394 NYCTAGINACEJi. (FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY.) 



2. BOERHAAVIA, L. 



Flowers perfect. Calyx tube cylindrical or obcouical, 5-ribbed ; the limb 

 colored, funnel-shaped, 5-lobed, deciduous. Stamens 1-4: anthers minute, 

 roundish. Style slender : stigma obtuse. Embryo folded. Annual herbs, 

 with diffuse branching stems, and opposite ovate or rounded leaves. Flowers 

 small, in solitary or pauicled clusters. 



1. B. erecta, L. Stems ascending, branched from the base, smooth; 

 branches alternate ; leaves ovate or roundish, acute or mucronate, often more 

 or less cordate, wavy along the margins, whitened and minutely dotted with 

 black beneath; clusters 3 - 5-flowered, in ample panicles; stamens 2; fruit 

 smooth, obconical, truncate, strongly ribbed, Cultivated ground, Florida to 

 South Carolina. July - Sept. Stem 1 - .3 long. Leaves rather thick, 2' - 3' 

 long. Flowers small, purple. 



2. B. hirsuta, Willd. Stem diffuse, alternately branched, minutely 

 pubescent, hirsute above ; leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, mucronate, obtuse at 

 the base, undulate, smooth, and similarly colored on both sides, ciliate on the 

 margins; clusters 3 -6-flowered, forming a loose spreading panicle; flowers 

 minute; calyx limb hairy at the apex; fruit obconical, rounded at the apex, 

 with the ribs glandular-viscid. South Florida. Stem stout, 2 -3 long. 

 Leaves l'-2' long. 



3. B. viscosa, Lag. Viscid or minutely pubescent ; stem terete, 

 straight ; branches opposite ; leaves ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, mucro- 

 nate, acute at the base, smooth, whitish beneath, slender-petioled ; peduncles 

 solitary, axillary, 2-cleft, mostly shorter than the leaves; flowers capitate, 

 minute ; stamens 3 ; fruit club-shaped, acutish, with the ribs glandular. 

 South Florida. Stem 2 - 3 long. Leaves 1 ' - 1 \' long. 



3. PISONIA, Plum. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx 5- or 10-toothed, funnel-shaped in the sterile flow- 

 ers, tubular and persistent in the fertile. Stamens 6-10, exserted : anther 

 cells distinct. Style mostly lateral : stigma many-cleft. Fruit terete or 

 ribbed, smooth or glandular. Embryo straight. Cotyledons folded around 

 the aibumen. Trees or shrubs, with opposite or alternate leaves, and mostly 

 rose-colored flowers in corymbose cymes. 



1- P. aculeata, L. Spiny; stem smooth ; branches widely spreading ; 

 leaves alternate, ovate or elliptical, acute or obtuse, smooth ; cymes terminal, 

 peduncled, pubescent, many-flowered ; calyx of the sterile flower 10-toothed; 

 stamens 7 ; fruit club-shaped, 10-striate, and beset with 5 rows of shining vis- 

 cid glands. Soutli Florida. Shrub 5 high ; the spines short and recurved. 

 Leaves l'-2' long. 



2. P. obtusata, Swartz. Smooth, spineless ; leaves obovate-oblong, 

 revolute on the margins, rigid ; cymes long-peduncled, many-flowered, the 

 branches horizontal ; fertile calyx 5-cleft, with the lobes narrow and acute ; 

 stamens 7 ; fruit oblong, many-furrowed, glandless ; capsule truncate. 

 South Florida. Leaves opposite. l'-2' long Flowers l"-2" long. 



