142 DATISCACEAE 



thium adnate to the ovary. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, united at base, yellow or yel- 

 lowish. Stamens numerous, inserted in a broad band on the base of the petals ; filaments 

 filiform. Style 5-cleft, the lobes often twisted; ovary 1-celled with 5 prominent placentae; 

 ovules numerous. Capsule obovoid, opening by 5 valves at the apex. Seeds numerous, 

 minute, longitudinally striate. [Name Greek, meaning well and nettle, in reference to the 

 stinging hairs.] 



A genus of about 8 species, natives of the arid regions of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. 

 Type species, Eucnide bartonioides Zucc. 



1. Eucnide urens Parry. Desert Rock-nettle. Fig. 3299. 



Mentzelia urens Parry ex A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 10: 71. 1874. 

 Eucnide urens Parry, Amer. Nat. 9: 144. 1875. 



Low shrub, 3-5 dm. high, the branches spreading or sometimes decumbent, the herbage 

 clothed with fine villous hairs, stouter multi-barbed ones, and longer stout stinging ones. Leaves 

 suborbicular to broadly ovate, 2.5-5 cm. long, coarsely and irregularly toothed, the lower 

 petioled, the uppermost sessile and more or less clasping ; flowers somewhat corymbose ; pedicels 

 stout ; sepals oblong-lanceolate, 20-25 mm. long ; petals pale yellow tinged with green, obovate, 

 3-4 cm. long, the mucronate tip hispid ; stamens about half as long as the petals. 



Sandy or rocky soils, Lower Sonoran Zone; desert ranges of Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California, 

 to southern Utah. Type locality : St. George, Utah. April-June. 



Sympetaleia rupestris (Baillon) A. Gray ex S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 24: 50. 1889 Annual resem- 

 bling Eucnide in general habit, hispid with stout simple hairs interspersed with shorter barbed ones. Leaves 

 petioled rounded, shallowly lobed and toothed, often subcordate at base, 2-6 cm. broad; flowers solitary in the 

 axils, on more or less recurved pedicels; sepals 5-7 mm. long; corolla sympetalous, the tube 8-10 mm. long, 

 slender, lobes 2-3 mm. long. Desert washes, Lower Sonoran Zone; Painted Gorge near Coyote Wells, western 

 edge of Colorado Desert, California, otherwise known only from Lower California and Sonora. Type locality: 

 Guaymas, Sonora. 



Family 101. DATISCACEAE. 



Datisca Family. 



Herbs or trees with alternate, simple, or pinnate leaves. Flowers dioecious or 

 rarely perfect. Hypanthium in the staminate flowers short, in the pistillate flowers 

 adnate to the ovary. Sepals 3-9, somewhat unequal. Petals none or 8. Stamens 

 few to many, when present in the pistillate flowers usually reduced in number. 

 Styles 3-8. Ovary 1-celled; placentae parietal, alternating with the sepals. Capsule 

 dehiscing at the apex between the styles. Seeds numerous, striate and punctate, 

 strophiolate, anatropous. Endosperm present ; embryo straight. 



A family of 3 genera and 5 species. The two other genera are trees of southern Asia with simple leaves, 

 and belong to a distinct subfamily. 



1. DATISCA L. Sp. PI. 1037. 1753. 



Perennial herbs, with unequally pinnatifid leaves and apetalous flowers in axillary 

 racemes or glomerules. Staminate flowers with hypanthium very short, the sepals 4-9; 

 stamens 10-25, with short filaments. Pistillate flowers with hypanthium adnate to the 

 ovary, ovoid, obscurely 3-angled. Sepals 3; styles 3, filiform, 2-parted. Capsule oblong, 

 coriaceous, 3-5-ribbed, dehiscent at the apex between the styles. [An old Greek name 

 applied to some plant] 



A genus of 2 species natives of Asia and western North America. Type species, Datisca cannabina L. 



1. Datisca glomerata (Presl) Baillon. Durango Root. Fig. 3300. 



Tricerastes glomerata Presl, Rel. Haenk. 2: 88. pi. 64. 1835. 

 Datisca glomerata Baillon, Hist. PI. 3: 407. 1871. 



Glabrous perennial herb, 1-2 m. high, simple or sparingly branched. Leaves ovate to lanceo- 

 late in outline about 15 cm. long, unequally and laciniately pinnatifid, the floral reduced; flowers 

 in the axils forming an elongated leafy raceme ; anthers 4 mm. long, subsessile, yellow ; styles 

 elongated, exceeding the ovary ; capsule oblong-ovoid, 6-8 mm. long, truncate, 3-angled ; sepals 

 3, triangular-subulate, 1 . 5-2 mm. long. 



Stream banks, Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; North Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada, California, 

 to northern Lower California, east to western Nevada. Type locality: western Mexico and Monterey, Cali- 

 fornia. The Mexican reference may be an error as it is not known otherwise south of northern Lower California. 

 May-Aug. 



