BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 481 
countries so successfully explored by the intrepid travellers, 
Douglas and Drummond, extending as it does from the 29? 
to the 48° of lat. ; and, in conjunction with the discoveries of 
the talented and indefatigable Nuttall, and of Lieut. Fremont, 
FREMONTIA, (nov. gen.) Flowers diclinous monoicous? dioicous, hetero- 
morphous. Stam. Fl. in terminal aments. Scales excentrically peltate, 
on a short stipe, angular, somewhat cuspidate upward. Stamens 2-3-4 
under each scale, naked, sessile; anthers oblong. Pist. Fl. solitary, 
axillary. Perigonium closely adhering to the lower half of the ovary, the 
border entire, nearly obsolete, but in fruit enlarging into a broad, horizon- 
tal, angular, and undulate wing. Ovary ovate; styles thick, divaricate ; 
stigmus linear. Fruit, a utricle, the lower two-thirds covered with the 
indurated calyx, compressed. Seed vertical, integument double. Em- 
bryo flat-spiral (2-3 turns), green ; radicle inferior ; albumen none. 
Fremontia vermicularis (Batis? vermicularis, Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2, 
p. 128.) Uppermost fork of the Platte, near the mouth of the Sweetwater, 
July 30.—A low, glabrous, diffusely branched shrub, clothed with a 
whitish bark, Leaves alternate, linear, fleshy, and almost semiterete, 
6-12 lin. long, and 1-2 lin. wide. Staminate aments about three-fourths 
of an inch long, cylindrical, at first dense, and composed of closely 
compacted angular scales, covering naked anthers. Anthers very deci- 
duous. Fertile flowers in the axils of the rameal leaves. Calyx closely 
adherent, and at first with only an obscure border or limb ; but at length 
forming a wing 3-4 lin. in diameter, resembling that of Salsola.—This 
remarkable plant, which I dedicate to Lieutenant Fremont, was first col- 
lected by Dr. James about the sources of the Canadian river, (in Long’s 
expedition); but it was omitted in my account of his plants published in the 
Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History. It is undoubtedly the Batis ? 
vermicularis of Hooker, (l. c.) collected on the barren grounds of the 
Oregon River, by the late Mr. Douglas, who found it with only | 
staminate flowers. We have it now from a third locality, so that the - 
plant must be widely diffused in the barren regions towards the Rocky T 
Mountains. It belongs to the sub-order Spirolobee of Meyer and Moc- 
quin; but can hardly be referred to either the tribe Suedine, or to 
Salsolee, differing from both in its diclinous, heteromorphous flowers, and 
also from the latter in its flat-spiral, not cochleate embryo." 
This description of Dr. Torrey, Dr. Gray observes, shows not only that 
the fertile flowers have a períanth (which Dr. Lindley appears to doubt) ; Ee 
but that this perianth in fruit forms a circular ring, as in Salsola. I m 
observe that I now possess, from Mr. Geyer and other travellers, 
specimens of this interesting plant, and they vip " further 10 
Catalogue of Mr. Geyer’s plants. —Ep. ey ae 
| VOL. IV. 
