Phytolaccaceae

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Phytolaccaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Phytolaccaceae

  • Description

    Description - Herbs, some tropical species shrubs, vines or trees, -with alternate entire mostly estipulate leaves, and perfect regular polygamous or monoecious flowers. Calyx 45-parted or of 4 or 5 sepals, its segments or sepal imbricated in the bud. Petals wanting. Stamens as many as the calyxsegments or sepals and alternate with them, or more numerous, bypogynous; filaments distinct, or united at the base; anthers 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent, often nearly separated. Ovary superior, severalcelled in most of the genera; ovules solitary in the cavities, amphitropous. Styles as many as the carpels, short, or none; stigmas linear or filiform. Fruit a berry or an achene. Endosperm of the seed mealy or fleshy. About 22 genera and 110 species, mostly in the tropics.