AIZOACEAE 197 



exserted; stigma capitellate. Utricle obovoid, coriaceous. (Adapted from 

 the Latin "wonderful.") 



Species about 25, in tropical America, 1 now cultivated in many warm 

 countries. 



1. M. JALAPA L. A las cuatro, Oraciones (Sp.-Fil.) ; Four-o'clock, Marvel of 

 Peru. 



An erect, nearly or quite glabrous, branched plant 20 to 80 cm high. 

 Leaves 4 to 10 cm long, narrowly ovate, acuminate, base often subtruncate 

 and somewhat inequilateral. Involucres crowded, <:alyx-like, 1 cm long or 

 less, 1-flowered. Perianth white, purple, or yellow, the tube cylindric, 

 slightly enlarged upward, 3 to 4 cm long, the limb spreading. Fruit 

 narrowly ovoid, about 8 mm long, black, finely ribbed. 



Commonly cultivated, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines, in 

 and about towns, cultivated and naturalized. A native of tropical America, 

 now cultivated in mapy warm countries. 



4. BOERHAAVIA Linnaeus 



Diifuse spreading herbs with divaricate branches and opposite leaves. 

 Flowers small, jointed on their pedicels, panicled or umbellate, bracteolate. 

 Perianth-tube funnel-shaped, short, 5-lobed. Stamens 1 to 5, unequal 

 exserted. Ovary oblique, stipitate. Fruit small, glandular, 5-ribbed, the 

 utricle oblong. (In honor of H. Boerhaave, an early Dutch botanist.) 



Species 25 or more, in tropical and subtropical regions of both hemi- 

 spheres, a single variable one in the Philippines. 



1. B. DIFFUSA L. 



A diffuse, spreading, laxly branched, glabrous or somewhat pubescent 

 herb, the branches sometimes 2 m in length. Leaves scattered, ovate, 

 elliptic, or oblong, sometimes undulate, pale beneath, 1 to. 4 cm long, apex 

 rounded or acute, base usually rounded. Cymes very lax, panicled, the 

 branches slender, flowers usually fascicled or subiimbellate on the ultimate 

 branchlets, pink, about 1.5 mm long. Fruit glandular, narrowly oblong- 

 obovoid, about 3 mm long. (Fl. Filip. pi. 93.) 



In waste places, occasional, surely introduced, fl. Sept.-May; widely 

 distributed in the Philippines. Tropical Asia to Polynesia. 



46. AIZOACEAE (MOllugo OR TosTON Family) 



Herbs with entire, simple, alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves. Flow- 

 ers in axillary or terminal clusters or cymes, small, regular, perfect. Calyx 

 of 4 or 5 nearly free or more or less united segments, usually persistent. 

 Petals none. Stamens perigynous or hypogynous, few or many. Ovary 

 free, 2- to 5-celled, of 2 to 5 united carpels; styles as many as the carpels; 

 ovnles usually many, rarely few or one in each cell, axile. Fruit capsulat, 

 circumsciss or dorsally dehiscent. Seeds numerous, small. 



Genera 7, species .52, chiefly in Africa, a few in most tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries, 3 genera, and 5 species in the Philippines. 



1. Capsule circumsciss; stamens inserted on the calyx-tube. 



2 Ovary and capsule 3- to 5-celled 1- Sesuvium 



2. Ovary and capsule 1- or 2-celled 2. Trianthema 



1. Capsule dehiscing dorsally; stamens inserted on the receptacle. 



3. Mollugo 



