290 LOASACEAE. 



7-lobed, pale or glaucous beneath, each lobe pinnately lobed, the segments 

 obtuse or acute, or the larger ones acuminate; petioles stout; staminate flow- 

 ers in slender panicles 1-several dm. long; calyx of the staminate flowers 

 1-1.5 mm. long, that of the pistillate flowers 5-10 mm. long, the lobes longer 

 than the tube; corolla yellow, that of the staminate flowers 2.5-3 cm. long, 

 its tube slender, dilated near the top, its lobes lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 

 barely as long as the tube; corolla of the pistillate flowers longer, the petals 

 distinct, lanceolate, twisted; berries oblong to subglobose, 0.6-3 dm. long, 

 yellow or orange, with a milky juice. 



Scrub-lands, spontaneous after cultivation, Eleuthera, on the margin of the 

 salt pond about half way between the Glass Window and Gregory Town, Andros 

 and Inagua : naturalized in many places in the West Indian Islands, and in Florida, 

 its native home unknown, but, doubtless, in tropical America. PAPAW. 



Order 19. LOASALES. 



Herbs, often armed with hooked stinging or viscid hairs, with estipulate 

 leaves, and regular perfect white yellow or reddish flowers. Calyx-tube 

 adnate to the ovary, its limb 4 5-lobecl, persistent. Petals 4 or 5, inserted 

 on the throat of the calyx. Stamens co, inserted with the petals; filaments 

 filiform, commonly arranged in clusters opposite the petals; anthers in- 

 trorse. Ovary 1-celled (rarely 2-3-celled), with 2-3 parietal placentae; 

 ovules anatropous. Capsule usually 1-celled, crowned with the calyx-limb. 

 Seeds mostly numerous; endosperm scanty. 



Family 1. LOASACEAE Rchb. 

 LOASA FAMILY. 



Characters of the order. About 20 genera and 250 species, all but 1 

 natives of America. 



1. MENTZELIA L. Sp. PI. 516. 1753. 



Erect or straggling herbs, with entire, lobed or pinnatifid leaves, and 

 terminal, cymose or solitary flowers. Calyx-tube cylindric, linear or club- 

 shaped, the limb usually 5-lobed. Petals 5,. convolute in the bud, spreading, 

 deciduous. Stames 20^100. Ovary 1-celled; styles 3, more or less united; 

 stigmas small, obtuse. Capsule dehiscent at the summit, few-many-seeded. 

 Seeds mostly prismatic, rough or striate. [In honor of C. Mentzel, a German 

 botanist, died 1701.] About 35 species, natives of America. Type species: 

 Hentzelia aspera L. 



1. Mentzelia floridana Nutt.; Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1: 533. 1840. 



Ascending or diffusely branched, 3-6 dm. high, the slender stem and 

 branches rough-pubescent. Leaves ovate or triangular-ovate, scabrous-pubes- 

 cent, rather firm in texture, short-petioled, 2-9 cm. long, acute or acuminate 

 at the apex, subtruncate or broadly cuneate at the base, dentate, sometimes 

 3-lobed; flowers sessile and solitary in the upper axils; sepals lanceolate or 

 linear-lanceolate, 5-6 mm. long; petals yellow, about 3 times as long as the 

 sepals; ovary obconic, densely hispid; capsule hispid, 1-1.5 cm. long. 



Sandy waste grounds, Eleuthera, near Governor's Harbor : Florida. FLORIDA 

 MENTZELIA. 



