460 



EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



or climbing shrubby plants, with alternate leaves. Flowers brown 

 or greenish, usually solitary. Calyx-tube more or less united with 

 the ovary ; the limb valvate. Stamens six to twelve, epigynous, 

 or adherent to the base of the short and thick style : anthers ad- 

 nate, extrorse. Stigmas radiate. Ovary 3-6-celled. Capsule or 

 berry three- to six-celled, many-seeded. Embryo minute, in 

 fleshy albumen. Ex. Asarum (Wild Ginger, Canada Snake- 

 root), Aristolochia (Virginia Snake-root). Pungent, aromatic, or 

 stimulant tonics ; generally termed Snake-roots, being reputed an- 

 tidotes for the bites of venomous snakes.* 



859. Ord, Phytolaccaceffi (the Poke-weed Family). Chiefly repre- 



sented by the common Poke (Phytolacca decandra), which has a 



* The ORD. RAFFLESIACE^E, and perhaps other RHIZANTHE^, 

 consisting of most remarkable fungus-like parasites (136, and Fig. 125) are to 

 be placed somewhere in this vicinity. 



FIG. 988, 989. Phytolacca decandra (Poke). 990. A flower. 991. Unripe fruit. 992. 

 Cross-section of the same, a little enlarged. 993. Magnified seed. 994. Section of the same 

 across the embryo. 995. Vertical section, showing the embryo coiled around the albumen into 

 a ring. 996. Magnified detached embryo. 



