CHENOPODIACE^E. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 375 



armed with 2-3 rcflexed spines. Albumen almost none. Embryo straight. 

 Cotyledons unequal, convolute. Shrubby tropical plants, with entire stipulate 

 leaves, and small greenish flowers in an elongated and slender spike. 



1. P. alliacea, L. South Florida. Stem 2 -3 high, closely pubes- 

 cent. Leaves 3' -4' long, oblong or obovate, obtuse, narrowed into a short 

 petiole, pubescent beneath. Spikes filiform, single or by pairs, 6' -12' long. 

 Calyx-lobes linear, incurved at the apex. Stamens 4-5. Achenia erect, ap- 

 pressed to the rachis, with two spines at each lobe. Stipules subulate, minute. 



2. RIVINA, Plum. 



Calyx remotely 3-bracted, 4-parted, colored. Stamens 4 -8 : anthers ovate or 

 oblong. Ovary simple. Ovule solitary, amphitropous. Stigma capitate or 

 many-cleft. Berry nearly globose, at length dry. Embryo forming a ring 

 around the copious albumen. Cotyledons somewhat leafy, convolute. Shrubs, 

 with alternate minutely stipulate petioled leaves, and small white or rose-colored 

 flowers in axillary and terminal racemes. Bracts deciduous. 



1. B. humilis, L. Closely pubescent; stem with spreading branches; 

 leaves oblong-ovate, rounded at the base, tapering but obtuse at the summit, 

 on long filiform petioles ; racemes slender, longer than the leaves ; calyx-lobes 

 obovate, pale rose-color ; berry rounded, compressed. South Florida. Shrub 

 1 - 2 high. Leaves 1 ' - 3' long. Flowers and berries 1 " - 1 |" long. 



3. PHYTOLACCA, Tourn. POKEWEED. 



Calyx 3-bracted, 5-parted ; the lobes petal-like, rounded. Stamens 5 - 25, the 

 filaments subulate : anthers elliptical. Ovary compound. Styles 5-12, short, 

 distinct, recurved at the apex, stigmatic within. Fruit a depressed globose berry, 

 containing 5-12 one-seeded indehiscent carpels united in a circle. Embryo 

 forming a ring around the central albumen. Cotyledons linear. Erect branch- 

 ing herbs, with entire petioled leaves. Flowers in racemes opposite the leaves. 



1. P. decandra, L. Smooth; stem very stout (2 -12 high); leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute ; racemes many-flowered, as long as the leaves ; flowers 

 white, turning purplish; stamens, styles, and carpels 10. Margins of fields 

 and uncultivated ground, Florida, and northward. July -Sept. 1J. Boot 

 large. Berry black. 



ORDER 108. CHENOPODIACEJE. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 



Unsightly herbs, with exstipulate leaves, inconspicuous flowers, and the 

 characters mostly of the preceding family ; but the green calyx often 

 becoming succulent in fruit, 5 (rarely 1-2) stamens opposite the sepals, 

 a solitary ovary forming an achenium or utricle in fruit, twcr short and 

 spreading styles, a horizontal or vertical lenticular seed, and the embryo 

 forming a ring around the albumen, or spirally coiled with little or no 

 albumen. 



