Penthorum. CRASSULACE7E. 561 



"St. Die£;o, California. — K. 1 Flovverinp; the second year, in May. Stem 

 2-3 feet hij^li, leafy. Pcdieels ruxkiin^. Petals ]inlc scarlet or eoral-color. 

 Carpels linear-lanceolate. Seeds numerous, subulate." Nuttatl. 



-■' — "3. E. lanccola la (Nun. \ nisa.): "rosulatc radical leaves lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, a little pulverulent; stem scapiform, with small and distant claspinij 

 cordate leaves; panicle fastin^ate, dichotomous; the flowers (red and yellow) 

 on very short pedicels: segments of the calyx ovate, obtuse, much shorter 

 than the petals. ^ 



"St. Diego, CaUfomia, with the preceding. — U A smaller plant." 



Trirk ri. DIAMORPHE^E. 



Carpels more or less united, dehiscent by the separation of the 

 dorsal portion. 



4. DIAMORPHA. Nutl. gen. 1. p. 293; DC. prodr. 3. p. 414, c^ viem. 



Crass, t. 1,/. 9. 



Sepals 4, very short and obtuse, united at the base. Petals 4, oval, con- 

 cave, inserted by a broad base. Stamens 8: filaments subulate, rather 

 shorter than the petals : anthers roundish, purple. Scales at the base of the 

 carpels minute, obcordate. Carpels 4, united below the middle, tapering 

 into short styles, when old divergent above, not dehiscent by either suture, 

 but by the vertical separation of the dorsal portion (nearly half) of each car- 

 pel in a valvular manner; the style remaining. Seeds 4-8. — A very small 

 succulent biennial herb, branching from the base (2-4 inches high), with 

 white flowers in small corymbose cymes, and alternate (oblong or oval) 

 nearly terete leaves. 



--D. pusilla (Nutt. ! 1. c.)— Sedum pusillum, Michx.! f. 1. p. 276. Til- 

 laea ? cymosa, Nutt. gen. 1. j^- 210. 



On " Flat Rock," Camden, North (?) Carolina, Michaux ! NuttuU ! (South 

 Carolina, Elliott.) Abundant on flat rocks in the upper part of Georgia, 

 Dr. Leavenworth ! March. — Mr. Nuttall obtained this little plant in winter, 

 witli only the persistent remains of the fruit of the fonner season ; and from 

 these specimens his description and the figure of De Candolle were taken; 

 whence its remarkable dehiscence, so analogous to that of Penthorum, has 

 escaped notice, as the valvular dorsal portion by which each carpel opens 

 early falls away, when the dehiscence might readily be supposed to bo 

 simply loculicidal. The fine specimens of Dr. Leavenworth have enabled 

 us to complete the history of this interesting genus. — The Sedum jiusillum 

 of Pursh, from the "banks of the Shenandoah River, Virginia," is doubtless 



5. pulchellum, as Mr. Nuttall has long ago remarked : Pursh's specimens 

 .of the latter plant, from that same locality, are still preserved in tlie late 

 Prof. Barton's herbarium. 



5. PENTHORUM. Gromv.fl. Virg.; Linn.; Lam. ill. t. 390. 



Sepals 5, united at the base. Petals 5, or sometimes wanting. Stamens 

 10. Scales at the base of the carpels none? Carpels united into a S-angled 



71 



