Tas. 4872. 
LEPTODACTYLON Catirornicum. 
Californian Leptodactylon. 
Nat. Ord. PoLEMONIACEH.—PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Calyx tubuloso-campanulatus, subzequalis, semiquinquefidus, lobis 
subulatis spinescentibus, sinubus membranaceis. Corolla infundibuliformis, limbo 
patente, lobis obovatis obtusis. Stamina intra partem superiorem tubi inserta, 
equalia. Anther@ oblonge. Stylus cum stigmatibus tubo corolle duplo brevior. 
Capsula sublignosa, apice dehiscens ; loculis polyspermis, columna centrali cras- 
siuscula.—Frutices humiles, ramosissimi. Folia alterna, profunde palmatisecta, la- 
ciniis subulatis rigidis spinescentibus ; alia awillaria, integra, fasciculata. Flores 
terminales, speciosi, Phlocem simulantes. 
LepropactyLon Californicum ; superne pubescens, foliis patentibus, corolle 
tubo exserto. 
LEPTODACTYLON Californicum. Hook. e¢ Arn. Bot. of Beech. Voy. v. 1. p. 369. 
t. 89. 
Gira Californica. Benth. in De Cand. Prodr. v. 9. p. 316. 
This lovely and hardy plant was considered by Dr. Arnott 
and myself to constitute a distinct genus of Polemonacee, and 
we named it Leptodactylon, from the deeply-digitated leaves and 
their very narrow segments. Mr. Bentham however considers our 
genus rather to form a section of Gi/ia, to which he gives our 
name, Leptodactylon, and he adds to the two (L. Californicum. 
and LZ. Hookerii), which we had referred to it, a third, from the 
Rocky Mountains, namely, the Cantua pungens of Dr. Torrey 
(Ogochloa Torreyi of Don, in Gard. Dict. vol. 4. p. 246). The 
habit of our plant is more that of a Pi/or than ofa Gila. The 
present species is a native of California, as its name implies, 
and was first brought to notice by Douglas. Dr. Coulter also 
found it in the same country, and Mr. William Lobb sent seeds 
of it to Messrs. Veitch from San Bernardino, in South California, 
and has thus been the means of introducing it to our gardens, 
where, both in the Nursery at Exeter and at King’s-road, Chelsea, 
it forms a low shrub in the open border, remarkable for the 
slender segments of its copious foliage, and for the size and 
beauty of the corollas. Blossoms in July. 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1855. 
