34 RUBIACEE. M itchexla.
throat of the corolla: anthers oblong. Style filiform: stigmas 4, linear,
somewhat exserted. Fruit baccate, oblate-globose, usually composed of the
united ovaries of both flowers (one of them sometimes abortive, or wanting
?); each of which contains 4 small corneous 1-seeded nucules. Embryo
minute, at the extremity of somewhat cartilaginous albumen : cotyledons
short; the radicle thick. Glabrous creeping evergreen herbs (indigenous to
North America, and perhaps to the mountains of Peru ?) with opposite ovate
or roundish petioled leaves. Stipules triangular-subulate, minute. Flowers
terminal, white or pale rose-color, odorous. Fruit bright red, edible,
persistent.
We have drawn the character exclusively from M. repens; since it is doubtful
whether M. ovata, DC. (which we have , not seen,) belongs to this genus, rather
than to Nertera. Does not the Nertera depressa, Banks (or rather Solander), as left
by De Candolle, include two or more species'!
1. M. repens (Linn.): leaves roundish-ovate, often slightly cordate; peduncle
2-fiowered.—L in n .! spec. 1. p. I l l ; Michx.! ft. 1. p- 86 ; Pwrsh,
ft. 1. p. 101 ; Ell. sic. 1. p. 198 ; Torr.l ft. 1. p. 174 ; Bigel. ft. Bost. ed.
2. p. 52; Bart. ft. Amer. Sept. t. 95, ƒ. 1; D C .! prodr. 4. p. 452;
Hook.! ft. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 287 ; Darlingt. ft. Cest. p. 105. Syringa bac-
cifera, &c., Pluk. amalth. t. 444, ƒ. 2 ; Catesb. Car. 1. t. 20. Lomcera
foliis subovatis &c. Gronov.! ft. Virg. ed. 1. p. 22.
Deep moist woods, about the roots of trees, Canada and throughout the
United States ! to Florida! and Louisiana! (Also in Mexico, ex DC.)
June. (November to April in the Southern States. Ell.)—Stems slender,
branching, 6-12 inches long. Leaves on slender petioles, half an inch or
more in diameter, dark green and shining, usually with a pale longitudinal
line, of a firm texture, turning blackish in drying. Corolla about half an
inch long; the limb sometimes 3-cleft (and then triandrous), occasionally
6-8-cleftT but never (we believe) with more than 4 stamens. Berries about
a third of an inch in diameter, broader than long, crowned with the persistent
teeth of two calyces, bright red, edible but insipid, persistent through the
winter and until the plant flowers again.—Partridge-Berry.
Subtribe 3. E uguettardeac, DC. (excl. gen.)—Flowers distinct. E s tivation
of the corolla usually contorted. Albumen fleshy.—Tropical trees
or shrubs.
11. GUETTARDA. Linn.; Vent, choix. t. 1 ; Gcertn.fr. 1. t. 36; A.
Rich. mem. 1. c. p. 121.
Calyx-tube ovate or globose; the limb tubular, persistent or deciduous,
truncate or irregularly toothed. Corolla hypocrateriform ; the tube cylindrical
; lobes 4-9, oval-oblong. Anthers 4-9, nearly sessile in the throat of the
corolla, linear. Stigma capitate, rarely 2-lobed. Fruit drupaceous, subglo-
bose or ovate, usually crowned with the persistent limb of the calyx : endo-
carp bony, obtusely angled, 4—9-celled; the cells 1-seeded. Seeds somewhat
terete.—Small trees or shrubs (mostly tropical American); with ovate
or lanceolate, or rarely cordate leaves. Stipules lanceolate, deciduous. P e duncles
axillary, once or twice dichotomous ; thp flowers sessile in the forks
and unilateral on the branches of the peduncle.
G uettarda. RUB1ACEE.
1. G. elliptica ? (Swartz) : leaves ovate and elliptical, rather obtuse, mu-
cronulate, hairy on both surfaces ; petioles short; peduncles usually shorter
than the leaves; cymes 2-cleft; flowers tetramerous; tube of the corolla
silky-hirsute, three times as long as the calyx; limb of the calyx at length
deciduous.—Swartz, prodr. p. 59? DC. prodr. 4. p. 457?
Key West, Florida, Mr. Blodgett!—A shrub:; the younger branches pubescent.
Leaves 1-2 inches long, rather acute at the base, the lower surface
more hairy than the upper: petiole 2-3 lines long. Peduncles sometimes rather
longer than the leaves, twice or thrice dichotomous. Flowers about one-
third of an inch long. Calyx truncate, often notched on one side of the orifice,
with 2 subulate bracteoles at the base. Corolla dull crimson internally.
Style filiform, included : stigma entire. Immature fruit ovate.—We have
not seen authentic specimens of G. elliptica, the species which agrees most
nearly with ours ; but it seems to difler in the leaves being smoothish above,
and in the 2-lobed stigma.
12. ERITHALIS. P. Browne, Jam. t. 17, ƒ. 3 ; Linn.; Lam. ill. t. 159;
Gcertn. fr . t. 26 ; A. Rich. mem. 1. c. p. 133; DC. prodr. 4. p. 465.
Calyx-tube ovate; the limb short, 5-toothed. Corolla somewhat rotate,
5-parted ; the segments linear. Stamens 5 : filaments subulate, inserted into
the base of the corolla: anther's linear-oblong. Style stout, as long as the
filaments: stigma bilamellate, the lobes agglutinated. Ovary 5-10-celledi
with a single pendulous ovule in each cell. Drupe globose, somewhat fleshy,
sulcate, with 5-10 bony nucules.— Glabrous (chiefly West Indian) shrubs.
Leaves petioled, somewhat coriaceous. Stipules persistent, short and broad.
Flowers in paniculate cymes from the axils of the uppermost leaves.
1- E.fruticosa (Linn.): leaves obovate; panicles pedunculate ; fruit 8-10-
sulcate, crowned with the truncate limb of the calyx.—DC. prodr. 1. c. E.
odorifera, Jacq. stirp. Amer. p. 72. t. 173,/. 23.
Southern Florida, Dr. Leitner !—Leaves about 2 inches long, obtuse, the
lateral veins indistinct, abruptly tapering at the base into a short petiole.
Stipules with a small mucronate point. Cymes 10-15-flowered: flowers
odorous, crimson? *
T ribe IV. H AM E L IE E . A. Rich., DC.
Fruit baccate, 3—many-celled ; the cells many-seeded. Albumen
fleshy.—Trees or shrubs. Stipules between the (rarely verticillate)
petioles.
13. HAMELIA. Jacq. stirp. Amer. p. 71. t. 50, &f ic. rar. t. 335; Lam.
ill. t. 155; Gartn.fr. t. 191 Sf 196.
Calyx-tube oval; the lobes 5, short, erect, acute, persistent. Corolla tubular,
somewhat 5-angled, slightly 5-lobed at the summit; the lobes equal,
scarcely spreading. Stamens 5, inserted into the middle of the corolla, included
: anthers oblong-linear. Stigma obtuse, somewhat 5-angled. Berry
oval, 5-furrowed, 5-celled ; the cells membranaceous, many-seeded. Seeds
minute, compressed.—Tropical American shrubs. Leaves often ternately
or quaternately verticillate, petioled. Stipules one on each side, lanceolate-
subulate. Flowers red or orange, showy, in di-trichotomous or scorpioid
cymes.