112 ARISTOLOCHIACEAE. 



4 mm. long, its lobes reflexed; stamens 4, borne at the base of the corolla- 

 lobes, the anthers sessile; drupe ovoid or oval, scarlet, 10-12 mm. long, nearly 

 enclosed by the accrescent calyx. 



Coppices, scrub-lands and nine-lands. Abaco, Great Baliama. Andros and Eleu- 

 thera : — Florida ; Cuba ; Jamaica. White Wood. 



2. XIMENIA L. Sp. PI. 1193. 1753. 



Spinescent shrubs or trees, with entire, often fascicled leaves and small 

 white or yellow, perfect axillary, solitary or cymose flowers. Calyx very small, 

 4-5-toothed. Petals 4 or 5, united only at the base, coriaceous, valvate, pubes- 

 cent on the inner side. Stamens 8-10, the filaments filiform, the anthers linear. 

 Ovary 3-celled; style simple; stigma subcapitate; ovules 3 or 4 in each cavity. 

 Drupe with a fleshy exocarp and a woody or crustaceous stone. Embryo of the 

 seed very small. [Commemorates Francesco Ximenes, a Spanish naturalist.] 

 About 5 species, of tropical distribution, the following typical. 



1. Ximenia americana L. Sp. PL 1193. 1753. 

 Ximenia inermis L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 497. 1762. 



A thorny shrub or small tree, rarely 6 m. high, with reddish smooth 

 astringent bark, the slender branches spreading. Leaves oblong to orbicular, 

 subcoriaceous, 3-7 em. long, obtuse or emarginate at the apex, narrowed oi- 

 rounded at the base, sparingly pubescent when young, mostly glabrous when 

 old, the slender petioles 5-10 mm. long; clusters 2-4-flowered, much shorter 

 than the leaves; calyx about 1 mm. long; corolla-lobes linear, reflexed, 1 cm. 

 long; drupe yellow or red, 12-17 mm. in diameter. 



Coastal white-lands and coppices. New Providence, Conception Island. Long 

 Island. Fortune Island. Crooked Island, Caicos and Cay Sal : — Florida ; Cuba to 

 Porto Rico and Martinique ; .Tamaica : Mexico and South America ; Old World 

 tropics. When growing on sand dunes this shrub is much depressed and has nearly 

 orbicular, fleshy leaves ; when growing in coppices or scrul)-lands it is tall, with 

 elongated oblong to oblanceolate leaves. Tallow Wood. Spanish Plum. 



Order 7. ARISTOLOCHIALES. 



Herbs or vines, mostly with cordate or reniform leaves and perfect 

 flowers. Calyx inferior, its tube wholly or partly adnate to the ovary. 

 Corolla none. Ovarj^ several- (mostly 6-) celled. Only the following 

 family. 



Family 1. ARISTOLOCHIACEAE Bliime. 



BiRTHwoRT Family. 



Aeanlescent plants, or vrith. erect or twining- stems. Leaves alternate, 

 often basal, estipulate. Flowers regular or iiTegular, sometimes clus- 

 tered. Calyx-limb 3-6-lobed or irregular. Stamens 6-many, adnate to 

 the pistil; anthers 2-celled, their sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Ovules 

 numerous in each cavity, anatropous, horizontal or pendulous. Fruit a 

 many-seeded 6-celled capsule. Seeds angled or compressed, with a crus- 

 taceous testa and usually wdth a fleshy or dilated raphe; endospemi fleshy, 

 copious; embryo minute. Six genera and about 200 species of wide dis- 

 tribution in tropical and temperate regions. 



