298 ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



serted also upon the callx; filaments scarcely attenuated, 

 hliform; anthers small, oblong-, distinct, inserted tipon 

 the subulate summit of the filament, about a line in length, 

 2'Celled. Germ appearing- inferior, being' inseparably in- 

 vested by the lower part of the calix. Style filiform, a lit- 

 tle longer than the stamina, tubular, arising- from the cen- 

 tre Of the valves, longitudinally and spirally striate, nec- 

 tariferous at tlie base, stries 5 to 7, corresponding in num- 

 ber with the valves of the ca])sule; distinct stigma none. 

 Capsule cylindric-oblong, 1-cclled, terminated by the per- 

 sistent calix; summit flat and orbicular, valvular, valves 5 

 to 7, opening from tl;e centre; receptacle parietal, placen- 

 tulae 5 to 7, succulent, 2 rows of seeds in each. Seeds 

 numerous, fiat, subovate, nearly immarginate; embryon 

 straight, surrounded by a thin carnose perisperm; coty- 

 ledones 2, flat, wliite; radicle umbilical, inferior, exsert- 

 ed, plumule inconspicuous. Hae. On the banks of the 

 Missouri in broken argillaceous soils. Flov/ering from 

 the latter end of August through September, and into 

 October, but never in July.f 



f In reply to the insinuations of Mr. Pursh, under this article, 

 I must here remark, that he could not possibly have had any 

 authority to assert, or even suppose me capable of disputing 

 with the late indefatigable and unforttmate M. Lewis, the dis- 

 coverj' of this plant; this charge is merely a subterfug-p. Mr. 

 Pursh, before he had perused the notes which I had made from 

 the living plant on tiie .Missouri, with an intention of rendering 

 them public, had not then, by his own acknowledgment, any thing 

 like materials for publisling this genus, my friend A. B. Lam- 

 bert, Esq. Vice President of the Linnean Society, can also aver 

 the truth of this statement. Mr. P. possessed merely an im- 

 perfect capsule of the plant, which M. Lewis had collected 

 while descending the Missouri, he not having seen it then at 

 the time ot" ftovvering; the collections made by that gentleman 

 while ascending the Missouri were unfcntunately lost, and it is 

 only in that collection, according to the time of the year, which 

 he could possibly have had flowering specimens, of tifis late au- 

 tunmal plant. This unfortunate want of fidelity, prevented me 

 from co.mmimicating to Mr. F. Pursh, many of the plants which 

 now appear in this work. Appeals to the public are to me ex- 

 tremely irksome, but silence on such an occasion would have 

 been indeed the most degiading condemnation, and a tacit sub- 

 mission to reiterated injustice. It was not surely iionourable 

 in Frederick Pursh, whom 1 still esteem as an able botanist, 

 to snatch from me the little imaginary credit due to enlhusias- 



i 



