EUPHOBBIACEAE. 229 



3. Acalypha ostryaefolia Eidd. Syn. Fl. W. States 33. 1835. 



Acalypha caroliniana Ell. Bot. 8. C. & Ga. 2: 64:5. 1824. Not Walt. 1788. 

 Acalypha persimilis Mueli. Arg. Linnaea 34: 25. 1865. 



An ereet, rather stout annual, dark green, minutely pubescent, 2-8 dm. 

 tall. Leaves thin or membranous, ovate, 5-10 em. long, base obtuse or cordate, 

 apex short-acuminate, margin closely and sharply serrate; petiole often as long 

 as the blade; inflorescence spiciform^ the male and female separate; male 

 bracts minute, the female conspicuous, lobed; capsule strongly depressed, 

 short, thick, 2-6-laciniate above; seeds reddish-brown, ovoid-globose, apiculate, 

 the testa warty -wrinkled; caruncle flat, papyraceous, fusiform. 



Waste grounds near Nassau, New Providence : — New Jersey to Kansas ; South- 

 eastern United States to Mexico; Cuba; Porto Eico. Hoej^beam Acalypha. 



4. Acalypha setosa A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 204. 1850. 



An erect annual 3-6 dm. tall, the younger parts hirtulo-pubescent. Leaves 

 ovate, thin, 3-5-nerved, 4r-7 X 2.5-5 cm., base obtuse or slightly cordate, apex 

 short-acuminate, margin finely-serrate; inflorescence monoecious, in cylindric 

 spikes, the male axillary, lax-flowered, the female terminal, dense-flowered, 

 3-0 cm. long; female bracts 2-flowered, ovate, 5-6 mm. long, 7-13-partite, the 

 divisions laciniate, papillo-scabrous ; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, cUiate; styles 

 short, thick, 2-6-laciniate above ; seeds reddish-brown, ovoid-globose, apieulate, 

 1.4 X 1 mni. ; testa densely papillo-punctate ; caruncle a single straight mem- 

 branous line. 



Waste grounds near Nassau, New Providence : — Cuba ; Hispaniola ; Porto Rico ; 

 Mexico to Costa Rica, Setose Acalypha. 



16. PERA Mutis, Vet. Akad. Stockh. 5: 299. 1784. 



Glabrous or pubescent trees, the leaves alternate, short-petioled, entire, 

 coriaceous, penninerved. Inflorescence dioecious or rarely monoecious, pisiform, 

 in the axils of the leaves and at old nodes, short-pedieelled or subsessile, 2-3- 

 bracteate. Flowers sessile in small involucres, very small, apetalous; involucres 

 globose, gaping or valvate in anthesis; disk none. Male flowers: calyx minute, 

 valvate, 2-3-fld, or rudimentary or wanting; stamens 2-6; filaments connate 

 at or near the base; anthers dorsally fixed at or near the base, the cells longi- 

 tudinally contiguous and dehiscent. Female flowers: calyx none or reduced to 

 scales; ovary 3-celled; styles short; stigmas thick, peltate, disciform, or 3- 

 lobed; ovules solitary in each cell. Capsule globose or pyriform; pericarp 

 firm, dehiscent into 3, 2 -cleft valves; seeds ovoid or obovate, compressed; testa 

 crustaceous, black and shining; endosperm thick, fleshy; cotyledons plane, 

 broad. [Greek, a pouch.] About 25 species, of tropical America. Type 

 Bpecies: Pera arborea Mutis. 



1. Pera bumeliaefolla Griseb. Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Goett. 1865: 180. 1865. 



A small tree up to 12 m. high, or shrubby, with slender branches, the 

 petioles and involucres densely ferrugineous-lepidote. Leaves olive-green, 

 7-9 X 2-3 cm., elliptic-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate, narrowed to the petiole, 

 shining above, dull and sparsely lepidote-punctate beneath; petioles about 1.5 

 cm. long, slender; male calyx globose-ellipsoid, 4-5-lacerate-dentate (as many 

 toothed as there are anthers) ; capsule oliviform, the pericarp transversely 

 sharp-wrinkled when dry; seeds flattened^pyrifnrrn, gaping open at the apex, 

 black and shining, minutely shallow-punctate, 5 X 3.5 mm. 



Coppices of Andros and New Providence : — Cuba. Peea. Black Ebony. 



