108 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



2. A. ROSEA, Linn. (Gray, Manual, 409.) Subclecumbent, grayish 

 scurfy, 1-2 feet high ; leaves ovate-rhombic to -triangular, ^1 ^ inches 

 long, sessile or very shortly petioled, sinuate-dentate, the upper ovate ; 

 spikes more leafy at base ; fruiting bracts nearly as in the last, 2-3 lines 

 broad, the margin toothed. — Of rare occurrence in the Eastern states ; 

 introduced from Europe. 



§ 2. Bracts ovate to linear, mostly 4-6 lines long (small in 

 A. spicata), entire and not margined nor appendaged (except 

 in A. phyllostegia), only the apex foliaceous: leaves petioled. 



* Leaves alternate. 



3. A. PHYLLOSTEGIA. Usually stout, erect or ascending, ^1^ feet 

 high, simple or branched, smooth or somewhat mealy, leafy ; leaves 

 rhombic-triangular or hastate to ovate, ^2 inches long, acute or acumi- 

 nate, entire or sparingly sinuate-dentate ; flowers subdioecious, the 

 clusters axillary and in short subnaked spikes ; calyx 5-toothed or 

 -cleft ; bracts free or nearly so, linear-lanceolate, scurfy, becoming 4-6 

 lines long and 2 lines wide, sessile or often pedicelled, compressed, 

 foliaceous above but somewhat coriaceous at base and strongly 3- 

 nerved, sometimes with a sparingly laciniate marginal lobe below and 

 occasionally with the sides herbaceously appendaged ; ovary sometimes 

 surrounded by 3 hyaline sepals half shorter than the young bracts ; 

 styles nearly equalling or shorter than the bracts ; radicle ascending. — 

 In the valleys and on the foothills of Northwestern Nevada and in 

 Mojave Valley, Southern California, — only the latter specimens in 

 fruit. 



Obione phyllostegia. Torrey ; Watson, King's Rep. 5. 291. 

 Collectors : — H. Engelmann ; 231 Anderson ; Cooper ; 986 Watson ; 

 Lemmon. 



4. A. SPICATA. Stout, erect, 2 feet high, diffusely branched, more 

 or less mealy ; leaves ovate-rhombic, 2 inches long, acute, cuneate to a 

 short petiole, coarsely and irregularly sinuate-dentate ; flowers androgy- 

 nous in dense axillary and terminal naked closely panicled spikes, the 

 staminate nearly concealing the fertile ones ; calyx large, 4-parted ; 

 bracts ovate-oblong, 1^ lines long, free, densely farinose, herbaceous, 

 not margined nor appendaged, apparently not much enlarged in fruit ; 

 styles long and exserted ; nearly mature seed :|^ of a line broad ; radicle 

 inferior. — Collected only by Brewer (1190) in San Joaquin Valley, 

 California, east of Mt. Diablo, in alkaline soil. 



5. A. Alaskensis. Stout, erect or ascending, a foot high or more, 

 glabrous; leaves thick, oblong to oblong-ovate, 1^2 inches long, 



