Phytolaccaceae; Aizoaceae 



421 



1. Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte. P. acinosa var. 

 esculenta Maxim.; P. \acmpferi A. Gray; P. acinosa var. 

 I{aempjeri (A. Gray) Makino Yama-cobo. Glabrous per- 

 ennial; stems stout, to 1 m. long, branched, green; leaves sub- 

 orbicular to ovate-elliptic, 10-15 cm. long, abruptly acuminate, 

 acute at base, entire, the petioles 1.5-2.5 cm. long; racemes 

 5-12 cm. long, rather densely flowered, short-peduncled, 

 slightly scurfy, the pedicels 10-12 mm. long; flowers white, 

 about 8 mm. across, the sepals elliptic; berry depressed-globose, 

 purple-black; seeds reniform-orbicular, rather compressed, 



black, shining, smooth, about 3 mm. long. June-Sept. 



Rarely cultivated as a vegetable; sometimes naturalized. 



China. 



2. Phytolacca japonica Makino. Marumi-no-yama- 

 GOBO. Resembles the preceding; leaves oblong to ovate-ob- 



long; racemes erect, distinctly scurfy; flowers pale rose-colored; 

 berry globose; seeds reniform-orbicular, rather flattened, black, 



shining, about 3 mm. across, with fine concentric lines. 



June-Sept. Honshu (Kanto Distr. and westw.), Shikoku, 

 Kyushu. 



3. Phytolacca americana L. P. decandra L. Yoshu- 



YAMA-GOBo. Resembles No. 1; stems 1-1.5 m. long, reddish 

 purple, glabrous; leaves ovate-elliptic to oblong, 10-30 cm. 

 long, 5-16 cm. wide, short-acuminate, abruptly acute at base, 

 the petioles 1-4 cm. long; racemes nodding in fruit, rather 

 densely many-flowered, 10-15 cm. long; flowers white with 

 a rosy tinge, rather small; berry depressed-globose; seeds reni- 

 form-orbicular, rather flat, about 3 mm. across, shining, black, 



smooth. June-Nov. Naturalized in lowlands and hills; 



common. N. America. 



Fam. 82. AIZOACEAE Zakuro-so Ka Mesembryanthemum Family 



Herbs, rarely shrubs; leaves opposite or verticillate, stipulate or exstipulate; flowers small, actinomorphic, bisexual, solitary 

 or fasciculate, sometimes cymose, the sepals 4 or 5, free or connate below, the petals 4 or 5, small or absent, free or connate 

 below; stamens 4 or 5 or fewer, rarely more; ovary superior or inferior, the carpels 3-5, sometimes connate, the ovules I to many; 



capsules loculicidal or circumscissile; seeds amphitropous, the embryo slender, curved. About 100 genera, with more than 



600 species, mostly in the Tropics, especially abundant in Africa. 



lA. Calyx -tube adnate to the ovary; fleshy plant with exstipulate alternate leaves 1. Tetragonia 



IB. Calyx-lobes free from the ovary; slender herbs with falsely verticillate leaves and small stipules 2. Mollugo 



1. TETRAGONIA L. Tsuru-na Zoku 



Herbs or subshrubs, glabrous, hairy or tubercled, rather fleshy; leaves alternate, flat, entire, exstipulate; flowers axillary, sessile 

 or pedicelled, green or yellow-green; calyx 3- to 5-lobed, the tube adnate to the ovary, often angled; petals absent; stamens 1 to 

 many, inserted on the calyx-tube; ovary inferior, 3- to 8- rarely 1- or 2-locular; styles as many as the locules of the ovary, the 



ovules solitary in each locule, pendulous; fruit nudike, indehiscent, the seeds subreniform, the embryo curved, subcylindric. 



About 100 species, mainly in the Tropics, especially in Africa. 



1. Tetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.) O. Kuntze. Des- 

 mot/ia tetragonoides Pall.; T. expansa Murr.; T. japonica 



Thunb. TsuRU-NA. Fleshy, glabrous, mealy, perennial 



herb; stems branched, decumbent below, 40-60 cm. long; 

 leaves thick, ovate-deltoid, 4-6 cm. long, 3-4.5 cm. wide, ob- 

 tuse, broadly cuneate to subtruncate at base, the petiole about 

 2 cm. long; flowers I or 2 in leaf-axils, the pedicels very short, 



rather stout, the calyx-tube 3-4 mm. long, accrescent and 

 becoming 6-7 mm. long in fruit, with 4 or 5 large spinelike 

 tubercles on the shoulder, the calyx-teeth broadly ovate; petals 



absent; nut several-seeded, indehiscent. Apr.-Nov. Sandy 



seashores; Hokkaido (sw. distr.), Honshu, Shikoku; common; 



sometimes cultivated as a vegetable. China, s. Asia, S. 



America, and Australia. 



2. MOLLUGO L. 



Zakuro-so Zoku 



Glabrous to pilose herbs; leaves alternate to falsely verucillate, flat, the stipules membranous; flowers green, in terminal, fascicu- 

 late, axillary cymes; sepals 5, equal, membranous, persistent; petals absent; stamen 3-5, rarely many, usually alternate with 

 the sepals; ovary ovoid, 3- to 5-locular; styles 3-5; ovules many, sometimes few in each locule; capsules membranous, loculicidally 

 dehiscent. About 15 species, mostly in the Tropics. 



lA. Sepals obsoletely 1-nerved; capsules globose; seeds minutely warty; leaves in verticils of 3-5 \. M. pentaphylla 



IB. Sepals 3-nerved; capsules ovoid-cUipsoid; seeds with few raised lines; leaves in verticils of 4-7 2.M. verticillata 



1. Mollugo pentaphylla L. M. stricta L. Zakuro-so. 



Delicate glabrous annual; stems much-branched, 10-30 cm. 

 long, ascending to diffuse, angled; leaves in verticils of 3-5, 

 slighdy lustrous above, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 1.5-3 cm. 

 long, 3-7 mm. wide, obtuse to subacute, acute at base, entire, 

 1-nerved; inflorescence loosely flowered, the bracts delicate, 

 membranous, the pedicels 1-4 mm. long; sepals 5, elliptic, ob- 

 tuse to rounded, obsoletely 1-nerved, about 1.5 mm. long; 

 capsules globose, about 2 mm. long; seeds rather numerous. 



dark brown, nearly lusterless, reniform-orbicular, flat, about 



0.5 mm. across, minutely warty. July-Oct. Waste ground 



and cultivated fields; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common in 



lowlands and hills. China, Malay Peninsula, and India. 



2. Mollugo verticillata L. Kurumaba-zakuro-s6. Slen- 

 der glabrous diffuse annual; stems branched, 10-20 cm. long, 

 nearly terete; leaves in verticils of 4-7, oblanceolate to broadly 

 linear, 12-25 mm. long, 2-7 mm. wide, obtuse or subacute, 

 I-nerved, gradually narrowed to a short petiole; flowers sev- 



