70 PLANTS OF BER]MUDA. 



Nat : Ord : 56. Ni/etaginaceae. 



Herbs or shrubs with swollen joints and opposite entire leaves ; 

 calyx tubular, bright coloured, corolla-like, the upper portion fall- 

 ing off, leaving the persistent base, which hardens and envelops 

 the one-celled, one-seeded fruit ; stamens one to eight. 



To this order belongs the beautiful creeper Bouganvillea (B. 

 spectabiUsJ, wliich has overspread the wall bordering the carriage 

 drive to Mount Langton, and has been introduced into many gar- 

 dens. Its beauty consists of the large, scarlet, leafy bracts, which 

 grow in triplets, and from which the more modest flowers arise. 



I. MIllABILIS. 



Hei'hs with regular, five-lohed flowers, each smrounded by a flve-lohed^ 

 ealifx-Uke involucre, stamens five. 



1. M. Jalapa (Four o'clock). A smooth, perennial plant, two to 

 three feet high ; roots large, tuberous ; stems stout, erect, regularly 

 forking at the brittle, swollen joints ; leaves ovate, long-pointed, 

 sub -cordate at base ; flowers in terminal clusters of six to eight, 

 shortly stalked ; lobes of involucre ovate, acute, enlarging after 

 flowering, at length spreading ; calyx-tube slender, two inches long, 

 limb spreading ; stamens and style protruding ; fruit sub-globose, 

 five -ribbed, size of pea, black, wrinkled, flowery within. Distribu- 

 tion, Peru, West Indies, and United States ; habitat, waysides, 

 common as an escape from cultivation. 



This well-known plant opens its brilliant flowers at four in the 

 afternoon and closes them early on the following morning ; although 

 red is the prevailing colour, other varieties are by no means uncom- 

 mon, as white, j^ellow. and white with red centre ; the blossoms are 

 profuse and continue unfolding throughout the summer months. 



M. dichotoma, a species with smaller flowers, is said to be also 

 found in our gardens, but its distinguishing characteristics are not 

 very clear. 



H. BOERHAAVIA. 



Slender herbs with minute flowers, stamens one to four. 



1. J?, erecta. A.n annual, nearly erect plant, two to three feet 

 high, stem smooth, leafy below,' dividing above into numerous 

 slender, leafless branches ; leaves about two inches long, opposite, 

 in unequal pairs, ovate, pointed, whitish beneath, margin wavy : 

 panicle much branched ; flower- stalks thread-like, bracts minute ; 

 calyx bell- shaped, regularly five-lobed, the base ' remaining and 

 hardening around the five-ribbed, club-shaped fruit, the latter one- 

 eighth of an inch long. Distribution, West Indies and vSouthern 

 United States ; habitat, a weed very common in cultivated ground. 

 Flowers minute, pale j)ink ; summer months. 



Nat : Ord : 57. Fhgtolaccnee(V. 

 IJcrbs or shrubs with alternate leaves and perfect flowers ; calyx 



