246 
All the Lechkeas which I have been able to examine in the 
field bloom very shyly, and the whole plant appears to come into ' 
flower at the same time. This occurs in bright sunshine, the petals. 
are fugacious, and thus the flowers are of but little practical value 
in classification. The characters of the capsules and sepals seem 
to be constant, as are those of the leaves, both of the sterile, radi- 
cal shoots and those of the stem and branches. The radical shoots 
appear in summer, apparently always after the time of flowering, 
— their leaves reach full development in autumn and early win- 
. The time to study the plants then, from a systematic stand- 
Se ae is in the late autumn. 
The following key may serve as an aid to their rapid determi- 
nation: 
Placentze of the capsule fragile, separating from the thin dissepiments, their margins 
revolute. 
Leaves of the radical shoots oblong or ovate, not more than about three times aS 
long as wide. 
Outer sepals longer than the inner; inflorescence leafy. 
1. L minor. 
Outer sepals equalling or shorter than the inner. 
Capsule oblong; pedicels slender, 2-4 mm. long. 
2, L, racemulosa. 
i 
Capsule globose; pedicels about 1 mm. long. 
Erect; stem leaves large. 3. Z. villores 
Divaricately branched; stem leaves small. os Pe aevaricehh 
Bushy-branched, tomentose-canescent. 5. L. maritima. 
Leaves of the radical shoots lanceolate or linear, more than three times aS long 
as wide. 
Stem leaves narrowly linear; inner sepals t-nerved. 6. LZ. tenuifolia. 
Stem leaves filiform; Cuban. 7. L. Cubensts. 
Stem leaves linear or linear-oblong; inner sepals 3-nerved. ain 
Capsule 1 mm. in diameter; branches widely spreading or ascen ae 
8. L. patula. — 
Capsule 1.5 mm, in diameter. 
Plant pale, canescent ; branches nearly erect. : 
9. £. wees 
Plants green; leaves glabrate; branches ascending. 
Calyx densely covered with appressed, white hairs. 
ro: Ly Tore 
Calyx merely strigose-pubescent. 11, L. Legg’ seit aa 
Capsule 2-2.5 mm. in diameter. a 
Outer sepals longer than the inner. 12. L. tripetala- a 
Outer sepals not longer than the inner. 13. LZ #70 
Placentz crustaceous, the margins not revolute, dissepiments persistent; P 
flexed. , te Le al 
