724 EMPETRACEAE 



B. Stigmas entire. 



Low annual herbs : leaves with pinnately parted blades : stamens 



twice as many as the petals. Fam. 3. LIMNANTHACEAB. 



Shrubs or trees, or rarely herbaceous vines : leaves with simple or 



compound blades : stamens usually as many as the petals. 



Plants with resin-bearing tissues. Fam. 4. SPONDIACEAE. 



Plants not resin-bearing. 



Leaf-blades simple, pinnately veined. 



Each cavity of the ovary with a single ovule. 



Flowers in racemes : fruit capsular or leathery. Fam. 5. CYRILLACEAE. 



Flowers not racemose : fruit a drupe. Fam. 6. AQUIFOLIACEAE. 



Each cavity of the ovary with 2 or more ovules. 

 Disk present : corolla present. 



Anthers introrse: seeds arilled. Fam. 7. CELASTRACEAE. 



Anthers extrorse : seeds not arilled. Fam. 8. HIPPOCRATEACEAE. 



Disk obsolete : corolla wanting. Fam. 9. DODONAEACEAE. 



Leaf-blades simple and palmately veined or compound. 

 Leaves opposite 

 Fruit capsular. 



Flowers regular: fruit a membranous, bladdery 3- 



lobed capsule : leaf-blades pinnately compound. Fam. 10. STAPHYLEACEAE. 

 Flowers irregular : fruit a leathery globular capsule : 



leaf-blades digitately compound. Fam. 11. AESCULACEAE. 



Fruit a samara. Fam. 12. ACERACEAE. 



Leaves alternate. Fam. 13. SAPINDACEAE. 



FAMILY 1. BUXACEAE Dumort. Box FAMILY. 



Shrubs, trees or perennial herbs, with a watery sap. Leaves alternate or 

 opposite, often persistent : blades simple, often leathery. Flowers monoecious 

 or dioecious, regular, solitary or clustered. Calyx present or wanting. Corolla 

 wanting. Staminate flower with an androecium of 4-7 stamens : filaments 

 distinct: anthers 2-celled. Pistillate flower with a compound gynoecium. 

 Ovary 3-celled or sometimes 2- or 4-celled. Stigmas 2 or 4, distinct. Ovules 1 or 

 2 in each cavity, anatropous. Fruit a capsule or drupe, with 1-2- seeded car- 

 pels. Endosperm fleshy, sometimes very scant. Embryo straight. 



1. FACHYSANDRA Michx. 



Herbs, with matted rootstocks and ascending or procumbent stems and branches. 

 Leaves alternate, approximate, persistent, without stipules. Flowers monoecious, in spikes, 

 the pistillate below the staminate, sometimes crowded. Staminate flowers with 4 sepals : 

 stamens 4, opposite the sepals : filaments stout, exserted : anthers 2-celled, the sacs opening 

 lengthwise. Pistillate flowers with 4 or more sepals : ovary 3-celled, the cavities partitioned 

 at the base : styles 3. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Capsule 3-celled, valvate. Seeds 2 in 

 each cavity. 



1. Fachysandra prociimbens Michx. Foliage finely pubescent. Stems decumbent 

 or procumbent, 1-3 dm. long, stout, simple or nearly so : leaf-blades thickish, 3-12 cm. 

 long, obovate, oval or ovate, obtuse or acutish, entire or coarsely toothed above the middle ; 

 petioles as long as the blades or often shorter : spikes in the axils of scales, 3-10 cm. long, 

 densely flowered : flowers odorous, the staminate numerous, the pistillate few at the base 

 of the spike : sepals 4, ciliate, the outer ovate or elliptic, the inner oval or suborbicular, 

 4-6 mm. long, obtuse : stamens conspicuously exserted : filaments strap-like, stout, white, 

 1 cm. long. 



In woods, West Virginia to Florida and Louisiana. Spring. ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN SPURGE. 



FAMILY 2. EMPETRACEAE Dumont. COWBERRY FAMILY. 



Heath-like shrubs, with erect or prostrate stems. Leaves alternate or 

 whorled, persistent, sometimes crowned : blades narrow, usually strongly revo- 

 lute : stipules wanting. Flowers dioecious, or rarely polygamous, small, axil- 

 lary or aggregated in terminal heads. Calyx of 2-3 scale-like sepals. Corolla of 

 2-3 small petals, or wanting. Staminate flowers with 2-4, mostly 3 stamens. 

 Filaments slender. Anthers 2-celled ; sacs opening lengthwise. Pistillate 

 flowers : ovary subglobose, 2-several-celled ; styles short, united ; stigmas tufted 

 to many-cleft. Ovules solitary in each cavity, amphitropous. Fruit drupe-like, 

 with a fleshy pulp : nutlets 2-many, 1-seeded. Seeds with a thin testa and fleshy 

 endosperm. Embryo cylindric, straight, axile. 



