360 



PLANTAGINACEAE. 



3. Plantago virginica L. 



Dwarf or White Dwarf Plan- 

 tain. (Fig. 390.) Annual or bi- 

 ennial, pubescent or villous; scapes 

 erect, much longer than the leaves. 

 Leaves spatulate or obovate, thin, 

 entire, or repand-clenticulate, nar- 

 rowed into margined petioles, or 

 almost sessile, 3-5-nerved; spikes- 

 dense, or the lower flowers scat- 

 tered, linear-eylindric, obtuse, 3"- 

 4" thick, flowers imperfectly dioe- 

 cious; corolla-lobes of the fertile 

 plants erect and connivent on the 

 top of the pyxis, those of the sterile 

 spreading ; stamens 4 ; pyxis oblong, 

 about as long as the calyx, 2-4- 

 seeded. 



Occasional in waste and culti- 

 vated grounds. Naturalized. Native 

 of North America. Flowers from 

 spring to autumn. 



Plantago Eugelli Dene., Eugel's Plantain, North American, was doubt- 

 fully recorded as Bermudian by Jones. It differs from P. major by its pyxis 

 being circumscissile much below the middle. 



Order 7. RUBIALES. 



Corolla gamopetalous. Anthers separate, the stamens as many as the 

 corolla-lobes and alternate with them (one fewer in Linnaea of the Capri- 

 foliaceae) or twice as many. Ovary compound, inferior, adnate to the 

 calyx-tube ; ovules 1 or more in each cavity. Leaves opposite or verticilate. 



Leaves always stipulate, usually blackening in drying. Fam. 1. Rup.iaceae. 

 Leaves usually estipulate, not blackening in drying. Fam. 2, Caprifoliaceae. 



Family 1. RUBIACEAE B. Jass. 

 Madder Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with simple, opposite or sometimes verticil- 

 late, mostly stipulate leaves, and perfect, often dimorphous or trimorphous, 

 regular and nearly symmetrical flowers. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovarv', 

 its limb various. Corolla funnelform, club-shaped, campanulate, or rotate, 

 4^o-lobed. Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and alternate with 

 them, inserted on its tube or throat. Ovary 1-10-cellecI ; style simple or 

 lobed; ovules l-oo in each cavity. Fruit a capsule, berry, or drupe. Seeds 

 various; seed-coat membranous or crustaceous; endosperm fleshy or horny 

 (wanting in some exotic genera); cotyledons ovate, cordate, or foliaceous. 



A large family of some 340 genera including about 6000 species, of 

 wide geographic distribution, most abundant in the tropics. 



A. Ovules several or many in each ovary-cavity. 



Flowers axillary 1. Ranclia. 



Flowers terramal. 2. Casasia. 



B. Ovules only 1 m each ovary-cavity. 

 Shrubs or trees. 



Ovules pendulous ; flowers racemose. 3. Chiococca. 



