372 nyctaginace^e. (four-o'clock family.) 



twining herbs or shrubs. Loaves alternate, cordate at the base. Flowers long, 

 peduncled, axillary, or near the base of the stem. 



* Low herbs. 



1. A. Serpentaria, L. Stems single or clustered, pubescent, zigzag and 

 leafy above; leaves Bhort-petioled, varying from ovate to linear-lanceolate, cor- 

 date or hastate at the base ; flowers near the base of the stem, on bractcd spread- 

 ing peduncles ; calyx tortuous, 3-lobcd, dull purple. (A. hastata, Nutt.) — Shady 

 woods, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. June- Aug. — Stem 8'- 12' 

 high. Leaves 2' -4' long. Calyx shaped like the letter S. 



** Woody vines: capsule oblong, six-angled, 3' -4' long. 



2. A. Sipho, L'ller. Stem smoothish ; leaves large, orbicular-cordate, 



Blightly pubescent beneath ; peduncles slender, solitary, with a roundish clasping 

 bract near the base ; calyx curving upward, with the broad spreading brownish- 

 purple border obscurely 3-lobcd. — Rich woods along the mountains, Georgia, 

 and northward. May. — Stem climbing high. Leaves 6'- 12' broad. Calyx 

 shaped like a Dutch pipe, IV long. 



3. A. tomentosa, Sims. Hoary-pubescent ; leaves cordate ; peduncles 

 opposite the leaves, bractless, woolly ; calyx bent in the middle, the greenish 

 rugose unequally 3-lobcd border reflcxed, thickened and dark brown at the 

 nearly closed throat. — River-banks, Florida, to the mountains of North Caro- 

 lina, and westward. May. — Stem very long. Leaves 3' -5' long. Calyx 

 similar in shape to the preceding, but smaller. 



Order 100. NYCTAGINACEiE. (Four-o'clock Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs with tumid joints. Leaves mostly opposite, simple, 

 petioled, without stipules. — Calyx colored and resembling a corolla, 

 tubular-bell-shaped or funnel-shaped, free from the 1-celled and l-ovu!ed 

 ovary, plaited in the bud, contracted in the middle, with the upper por- 

 tion deciduous. Stamens 1 -several, hypogynous: anthers 2-celled, round- 

 ish. Ovule erect. Style simple : stigma simple or branched. Achenium 

 enclosed in the indurated, mostly ribbed, often glandular base of the 

 calyx. Embryo coiled or folded around copious mealy albumen. Cotyle- 

 dons leafy. Radicle inferior. 



Synopsis. 



* Flowers surrnuinled l>y :v c:ilyx-Iikc involucre. 



1. OXYBAPHU8. Involucre open, membranaceous, 6 lobed. Herbs. 



* * Flowers without sin involucre. 



2. ROVRHAAYIA. Flowers perfect. Embryo ooUed Herbs, 

 ii. i'lSONlA. Flowers dioecious. Embryo straight shrubs. 



1. OXYBAPHUS, Vahl. 

 Flowers perfect, l - - r » in a cluster, surrounded by an open cup-shaped 5-lobcd 



involucre ( '.ii\ x-tuhc very short; the bell-shaped limb 5-lobed, deciduous. 



