588 PHYTOLACCACE.E rumex 



OXYRIA 



flowering branches suberect, sparingly leafy below : pedicels slender, about 

 twice as long as the fruit, tumidly jointed toward the base: inner sepals 

 not very conspicuously veined, about 3 lines long, ovate-oblong, with 3-5 

 thin triangular teeth on each side, mostly confined to the lower half, the 

 triangular entire apex mostly acute : callosities smooth, one usually larger 

 than the others. Common along roadsides and in pastures : naturalized 

 from Europe. 



R. persicarioides L. 1. c. Pubescent and pale green annual : stems 

 rather stout, erect and simple or diffusely branched, 1-3 feet high, some- 

 times spreading or creeping, very leafy : leaves lanceolate or oblong, nar- 

 rowed or sometimes cordate or sagittate at base, acute, the margins more 

 or less undulate or crisped, 1-12 inches long: panicle simple or compound : 

 racemes erect, leafy-bracted, usually interrupted : pedicels capillary, twice 

 as long as the fruit, tumidly jointed at the base : inner sepals oblong, a 

 line long with 1-3 bristles on each margin, each bearing an oblong callosity. 

 Brit. Columbia to California, and the Eastern States and Canada 



7 OXYRIA Hill Veg. Syst. x, 24. (1765) 



Low perennial herbs with acid juice, mostly radical leaves and 

 small perfect flowers in naked panicled racemes. Catyx unequal- 

 ly 4-parted, the outer segments smaller than the inner. Stamens 

 6, included: filaments short, subulate, glabrous : anthers oblong. 

 Ovary 1-celled : ovule solitary. Style short, 2-parted, its branches 

 divergent : stigmas fimbriate, persistent. Achenes compressed 

 and thin, broadly winged. 



0. digyna Campd. Monog. Rum. 155 t, 5. fig. 3. Rootstock large, 

 chaffy : stem slender, scape-like, simple or sparingly branched, leafless or 

 nearly so, 2-12 inches high: leaves reniform or orbicular-reniform, 6-18 

 lines broad, undulate, sometimes emarginate, long-petioled: ocreae oblique, 

 loose, those of the stems bearing flowers: racemes many-flowered; flowers 

 slender- pedicelled : calyx segments oblong, the inner erect, the outer re- 

 flexed in fruit: achenes pointed, smooth, surrounded by a broad membran- 

 ous wing. On high mountains, California to the Arctic Circle and across 

 the continent : also northern Europe and Asia. 



Order LXXVI PHYTOLACCACE^ Lindl. Nat. Syst. 231. 



Herbs shrubs or trees with alternate leaves and perfect reg- 

 ular polygamous or monoecious usually racemose flowers. 

 Calyx 4-5-parted or of 4 or 5 distinct sepals, imbricated 

 in the bud . Stamens as many as divisions of the calyx and 

 alternate with them, or more numerous, hypogynous: filaments 

 subulate or filiform: anthers 2-celled, the cells longitudinally 

 dehiscent, often nearly separated. Ovai} r superior, several- 

 celled, with a solitary amphitropous ovule in each cell. Styles 

 as many as carpels, short or none: stigmas linear or filiform. 

 Fruit a berry, capsule or samara. 



1 PHYTOLACCA L. Sp. 41. 



Tall perennial herbs with simple entire leaves without stipules 

 and small flowers in terminal racemes which by the farther growth 

 of the stem become opposite the leaves. Pedicels bracted at the 

 base. Calyx of 4 or 5 persistent rounded sepals. Stamens 4-15, 



