LAUEACEAE. 127 



2. HYLOCKREUS Britt. & Eose. Plants with climbing prominently 

 3-angled or 3-winged stems and branches, the areolae remote, with several 

 short spines and short wool. Hypanthium elongate, with succulent scales. 

 Corolla very large, white, the petals, like the sepals, long and narrow. Berry 

 scaly. 



1. H. tricostatus (Gosselin) Britt. & Eose. Stem and branches stout, 8-12 cm. 

 thick, bright-green, commonly high-climbing: areolae remote; spines 3-5, rigid, 

 dark, usually 2-4 mm. long: corolla about 2 dm. wide: berries ovoid, 8-10 cm. 

 long, scarlet, the scales flat. [Cereus triangularis Chapm. Not Haw.] Ham- 

 mocks. Nat. of Mex. (Cuba, Ant.) NIGHTBLOOMING-CEREUS. 



3. OPUNTIA [Tourn.] Mill. Plants conspicuously jointed, with sepa- 

 rated usually spine-bearing areolae. Flowers arising from the cushions of 

 barbed bristles of the areolae. Corolla yellow. Style cylindric. 



1. O. austrina Small. Plants woody at the base, the roots tuber-bearing, the 

 joints broadly obovate or orbicular-obovate, deep-green, 5-11 cm. long, or 

 rarely somewhat longer, the early deciduous leaves mostly less than 10 mm. 

 long: spines mainly above the middle of the joints and near the edge, usually 

 2 together but one of them very small or deciduous, whitish or pinkish, and 

 reddish near the base and apex, twisted: flowers bright-yellow, 6-7 cm. broad: 

 petals cuneate, truncate or retuse at the slightly eroded top, and mueronate: 

 berries 2.5-3 cm. long. Pinelands and coastal sand-dunes. PRICKLY-PEAR. 



Order THYMELEALES. 



Shrubs or trees, or partially herbaceous plants. Leaves opposite or 

 alternate, the blades simple, rarely mere scales, or obsolete. Flowers per- 

 fect, polygamous, or dioecious, regular or nearly so. Calyx of 5, or fewer, 

 sepals. Corolla wanting (in our species). Androecium of as many 

 stamens as there are sepals, or twice as many. Anthers opening by slits 

 or hinged valves. Gynoecium of a single carpel. Ovary superior. Ovule 

 mostly solitary. Fruit usually baccate or drupaceous. 



Leafy shrubs or trees : fruit seated on the hypanthium. Fam. 1. LAURACEAE. 

 Leafless, twining, parasitic vines : fruit enclosed in the 



accrescent hypanthium. Fam. 2. CASSTTHACBAB. 



FAMILY 1. LAURACEAE. LAUREL FAMILY. 



Aromatic shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate or opposite : the blades 

 entire or lobed. Flowers in open or congested cymes. Perianth of 6 

 (rarely 4^-10) sepals in 2 series. Androecium of usually more stamens 

 than there are sepals, in 2-4 series, those of the third series usually 

 glandular appendaged, those of the fourth series mostly mere staminodia. 

 Gynoecium a single carpel. Ovary 1-celled. Drupe not included. 



Anther-bearing stamens : calyx deciduous or persistent and appressed to the fralt 



Calyx persistent : fruit seated on the calyx. . 1. TAMALA. 

 Calyx deciduous : fruit seated on the hypanthium. 



Fruit oblique : hypanthium not fleshy. 2. PERSEA. 



Fruit not oblique : hypanthium fleshy. 3. OCOTEA. 



Anther-bearing stamens 3 : calyx persistent as a lateral flange 



on the hypanthium. 4. MISANTECA. 



1. TAMALA Eaf. Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, persistent: blades 

 entire. Flowers in axillary peduncled cymes. Sepals 6, dissimilar. Style 

 long-columnar: stigma capitate. Drupe equilateral. 



