[ 174 ] 318 



of a salt lake in lat. 3S° and long. 113°; and constantly occurs in the desert 

 region south of the Columbia, and between the Cascade range and the 

 Rocky mountains, as far south as lat. 34°. The branches, when old, be- 

 come spiny, as in many other plants of this family. 



Since the description of this genus was published in the first report, 

 (March, 1S43,) Nees has given it the name of Sarcobatus ; and Dr. Seu- 

 bert has published an account of it, with a figure, in the Botanische Zei- 

 tung for 1S44. This we have not yet seen ; but, from the remarks of Dr. 

 Lindley, who has given a note on the genus in Hooker's Journal of Botany 

 for January, 1S45, it would seem that some doubt existed among European 

 botanists as to its affinities, as they had not seen the ripe seeds. These we 

 have long possessed, and unhesitatingly referred it to Chenopodiaciss. We 

 regret that our sketches of the staminate flowers were mislaid when the 

 artist was engraving the figure. 



Obione confertifolia. Torr. and Frem. 



Stem pubescent, much branched, erect ; leaves alternate, ovate, rather 

 obtuse, petiolate, much crowded, entire, somewhat coriaceous, white with 

 a mealy crust ; bracts broadly ovate, obtuse, entire, and the sides without 

 appendages or tubercles. 



A small shrub, with rigid crooked and somewhat spinescent branches, 

 and of a whitish aspect. Leaves varying from one-third to half an inch in 

 length, abruptly narrowed at the base into a petiole, thickly clothed with a 

 white mealy substance. 



Flowers apparently dioecious. Sterile not seen. Bracts of the fruit 3 — 4 

 lines long, united about half way up, distinct above, indurated at the base. 

 Styles distinct. Pericarp very thin. Seed roundish-ovate, rostellate up- 

 ward ; the testa coriaceous. Embryo two-thirds of a circle. 



On the borders of the Great Salt lake. From the description of 0. cori- 

 acea, Moq., our plant seems to be a near ally of that species. 



Pterochiton. Torr. and Frcm. — n. gen. 



Flowers dioecious. Staminate .... Pistillate. Perigonium 

 ovoid-tubukar, 4-winged, 2-toothed at the summit. Ovary roundish ; style 

 short; stigmas 2, linear. 'Ovule solitary, ascending from the base of the 

 ovary, campulitropous. Fructiferous perianth indurated, broadly 4-winged, 

 closed, minutely 2-toothed at the summit; the wings veined and irregularly 

 toothed. Utricle very thin and membranaceous, free. Seed ovate, some- 

 what compressed ; the podosperm lateral and very distinct, rostrate up- 

 ward. Integument double, the exterior somewhat coriaceous, brownish, 

 the inner one thin. Embryo nearly a circle, surrounding copious mealy 

 albumen. 



Pterochiton occidentale. Torr. and Frtm. 



An unarmed shrub, 1 — 2 feet high, with numerous slender branches, 

 which are clothed with a grayish nearly smooth bark. Leaves alternate 

 or fasciculate, linear oblanceolate, narrowed at the base, flat, entire, covered 

 with a whitish mealy crust, flowers somewhat racemose, on short pedi- 

 cels. Fructiferous calyx, with the wings 2 — 3 lines wide, semi-orbicular, 

 coriaceo-membranaceous, mealy like the leaves, strongly veined ; the mar- 

 gin more or less toothed. Utricle free from the indurated cavity of the 

 perianth, extremely thin and transparent. Seed conformed to the utricle, 



