CACTACEJE. (cactus FAMILY.) 325 



pubescent ; seeds oblong, smooth — All the year — Waste places and 

 jroadsides ; everywhere. The inspissated juice is an exceedingly drastic 

 and irritating, officinal cathartic. 



Flowers racemed or clustered, the pistillate rarely solitary. Corol- 

 la campanulate, 5-parted. Staminate Jl. : — Stamens 5, triadelphous, 

 with linear cells. Pistillate fi. : — Style 3-fid; fruit baccate, spherical, 

 indehiscent — Perennial, climbing herbs (ours dioecious), with fleshy 

 tuberous root, and usually simple tendrils. 



B. multiflora, Boiss. et Held. % Leaves scabrous, cordate- 

 ovate, 8-9-palmatilobed or parted, segments often lobulated, sometimes 

 entire, repand-dentate or obsoletely lobed. Fertile flowers in many- 

 flowered, peduncled racemes, sometimes branching at base, sometimes 

 few-flowered ; calyx shorter than corolla ; style somewhat exserted ; 

 berry yellow or scarlet .008 to .01 in diameter — June — Thickets; 

 common. 



Var. pauciflora, Post. Flowers solitary, or 2-few in racemes 

 {B. Syriaca, Boiss). The author has in his herbarium numerous forms 

 intermediate between this variety and B. multiflora. In several the 

 lower leaves are obsoletely lobed, and the upper lobed, and more or less 

 lobulated. 



Okder XLVI. DATISCACE^, Endl. (Datisca Family.) 

 Trees, or {purs) herhs, with regular, dioecious flowers / 

 calyx adherent to 1 -celled ovary / petals 0, or small, 8 ; sta- 

 Tnens inserted on calyx, opposite to its lohes ', placentm parie- 

 tal / ovides numeroics, anatropous / styles as many as placen- 

 tm — Calyx-lobes equal or unequal. Stamens varying in num- 

 ber. O^arj open or closed at apex. Seeds numerous, minute, 

 with little albumen. 



DATISCA, L. Datisca. 



Petals 0. Staminate fi. : — Calyx-tube short, with 4-9, unequal 

 lobes. Stamens 9-11, anthers sessile, linear, elongated. Fertile fi.: — 

 Calyx ovoid, triangular, 3-toothed at apex. Styles 3, filifonn, 2-parted, 

 divisions papillary along their inner aspect. Capsule 3-4-ribbed, oblong, 

 apex open between styles — Herbs with aspect of Cannabis. 



D. eannabina, L. If 1 or more, glabrous, erect. Leaves im- 

 paripinnate, leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, coarse-serrate, the termi- 

 nal often trisect, decurrent at base. Flowers in long, axillary racemes 

 intermixed with linear, nearly entire leaves ; capsules pedicelled, pen- 

 dulous — Summer — Moist places ; Lebanon to Marash, and northward. 



Order XLVII. CACTACE^, D.C. (Cactus Family.) 



Fleshy, usually leafless plants, with glohidar, columnar 

 and 'inany -angled, or flattened ana jointed stems, usually 

 with prickles. Flowers solitary, sessile / sepals adherent to 

 the 1-celled ovary, numerous, imbricated in several rows, 



