404 ALLIONIACEAE 



3. PHYTOLACCA L. 



Large perennial herbs or shrubs, with erect or climbing stems and glabrous foliage, 

 except in the inflorescence. Leaf -blades entire, thickish. Stipules wanting. Flowers per- 

 fect or rarely dioecious, in terminal racemes, which become lateral by the prolongation of 

 the sterns: pedicels bracted, angled. Calyx herbaceous or slightly colored. Sepals 4-5, im- 

 bricated, not accrescent. Stamens 5-25, inserted at the base of the ovary, reduced to stami- 

 nodia in the pistillate flowers : filaments filiform or subulate : anthers opening lengthwise. 

 Ovary depressed, sessile, of 5-12 more or less united carpels : styles 5-12, distinct. Ovules 

 campylotropous. Berry depressed, pulpy. Seeds reniform, flattened, with a shining testa. 

 Embryo bent around the mealy endosperm. 



1. Phytolacca decdndra L. Perennial from a very large poisonous root, glabrous, 

 except the racemes, bright green. Stem stout, erect, 1-3 m. tall, more or less branched, 

 green or magenta, its pith in transverse plates : leaf-blades ovate, oblong or elliptic, 1-3 

 dm. long, acute or short-acuminate, undulate, rather abruptly narrowed into the petiole : 

 racemes puberulent or glabrate, somewhat drooping, 1-2 cm. long : pedicels pink, about 1 

 cm. long, subtended by narrow lanceolate bracts, bearing several narrow scales : calyx 

 white or greenish, rather flat : sepals obovate, 3 mm. long, obtuse, somewhat hooded at 

 the apex : berries spheroidal, 7-10 mm. broad, dark purple, filled with a crimson juice. 



Common, Maine to Minnesota. Florida and Texas. Summer and fall. POKE. INKBEREY. SCOKE. 

 PIGEON-BERRY. 



FAMILY 6. BATIDACEAE Dammer. BATIS FAMILY. 



Maritime shrubs, with erect or prostrate branching stems. Leaves opposite, 

 fleshy, half-terete, linear or club-shaped, entire, sessile, without stipules. Flow- 

 ers small, dioecious, in axillary cones. Staminate cones with persistent imbricated 

 scales each subtending a flower: calyx cup-shaped, 2-lobed : stamens 4-5, in- 

 serted at the base of the calyx : filaments thick, alternating with staminodia : 

 anthers introrse, the sacs attached to each other above the middle. Pistillate 

 cones peduncled, 4-12-flowered, the scales deciduous : calyx and corolla want- 

 ing : stamens and staminoidia wanting : ovary sessile, 4-celled, stigma sessile, 

 cushion-like, somewhat 2-lobed. Ovule 1 in each cavity, erect, anatropous. 

 Fruit a fleshy aggregate from the pistillate inflorescence, 4-seeded. Seeds erect, 

 club-shaped, slightly curved. Testa membranous. Endosperm wanting. Em- 

 bryo shaped like the seed, with large cotyledons. 



1. BATIS L. 



Characters of the family. 



1. Batis maiitima L. A glabrous pale green strong-scented shrub, with spreading or 

 prostrate stems 0.5-1.5 m. long. Branches angled, often erect : leaves fleshy, half terete, 

 curved, 1-2.5 cm. long, acutish : spikes 5-10 mm. long, ovoid ; staminate sessile ; pistil- 

 late on peduncles 2-5 mm. long : bracts reniform or suborbicular, often apiculate : calyx 

 shorter than the bract : stamens 4-5, exserted, longer than the staminodia whose blades 

 are triangular : fruit oblong or obovoid, 1-2 cm. long, short-stalked, drooping. 



In sand along the coast and in salt marshes, North Carolina to Florida and Texas and through the 

 tropics to northern South America. Also in the West Indies. SALT-WORT. 



FAMILY 7. ALLIONIACEAE Reichenb. FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, with branching or dichotomous-forking stems. Leaves 

 alternate or opposite, without stipules : blades simple, entire or repand. In- 

 florescence various. Flowers regular, perfect, or sometimes unisexual, often 

 subtended by a conspicuous involucre. Calyx usually corolla-like, campanulate, 

 trumpet-shaped or rotate, usually deriduous above the ovary. Corolla wanting. 

 Androecium of 1-many stamens. Filaments filiform, distinct or united at the 

 base, often unequal in length. Anthers 2-celled, opening by longitudinal cracks. 

 Gynoecium of a single carpel. Ovary 1-celled, superior, but surrounded by the 

 calyx-tube, sessile or short-stalked. Style slender. Stigma usually capitate. 

 Ovule solitary, erect, campylotropous. Fruit an anthrocarp, indehiscent, fleshy, 

 leathery or hard, angled, ribbed or grooved. Seed erect, with a hyaline testa. 



