70 



LOASACE^. 



Mentzelia adhaerens Bentii. Jiot. Snlpb. 15. Seen but sparingly ; leaves stick to 

 everything; flowers open at night. No. 57. 



TURNERACE.ffI. 



Turnera diffusa Willd., var. aphrodisiaca Urhati. Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berl. II. 127. 

 Dr. Palmer writes of this plant aa follows: "This plant is widely known in this 

 locality under the name Damiaua. It has a wide medical reputation as a 

 stimulant in exhausted vitality and tor the cure of syphilis, and as a blood pu- 

 rifier used in the form of hot teas. All over the peninsula where it can be had 

 it is used as a substitute for China tea; it has a pleasant flavor unlike any 

 other plant, It is made into preparations with spirits and sold by druggists 

 for its strengthening qualities. It refreshes one greatly when fatigued, allevi- 

 ates nervous diseases, cures colic, and is an efficacious diuretic. It is put up at 

 La Paz in large quantities. Flowers close at night." No. 11. 



CUCURBITACE^. 



Momordica Charautia L. Cultivated for its fruit, which is fed to tame birds. 



No. 59. 

 Maximowizcia (?). A trailing plant among rocks near sea-beach. The leaves are 



very hispid both above and below with stout appressed hairs. No. 102. 



EchinocyBtis minima Watson . A common plant in creek bottoms and mesas ; climbs 



over bushes. The leaves are deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the base. No. 



65. 



CACTACE^. 



Mamillaria, sp. One foot to 18 inches liigh, with luany bright crimson flowers ; very 

 fleshy scarlet fruit of rounded form. Perhaps a new species. No, 139. 



FICOIDE.ffI. 



MoUugo verticillata L. Only three small plants were found, growing under bushes 

 on mesas. The plants are small, with linear leaves. No. 36. 



RUBIACE-aS. 



Houstouia aaperuloides Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. V. 158. This species is quite 

 variable. A good figure (No. i:J) appears in Botany of the Sulphur. The 

 corolla tube is sometimes slender filiform, as ligured, in other specimens broader, 

 gradually running into tlie calyx. Some (No. 31") are quite glabrous, with 

 long filiform pedicels and slemler branches; others are somewhat granulate, 

 with capsules short and sessile or glomerate in the axils and the whole plant 

 depressed. "Corolla pink." Collected iirst by Hinds of the Sulphur in 1837 

 and by Xantns (No. 43) in lrtr)9-'60, both at Cape St. Lucas, and ]>robably bj' 

 Mr. Brandegee, 1889, at Magdaleua Bay. Common on sandy plains and mesas. 

 No. 24 (in part), 31'*. 



Houstonia Brandegeana Rose, n. sp. Near the last but more erect, with slender 

 branches: pedicels long and slender, sometimes 1^ inches long: calyx i line 

 long, with short erect obtuse lobes : corolla 3 lines long, with slender tube two 

 or three times the length of the calyx, with broad funnel-form throat and ob- 

 tuse lobes ; the throat yellowish green ; the limb violet : capsule globose ( .} line 

 long), not tapeiing into a long, narrow base. — Habitat the same as the above. 

 No. 31 and 24^ 



Houstonia areiiaria Rose, n. sp. A taller species, much branching, glabrous: leaves 

 lanceolate, U to Ih lines long by 2 to 3 lines broad; stipules laciniate: flowers 

 numerous, either sessile in the forks, or along the rachis, or on filiform pedicels, 

 3 to 4 lines long: calyx-tube with small obtusish lobes: corolla "pure white," 



