GENUS i. 



FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY. 



3 1 



i. ALLIONIA Loefl. ; L. Syst. Ed. 10, 890. 1759. 

 [OXYBAPHUS L'Her.; Willd. Sp. PI. i: 185. 1797.] 



Forking herbs, with opposite equal leaves, and involucres in loose terminal panicles or 

 solitary in the axils of the leaves. Involucre 5-lobed (of 5 partially united bracts), 3-s-flow- 

 ered, becoming enlarged and reticulate-veined after flowering. Perianth campanulate, its 

 tube constricted above the ovary, its limb corolla-like, deciduous. Stamens 3-5, generally 3, 

 unequal, hypogynous. Fruit obovoid or clavate, strongly ribbed, pubescent in most species. 

 [Name in honor of Chas. Allioni, 1725-1804, a botanist of Turin.] 



About 40 species, natives of North and South America, one Asiatic. Type species : Allionia 

 violacea L. 



Fruit pubescent. 



Leaves narrowly linear, sessile or very nearly so, 4" wide or less. i. A. linearis. 



Leaves from linear-lanceolate to ovate-cordate. 



Leaves sessile or nearly so, lanceolate to oblong. 



Pubescence fine and short, often wanting below the inflorescence. 2. A. albida. 



Pubescence, or some of it, of long hairs, especially below, and at the nodes. 



3. A, hirsitta. 



Leaves manifestly petioled, ovate, often cordate. 4. A. nyctaginea, 



Fruit glabrous. 5. A.Carletoni. 



i. Allionia linearis Pursh. Narrow-leaved 

 Umbrella-wort. Fig. 1726. 



Allionia linearis Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 728. 1814. 

 Calymenia angustifolia Nutt. Fraser's Cat. Name only. 



1813. 

 Oxybaphus angustifolius Sweet, Hort. Brit. 429. 1830. 



Stem slender, terete or somewhat 4-angled below, 

 glabrous, glaucous, 3'-4i tall, erect, the branches and 

 peduncles sometimes puberulent. Leaves linear, thick,, 

 i-nerved, i'-2j' long, i"-4" wide, obtuse or acute at 

 the apex, sessile or the lower occasionally short-peti- 

 pled; involucre about 3-flowered, green before flower- 

 ing ; perianth purple, longer than the involucre ; stamens 

 and style exserted; fruit commonly roughened in the 

 furrows between the 5 prominent ribs, pubescent. 



In dry soil, Illinois to Minnesota, Wyoming, south to 

 Texas and Mexico. Adventive in Connecticut. June-Aug. 



Allionia Bushii Britton and Allionia Bodini (Holz.) 

 Morong, admitted as species in our first edition, prove to 

 be conditions of this species with the involucres solitary 

 in the axils. 



Allionia glabra (S. Wats.) Kuntze, of the Southwest, differing in being glabrous throughout, 

 has recently been collected in western Kansas. 



2. Allionia albida Walt. Pale Umbrella-wort. Fig. 1727. 



Allionia albida Walt. Fl. Car. 84. 1788. 



Oxybaphus albidus Choisy in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2, 



434. 1849. 



A. bracteata Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 29: 690. 1902. 

 A. lanceolata Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 29 : 691. 1902. 

 A. chersophila Standley, Contr. Nat. Herb. 12: 354. 



1909. 



Stem erect, furrowed or striate, 4-sided below, 

 i-3 tall, glabrous or short-pubescent above, or 

 pubescent to the base, the peduncles and branches 

 commonly glandular and viscous. Leaves lanceo- 

 late or oblong-lanceolate, 3-veined from the base, 

 glabrous, pubescent or ciliate, the upper sessile, 

 sometimes bract-like, the lower short-petioled ; invo- 

 lucre much enlarged in fruit, pubescent, ciliate, 

 becoming whitish and purple-veined ; perianth pink, 

 white or lilac; fruit with hispid ribs, roughened in 

 the furrows. 



South Carolina to Tennessee, South Dakota and Colo- 

 rado, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Consists of numer- 

 ous races, differing in pubescence and width of leaves. 

 May-Aug. 



