Gully Root

J. W. Nowicke (1968) called plants with "4-hooked" fruits var. alliacea, those with "3- or 6-hooked" fruits, var. tetrandra (Gomez) Nowicke. This distinction fails in the flora area.

The leaves of Petiveria alliacea have an alliaceous odor when crushed. The plant taints the milk and meat of animals that graze on it and may also induce abortion. In some areas of tropical America, it serves as a vampire repellent of unrecorded efficacy.

Stems erect, 3-20 dm, pubescent to glabrate. Leaves: stipules 2 mm; petiole 0.4-2 cm; blade elliptic to oblong or obovate, to 20 × 7 cm, base acute to cuneate, apex acuminate or acute to obtuse or rounded. Inflorescences often drooping distally, 0.8-4 dm; peduncle 1-4 cm; pedicel 0.5-2 mm. Flowers slightly imbricate to rather remote; sepals white or greenish to pinkish, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 3.5-6 mm; ovary tomentose. Achenes striate, subtended by persistent bracts and perianth, ± appressed to rachis, 8-12 mm. 2n = 36, 72.

Fla., Tex.; Mexico; warm regions of the New World.

Flowering year-round southward, spring-fall northward.

Orchards, woods, hammocks, thickets, middens, clearings; 0-40m.

Petiveria alliacea L. Sp. PI. 342. 1753
Petiveria octandra L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 486. 1762.
Petiveria foelida Salisb. Prodr. 214. 1796.
Petiveria alliacea grandifolia Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 9. 1849.
Petiveria alliacea octandra Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13=: 9. 1849.
Petiveria ochroleuca Moc. & Sesse; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 9. 1849.
Petiveria hexandria Sesse & Moc. Fl. Mex. ed. 2. 90. 1894.
An erect herb, 5-10 dm. high, the stems puberulent above or glabrate, woody at the base; leaf-blades elliptic, oblong, or obovate, 3-15 cm. long, 1.5-6 cm. broad, glabrous or sparingly pubescent, acuminate, acute, or occasionally obtuse or rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base; petioles 0.4-1.5 cm. long; racemes slender, 0.8-3.8 dm. long, loosely flowered, puberulent; sepals greenish-white, oblong-linear, 3.5-4 mm. long, 0.8-0.9 mm. broad; filaments subulate, 2-3 mm. long; ovary oblong-ellipsoid, 1-1.5 mm. long, pilose; fruit wedge-shaped, compressed, 8 mm. long.
Type locality: Jamaica.
Distribution: Florida; Texas; West Indies; Mexico; Central America; also in South America.