LixcM. LINACEiE. 205 



Western portions of N. America, from the Arctic Sea (ex Hook.) to Mis- 

 souri! and Arkansas ! west to the Rocky Mountains (/>o?^i'^/a.><, Xulldll .' 

 Mr. Wyelh!) and the shores of the Pacific. (Conuuon also in Eurojie and 

 Asia). — 11 or nearly so. Steins procuuihent at the base. Peduncles nod- 

 ding, at least in fruit. Flowers large. 



5. L. sdaginoides (Lam.): glabrous; stems a span high, sulfruticose, 

 corymbosely branched at the summit; leaves crowded, alternate, very smal', 

 linear and very narrow, mucronate-piliferous ; flowers terminal, subsessile ; 

 petals shorter than the calvx (whitish or rose-color) ; ovary completely 

 10-celled. A. St. Hit.— Lam.' diet. 3. p. 525; DC. prod r. 1. p. 424; Sdiiede, 

 I. c. p. 67; A. St. Ilil. fl. Bras. 1. p. 131. 



Te.xas, Dnimmond\'—Thv specimens of no. 47 I 37 ?) in Drummond's 

 2nd collection agree minutely Avith the very detailed descriptions of L. selagi- 

 noides by St. Hilaire & Schiede, except that in our plant the stems are near- 

 ly erect, sparingly branched, and (as well as the midrib and margins of the 

 leaves) minutely 'and sparsely scabrous-hispid ; the margin of the rigid stpals 

 is broadly scarious, slightly c'iliate-serrulate above ; the filaments are not re- 

 markably broad ; and the styles, which are twice the length of the ovary, are 

 united for more than half their length, which is very remarkable in this family. 

 Still, as the descriptions referred to arc not sufficiently explicit upon some of 

 these points, it is not improbable that our plant belongs this species. 



X Doubtful species. 



6. L. striatum (Wh\l): flowers terminal ; leaves subovate, alternate, the 

 nerve and margin decurrent into the stem ; stem branched, striate. Wall. 

 Car. p. US ; Poir. suppl. 3. p. 443. 



South Carolina, Ha/^er.— Perhaps L. perenne? 



Order XXVIII. GERANIACEiE. DC. 



Sepals 5, persistent, ribbed (one sometimes saccate or spurred) : 

 aestivation imbricated. Petals 5 (rarely 4), hypogynous or somewhat 

 perijrynous, alternate with the sepals, distinct, unguiculate : aestivation 

 twisted. Stamens as many or commonly twice as many as petals, and 

 inserted with them, monadelphous at the base : anthers fixed by the mid- 

 die, introrse, with no connectivuni. Ovary composed of 5 two-ovufed 

 carpels, placed alternate with the sepals round the base of an elongat- 

 ed axis : styles 5, cohering round the axis, stigmatose at the summit 

 within. Carpels distinct in fruit, membranaceous, 1- (rarely 2-) seeded, 

 at length separating from the axis by the twisting or curling back of 

 the indurated style, mostly dehiscent by the inner suture. Seeds ana- 

 tropous, with a lateral hilum and a short raphe, exalbuminous, Radi- 

 cle straight : cotyledons reflexed, follaceous, convolute and plaited. — 

 Herbs or shrubby plants : stems tumid and separable at the nodes. 

 Leaves opposite (or alternate and opposite the peduncles), mostly stipu- 

 late, petioled, palmately (rarely pinnately) veined and lobed, or some- 

 times undivided. Peduncles terminal or opposite the leaves, some- 

 times axillary. 



