Mirabilis 



NYCTAGINACEiE 



147 



Testa of seed adhering to the pericarp. Embryo curved ; coty- 

 ledons surrounding the floury endosperm ; radicle long. 

 Species 24, natives of tropical America. 



M. Jalapa L. Sp. PI. 177 (1753); Wright Mem, 225 ; Choisy 

 in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 427 ; Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 69 ; Eeimerl 

 in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xxi. 616 ; Urh. Symh. Ant. iv. 224. (Fig. 49.) 



Four o'clock, Marvel of Peru. 



Sloane, fruit coll. 1 Moneague, Prior ! Mavis Bank, Troy, Hams I — 

 Bahamas, West Indies, continental tropical America. Cult, in tropics. 



Stem 1 to 2 ft. Leaves 2-10 cm. 1., ovate, acuminate, base sometimes 

 Bubcordate, long stalked. Flowers 5 cm. 1., white, tinted with red, 

 purplish, or yeUow with purple lines, in terminal clusters. Anthocarp 

 about 1"5 cm. 1. 



2. BOERHAVIA L. 



Erect, diffuse or climbing herbs, woody at the base. Leaves 

 opposite. Flowers very small, sessile or subsessile in panicles, 



Fig. bO.—Boerhavia erccta L. 



A, Portion of plant. D, Fruit. 



B, Portion of inflorescence. B, Fruit cut lengtliwise showing seed. 



C, Flower with part of the perianth F, Embryo ; c, cotyledon ; r, radicle. 



removed. 



or long-stalked in pedunculate umbels, with minute bracts. 

 Perianth constricted above the persistent tube, limb funnel- 

 shaped or campanulate, margin 5-lobed, plicate, deciduous. 



. L 2 



