NYCTAGINACE^. (FOUR-O'cLOCK FAMILY.) 301 



Division III. APETALiE. 



Floral envelope coDsistiog only of a calyx (often petaloid; 

 or wholly wanting. 



Order 62. NYCTAGI]¥ACE.«. ( Four-oVlock Family.) 



Herbs, witli mostly opposite and entire leaves, stems tumid at tlio 

 joint, a delicate tubular or funnel-form calyx wliicli is c(»l(.n'<l like a 

 corolla, its persistent base constricted above the 1 -celled, l-sredcd ovary, 

 and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp ; the stems f<'\v, slciidrr 

 and hypogynous; the embryo coiled around outside the mealy alhuuuii. 



* Involucre calyx-like, 3 to 5-cleft or -parted, 1 to 12-flo\vered ; i)erianth tulmlar to funiicl- 



forin or canipanulate. 



1. Mirabilis. Involucre 5-lobed, not changed in fruit. Fruit not angled nor winged, and 



scarcely or not at all ribbed. Stamens usually 5. 



2. Oxybaplius. Involucre 5-lobed, 1 to 5-(1o\vere(l, in fruit beconiing enlarged, thin and 



reticulated. Fruit several-ribbed or angled. Stamens usually 3. 



3. Allionia. Involucre deeply 3-lobed, 3-flovvered. Fruit with a double line of tubercles 



on the back, surrounded by a rigid winged margin, toothed and iuflexed. Stamens 

 usually 3. 

 * * Involucre of 5 or more distinct bracts, subtending a many-flowered head. 



4. Abronla. Perianth salver-form, including the stamens and style. Fruit wing-angled- 



1. MIRABILIS, L. Four-o'clock. 



Stamens as long as the perianth : filaments united at ba.se. Stigma 

 capitate, granulate. Fruit globose to ovate-oblong. — rerennial herbs, with 

 opposite leaves nearly equal in the pairs: peduncles solitary in the a.xil.s or 

 paniculate: flowers nearly sessile in the involucres. 



* Involucre usually ^-flowered: flowers lanje: calijx long-tuhnlar or funnel form : 



stamens A to 5. 



1. M. multiflora, Gray. Stout and spreading: leaves broadly ovate to 

 ovate-lanceolate, often somewhat cordate at base but decurrent upon tlio peti- 

 ole : involucre glal)rous, campanulate, 5-cleft : flowers pale rose-color to purple, 

 with the tube somewhat greenish, 1^ to 2 inches long, fruit marked towanis 

 the base by ten shallow furrows and as many intermediate dark lines. — Hot. 

 Mex. Bound. 173. From Colorado to the Kio Grande and westward to 



5. California. 



* * Involucre 3'flotcered . flowers rather small: calj/x hroad-funnetjorm from a 



short tube: stamens 3. 



2. M. OXybaphoides, Gray. Slender, procuml)cnt. diffuse : leaves nil 

 deeply cordate, on rather long petioles, lowest reniform, upj.er ones acumi- 

 nate : involucre deeply 5-cleft, very viscid-glandular as weU aa the pedunclt's 

 in the loose panicle. — S. Colorado and southward. 



