NYCTAGINACEAE (fOUK-O'CLOCK FAMILY) 375 



dark-purple, ripe in autumn. — Low grounds and rich soil, s. Me. to Ont., Minn., 

 and southw. July-Sept. 



NYCT AGIN Ace AE (Fodr-o' clock Family) 



Herbs (or in the tropics often shrubs or trees), with mostly opposite and entire 

 leaves, stems tumid at the joints, a delicate tubular or funnel-form calyx which is 

 colored like a corolla, its persistent base constricted above the \-celled \-seeded 

 ovary and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp ; the stamens few, slender, 

 and hijpogynous ; the embryo coiled around theoutside of mealy albumen, with 

 broad foliaceous cotyledons ^^in Abronia monocotyledonous by abortion). — Rep- 

 resented in our gardens by the Four-o'clock or Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis 

 JalXpa), in which the calyx is commonly mistaken for a corolla, the cup-like 

 involucre of each flower exactly imitating a calyx. 



1. OXYBAPHUS L'H^r. 



Flowers 3-5 in the same 5-lobed membranaceous broad and open involucre, 

 which enlarges and is thin and reticulated in fruit. Calyx with a very short tube 

 and a bell-shaped (rose or purple) deciduous limb, plaited in the bud. Stamens 

 mostly 3 (3-5), hypogynous. Style fihfoi-m; stigma capitate. Fruit achene- 

 like, several-ribbed or angled (pubescent in ours). — Herbs, abounding on the 

 western plains, with very large and thick perennial roots, opposite leaves, and 

 mostly clustered small flowers. (Name o^v^dcpov, a vinegar-saucer^ or small shal- 

 low vessel; from the shape of the involucre.) Allionia Loefl. 



* Leaves all petioled except the uppermost reduced ones. 



1. 0. nyctagineus (Michx.) Sweet. Nearly smooth; stem becoming re- 

 peatedly forked, 0.3-1.5 m. high ; leaves broadly ovate, cordate ; inflorescence but 

 slightly pubescent ; pedicels slender, becoming I cm. in length, the lower axillary, 

 solitary, the upper crowded upon short floral axes ; involucres at length very 

 large, 2 cm, in diameter ; fruit cylindric-obovoid, 4 mm. in length, rather acutely 

 angled. — Man., Minn., and Wise, to Tex. and La.; also introd. eastw. — The 

 leaves vary to oblong or ovate-lanceolate and abrupt or even cuneate at the base. 



2. 0. floribundus Chois. Similar but with mostly narrower ovate to oblong 

 leaves {not cordate) : involucres smaller and more numerous, glomerate upon 

 the elongated branches of an open cymose panicle ; pedicels short, seldom over 

 6 mm. in length. (O. nyctagineu.'t, var. oblongifolius Gray; Allionia ovata 

 Pursh, not 0. ovatus Vahl.) — *'0.," Mo. (Bush), southwestw\ and northwestw. 



* * Leaves sessile or nearly so. 



3. 0. hirsutus (Pursh) Sweet. More or less glandular-hirsute, especially 

 about the nodes and the usually contracted inflorescence, 3-9 dm. high ; leaves 

 lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sessile and cuneate at base or narrowed to a 

 short petiole; stamens often 5 ; fruit with thickened obtuse angles. (Allionia 

 Pursh; .4. bracteata Rydb. ; Calymenia pilosa Nutt.?) — Plains of the Sask. to 

 Tex., Wise, O. (Louth), and casual eastw. in N. Y. and Ct. 



4. 0. albidus (Walt.) Sweet. Similar but .swoo^^rr; stem whitish ; leaves 

 oblong, elongated, obtuse; flowers in weak individuals few, axillary, in stronger 

 ones numerous in a terminal panicle. (Allionia Walt.; A. lanceolata 'Rydh.) — 

 Kan. and Mo., S. C. and Tex ; occasionally adventive northeast w. 



5. 0. linearis (Pursh) Robinson. Often tall, glabrous except the more or 

 less hirsute peduncles and involucres ; leaves linear, thick and glaucous, often 

 elongated, 5-15 cm. long. (O. angustifolius Sweet; Allionia linearis Pursh; 

 also A. Bushi Britton, a low form.) — Minn, to Mo., Tex., westw. and north- 

 westw. ; established on sandv ground, North Haven, Ct. (Evans^). 



