80 West American Plants. [ ZOE 
marking the seed are grooves in the albumen. The plant has an 
offensive odor, somewhat like chlorine. 
It is not probable that .S. Halliz is anything more than a geo- 
graphical variation, our plant is variable in size, and the color and 
size of the capsules, which are pale when (as usual) hidden under 
the broad leaves, but brown-purple whenever by loss or depaupera- 
tion of the leaves they are exposed to the sun. 
THE DEHISCENCE OF MIMULUS. 
The dehiscence of Afimulus angustatus (Greene) was wrongly 
described by the author* and by myself.+ The plant is so minute 
that unless the locality is marked it is quite difficult to find them 
when the flowers have fallen and the leaves withered. For 
good and fully mature specimens I am indebted to Miss Eliza Clarke 
of Cahto, Mendocino County. The study of this material makes 
the dehiscence of the Gé2nve section of the genus perfectly plain 
and shows that the separation from the basal portion if not effected 
by violence must take place very late. The gibbous, laterally com- 
pressed capsule opens when moistened, for two thirds the length of 
the upper suture never widely, and not all by the lower, and closes 
again in drying. The placenta connate in the ovary as Dr. Gray 
observes are separated nearly to the base in maturity. The seeds 
marked on thé face by a longitudinal darker line are sparsely covered 
with glochidiate hairs. The dehiscence of MW. latifolius and of MV. 
Doug lasii is essentially the same. JZ. tricolor I have not yet seen 
in maturity. It is probable that the seeds of these small, early 
spring plants remain within their horny capsules until set free by 
the winter rains. 
In a recent publication ¢ Professor Greene in revising ‘‘ Diplacus ” 
makes the following statements: 
‘‘ The present writer, with his advantages of long residence in the regions inhabited 
by these plants, is not yet acquainted with any transitions between the capsules of 
Diplacus and either Mimulus on the one hand or Eunanus on the other, and during | 
the five years which have elapsed since he proposed the reinstatement of both these 
genera, he has met with no facts not confirmative of the view then set forth. 
; Mimulus in all its several phases has its placenta (theoretically two) firmly and 
in so far as I know permanently coherent, thus forming a central column in the 
“Bull. Cal. Acad. i, 99. 
+Proc. Cal. Acad, ser. ii, 1, 260. 
T Pitt. ii, 152. 
