96 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
flower-clusters in some species are bright red, and these types are cul- 
tivated in gardens, together with Celosia, the cockscomb, and Gom- 
phrena, the globe amaranth. 
Family Nyctaginaceae. Four-o-clock Family. Contains about 17 
genera and 250 species of wide distribution, most of them American. 
They are herbs, shrubs or trees, with simple entire leaves, and perfect 
clustered flowers, often subtended by an involucre simulating a calyx, 
the latter in its turn usually colored like a corolla, which is always 
wanting. The sepals are united, and the calyx is thus called gamo- 
sepalous. The ovary is one celled, becoming a grooved or winged fruit. 
Probably the most familiar ex- 
. ample of this family is the com- 
~~, mon four-o-clock or marvel-of-Peru 
(Mirabilis Jalapa). The flower has 
a funnel-shaped calyx of various 
colors, exactly imitating a corolla, 
while the green involucral bracts 
at the base of the calyx tube are 
usually taken by the student for a 
true calyx. Mirabilis is repre- 
sented by several species in the 
southwestern States. Abronia, also 
a western genus, is commonly cul- 
tivated for its verbena-like clusters 
of variously colored flowers. (See 
Fig, 79. 
Family Batidaceae. Batis Fam- 
ily. This consists of a single genus 
and species, Batis maritima, a 
fleshy maritime shrub of the West 
Fig. 79. The pink Abronia (Abronta micran- Indies and the Gulf coast. 
cas flowers and wing-margined fruit. Family Cynocrambaceae. Cyno- 
crambe Family. Likewise re- 
stricted to a single type, Cynocrambe prostrata, a low shrub native of 
the Mediterranean region. 
Family Phytolaccaceae. Pokeweed Family. Contains about 22 
genera and 90 species, mainly tropical. They are herbs or shrubs, with 
entire leaves destitute of stipules, and regular, polygamous or monoe- 
cious flowers, the perianth consisting of calyx alone; the structure of 
the flower may be seen in the lowermost drawings of Fig. 77. The fruit 
is either berry-like or capsular. The ovary contains several cells, 
Most of the pokeweeds possess bitter emetic or purgative proper- 
ties, and some are violent poisons. On the other hand, the herbage of 
