170 ILLECEBRACEiE. Paronychia. 



§ 1. Annual: sepals similar, dilated and fornicate at the apex within, 

 produced posteriorly into a divaricate horn or awn: Jlowers cymose. 

 — (Chjetonychia, DC. ?) 



1. P. Drummondii: minutely pubescent; stem erect, branching above 

 into numerous cymes ; leaves (of the branches) linear-oblong, short, the 

 uppermost mucronate ; calyx turbinate at the base, with a ring of hooked 

 hairs; sepals broadly scarious and dilated above, the back produced into a 

 short somewhat recurved horn ; sterile setfE very minute. 



Texas, Drummond I (2nd Coll. no. 93)— Stem stout, 10 inches high. 

 Leaves of the stem wanting in the specimen ; of the branches rigid, hispidly 

 canescent, i an inch long, attenuate at the base ; the uppermost smaller and 

 bract-like. Stipules ovate, with a slender acumination, shorter than the 

 leaves. Ultimate bracts (bracts? and stipules of bracts) scarious, ciliate, 

 shorter than the flower. Sepals reddish-brown, the scarious margins and 

 horn white. Stamens much shorter than the sepals. Sterile seta? perhaps 

 often Avanting. Style very short.— This species manifestly belongs to the 

 section Chsetonychia, DC. 

 _,, 2. P. setae ea : nearly glabrous : stem erect, branching into the many times 

 ' dichotomous diffuse cyme ; leaves subulate-setaceous, erect ; bracts similar, 

 cuspidate ; sepals hairy at the base, minutely scarious on the margin, the 

 apex arched within, the back produced into a slender diverging awn ; sterile 

 setse as long as the filaments. 



Texas, Drummond ! (3rd Coll. no. 33.)— Slender, 3-5 inches high. Leaves 

 about the length of the internodes. Stipules shorter, lanceolate, attenuate 

 into a long point. Sepals (and also peduncles and leaves) brownish, oblong- 

 linear : awn straight, whitish, someAvhat shorter than the sepals. Styles the 

 length of the utricle, distinct more than half-way down. 



§ 2. Perennial : sepals similar, cuspidate or axvned, the apex some- 

 what cucullate or concave within, but not dilated: flowers in dichoto- 

 mous cymes or axillary glomerules, or sometimes nearly solitary.— 



EUNYCHIA, DC. 



The species with the flowers enveloped by scarious bracts may perhaps forrn a 

 separate section (Argyronychia) : P. dichotoma (Ploltzia, Am.) cannot be distin- 

 guished as a genus. 



,> 3. P. sessilifiora (Nutt.): very densely csespitose, much branched and 

 ^ crowded : leaves imbricated, linear-subulate ; the lowermost erect, obtuse ; the 

 upper longer, recurved-spreading, acute or mucronate, rather longer than the 

 2-cleft stipules ; flowers tenninaL, soUtary, sessile ; sepals arched at the apex 

 within, with divergent setaceous awns rather shorter than the sepals ; sterile 

 seta; as long as the filaments.— M(«. .' gen. 1. p. 160; DC.prodr. 3. p. 372; 

 Hook. .'ft. Bar. -Am. 1 p. 226. t. 75. 



Hills of the Missouri near Fort Mandan (NuttaU) to the Saskatchawan 

 (lat. 53°), Drummond! June-Sept.— Root (caudex) ligneous, perpendicu- 

 lar. Branches very dense, 2 inches high. Sepals oblong-linear, obscurely 

 3-nerved. Style as long as the sepals, 2-cleft at the apex. 

 // 4. P. Jamesii: minutely scabrous-pubescent, csespitose, much branched 

 from the base ; leaves linear-subulate, obtuse (the uppermost mucronate) ; 

 cymes dichotomous, few-flowered, crowded, with a central subsessile flower 

 in each division ; sepals minutely hairy at the base, linear-oblong, obscurely 

 3-ribbed or even, with a very short cusp, arched at the summit Avithin ; sterile 

 setae as long as the filaments.— P. dichotoma ? Torr. ! in ann. lye. New- 

 York, 2. p. 290. 



