LOASA FAMILY. 151 



A. humilis, from Mass, to Michigan and S. ; has narrow oblanceolate or 

 spatulate leaves, tapering to the base, and a very short style. (T) 



A. latil'blia. W. & S., taller, the lance-linear leaves with a broader and 

 auricled partly clasping base. 



6. CUPHEA. (Name from Greek, means gibbous or curved, from the shape 



of the calyx.) Leaves chiefly opposite : fl. all summer. 



C. Viscosissima, CLAMMY C. Sandy fields from Conn, to 111. and S. : 

 a rather homely herb, 1 2 high, branching, clammy-hairy, with lance-ovate 

 leaves, small flowers somewhat racemed along the branches, and ovate pink 

 petals on short claws. (J) 



C. silenoides. Cult, from Mexico : clammy-hairy, 1 high, with lance- 

 oblong or lanceolate leaves tapering at base into short petiole, and rather large 

 flowers somewhat racemed on the branches; calyx purplish, almost 1' long, 

 ovoid at base and with a tapering neck ; petals blood-purple or crimson, rounded, 

 the 2 larger ^' in diameter. 



C. platyc^ntra. Cult, from Mexico, both in greenhouses and for bor- 

 ders, flowering through the season : slightly woody at base, 8' 12' high, form- 

 ing masses, thickly beset with the ovate or lance-ovate acute smooth and glossy 

 bright green leaves, contrasting with the bright vermilion flowers between each 

 pair, the calyx narrow and tubular, almost 1 ' long, with a short and very blunt 

 spur at base, the short border and teeth dark violet edged on the upper side 

 with white ; petals none. ^ 



48. LOASACE^I, LOASA FAMILY. 



Herbs with rough pubescence, and some with stinging bristles, no 

 stipules, a 1-celled ovary coherent with the tube of the calyx (which 

 is little if at all extended beyond it), and mostly with 3-5 parietal 

 placentas, in fruit a pod, few - many-seeded : persistent calyx-lobes 

 and true petals mostly 5, and often an additional inner set of pet- 

 als : stamens commonly numerous, often in 5 clusters : style single. 

 Natives of America, mostly S. & W. : several cult, for ornament. 



# Erect or spreading, not twining: leaves alternate: petals flat. 



1. MENTZELIA. Petals lanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, deciduous. Filaments 



long and slender, or some of the outermost broadened or petal-like: anthers 

 short and small. Pod top-shaped, club-shaped, or cylindrical, straight. Herb- 

 age rough with short stiff pubescence, or bristly, but not stinging. 

 * * Twining herbs : leaves opposite, petioled: petals hood-shaped or slipper-shaped. 



2. BLUMENBACHIA. Petals 5, spreading, and as many scale-like small ones or 



appendages alternate with them. Stamens in 5 sets, one before each petal, 

 with very slender filaments; also 10 sterile filaments, a pair before each ap- 

 pendage." Ovary and many-seeded pod 10-ribbed, when old spirally twisted 

 and splitting lengthwise. "Peduncles axillary, mostly 1-flowered. Herbage 

 beset with sharp bristles, commonly stinging like nettles. Flowers on long 

 axillary peduncles. 



1. MENTZELIA. (Named for C. Mentzel, an early German botanist.) 

 Fl. summer or autumn. Includes the BART6NIA of Nuttall and 

 EUCNIDE. 



1 . Pod 3 S-seeded : flowers small, yellow, opening in sunshine. (f) 

 M. Oligosp6rma. Open dry ground, from Illinois S. W. : a rough and 

 homely plant, with spreading brittle branches, ovate and oblong angled or cut- 

 toothed leaves, and yellow flowers less than 1' broad, with 5 wedge oblong 

 pointed petals, and about 20 slender fil-aments. 



2. BART6xiA of Nuttall, &c., not of Muhlenberg. Pod mostly long, contain- 

 ing many or at least 20 cubical or Jlat seeds : jlowers large and showy : 

 petals 1' 2' long : herbage rough. 



