640 



SANTALACEAE. 



Vol. I. 



1. Comandra umbellata (L.) Nutt. Bastard 

 Toad-flax. Fig. 1566. 



Thesium umbellatum L. Sp. PI. 208. 1753. 

 Comandra umbellata Nutt. Gen. 1 : 157. 1818. 

 C. Richardsiana Fernald, Rhodora 7: 48. 1905. 



Stem slender, very leafy, usually branched, 6-18' 

 tall. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, green, 

 acute or subacute at both ends, sessile, ascending, 

 ¥-i\' long, the lower smaller; cymes several-flow- 

 ered, corymbose at the summit of the plant or also 

 axillary, their branches divergent or ascending; 

 peduncles filiform, i'-i' long; pedicels very short; 

 calyx greenish-white or purplish, about 2" high ; style • 

 slender ; drupe globose, 2V-3" in diameter, crowned 

 by the upper part of the calyx-tube and its 5 ob- 

 long lobes. 



In dry fields and thickets, Cape Breton Island to On- 

 tario and Assiniboia, south to Georgia, Kansas and Ar- 

 kansas. April-July. 



2. Comandra pallida A. DC. Pale 

 Comandra. Fig. 1567. 



Comandra pallida A. DC. Prodr. 14 : 636. 1857. 



Similar to the preceding species but paler and 

 glaucous, usually much branched, the leaves nar- 

 rower, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute or the lowest 

 and those of the stem oblong-elliptic; cymes few- 

 several-flowered, corymbose-clustered at the summit; 

 peduncles usually short ; pedicels about 1" long ; 

 calyx purplish, about 2" high ; fruit ovoid-oblong, 

 3"-4" high and 2"-2i" in diameter, crowned by the 

 short upper part of the calyx-tube and its 5 oblong 

 lobes. 



In dry soil, Manitoba to British Columbia, south to 

 Minnesota, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and California. 

 April-July. 



3. Comandra livida Richards. Northern 

 Comandra. Fig. 1568. 



Comandra livida Richards. App. Frank. Journ. 734. 1823. 



Stem slender, usually quite simple, 4'-i2' high. 

 Leaves oval, thin, obtuse or rounded at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, short-petioled, l'-i' long, J'-l' 

 wide; petioles i"-2" long; cymes axillary, few (often 

 only 1 to each plant), 1-5-flowered; peduncle shorter 

 than its subtending leaf, filiform; flowers sessile; 

 style very short; drupe globose-oblong, about 3" in 

 diameter, red, edible, crowned by the ovate calyx- 

 lobes. 



In moist' soil, Newfoundland to Hudson Bay, Alaska, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Ontario, Michigan, Idaho 

 and Washington. June-July. 



2. PYRULARIA Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 

 2: 231. 1803. 



A branching oil-bearing shrub (the Asiatic species trees), with thin alternate pinnately- 

 veined entire short-petioled deciduous leaves, and dioecious or polygamous small greenish 

 racemose flowers. Staminate flowers with a campanulate 3-5-cleft calyx, the lobes valvate, 

 recurved or spreading, pubescent at the base within; disk of 3-5 distinct glands or scales; 

 stamens 4 or 5, inserted between the glands and opposite the calyx-lobes; filaments short; 

 anthers ovate. Pistillate and perfect flowers with a top-shaped calyx adnate to the obovoid 

 ovary ; style short, stout ; stigma capitate, depressed. Fruit a pear-shaped or oval drupe, the 

 endocarp thin and endosperm of the seed very oily. [Name from Pyrus, the pear, from the 

 similar shape of the fruit.] 



Three species, the following typical one, and two Asiatic. 



