70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



in fruit ; bracts obovate and bractlets lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate : 

 perianth " white," f line long : stamens (3) and style included : fruit 

 a line long, clavate, obtuse and obtusely-angled, the rather shallow 

 intervals transversely rugose. — Dry sandy soil near Guaymas. (683.) 

 It is also n. 209 of Palmer's collection in 1885, from Hacienda San 

 Miguel near Batopilas, Chihuahua. — B. Coulteri (Senkenbergia 

 Coulteri, Hook.) is a similar species, but less glutinous and the loose 

 slender spikes more elongated ; bracts and bractlets very narrow ; 

 perianth a line long; fruit clavate, 1 to 1^ lines long, truncate, the 

 angles acutish and the channels extending to the very apex. Coul- 

 ter's specimen (n. 1425) is labelled as from " Mexico." Arizona 

 specimens of Palmer's early collections, 378 Rothrock from Camp 

 Grant, and specimens of Pringle's collection in 1881 from the foot- 

 hills of the Santa Catalina Mountains appear to be the same. 



Boerhaavia spicata, Choisy, var. (?) Palmeri. Similar to the 

 preceding group ; stems procumbent or ascending, finely pubescent : 

 leaves thin, nearly glabrous : flowering racemes open and very slen- 

 der, becoming 1 or 2 inches long ; bracts lanceolate or linear, acu- 

 minate ; bractlets none : perianth pink, ^ line long : stamens (2) and 

 style included : fruit clavate-oblong, a line long, obtuse and mostly 

 obtusely angled, the channel very narrow and sinuate. — Sandy mesas 

 about Guaymas. (141.) — Typical B. spicata, as shown by a flow- 

 ering and fruiting spike from Pavon's original specimen in Herb. 

 Boissier, which was very kindly loaned me for comparison by M. 

 Barbey, is peculiar in the ovate or ovate-lanceolate acute dark- 

 colored bracts (with a pair of very narrow bractlets at the base of the 

 young fruit), and in the conspicuous brown nerves of the nearly 

 truncate perianth (^ line long). The fruit in the specimen is still 

 young. The stamens are described as solitary, and but one was 

 detected in the first flower examined, though there were two in the 

 second one. I have seen no specimens that correspond to the type. 

 The form of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that has been referred 

 to this species is usually more glandular than the var. Palmeri, the 

 leaves thickish and scabrous, and the perianth about a line long. It 

 may be distinguished as var. (?) Torreyana. 



Boerhaavia scandens, Linn. An " evergreen, its many weak 

 stems hanging upon bushes and fences, with greenish yellow flowers, 

 and the fruits adherent to everything they touch." Near Guaymas. 

 (146.) 



Abronia umbellata, Lam. Sandy plains near Los Angeles 

 Bay. (604.) 



