APETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 459 



Shrubs, with alternate minutely stipulate petioled leaves, 

 and small white or rose-colored flowers in axillary and 

 terminal racemes; ^r^ds deciduous. 



E. HUMiLis, L. Closely pubescent ; stem with spreading 

 branches ; leaves oblong-ovate, rounded at the base, taper- 

 ing but obtuse at the summit, on long filiform petioles; 

 racemes slender, longer than the leaves; calyx-loha^ obo- 

 vate, pale rose-color; berry rounded,- compressed. — Shriib 

 l°-2° high ; leaves l'-3' long ; floiuers and berries 1"-!^' 

 long. 



PHYTOLACCA, Tourn. Pokeweed. 



Calyx 3-bracted, 5-parted, the lobes petal-like, rounded; 

 stamens 5-25, the filaments subulate; anthers elliptical; 

 ovary compound ; styles 5-12, short, distinct, recurved at 

 the apex, stigmatic within ; fruit a depressed globose berry, 

 containing 5-12 one-seeded in dehiscent carpels united in a 

 circle ; embryo forming a ring around the central albumen; 

 cotyledons linear. — Erect branching herbs, with entire pe- 

 tioled leaves ; floiuers in racemes opposite the leaves. 



P. DECANDRA, L. Smooth ; ste7n very stout (2°-12° 

 high) ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute ; racemes many-flow- 

 ered, as long as the leaves ; flotoers white, turning purplish ; 

 stamens, styles, and carpels 10. Margins of fields and un- 

 cultivated ground. July-September. Root large; berry 

 black. Perennial. 



101. GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. Order, Chenopodiace^. 



Unsightly herbs, with exstipulate leaves, inconspicuous 

 flowers, and the characters mostly of the preceding family; 

 but the green calyx often becoming succulent in fruit, 5 

 (rarely 1-2) stamens opposite the sepals, a solitary ovary 

 forming an acheninm or utricle in fruit, tw^o short and 

 spreading styles, a horizontal or vertical lenticular seed^ 



