high-twining vines, 

 clothed with a very thin bark. Leaves alternate : blades leathery, entire. Ocreae cylindric 

 or funnelform, truncate, acuminate or lobed, membranous, often very small. Flowers per- 

 fect, green, on short jointed clustered pedicels subtended by small bracts, disposed in axil- 

 lary or terminal, spike-like racemes. Sepals 5, herbaceous, nearly equal, little changed at 

 maturity. Hypanthium accrescent, fleshy. Stamens 8 : filaments slender, surmounting 

 the hypanthium. Ovary free, 3-angled : styles 3. Ovule erect. Achene ovoid or globose, 

 with a crustaceous or bony pericarp, invested by the accrescent hypanthium, to which it is 

 sometimes more or less adherent. Seed 3-6-lobed, with a membranous testa. Embryo 

 more or less eccentric in the channeled mealy endosperm, its cotyledons cordate. 



Leaf-blades cordate at the base : drupe-like fruit 1.5-2 cm. thick. 1. C. uvifera. 



Leaf-blades cuneate or rounded at the base : drupe-like fruit about 1 cm. thick. 2. C. laurifolia. 



1. Coccolobis uvifera (L. ) Jacq. A shrub or small tree, 5 m. tall or higher, with a 

 short contorted trunk reaching a diameter of more than 1 m. Branches forming a round 

 head : leaf -blades suborbicular, often broader than long, 4-20 cm. in diameter, obtuse or 

 retuse at the apex, undulate, cordate at the base, short-petioled : ocreae funnelform, less 

 than 1 cm. long, firm : racemes interrupted, 1-3 dm. long : hypanthium campanulate, 3-4 

 mm. broad : sepals obovoid-orbicular, whitish, undulate : filaments subulate, red : fruit- 

 ing racemes dense, resembling bunches of grapes, each drupe-like fruit subglobose, 1.5-2 

 cm. in diameter, purple or greenish white, with an astringent juicy pulp and a broadly 

 ovoid achene with a thin reddish pericarp. 



Along the coast within the influence of the salt water, southern Florida and the Keys. Com- 

 mon on the Bahamas and in Bermuda, southern Central to northern South America. Throughout the 

 year. SEA-GRAPE. SHORE-GRAPE. 



2. Coccolobis laurifolia Jacq. A tree, reaching a height of 20 m. and a trunk 

 diameter of 6dm., the branches spreading. Leaf -blades oblong, ovate or obovate, 5-10 cm. 

 long, acute or rounded at the apex, entire, slightly revolute, bright green above, paler 

 beneath, rounded or somewhat wedge-shaped at the base, short -petioled : ocreae less than 

 1 cm. long, scarious : racemes terminal, 1 dm. or less in length, continuous : hypanthium 

 campanulate, 4-5 mm. broad : sepals suborbicular, undulate : stamens 8 : filaments subu- 

 late, yellow : fruiting racemes interrupted, each drupe-like fruit globose-ovoid, dark red, 

 1 cm. in length or longer, with an acid pulp and an ovoid achene with a hard brown 

 pericarp. 



Along the coast, southern Florida. Also in the Bahamas and northern South America. Fruit 

 ripening in winter or spring. 



Order 10. CHENOPODIALES. 



Herbs, sometimes more or less shrubby, occasionally nearly leafless, with 

 green, pale or highly colored foliage. Leaves alternate or opposite, sometimes 

 reduced to scales. Flowers mostly perfect, sometimes monoecious or dioecious, 

 variously disposed, occasionally much reduced. Calyx usually present, the se- 

 pals mainly separate. Corolla wanting or present, small and inconspicuous or 

 relatively large and showy. Androecium of 1-several stamens. Gynoecium of 

 a single carpel or several united carpels. Ovary 1-many-celled, sometimes 1- 

 celled by suppression. Styles mainly distinct. Ovules amphitropous or cam- 

 pylotropous. Fruit a utricle, achene, or berry, sometimes an anthocarp. Em- 

 bryo curved, annular or coiled. 



A. Fruit a utricle, achene or berry, sometimes an anthocarp, not valvate, or merely circumscissile. 

 a. Fruit various, not an anthocarp. 

 * Fruit utricular. 



t Bracts not scarious : stipules wanting. 



Stamens inserted at the base of the ovary or in the margin of a 



short hypanthium. Fam. l. CHENOPODIACEAE. 



Fam. 2. SCLKRANTHACEAK. 



Stamens inserted on the margin of an hypauthium which ulti- 

 mately exceeds the sepals in length. 



