MOXAUELPHIA. PENTAMJKlA. 79 



Ilci-haceous, leaves opposite, entire, witliout stipules; 

 pHniclc simple, terminal; spikes opposite, sessile; fiowers 

 unibracteate; bractes acute, adhering to tiie lanusinous 

 racliis. 



Sfecies. O. Floridana. 



Descript. Root perennial? Stem simple, erect, pa- 

 bescent, g-Jandular, terete and striate, tumid at the joints. 

 Leaves sessile, remote, Xowi^ and lanceolate, acute, upper 

 side sine^ularlv scabrous, tiie papillze minute, very nume- 

 rous, and shortly piliferous, under surface densely and se- 

 nccously lanut,nnous. Faniele virgate, naked, simple; 

 spikes remote, sessUe, and opposite^ 10 to 15 lines long". 

 Flowers imbricuted, whitish. Lxterior calix diaphcmoiis. 

 ly memijranaceous, truncate and emar^nn.ite, about halt* 

 the leng'th of the interior; interior ovate, compressed, co- 

 vered with a long- and silky tomentum similar to cotton as 

 in Goinphrena, summit connivent, 5-cleft, enlarging- over 

 the fruit it becomes at length cartilaginously indurated, 

 and muricate with 2 crested lacerate margins, tliere are 

 also 2 dorsal protuberances on eith.cr side near the base, 

 so that the fruit perfectly resembles that of several spe- 

 cies of Alriplex when deprived of the tomentum. An- 

 theriferous tube about the length of the calix, having a 

 margin of 5 linear teeth, anthers linear, attached by the 

 middle. Utriculus Iseeded, ovate-lanceolate, compress- 

 ed. Seed brown. Hab. On the banks of the Altamaha, 

 Florida. — Baldwyn. This plant appears almost interme. 

 diately allied lo GompJircna and Achijranthes. 



A second species of this genus is Gomphrena interrvpta 

 of Jamaica, so well illustrated by L'Hehtier, Slirp. Nov, 

 1. p. 5. t. 3. it possesses precisely the habit of our O. 

 Jloridana, but the leaves are spathulate and obtuse, the 

 stem not quite erect, and the spikes approximate. 



472. ACHYRANTHES. L, 



Calix 5-Ieaved. Corolla none. Squamulce 5, 

 united into a tube at the base, the point.s fim- 

 briate and alternatinj^ with the stamina. Stigma 

 bifid. Seed solitary, covered by the connivent 

 segments of the calix. 



Shrubby or herbaceous, branching; leaves opposite and 

 alternate; spikes terminal; flowers sessile, mostly re- 

 flected. 



