328 
BOTANY. 
variety. From Colorado and New Mexico to Washington Territory and 
California. Not seen west of Reese River, but it is the prevalent species 
eastward in Nevada and Utah ; 5-7,000 feet altitude. (1,106.) 
PoPULUS TRiCHOCAEPA, Torrey. DC. Prodr. 16. 2. 330. Buds and 
younger branches viscid ; leaves on rounded petioles, (1-2' long,) broadly 
cordate-triangular, short-acuminate, glabrous, finely glandularly crenate- 
serrate, pale beneath, reticularly-veined ; fertile aments about V long in 
flower, 3-6' in fruit, with laciniate densely villous scales ; stigmas dilated at 
base ; fruit sessile or shortly pedicelled, globose, tomentose ; sterile aments 
2' long, sessile, densely flowered, with subvillous laciniately-fringed scales ; 
stamens 20-30.— On the Santa Clara River, Cahfornia, (Parry,) and from the 
Lower Fraser River, (Lyall.) A rather small tree in Truckee Valley and 
lower canons of the Washoe and West Humboldt Mountains, Nevada; 
4-5,000 feet altitude. (1,107.) 
GNETACE^.i 
Ephedra 2 antisyphilitica, C. A. Meyer. DC. Prodr. 16. 2. 354. A 
low dioecious shrub, 2° high ; branches opposite and fascicled, straight, sub- 
1 GNETACE^, Bi.uME. Flowers tlicecious, monoecious, or rarely polygamous. Staminate aments :— 
Bracts decussately opposite or verticillate, more or less connate, or very rarely distinct. Calyx and corolla 
none ; each liower with 2-4 hractlets, which are united to form a 2-4-lobed perianth. Stamens arising 
fn.ni the l.ase of the i.erianth, solitary, or few with the filaments united; anthers 2-celled, the cells de- 
hiscent l.y a pore at tlu' ap< x ; pollen oval, smooth. Fertile aments :— Bracts decussately opposite, or in 
threes, more or less ijnhricated and connate, the lower usually smaller, often thickened and fleshy in 
fruit. Flowers 1-3, each consisting of an urceolate perianth, (formed of 2-5 connate hractlets. Farlatore,) 
perforated at the apex and including the ovule. Ovule erect, solitary, terminating above in a rather 
long, usually terete, straight or twisted, exserted style-like process. Fruit dry, enveloped hy the bracts 
and hy the membranous or thickened perianth. Embryo in the axis or at the summit of the fleshy albu- 
meu; cotyledons 2 ; radicle superior.— Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs, Avith opposite temate or fascicled 
branches, jointed at the nodes ; leaves opposite or in threes, often reduced to a short-toothed or lacerated 
sheath. 
-F.rilKDKA, L. Flowers dicccious or rarely monoecious. Male aments subglobo.se, solitary or 
clustered, nvillaiy, sessil.. or shoit-peduueled ; bracts (rarely in threes) approximate or subimbricate 
counat.- n,t<, •.>-;Mul,e.l i,u uliu les. Flowers solitary at each bract, the perianth often exceeding the invo! 
lucre, ^tanietis i!-^ ; i.lanients united into a coluion usually exceeding the perianth, sometimes divided 
at the siunuur ; anthers sul.ronnded or narrowed and subcuneate at base, dehiscing bv transverse oblon-.' 
pores. Fertil.. aments solitary or few, usually short-peduncled, erect or nodding."^ Bracts (rarely in 
tlirees) torn.ing 2-0 en.argiuate or 2-3-lobed involucres, the lower sterile, the upper one larcrer and 1-3 
tlnvvered. Ovule usually oval-oblong, the style-like process obliquely ligulate or discoid a"t the apex 
.seed sv i;h a th,n n.embranous testa ; embryo axial and nearly as long a.s the albumen ; cotyledons oblong • 
radicle long and eyhn.lrieal.-Shrnbs an.l nndershrubs, withnumerouscquisetoid teretesheathed branches • 
sheaths short, with usually 2-4 leatless or shortly foliaceous teeth. wctncnes , 
lu the above deseriptions the terms are ma.le to conform to the theory of the gymnospermous char- 
acter ot the Order. r„r,,„.re in the Fn^lronn., still considers what is here callef the perianth of tie 
fertile flow, r a. ■!,,. n v w.th a true style and stigma. The following remarkable species compels a 
shghtmoduu atnmm the .U seriptions of the genus and of the Order, by its peculiar character^ the 
ternate arrangement of i.. leave, branches and floral bracts. It has long beL known an~eda^^^ 
