160 FLORA OF JAMAICA Phytolacca 



minate white dots and with a narrow pellucid margin ; petioles 2-6 cm. 1. 

 Racemes, including the long peduncle, 2-6 dm. 1., lax-flowered. Bracts 

 2-3*5 mm. 1.; bracteoles -8-1 mm. 1., adnate about the middle of the 

 pedicel. Fj-uU black, 5-7 mm. in diam., depressed. Seed subreniform, 

 2-2-2 mm. 1. . 



H. Walter, quoting Eggers, notes this species as scandent and attaining 

 a height of 2-5 m. 



2. P. icosandra L. Syst. ed. 10, 1040 (1759); racemes much 

 longer than the leaves ; pedicels about as long as the flowers, 

 4-5 mm. 1. (-7), scarcely increased in fruit ; bracts as long as, 

 or a little longer than the pedicels ; bracteoles half as long as 

 bracts ; perianth-segments broadly elliptical, persistent and not 

 reflexed in fruit, 3*5-4*5 mm. 1., 2 '5-3 '5 mm. br ; stamens 

 about 20 ; carpels 10-12.— X. Sp. PL ed. 2, 631 ; Bot. Mag. 

 t. 2633 ; H. Walt, in Engl. Pflanzenreich iv. pt. 83, 60. (Fig. 56.) 



Broughtonl Wullschlaegel I Cinchona, 6000 ft., J.P. 1266, Morrisl 

 Farm Hill, 4000 ft., Gossetl Christiana, 3200 ft.. Miss TTood I— Cuba, 

 Hispaniola, Central and tropical South America. 



Stem shrubby, branching, erect, angled, glabrous. Leaves narrowly 

 elliptical or ovate-elliptical, apex acute or cuspidate, base cuneate, nerves 

 prominulous beneath, 10-17 cm. 1., 4-8 cm. br. ; petiole 2-4 cm. 1. 

 Inflorescence laxly racemose, uppermost terminal, the rest opposite or 

 nearly opposite a leaf ; raceme in fruit 27 cm. 1. ; peduncles 5-7 '5 cm. 1. 

 Bracts linear-lanceolate ; bracteoles at middle of pedicel or nearer the 

 flower. Stamens in 2 series, inserted on a disk, shorter than the perianth, 

 filaments subulate, about 2-2 mm. 1.; anthers about 1 mm. 1., oblong- 

 elliptical. Ovary subglobose; carpels connate, about 1"2 mm. 1.; styles 

 as many as carpels, recurved, 15 mm. 1. Fruit 6-7 mm. in diam. Seed 

 obovoid-roundish, 2 -3-2 -7 mm. 1., 2-2-3 mm. br. 



The Jamaican specimens tend to have rather larger flowers, and longer 

 pedicels, bracts and bracteoles than usual. 



5. STEGNOSPERMA Benth. 



Erect shrub. Leaves alternate. Flowers hermaphrodite in 

 racemes at ends of branches. Calyx with 5 segments which 

 enlarge in the fruit. Petals 5. Stamens 10, joined at the base 

 in a perigynous ring, persistent in the fruit. Ovary 1 -celled, the 

 cell surrounding a central column ; stigmas 3-5 ; ovules as many 

 as stigmas, basal, erect. Capsule globose, hard and brittle, 

 3-5-angled, 1 -celled, 3-5-valved to the base, with 1 to 5 .seeds. 

 Seeds enclosed in a white, fleshy aril, obovoid, black. Outer 

 seed-coat crustaceous, inner thick membranous. Embryo narrow, 

 slightly curved close to the inner seed-coat ; cotyledons flattened, 

 face to face, equal ; radicle about half length of embryo, 

 cylindrical. 



Species 1, native of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Central 

 America and California. 



S. hBlimifoUsi Benth. Bot. Sulph. 17, /. 12 (1844); Moq. in 

 DC. Prodr. .ri/?. pt. 2, 36 ; Britton in Torr. Bot. CI. BnU. xxxv. 



