Tas. 5143, 
SPRAGUEA uMBELLATA. 
Umbellate Spraguea. 
Nat. Ord. PortuLacacE®.—TRIANDRIA MOoNOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Spraaura, Torr.—Calyz disepalus, persistens ; sepalis suborbicu- 
latis, basi cordatis, emarginatis, membranaceis, patentibus. Corolle petala 4; 
estivatio imbricata, libera ; duobus exterioribus sepalis alternantibus, interioribus 
sepalis oppositis. Stamina 3, petalis oppositis. Ovarium uniloculare. Ovula 
8-10, basilaria. Stylus filiformis, apice trifidus; Jodis intus stigmatosis. Cap- 
sula membranacea, compressa, unilocularis, bivalvis. Semina 2-5, lenticulari- 
compressa, nigra, nitida, estrophiolata—Herba Californica, perennis, glabra ; 
caulibus 1-5, scapiformibus, e caudice brevi ortis, remote squamosis ; floribus 
medi, scorpioideo-spicatis ; spicis plurimis, aphyllis, umbellatis, terminalibus. 
orrey. 
SPRAGUEA umbellata. 
Spracura umbellata. Torr. in Plante Fremontiane, p. 4. t. 1. 
This very singular plant is a native of California, and was 
first detected by Col. Fremont at the Forks of the Nozah river, 
in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada of northern California, 
in flower and fruit in the month of May. From those native 
specimens it was constituted a new genus by the excellent Dr. 
Torrey, and dedicated to “Mr. Isaac Sprague, of Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, so well known as a botanical draughtsman, and 
especially for the admirable illustrations of the Genera of the 
Plants of the United States by himself and Dr. Asa Gray. It 
has since been found by other and by English collectors 1n Cali- 
fornia, and it has been introduced alive to the gardens of Messrs. 
Veitch, at Exeter and Chelsea, through Mr. William Lobb, and to 
those gentlemen we are indebted for the beautiful specimens here 
figured. It was exhibited in July of this year at a meeting of 
the Horticultural Society, and «eommended as a very elegant 
dwarf-flowering species, of novel character, well adapted for rock- 
gee and the margins of flower-borders, having proved quite 
ardy in Mr. Veitch’s nursery.” 
Decca: Perennial. Reet vabiasitont: branched. Stems three 
to five or more, erect, terete, bearing a few, distant, small, spathu- 
late Zeaves, one and a half to two inches long, while the radical 
OCTOBER Ist, 1859. 
