124 



NYCTAGINACEAE. 



to funnelform, its limb 5-lobed. Stamens 1-5, exserted, the slender filaments 

 united at the base. Ovary oblique; style filiform; stigma peltate. Fruit ob- 

 ovoid or clavate, ribbed. [In honor of Hermann Boerhaave, 1668-1738, a cele- 

 brated Dutch scientist.] About 50 species, native of warm and tropical 

 regions. Type species: B. diffusa L. 



1. Boerhaavea erecta L. Hog-weed. (Fig. 

 143.) Stem erect or ascending, branched; 

 leaves ovate to deltoid-ovate, sometimes inequi- 

 lateral, |'-3i' long, apiculate, repand or undu- 

 late, acute to cordate at the base, minutely 

 black-dotted on the lower whitish surface; 

 petioles usually about one half as long as the 

 blades or longer; peduncles filiform; flowers 

 2-6 in a cluster; calyx white to purple, its tube 

 glabrous, the limb campanulate, 4"-|" long, 

 sparingly pubescent; stamens exserted; fruit 

 obpyramidal, 2" long, 5-angled, the grooves 

 trans\'ersely wrinkled, the top flat. 



Common as a weed in waste and cultivated 

 grounds. Naturalized from tropical America or 

 Soutliern Florida. Flowers nearly throughout the 

 year. 



Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd., Purple Bougaixvillea, a high-climbing 

 vine with large purple flowers, spiny stems, and round-ovate pubescent leaves, 

 is extensively planted for ornament about houses and grows luxuriantly. It is 

 native of Brazil. 



Bougainvillea glabra Choisy, Red Bougainville.4, also Brazilian, similar, 

 but glabrous, and with brick-red flowers, is occasionally planted. It is difl&cult 

 to propagate. 



Torrubia fragrans (Dum.-Cours.) Standley, Fragrant Torrubia, West In- 

 dian, is a smooth barked tree up to 40° high, with thin, opposite, slender- 

 petioled leaves 3'-4' long, acuminate at both ends, and small green fragrant 

 flowers in dense terminal clusters, followed by oblong beaked drupes about J' 

 long. An elegant specimen, the only one known to me in Bermuda, existed at 

 Admiralty Hous^ in 1913. [Fisonia fragrans Dum.-Cours.] 



Family 6. AIZOACEAE A. Braun. 



Carpet-weed Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs, with watery sap. Stems often branched 

 at the base, the branches radiating, sometimes creeping. Leaves mostly 

 opposite or apparently whorled, simple. Flowers perfect, polygamous or 

 unisexual, regular. Calyx of 4 or 5 sepals. Corolla wanting (in our 

 genera). Stamens 4 or 5, hypogynous or perigynous, or sometimes fewer 



