1880 { 



* DOUGLAsIA nivalis. 



Snow Douglasia. 



PENTANDIIIA MOl^OGYKIA. 



Nat. ord. Pkimulace^. 



DOUGLASIA, Lindl. — Calyx obconicus, angulatus, 5-dentatus. Co- 

 rolla infundibularis, tubo ventricoso, limbo piano 5-partlto. fauce callo llneari 

 sub utroque sinu. Ovarium uniloculare, placenta ccntrali libera pedicellata fun- 

 gilliformi, margine 5-dentata ; ovula 5, dentibus placentae opposita. Capsula 

 vestlta, unilocularis, 5-valvis. ^'emina 2, concava. scrobiciilata. Ca-spites 

 svffrutlculosi (Atnericce borcalis), foliis indivisis, floribus subumbellatis , soli- 

 tariisque. 



D. nivalis {Lindl. in Brandes Journal, Jan. 1828, p. 383.) foliis linearibus 

 pube rigida ramosa incanis subverticillatis, floribus longe pedunculatis sub- 

 umbellatis. 



" Upon his journey across the rocky mountains in April, 1827, in 

 latitude 52" N., longitude 118'^ W., at an estimated elevation of 12,000 

 feet above the level of the sea, the attention of Mr. Douglas was attracted 

 by a brilliant purple patch amidst the surrounding snow. On approach- 

 ing it, he was surprized to find that the colour which had arrested his eye 

 was caused by the blossoms of a little plant, from which the superincum- 

 bent snow had not yet melted away. The well-known Saxifraga oppositi- 

 folia immediately occurred to his recollection, and he at first imagined 

 he had either discovered that species, or one nearly allied to it ; but upon 

 a closer inspection, he perceived that it was no Saxifraga, but a genus 

 apparently new. Specimens having been submitted to me for examination 

 since Mr. Douglas's return, the following description lias been drawn 

 up: — The plant forms a thick tuft, consisting of numerous perennial 

 branched stems, the lower of which are covered with the persistent de- 

 cayed leaves and fruit of pi-evious summers. The .sterns are round, bright 

 purplish brown, covered with scattered, rigid, branched short hairs, and 

 densely clothed with opposite spreading leaves. The leaves arc a dull 

 glaucous green, semi-amplexicaul, linear, obtuse, about five lines long and 



* Named by me some years ago in compliment to Mr. Douglas, whose zeal 

 in the collection of seeds and dried specimens of plants, and whose untimely end, 

 have richly earned for him a niche in the long gallery of departed science. 



