OUDKR 103. NYCTAGINACE.E 279 



ORDER OKI. NYCTAGINACE.E. MARVELWORTS. 



Herbs (shrubs or trees) with tumid joints, entire and opposite leaves 

 Flowers general!}* surrounded with an involucre (calyx-like when the flowei 

 is solitary). Calyx a delicate, colored, funnel-form or tubular perianth, 

 deciduous above the 1-celled, 1-seeded ovary, leaving Its persistent base to 

 harden and envelop the fruit (achenium) as a kind of pericarp. Stamens 1 to 

 several, definite, slender, hypogynous, exscrted, unequal. Embryo coiled 

 si round the copious white albumen. Figs. 143, 207. 



? Involucre just like c calyx, including one flower MIRABILIS. 1 



Involucre 5-lcnved, including many flowers in tin umbel-like head ABKONIA. 2 



JJ Involucre 5-lobed, including 3 5 flowers OXYBAFHUS. 3 



Involucre 0. x Herbs, with minute flowers in little clusters BOKRHAAVIA. 4 



x Shrubs. Flowers dioecious, cj'mous. S. Fla FISOIVIA. 



1. MIRABILIS, L. MARVEL OP PERU. FOUR-O'CLOCK. Involucre 

 calyx-like, 5-lobed, 1 -flowered, lobes acuminate. Perianth (calyx) tubular- 

 funnel-form, limb spreading. Sta. 5, and style more or less exserted. Fruit 

 (as in all the genera) an achenium invested in the permanent base of the 

 calyx, if Cultivated. Leaves ovate, more or less cordate, acuminate. 



1 HI. JALAPA. Erect, glabrous ; flowers 3 6 in each terminal fascicle, short-stalked, 



opening at about 4 o'clock p. ar., and remaining in bloom all night, infinitely various 

 in color. Peru. 2f. Summer. 



2 Itt. Dicn6TOMA. Erect, glabrous ; flowers sessile, mostly yellow, smaller than in M. 



Jalapa ; limb 6''. Mexico. 2f. Summer. 



3 M. LONGIFLORA. Weak, diffuse, viscid-pubescent ; lower leaves long-petioled ; flow- 



ers sessile, tube 6' long, hairy, border 1', white. Mexico. 



2. ABRONIA, Juss. Involucre 5-leaved, surrounding an umbel-like 

 head of many small flowers on a long peduncle. Perianth salver-form, 

 limb 5-lobed, corolla-like, deciduous. Sta. 5, and style included. K Fleshy. 



1 A. inoNHiLATA. St. prostrate ; Ivs. ovate, long-petioled ; umbellate heads compact ; fla. 



rosy-lilac or pink, the lobes obcordate. Sandy sea-coasts, California. 1 2f. 



2 A. FKAGHANS. Stem ascending ; leaves lance-ovate, long-stalked ; umbele loose, fls. 



and involucre white, tubes near \'. Dalles, Oregon. 



3. OXYBAFHUS, Valil. Invol. 5-cleft, containing 35 fls., persistent. 

 Perianth tube very short, limb bell-form, plicate, deciduous. Sta. 3, and 

 style exserted. Fruit obovoid, ribbed. 2f Flowers small, purple. 



1 O. nyftaji'iiieiis Sweet. Smoot Irish, erect, forked ; Ivs. broad-ovate to lanceolate, 



subcordate. acute; ped. solitary; involucre 3-5-flowered. Banks, W. June Aug. 



2 O. anjiustiloliiis Sweet. Bushy, with alternate branches; Ivs. lanceolate, acute 



both ways, subsessile, 12'; peel. J ^', axillary; involucre cup-shaped, hispid, :i 

 llo\\ertd ; ovary hispid. Dry soils, S. 2 3f. June July. 



3 O. nlhidiiK Sweet. Stem with strict slender branches, or simple; leaves linear 



oblong, pctiolate, the upper often bract-like ; ped. half as long (6" 1') a*3 the leaven, 

 involucre hairy, 3-flowered. S. 1 2f. May. 



4. BOERHAAVIA, L. Involucre 0, bractlels deciduous. Perianth 

 funnel- or bell-form, colored, 5-lobed, upper half deciduous, lower persist- 



