414 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Leaves usually truncate at the base; petioles 



half to two-thirds as long as the blades 



in the lower leaves; involucre puberu- 



lent, finally 10 to 12 mm. long, the lobes 



ovate or lanceolate, shortly acuminate, 



ciliate; tube of perianth pilose ; stamens 



10 to 20 mm. longer than the perianth; 



style about 65 mm. long 5a. M. jalapa odorata. 



Perianth 10 to 15 cm. long, white; tube long- 

 tubular, much elongated. 

 Stems densely glandular above; leaf-blades 



glandular on both surfaces, the upper 



ones sessile, usually not long-atten- 

 uate 6. M. longiflora. 



Stems almost glabrous above, not glandular; 



leaf blades glabrous, all petioled, 



usually long-attenuate. (Tube of the 



perianth more slender) 7. M. wrightlana. 



1. Mirabilis watsoniana Heimerl, Bot. Jahrb. Engl. 11: 84. pi. 2.f. 2a-2h. 1889. 



Type locality, "In republica Guatemalensi Americae Centralis ad 'Cuesto de 

 Solola.' " Type collected by Bernouilli & Cario, June, 1877 (no. 2616). 



Plant with the habit of M. jalapa; a low herb, probably perennial; stems erect from 

 a subdecumbent base, divaricately branched, above puberulent and densely leafy, 

 below glabrate; leaf blades cordate or truncate at the base, acuminate and acute, the 

 upper subtending the flowers subsessile, the others Iong-petioled, shortly attenuate 

 to the petiole, thin, green on both surfaces, sparingly hirtellous on the margins, 

 elsewhere glabrous; flowers clustered in cymes at the ends of the branches, on 

 slender, pubescent peduncles; involucres 1-flowered, tubular-campanulate, unequally 

 5-toothed, hirtellous, after anthesis slightly enlarged; basal part of the perianth, 

 including the ovary, obova'e, sparingly hirtellous, 5-nerved, the upper part from the 

 base to about the middle very narrowly tubular, above gradually dilated into a wide 

 tube slightly constricted below the mouth, hirtellous without, with a scarcely ex- 

 panded 5-lobed limb; stamens 3, like the style long-exscrted, subequal; anthocarp 

 Bmall, dark, shorter than the involucre, obovate-pyramidal, above shortly apiculate, 

 the apex itself obtuse, distinctly constricted above the broad, subtruncate base, 

 5-angIed, the angles slightly tuberculate, elsewhere smooth, hirtellous, slightly vis- 

 cid when moistened. 



The above description is a translation of the original one, as I have seen no speci- 

 mens of the plant. The species differs radically from all others of the genus in having 

 but three stamens and in having the anthocarp constricted just above the base much 

 as in Allionia. It was partly at least because of this plant that Doctor Heimerl merged 

 the genera Allionia and Mirabilis into the one, Mirabilis. After examining the plate 

 illustrating the plant, however, it does not seem to the writer that such a treatment 

 is desirable. The species agrees with other members of the genus in the form of the 

 involucre, shape of the perianth, number of flowers in the involucre, and especially 

 in habit and general appearance, in the last two respects being entirely unlike any 

 Allionia. For the species E'oetor Heimerl a founded the section Watsonia of the genus 

 Mirabilis. 



2. Mirabilis pringlei Weatherby, Proc. Amer. Acad. 45: 424. 1910. 



Type locality, "Guerrero: under limestone cliffs, Iguala Canon, alt. 915 m." 

 Type collected by C. G. Pringle, July 23, 1907 (no. 10384). 



Only the type specimen has been examined. 



o Jahresb. Oberrealsch. Fiinfhaus Wien 23: repr. 20. 1897. 



