KNOTWORT FAMILY 113 



cymose clusters. Calyx 5-lobed, the tube tubular, nearly equaling the silvery-scarious 

 lobes. Petals none. Stamens 10-15, only 1-5 with anthers. Style 2-cleft; ovary 1-celled, 

 1-seeded. Utricle thin, included in the calyx-tube. [Name Greek, meaning chaff and fin- 

 gernail, in reference to the silvery hyaline calyx-lobes.] 



Two species, natives of the desert regions of southwestern United States and central Mexico. Type species, 

 Achyr -onychia Cooperi Torr. & Gray. 



1. Achyronychia Cooperi Torr. & Gray. Onyx Flower. Fig. 1596. 



Achyronychia Cooperi Torr. & Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 7: 331. 1867. 



Stems branching from the crown of the slender annual root, prostrate, the branches many, 

 usually simple, floriferous throughout. Leaves spatulate, the larger one of the pair 10-15 mm. 

 long, the smaller about half as long ; cymes numerous, borne in the axils of all leaves, subsessile 

 or on peduncles 15-20 mm. long; calyx-tube tubular, about 1 mm. long; calyx-lobes oval, nearly 

 2 mm. long, green at base, the rest conspicuously white-hyaline. 



Sandy desert washes, Lower Sonoran Zone; Mojave and Colorado Deserts, California, south to central 

 Lower California. Type locality: "In dry sand, Mojave River at Camp Cady." March-June. 



Corrigiola littoralis L. Sp. PI. 271. 1753. Small prostrate glabrous, slightly fleshy annual. Leaves 

 alternate, small, spatulate-oblanceolate; stipules scarious; flowers minute, in axillary and terminal cymose glom- 

 erules; calyx 5-parted; petals none; stamens 5; style 3-parted; utricle included. Well established at Portland, 

 Oregon, having come in no doubt with ballast. Native of Europe. 



2. SCOPULOPHILA M. E. Jones, Contr. West. Bot. No. 12: 5. 1908. 



Perennial, the stems erect, arising from a woody root crown. Leaves linear, gradually 

 narrowed toward the base. Stipules hyaline, lacerate or fringed, crowded on the root 

 crown. Flowers in small axillary few-flowered cymes. Calyx deeply 5-lobed, the lobes 

 scarious. Stamens 5 ; staminodia 5, alternating with the stamens, petaloid, subtended by 

 a minute reddish scale. Style 3-cleft; ovary 1-seeded. Fruit unknown. [Name Greek, 

 meaning fond of rocks, in reference to its habitat.] 



A monotypic genus of the Mojave Desert region. 



1. Scopulophila Rixfordii (Brandg.) Munz & Jtn. Scopulophila. Fig. 1597. 



Achyronychia Rixfordii Brandg. Zoe 1 : 230. 1890. 



Scopulophila nitrophiloides M. E. Jones, Contr. West. Bot. No. 12: 5. 1908. 



Eremolithia Rixfordii Jepson, Fl. Calif. 499. 1914. 



Scopulophila Rixfordii Munz & Jtn. Bull. Torrey Club 49: 351. 1923. 



Stems several from a woody crown, erect, simple or with a few short ascending branches, 5- 

 20 cm. high, whole plant glabrous and pallid. Leaves narrowly oblanceolate-spatulate, 5-15 mm. 

 long, slightly fleshy; stipules scarious, more or less lacerate or fringed, those on the crown 

 crowded and conspicuous ; cymes few-flowered ; calyx-tube scarcely . 5 mm. long, narrowed to 

 the base ; calyx-lobes 1 . 5 mm. long, oval, scarious except for the narrow midrib ; staminodia 

 petaloid, narrowly linear, equaling the calyx-lobes ; fertile stamens scarcely half as long ; ovary 

 conical, about as long as the 3-cleft style and the two about equaling the calyx-lobes; ovule 

 usually solitary ; fruit unknown. 



A little-known species of Owens Valley, California, and adjacent southern Nevada. Type locality: Owens 

 Valley, Inyo County, California. April-May. 



3. PARONYCHIA [Tourn.] Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 272. 1763. 



Low tufted annual or perennial herbs, often with a woody base. Leaves opposite, 

 usually linear; stipules scarious. Flowers small, clustered, scarious-bracted. Calyx 5- 

 parted, the lobes awn-tipped. Corolla wanting. Stamens 5, inserted at base of calyx, some- 

 times alternate with as many staminodia. Ovary ovoid, narrowed upward into the style. 

 Styles 2, united nearly to stigmas ; ovule solitary. Utricle membranous, included in calyx, 

 1-seeded. [Name Greek, meaning whitlow or felon, the name applied to a plant used as 

 a remedy.] 



About 40 species, inhabiting temperate and tropical regions. Type species, Illecebrum Paronychia L. 



1. Paronychia franciscana Eastw. California Whitlow-wort. Fig. 1598. 



Paronychia franciscana Eastw. Bull. Torrey Club 28: 288. 1902. 



Perennial from a woody taproot, the branches wiry, prostrate, forming mats 1-4 dm. 

 across. Leaves linear-oblong, 5-10 mm. long, usually longer than the short internodes, nar- 

 rowed to a prominent bristle at apex and to a short petiole at base, short-pubescent and ciliate ; 

 stipules lanceolate, acuminate, laciniate, about equaling the leaves; flowers few in the axils, 

 short-pedicellate ; calyx green or tinged with purple, 5-parted almost to base, 2 mm. long. 



Grassy hillsides along the coast. Upper Sonoran Zone; central California. Type locality: San Francisco, 

 California. April-June. In the earlier California manuals these plants were referred to the South American 

 species P. chilensis DC. 



4. HERNlARIA L. Sp. PI. 218. 1753. 



Annual or perennial herbs, the stems much branched, prostrate or spreading. Leaves 

 opposite or sometimes alternate or fascicled, small, entire; stipules scarious, small, entire 



