154 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VoLuME 21 
7-25 mm. long, 3-9 mm. wide, acute or acuminate or rarely obtuse, acttte at the base, thick 
and firm, sparsely sericeous on the upper surface or glabrate, densely villous-sericeous beneath 
or glabrate in age; inflorescence narrowly paniculate, the panicles axillary or terminal, 2-15 
em. long, usually dense and congested, naked or sparsely leafy below, the spikelets short, few- 
flowered, sessile or short-pedunculate; bracts and bractlets of the staminate flowers less than 
half as long as the sepals, subscarious, suborbicular, densely short-villous, the sepals elliptic- 
oblong, 2 mm. long, densely villous; filaments linear, equaling the sepals, the staminodia very 
short, papillose-dissected at the apex; bracts and bractlets of the pistillate flowers nearly as 
long as the sepals, suborbicular, whitish-stramineous, villous, the sepals elliptic-oblong, 1.5 
mm. long, obtuse, densely pilose with long, soft, sordid-white hairs; style very short, the 
stigmas elongate; utricle oval, subcompressed; seed 1 mm. long, brown. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Western Texas. 
DistRIBUTION: Rocky hillsides, western Texas and Chihuahua to San Luis Potosi. 
2. Dicraurus alternifolius (S. Wats.) Uline & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 
21: 355. 1896. 
Iresine alternifolia S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 24: 72. 1889, 
Erect shrub, 1-2 meters high, much branched, the branches stout, terete, densely and 
finely tomentose, the older ones covered with grayish-brown bark; leaves mostly alternate, 
those near the base of the branches usually opposite, the slender petioles 5-10 mm. long, the 
blades rounded-ovate, ovate-rhombic, or broadly rounded-deltoid, 1.3-3.5 em. long, 1.2-2.5 
em. wide, rounded or rarely acute at the apex, broadly rounded or truncate at the base and 
short-decurrent, thin, green and glabrate or sparsely villous on the upper surface, densely 
villous-tomentose beneath, the lateral veins inconspicuous; panicles terminal, the pistillate 
ones 2-10 cm. long, usually very dense, naked, or leafy below, the staminate panicles loose 
and open, usually larger; spikes loosely flowered, interrupted, elongate, pedunculate or sessile; 
bracts and bractlets of the staminate flowers suborbicular, one third as long as the sepals, 
scarious, whitish, sparsely villous or glabrate, the sepals elliptic-oblong, 1.5-1.7 mm. long, 
obtuse, scarious, short-villous; filaments linear-subulate, nearly equaling the sepals, the 
staminodia very short, dissected into fine papillose lobes; bracts and bractlets of the pistillate 
flowers as long as the sepals, suborbicular, concave, hyaline, stramineous-white, glabrous or 
sparsely villous, the sepals elliptic-oblong, 1.5 mm. long, obtuse, densely pilose with long soft 
white hairs; style short, the stigmas slender, elongate; utricle compressed-globose. 
TyvPE Locality: Mountains about Guaymas, Sonora. . 
DistRisuTion: Dry rocky hillsides, western Sonora and southern Lower California. 
19. IRESINE P. Br. Hist. Jam. 358. 1756. 
Trommsdor fia Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 40. 1826. 
Rosea Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 58. 1826. 
Xerandra Raf. Fi. Tell. 3: 2. 1837. 
Ireneis Mog. in DC. Prodr. 13?: 349. 1849. 
Erect, decumbent, or scandent herbs, shrubs, or small trees, pubescent or glabrous. 
Leaves opposite, petiolate, the blades entire or serrulate. Flowers perfect, polygamous, or 
dioecious, bracteate and bibracteolate, capitate or spicate, the spikes numerous, paniculate; 
perianth terete, sessile, the 5 segments distinct, usually lanate or pilose. Stamens united 
at the base into a short tube, the 5 filaments subulate, entire, the pseudostaminodia usually 
short or wanting, sometimes elongate; anthers oblong, 2-celled. Ovary compressed; style 
short or wanting; stigmas 2 or 3, subulate or filiform or in the staminate flowers sometimes 
capitate; ovule 1, suspended from the apex of an elongate funicle. Utricle compressed, mem- 
branaceous, indehiscent. Seed inverted, smooth; embryo annular, surrounding the farinaceous 
endosperm; cotyledons narrow; radicle superior. 
Type species, Celosia paniculata L,. 
Flowers perfect or polygamous. 
Branches of the inflorescence glabrous or obscurely pubescent. 
Spikelets 2 mm. in diameter or less. 
Leaf-blades broadly ovate to lance-ovate, 2.5-6 cm. long; branches 
mostly herbaceous. 1. I. jaliscana. 
