PEYTOLACCACEJE. 51 



Bivina octandra 1 are used in St. Domingo to hoop casks. Those 

 of Seguiera (?) asiaticd 2 are used also as bands in Cochin China- 

 Several species of this group are oleraceous and alimentary. In 

 Mexico the leaves of Thelygonum are eaten as Spinach, as are also 

 those of Phytolacca octandra ; those of P. esculenla, 3 as Asparagus in 

 the United States, and in the Himalayas the shoots of P. decandra 

 and acinosa are used in the same way. P. decandra and several 

 beautiful species of the section Pircunia* such as P. dioica, stricta, 

 are cultivated as ornamental plants. Er cilia volubilis serves to grace 

 the walls of our greenhouses, and several Rivinas are ornamental by 

 their coloured leaves and scarlet berries. 



1 L., Spec, 177, n. 1.— Moq., Prodr., 11, n. 2 See p. 38, note 2 ; 47, uote 1. 



2. — R. dodecandra Jacq. — R. scandens Mill. 3 V. Hotjtte, Fl. des Serr., iv. (1848), 3986 



— R. Mutisii W. — R. Ehrenbergiana Kl. — R. — Moq., Prodr., 460. 

 Moritziana Kl. (vulg. Liane a barils, in the 4 Vulg. Bel. ombra, Bel sombra. 



Antilles ; Guacomaya, in Columbia). 



E 



