m en : cotyledons oval, flat.—Trees or shrubs, aromatic and bittei.
Leaves alternate or opposite, exstipulate, simple or usually pinnate .
leaflets mostly marked with pellucid dots.
1. ZANTHOXYLUM. L in n .; H. B. $ K. nov. gen. $ sp. 6. p. 1.
Dioecious. Sepals 3-9, small. Petals longer than the sepals, or none.
Stamens as many as the sepals and opposite them (or fewer), mostly exsert-
ed ; those of the. pistillate flowers rudimentary. Ovaries 1-5, raised on a
globose or cylindrical torus, distinct, with 2 collateral suspended ovules:
styles distinct, or united at the apex, sometimes very short. Carpels crusta-
ceous in fruit, sessile on the torus or stipitate, 2-valyed, 1- 2-seeded. Seeds
black and shining, globose when solitary, hemispherical when in pairs.—
Trees or shrubs, usually with prickles on the branches, petioles, and midrib
of the leaflets. Leaves pinnately 3-13-foliolate. Flowers small, greenish or
whitish: inflorescence various.
§ 1. Sepals 5 or more, petaloid, with a minute glandular heard at the
apex: petals none: ovaries as many as sepals and opposite them:
styles terminating in clavate stigmas, which are at fir s t connate.
Z anthoxylum, Colden.
1. Z. Americanum (Mill, diet.) : branches and often petioles armed with
short strong (stipular) prickles; leaves pinnate; leaflets ovate-oblong, nearly
sessile, obscurely serrulate or entire,more or less pubescent; flowers m short
axillary umbels ; carpels stipitate.— Willd. beschr. p. 116. Z. fraxmifolium,
Marsh, arbust. (1785.) Z. fraxmeum mild. Berl. b a um f 1796),
A sp. 4. p. 757; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 210 ; DC. prodr. 1. p, 726; Hook. ft. Bor.-
Am 1 n 118; Bigel. med. hot. t. 59. Z. ramiflorum, Michx. i f l . 2. p. 23o.
Z. tricarpum, Hook. 1. c. not of Michx. Z. Clava-Hercuhs, var. Linn.
Z. mite, Willd. enum. p. 1013; DC. 1. c. . B f f i R '
Canada 1 to Virginia; west to the Mississippi. Apnl-May.—A shiub or
very small tree ; the bark pungent to the taste. Flowers greenish. Leaves
often nearly glabrous when mature, sometimes tomentose beneath, heeds
large, black.—Prickly Ash.
§ 2. Sepals, petals, and stamens 5: ovaries usually 3: styles short.
Ochroxylum, Schreb. (Kampmannia, Raf. ex Ad. Juss.)
2 Z Carolinianum (Lam.) : branches and usually petioles armed withlong
stipular prickles; leaves pinnate; leaflets ovate-lanceolate inequilateral, somewhat
falcate, petiolulate, crenate-serrulate glabrous, lucid above ; flowers in
terminal panicles; sepals minute; carpels sessile.—Lam. diet. (1786) 2.p.
An. Catesb Car 1 t 26. Z. tricarpum, Michx.! 1. c. ; Pursh, l. c. ; Ell.
J J /2. p. 690 {D C .l. c. Z. fraxinifolium, Walt. Car. p. 243. Fagara fraxinf
n as a n ^ o i l ‘near4the sea-coast, N. Carolina 1 Georgia ! and Florida;
west to Arkansas! June.—A small tree (the Prickly Ash of the Southern
States); the leaves and bark very aromatic and pungent. Prickles very sharp.
2. PTELEA. L in n .; Lam. ill. t. 84; Gdrtn.fr. t. 49.
Polygamous. Sepals 3-6, commonly 4, small. Petals much longer than
the sepals, spreading. , Stamens alternate with and longer than the petals:
filaments thickened below and hairy on the inside; in the fertile flowers very
short and with sterile anthers. Ovary of 2 united carpels, placed on a
convex torus: ovules 2 in each carpel, situated one above the other: styles
short, united, or none: stigmas 2. Fruit a 2-celled samara, turgid in the
centre, the margin expanded into a broad orbicular membranaceous and reticulated
wing. Seeds oblong, solitary in each cell.—Shrubs. Leaves pinnately
3-(rarely 5-) foliolate, with pellucid dots, the lateral leaflets inequilateral.
Flowers whitish, cymose: cymes corymbed or panicled.
1. P. trifoliata (Linn.): leaflets sessile, ovate, mostly acuminate, the
terminal one cuneiform and attenuate at the base; flowers commonly tetran-
drous; style short.— Walt. Car. p. 88 ; Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 99; E ll.s k . 1. p.
211; Torr. ! fl. 1. p. 189; DC. prodr. 2. p. 82.
1 In shady rocky places, from Lake Erie! to Florida! west to Kentucky! and
T exas! June.—Pubescent when young, 6-8 feet high. Leaflets obscurely
crenulate. Ovary of the staminate flowers abortive. Odor of the flowers
disagreeable.—P. monophylla, Lam. diet, appears not to belong to the genus,
and is perhaps a Rumex, as is suggested by Ad. Jussieu.
2. P. Baldwinii: leaves very small, glabrous; leaflets sessile, oval, obtuse,
the terminal one cuneiform at the base; flowers tetrandrous; styles
none.
St. John’s, East Florida, B a ldw in ! (in herb Acad. Philad.)—Shrub
apparently not more than a foot high, with numerous short scraggy
branches. Leaflets scarcely an inch in length. Flowers smaller than in
P. trifolia. Fruit not seen.
3. PITAVIA. Molin. Chil.
Galvezia, Ruiz. Pax.; Ad. Juss.; not of Domb. in Juss. gen.
Flowers by abortion diclinous. Calyx 4-parted. Petals 4, longer than
the calyx. S terile F l. Stamens 8 ; the 4 opposite the petals shorter:
filaments subulate, glabrous, inserted around the base of the oblong.gynophore
which supports 3-4 distinct abortive ovaries; the styles coherent with each
other above. F ertile F l. Ovaries 4, on a 4-angled fleshy gynophore, each
with 2 collateral ovules : styles rising from the apex of the ovaries, distinct
at the base, coalescent above: stigmas connate into a single 4-lobed one.
Drupes 4, or by abortion fewer, 1-seeded. Seed ovoid, with a straight embryo.
Ad. Juss. sub Galvezia.
1. P. dumosa (Nutt.! mss.)
St. DiegOj California, N u tta ll!—A low branching shrub. Leaves opposite
or fascicled on short branches; linear, attenuate at the base, obtuse,
about an inch long, rather thick, 1-nerved, marked with glandular pellucid
dots ; the margin with a row of glandular dots, but entire. Flowers, in the
specimens, all perfect, nearly solitary at the extremity of the branches, small,
on short peduncles. Petals somewhat unequal. Stamens 8, the alternate
ones smallest; or in some flowers only 4. Ovary solitary, simple, subglo-
bose, placed on a minute flat 8-toothed disk, 1-celled, with 2 collateral
ovules : style lateral (arising from about the middle of the ovary) : stigma a
little thickened, somewhat grooved. Fruit a single globose 1-seeded drupaceous
nut (?), about the size of a pea. Seed globose, with a somewhat crus-
taceous testa.—We have failed, by some accident, to receive Mr. Nuttall’s