1886 Us 
-* DOUGLÁSIA nivalis. 
Snow Douglasia. 
——__ — 
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. PRIMULACEA. 
DOUGLASIA, Lindl.— Calyx. obeonicus, angulatus, 5-dentatus. Co- 
rolla infundibularis, tubo ventricoso, limbo plano 5-partito. fauce callo lineari 
sub utroque sinu. Ovarium uniloculare, placentà centrali liberà pedicellatà fun- 
gilliformi, margine 5-dentatá ; ovula 5, dentibus placenta opposita. Capsula 
vestita, unilocularis; 5-valvis. Semina. 2, concava, serobiculata. - Cespites 
suffruticulosi (America borealis), foliis indivisis, floribus subumbellatis, soli- 
tariisque. AG © És 
- 
€ 
D. nivalis (Lindl. in Brande's Journal, Jan. 1828, p. 383.) foliis linearibus 
pube rigidă ramosá incanis subverticillatis, floribus longè pedunculatis sub- 
umbellatis. i gs ENG | 
* Upon his’ journey across the rocky mountains in April, 1827, in 
latitude 52° N., longitude 118° W., at an estimated elevation of 12,000 
feet above the level of the sea, the attention'of Mr. Douglas was attracted 
by a brilliant purple patch amidst the surroünding-snow: On pes 
ing it, he was surprized to find that the colour which had arrested his eye 
was caused by the blossoms of a-little plant, from which the superineum- 
bent snow had not yet melted away. The well-known Saxifraga oppositi- 
folia immediately occurred to his recollection, and he at first imagined 
he had either discovered that species, or.one nearly allied to it; but upon 
a closer inspection, he perceived that it was no Saxifraga, but a genus 
apparently new. Specimens having béen submitted to me for examination 
since Mr. Douglas's return, the following description has been drawn 
up:—The plant forms a-thick “tuft, consisting of numerous perennial 
branched stems, the lower of which are covered with the persistent de- 
cayed leaves and fruit of previous summers. The stems are round, bright 
purplish brown, covered with scattered, rigid, branched short hairs, and 
densely clothed with opposite E eaves. The leaves are a dull 
glaucous green, semi-amplexicaul, linear, obtuse, about five lines long and 
* Named by me some years ago in compliment to Mr. Douglas, whose zeal 
in the collection of seeds zu dried specimens of plants, and whose untimely end, 
have richly earned for him a niche in the long gallery of departed science. 
