VIOLACEAB 333 



1. B. serrata Blanco (B. glandulosa Turcz.). 



An erect or ascending, branched, annual herb 10 to 30 cm high, often 

 decumbent below. Stems and branches reddish, glandular-pubescent. 

 Leaves oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 1 to 2 cm long, acute, base 

 narrowed, shortly petioled, the pedicels and sepals glandular-pubescent. 

 . Sepals green, lanceolate, acuminate, about 3 mm long. Petals pink, as 

 long as the sepals. Stamens slender, 10, sometimes less. Capsule ovoid, 

 2 to Z,5 mm long. 



In dried out rice paddiSs, occasional, fl. Jan.-Mar.; widely distributed in 

 Luzon. Formosa. 



90. BIXACEAE (BiXA OR Achuete Family) 



Trees with simple alternate leaves and minute stipules. Flowers in 

 terminal panicles, perfect, regular. Sepals 5, imbricate, deciduous. Petals 

 5, free, contorted in bud. Stamens indefinite; anthers opening by terminal 

 pores. Ovary superior, 1-celled; style slender, curved; stigma notched; 

 ovules many, on 2 parietal placentas. Fruit a softly prickly loculicidal 

 capsule, 2-valved. Seeds many. 



A single genus and species, native of tropical America. 



BIXA Linnaeus 

 Characters of the Family as given above. 



1. B. ORELLANA Linn. Achuete (Sp.-Fil.) ; Anatto. 



A tree 4 to 6 m high. Leaves ovate, entire, 8 to 20 cm long, 6 to 12 

 cm wide, base broad, more or less cordate, apex acuminate. Flowers white 

 to pinkish, 4 to 6 cm in diameter. Capsules ovoid or subglobose, green 

 or reddish-purple, about 4 cm long, covered with long, slender, rather 

 soft spines, and containing many small, dark-red seeds. (Fl. Filip. pi. SSI.) 



Common in gardens, fl. Aug.-Dec; cultivated throughout the Philippines. 

 A native of tropical America, but now widely distributed in the tropics of 

 the world. The seeds yield the anatto dye of commerce. 



91. VIOLACEAE (Violet Family) 



Herbs or shrubs with alternate, mostly entire, stipulate leaves. Flowers 

 regular or irregular, bracteolate. Sepals 5, equal or unequal. Petals 6, 

 one frequently spurred at the base, hypogynous. Stamens 6, hypogynoas, 

 the filaments broad, the anthers introrse, free or connate, the connective 

 produced above the anther-cells. Ovary superior, 1-celled, placentfis 

 parietal, many-ovuled. Capsule Srvalved or berry-lilce. 



Genera 16, species about 360, of wide temperate and tropical distribu- 

 tion, 2 genera and about 10 species in the Philippines. 



1. VIOLA Linnaeus 



Herbs with alternate leaves, frequently stoloniferous. Flowers axillary, 

 solitary, pedicelled, irregular. Sepals 5 persistent, produced at the base. 

 Petals 6, the lower one largest, spurred at the base. Stamens 6, hypo- 

 gynous, the anthers introrse, surrounding the pistil, the short broad fila- 

 ments continued beyond the anther-cells, the lower 2 often spurred at the 

 base. Ovary superior, 1-celled; style club-shaped or ending in a hook, the 

 stigma simple, often turned to one side. Capsule 8-valved. Seeds many. 

 (The ancient Latin name.) 



