SANDALWOOD FAMILY. 537 



3. Comandra livida Richards. Northern 

 Comandra. (Fig. 1275.) 



Comandra livida Richards. App. Prank. Joun 



1823. 



Stem slender, usually quite simple, 4'-ia' high. 

 Leaves oval, thin, obtuse or rounded at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, short-petioled, #'-i' long, 

 %'-%' wide; petioles i"-2" long; cymes axillary, 

 few (often only i to each plant), i-s-flowered; pe- 

 duncle shorter than its subtending leaf, filiform; 

 flowers sessile; style very short; drupe globose-ob- 

 long, about 3" in diameter, red, edible, crowned by 

 the ovate calyx-lobes. 



In moist soil, Newfoundland to Hudson. Bay and 

 the Northwest Territory, south to Vermont. Ontario, 

 Michigan and British Columbia. June-July. 



2. PYRULARIA Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 231. 1803. 



A branching shrub (the Asiatic species trees), with thin alternate pinnately-veined en- 

 tire short-petioled deciduous leaves, and dioecious or polygamous small greenish racemose 

 flowers. Staminate flowers with a campanulate 3~5-cleft calyx, the lobes valvate, recurved 

 or spreading, pubescent at the base within; disk of 3-5 distinct glands or scales; stamens 

 4 or 5, inserted between the glands and opposite the calyx-lobes; filaments short; anthers 

 ovate. Pistillate and perfect flowers with a top-shaped calyx adnate to the obovoid ovary; 

 style short, stout; stigma capitate, depressed. Fruit a pear-shaped or oval drupe, the endo- 

 carp thin and endosperm of the seed very oily. [Name from P)>rus, the pear, from the 

 similar shape of the fruit.] 



Three species, the following and two Asiatic. 



i. Pyrularia pubera Michx. Oil-nut. 

 Buffalo-nut. (Fig. 1276.) 



Pyrularia pubera Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 233. 1803. 

 Hamiltonia oleifera Muhl.; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 1120. 



1805. 

 Pyrularia oleifera A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 382. 1858. 



A straggling or erect much branched shrub, 3- 

 15 tall, with terete twigs, the young foliage pubes- 

 cent. Leaves oblong, oblong-lanceolate or some- 

 what obovate, nearly glabrous when mature, acute 

 or acuminate at both ends, 3 / -5 / long, 8"-i}4' 

 wide; petioles 2 // -4 // long; racemes terminating 

 short branches, the staminate many-flowered, i'- 

 2' long, the pistillate few-flowered and shorter; 

 pedicels slender, i^ // -2 // long; staminate flowers 

 about i" broad; calyx 3-5-cleft; drupe about i" 

 long, crowned by the ovate acute calyx-lobes. 



In rich woods, southern Pennsylvania to Georgia, 

 mostly in the mountains. May. Fruit ripe Aug. -Sept. 



Family 13. ARISTOLOCHIACEAE BhniR, Knum. PI. Jav. i: 81. 1830. 



BIRTHWORT FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs, acaulescent, or with erect or twining and leafy steins. 

 Leaves alternate or basal, petioled, mostly cordate or reniform, exstipulate. 

 Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or clustered, perfect, mostly large, regular 

 or irregular. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, its limb 3-lobed, 6-lobed or irreg- 

 ular. Petals none. Stamens 6-many, inserted on the pistil, the anther? 

 extrorse, their sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary wholly or partly inferior, 

 mostly 6-celled; ovules numerous in each cavity, anatropous, horizontal or pen- 

 dulous. Fruit a many-seeded mostly 6-celled capsule. Seeds ovoid or oblong, 

 angled or compressed, the testa crustaceous, smooth or wrinkled, usually with a 

 fleshy or dilated raphe; endosperm copious, fleshy; embryo minute. 



