[ 174 ] 312 



Meconella Californica. Tor/', and Frhn. 



Leaves obovate-spatulate ; stamens 11 — 12. 



On the American fork of the Sacramento river. 



This species is intermediate between Meconella and Platystigma. It is 

 a slender annual, 3 — 4 inches high, with the radical leaves in rosulate clus- 

 ters, and more dilated at the extremity than in M. Oregana. The flowers 

 also are much larger. The torus, which is like that of Eschschotzia, is very 

 distinct. 



Arctomeo$)n. Torr. and Frtm. — n. gen. 



Calyx of 3 smooth imbricated caducous sepals. Petals 4, obovate, reg- 

 ular. Stamens numerous ; anthers oblong-linear : the cells opening longi- 

 tudinally. Ovary obovoid, composed of 6 carpels, with as many narrow 

 intervalvular placentae : styles none : stigmas coalescing into a small hem- 

 ispherical 6-angled sessile head, the angles of which are opposite the pla- 

 centas, not forming a projecting disk. Capsule (immature) ovoid, the pla- 

 centas almost filiform, opening at the summit by 6 valves, which separate 

 from the persistent placentae. Seeds oblong, smooth, strophiolate. — A pe- 

 rennial herb, with a thick woody root. Leaves numerous, mostly crowded 

 about the root, flabelliform-cuneate, densely clothed with long gray up- 

 wardly barbellate hairs, 3 — 5 lobed at the summit ; the lobes with 2 — 3 

 teeth, which are tipped with a rigid pungent upwardly scabrous bristle. 

 Stem scape-like, about a foot high, furnished about the middle with one or 

 two small bract-like leaves, smooth above, rough towards the base. Flow- 

 ers in a loose, somewhat umbellate, simple or somewhat compound panicle ; 

 the peduncles elongated, erect. Petals about an inch long, yellow. 



Arctomecox Californicum. Torr. and Frhn. 



This remarkable plant was found in only a single station in the Califor- 

 nian mountains, on the banks of a creek; flowering early in May. The 

 soil was sterile and gravelly. Although very near Papaver, it differs so 

 much in habit and in the strophiolate seeds, as well as in other characters^ 

 that it must be a distinct genus. 



Krameria. 



A shrubby species of this genus was found on the Virgen river, in Califor- 

 nia. It seems to be K. parvifolia of Bentham, described in the voyage of 

 the Sulphur. His plant, however, was only in fruit, while our specimens 

 are only in flower. Ours grows in thick bunches 1 — 2 feet high, of a gray 

 aspect, with numerous very straggling and somewhat spinescent branches. 

 Leaves scarcely one-third of an inch long, obovate-spatulate. The flowers 

 are scarcely more than half as large as in K. lanceolata. Sepals 5, un- 

 equal; claws of the 3 upper petals united into a column below; lamina 

 more or less ovate ; the two lower petals short and truncate. Stamens 

 shorter than the upper petals; the filaments united at the base with the 

 column of the petals : anthers one-celled, with a membranaceous summit, 

 the orifice of which is somewhat dilated, and finally lacerated. Ovary 

 hairy and spinulose ; style rigid, declined. 



Oxystylis. Torr. and Frtm. — n. gen. 



Sepals linear ; petals ovate, somewhat uhguiculate ; ovary 2-celled ; the 

 cells subglobose, each with two ovules : style pyramidal, much larger than 



