34 6 FLORA. 



about 4 mm. high; drupe globose, 5-6 mm. in diameter. In dry fields and 

 thickets, Cape Breton I. to Ont., Br. Col., Ga., Ariz, and Cal. April-July. 



2. Cornandra pallida A. DC. Bale Comandra. (I. F. f. 1274.) Similar 

 to the preceding but paler and glaucous, the leaves narrower, 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 ; 

 calyx purplish, about 4 mm. high; fruit ovoid-oblong, 6-8 mm. high. In dry 

 soil, Man. to Br. Col., Minn., Kans., Tex. and Cal. April-July. 



3. Comandra livida Richards. Northern Comandra. (I. F. f. 1275.) 

 Stem slender, usually quite simple, 1-3 dm. high. Leaves oval, thin, obtuse or 

 rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base, short-petioled, 1-2.5 cni - l° n g> 6-12 

 mm. wide ; petioles 2-4 mm. long ; cymes axillary, few (often only 1 to each 

 plant), 1-5-fiowered; peduncle shorter than its subtending leaf, filiform; flowers 

 sessile ; drupe globose-oblong, about 6 mm. in diameter, red, edible. In moist soil, 

 Newf. to Hudson Bay, the N. W. Terr., Vt., Ont., Mich., and Br. Col. June-July. 



2. PYRULARIA Michx. 



A branching 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, 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 and two Asiatic. 



1. Pyrularia pubera Michx. Oil-nut. Buffalo-nut. (I. F. f. 1276.) 

 A much branched shrub, 1-5 m. tall, with terete twigs, the young foliage pubes- 

 cent. Leaves oblong, oblong-lanceolate or somewhat obovate, nearly glabrous 

 when mature, acute or acuminate at both ends, 1.5-3 cm. wide; racemes termi- 

 nating short branches, the staminate many-flowered, 2-5 cm. long, the pistillate 

 few-flowered and shorter; pedicels 3-4 mm. long; calyx 3-5 -cleft; drupe about 

 2.5 cm. long, crowned by the ovate acute calyx -lobes. In rich woods, Penn. to 

 Ga. May. Fruit ripe Aug. -Sept. 



3. NESTRONIA Raf. 



A low glabrous dioecious shrub, with opposite short-petioled, oblong to ovate 

 entire leaves. Staminate flowers small, in axillary peduncled umbels; calyx top- 

 shaped, 4-5 -cleft, the lobes spreading, each with a tuft of wool; stamens as many 

 as the calyx-segments and opposite them; disk crenate. Pistillate flowers solitary 

 in the axils, short-peduncled ; calyx narrowly top-shaped, 4 lobed ; stamens 4; 

 style short, 4-lobed; ovary adnate to the calyx. Fruit an oval 1 -seeded drupe. 

 [From the Greek name of Daphne.] A monotypic genus of the southeastern U. S. 



1. Nestronia umbellula Raf. Nestronia. (I. F. f. 1276a.) Shrub 3-10 

 dm. high, branching. Leaves thin, 2-5 cm. long, pinnately veined, bright green 

 above; petioles 2-6 mm. long; peduncles of the staminate 3-9-flowered umbels 

 filiform, the pedicels about 4 mm. long, equalling the green calyx; stamens shorter 

 than the oblong-ovate calyx-segments, pistillate calyx glaucescent, about 6 mm. 

 long, the lobes much shorter than the tube; drupe about 1.2 cm. in diameter. In 

 woods and along streams, Va. to Ga. and Ala. April-May. 



Order 12. ARISTOLOCHIALES. 



Herbs or vines, mostly with cordate or reniform leaves and perfect 

 flowers. Calyx inferior, its tube wholly or partly adnate to the ovary, 

 Corolla none. Ovary several- (mostly 6-) celled. Only the following 

 family. 



