Batis 



BATIDACE^ 



35 



persistent, with one flower in each axil. Perianth cup-shaped, 

 transversely 2-lobed above the middle ; lobes truncate, the 

 posterior larger, external in bud. Stamens 4, inserted at the 

 base of the perianth, altei'nating with 4 staminodes. Anthers 

 2-celled, dehiscing inwardly. Female flowers : strobile stalked, 

 ovoid-oblong, 4-12 flowered. Scales in alternating pairs towards 

 the base of the strobile, small, roundish, deciduous. Perianth 

 wanting. Ovaries ovoid-oblong, each 4-celled, united to form a 

 fleshy compound fruit, the apices free, bearing 2-lobed, sessile 

 stigmas. Ovules solitary in the cells, erect from the base, 

 anatropous. Seeds without endosperm, cotyledons large. 



Species 1, a native of tropical America from Florida and the 

 West Indies to Brazil, found also in California and the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



BATIS L. 



Fig. 7.— Batis maritima L. 



A, Branch with male flowers. 



B, Branch witli female flowers. 



C, Male spike. 



D, Male flower, stamens and stami- 

 nodes partially lifted out from 

 the perianth. 



E, Female spike. 



F, Fruiting spike. 



G, Diagram of flower. 



B. maritima L. Syst. ed. 10, 1289" (1759); Jacq. Sel. Stirp. 

 Amer. 260, /. 40,/. 4 & Amer. Ed. Pict. 126, t. 246; Griseh. Fl. 

 Brit. W. Ind. 61; A. DC. Prodr. xvii. 35; Torr. in Smiths. 

 Contrib. vi. t. 11 ; K. Schum. in FL Bras. Hi. pt. 3, 757, t. 126. 

 Kali fruticosum coniferum flore albo Sloane Cat. 50, Hist. i. 144. 

 Batis maritima erecta &c. Browne Hist. Jam. 356 (1756). (Fig. 7.) 



Barilla, Jamaican Samphire. 



Wright I Shakspear I Bromficld ! March ! Palisadoes ; Lime Cay ; 

 Fawcett ! Ferry River ; Great Goat Island ; Harris ! Fl. Jam. 8187, 9374.— 

 Florida, Texas, Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Culebra, 

 St. Thomas, St. Cruz, Martinique, eastern tropical continental America, 

 California, Sandwich Islands. 



D ]i 



