480 



BUXACEAE. 



VOL. II. 



Family 73. BUXACEAE Dumort. Comm. Bot. 54. 

 Box FAMILY. 



1822. 



Monoecious or dioecious trees, shrubs or perennial herbs, with alternate or 

 opposite simple mostly evergreen leaves, the sap not milky. Flowers clustered 

 or solitary, regular, bracted, with or without a perianth (calyx). Petals none. 

 Staminate flowers with 4-7 distinct stamens, the anthers 2-celled; sometimes 

 with a rudimentary pistil. Pistillate flowers with a 2-4-celled (mostly 3-celled) 

 ovary, with 2 or i anatropous ovules in each cavity; styles as many as the 

 ovary-cavities, simple. Fruit a capsule or drupe, its carpels i-2-seeded. Em- 

 bryo straight ; endosperm fleshy, or almost wanting. 



About 6 genera and 35 species, only the following and the Californian Simmondsia in continental 

 North America. 



i. PACHYSANDRA Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 177. 1803. 



Monoecious perennial herbs, with matted rootstocks, the stems procumbent or ascending, 

 leafy above, scaly or naked below. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, petioled, persistent, broad, 

 3-nerved, 'coarsely toothed, or entire. Flowers spicate, the pistillate and staminate in the 

 same spike. Staminate flowers with 4 sepals ; stamens 4, opposite the sepals ; filaments thick, 

 long-exserted ; anthers 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Pistillate flowers with 4 

 sepals or more; ovary 3-celled, the cavities with a partition at the base; styles 3, spreading; 

 ovules 2 in each cavity. Capsule of 3 2-seeded carpels. [Greek, thick stamen.] 



Two species, the following typical one of southeastern North America, the other Japanese. 



i. Pachysandra procumberis Michx. Alle- 

 ghany Mountain Spurge. Fig. 2775. 



P. procumbens Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 177. pi. 45. 

 1803. 



Somewhat pubescent, forming large clumps ; stems 

 stout, simple, i long or less. Leaves ovate, oval, 

 or obovate, 2'~4' long, obtuse or acutish at the apex, 

 coarsely dentate or some of them entire, cuneate or 

 abruptly narrowed at the base into a petiole shorter 

 than or equalling the blade ; spikes i or several in the 

 axils of the lower scales, densely many-flowered, 

 2'~3' long, the staminate flowers forming most of the 

 spike, the pistillate few toward its base; sepals green 

 or purplish ; filaments white, 4"-$" long. 



In woods, West Virginia to Kentucky, Florida and 

 Louisiana. Flowers fragrant. April-May. 



Family 74. ANACARDIACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. 1830. 



SUMAC FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with acrid resinous or milky sap, alternate or rarely oppo- 

 site leaves, and polygamo-dioecious or perfect, mainly regular flowers. Calyx 

 3-7-cleft. Petals of the same number, imbricated in the bud, or rarely none. 

 Disk generally annular. Stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, 

 rarely fewer, or more, inserted at the base of the disk; filaments separate; 

 anthers commonly versatile. Ovary in the staminate flowers i -celled. Ovary 

 in the pistillate flowers i- or sometimes 4 5-celled ; styles 1-3; ovules i in each 

 cavity. Fruit generally a small drupe. Seed-coat bony or crustaceous ; endo- 

 sperm little or none ; cotyledons fleshy. 



About 60 genera and 500 species, most abundant in warm or tropical regions, a few extending 

 into the temperate zones. 



Styles terminal ; leaves compound ; fruit nearly symmetrical. 

 Fruit densely pubescent, its stone smooth. 



Flowers in dense terminal panicles, appearing after the leaves. i. Rhus. 



Flowers in clustered spikes, appearing before the leaves. 2. Schmaltsia. 



Fruit glabrous, or sparingly pubescent, its stone striate. $. To.vicodendron. 



Styles lateral ; leaves simple ; fruit gibbous. 4. Cotiniis. 



