164 KEY AND FLORA 



PASSIFLORA L. 



Characters of the family. 



1. P. incaruata L. Passion Flower. Perennial. Stem often 

 20-30 ft. long, somewhat angled or striate, smooth below, downy- 

 above. Leaves broadly heart-shaped, palmately 3-5-lobed ; the lobes 

 acute, finely serrate, usually heart-shaped at the base ; petiole bear- 

 ing 2 oval glands near its summit. Flowers 2-3 in. wide, solitary; 

 peduncles 3-bracted, longer than the petioles ; calyx lobes with a 

 small horn-like appendage on the back near the apex, white within. 

 Petals and crown purple and white. Fruit yellow, about the size and 

 shape of a hen's egg, edible. Seeds with a pulpy aril. Common along 

 fence rows and embankments S.* 



2. P. lutea L. Yfxlow Passion Flower. Perennial. Stem 

 slender, smooth, 6-10 ft. long. Leaves broadly heart-shaped, 3-lobed 

 at the summit, entire, often mucronate ; stipules small; petioles 

 without glands. Peduncles longer than the leaves, usually in pairs. 

 Flowers greenish-yellow, ^-f in. wide. Fruit purple, oval, | in. long. 

 Woods and thickets S.* 



69. BEGONIACEJE. Begonia Family 



Chiefly perennial herbs or low shrubs, with fleshy or very 

 juicy stems. Leaves alternate, generally heart-shaped at the 

 base, often very unsymmetrical ; stipules deciduous. Flowers 

 monoecious, in cymes or other clusters, on axillary peduncles. 

 Stamens many (Fig. 25). Pistillate flowers with the floral 

 envelopes borne on the ovary. Ovary 3-angled or 3-winged 

 (Fig. 25), very many-seeded. 



BEGONIA L. 



Flowers with the calyx and corolla of the same color, stami- 

 nate and pistillate ones both occurring in the same cluster. 

 Sepals usually 2. Petals 2 or in the fertile flowers 3 or 4, 

 sometimes wanting. Stamens many in a cluster, with short 

 filaments. Styles of the fertile flowers 3, often with long, 

 twisted stigmas (Fig. 25, C). The genus contains a great 

 number of species and varieties, cultivated from tropical or 

 subtropical regions, of which only a few of the commonest 

 are here described. 



