by Nathaniel Lord Britton & Addison Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States… (1913)
“ Stamens in staminate flowers as many or twice as many as the sepals. Ovary 2-3-celled. Ovules 2 or 3. Fruit a 2-3-celled, 2-3-seeded capsule, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds pendulous, orthotropous ; endosperm farinaceous. Nine genera and about 560 species, widely distributed in warm and tropical regions, a few extending into the temperate zones. The family is most abundantly represented in South America. ”
