134 PHYTOLACCACEAE. 



longitudinally dehiscent, often nearly separated. Ovaiy superior, several- 

 celled in most of the genera; ovules solitary in the cavities, amphitropous. 

 Styles as many as the carpels, short, or none; stigmas linear or filiform. 

 Fruit a berry or an achene. Endosperm of the seed mealy or fleshy. 

 About 22 genera and 110 species, mostly in the tropics. 



Pistil a single carpel. 



Fruit a globular berry. 



Stamens 4 ; style elongated. 1. Rivina. 



Stamens 8-16 ; style none. 2. TricJiostigma. 



Fruit dry, achene-like, with bristles. 3. Petiveria. 



Pistil several-many-carpeled with as many styles as carpels. 4. Phytolacca. 



1. RIVINA L. Sp. PI. 121. 1753. 



Herbs, sometimes woody below, the stems branched, erect, the leaves thin 

 in texture, the small perfect flowers in axillary or terminal, slender racemes. 

 Sepals 4, not enlarging in fruit. Stamens 4, the filaments filiform, the anthers 

 erect. Ovary 1-celled, subglobose; style curved; stigma capitate or 2-lobed. 

 Fruit a small subglobose berry. Seed erect, lenticular, its testa crustaceous, 

 the embryo curved, the endosperm mealy. [Commemorates August Eivinus, 

 1652-1725, professor in Leipzig.] A few species of tropical regions, the fol- 

 lowing typical. 



1. Rivina humilis L. Sp. PI. 121. 1753. 



Eivina laevis L. Mant. 1: 41, 1767. 



Glabrous or finely pubescent, branched, 3-8 dm. high. Leaves ovate to ob- 

 long or lanceolate, 3-12 cm. long, membranous, flaccid, undulate or entire, acute 

 or acuminate at the apex, narrowed or subtruncate at the base, the slender 

 petioles 1-5 cm. long; racemes 10 cm. long or less, loosely several-many- 

 flowered; pedicels 4-6 mm. long; bracts deciduous; calyx about 6 mm. wide, 

 the sepals oblong-cuneate, obtuse, pink or nearly white; sta,mens somewhat 

 shorter than the sepals; berries subglobose, red, about 3 mm. in diameter. 



Coastal rocks and waste grounds, from Abaco throughout the archipelago to 

 Parrot Cay (Caicos). Inagua, Anguilla Isles, and Water Cay: — Florida; West In- 

 dies ; continental tropical America. Wild Tomato. 



2. TRICHOSTIGMA A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 10: 306. 1845. 



[A^iLLAMiLLA E. & P.; Hook. f. in Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 3: 81. 1880.] 



Woody vines, or shrubs, with alternate petioled broad leaves, the small 

 perfect flowers in slender bracted racemes. Sepals 4, concave, spreading or 

 reflexed. Stamens 8-16; filaments filiform; anthers linear, versatile, 2-cleft. 

 Ovary subglobose, 1-celled; ovule sessile; style none; stigma penicillate. Fruit 

 coriaceous, baccate, subglobose, the pericarp adherent to the erect seed. 

 [Greek, referring to the penicillate stigma.] About 4 species, of tropical 

 America, the following typical. 



1. Trichostigma octandnim (L.) H. Walter, Pflanzenr. 39: 109. 1909. 



Fivina octandra L. Cent. PI. 2: 9. 1756. 



VillamiUa octandra Hook. f. in Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 3: 81. 1880. 



Trichostigma rivinoides A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 10: 306. 1845. 



A woody vine, often 10 m. long or longer, usually climbing on trees, the 

 stem up to 1.5 dm. in diameter at the base, the branches long and slender, 



