iLrri^r 



SYMPETALAE HYPOGYNEAE 



Calyx usually present. Corolla usually present, its petals more or less united 

 into a tube (rarely choripetalous) . Ovary superior (rarely inferior) . 



LENNOACEAE. Lennoa Family 



Root-parasitic brown herbs with fleshy stems and scale-like leaves. Flowers 

 perfect, in spikes or heads. Calyx parted into narrow nearly distinct segments. 

 Corolla tubular, the border 5 to 7-lobed. Stamens as many as the lobes of the 

 corolla, inserted on its throat. Ovary fleshy, 6 to 14-celled, each 2 cells representing 

 one true cell divided by a false partition; style 1; stigma cx-enulate or obscurely 

 lobed. Fruit concealed in the persistent calj-x and corolla, finally splitting into 

 12 to 28 1-seeded nutlets. — Genera 3, species 5, southwestern United States and 

 Mexico. 



Bibliog.— Palmer, Edw., Sand Food (Eept. U. S. Com. Agr. for 1870 :424,— 1871) . Gray, A., 

 Lennoaceae in Syn. Fl. 2:50-51 (1878). Orcutt, C. R., [Notes on] Lennoaceae (West Am. Sci. 

 6:137, — 1889). Drude, O., Lennoaceae (Engler and Prantl, Nat. Pflzfam. 4^:12-15, fig. 7, — 

 . 1897). 



Flowers in a spike; calyx-segments glandular-puberulent 1. Pholisma. 



Flowers in a saucer-shaped head; calyx-segments plumosely hairy 2. Ammobroma. 



1. PHOLISMA Nutt. 



Stem simple, ending in a simple or compactly branched dense spike. Sepals 

 5, 6 or 7, naked. Corolla border undulate-plicate, spreading, shallowly 5, 6 or 7- 

 lobed, each lobe emarginate. — Species 1. (Greek pholis, a scale, referring to the 

 scaly stem. ) 



1. P. arenarium Nutt. Plant erect, 6 to 10 inches high ; spikes oblong, rai-ely 

 capitate, 1 to 5 inches long ; corolla purplish with white border, 2 lines broad. 



Sandy flats, mesas, dunes or beaches, 5 to 2200 feet : coast line from San Luis 

 Obispo Co. to San Diego Co. ; Mohave and Colorado deserts. South to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Dec. -June. 



Locs. — Pholisma arenarium is parasitic on the roots of certain shrubs such as Eriogonum par- 

 vifolium, Erieameria erieoides, Chrysothamnus nauseosus var. graveolens and Eriodictyon crassi- 

 f olium. At Manhattan Beach, north of Eedondo Beach, it occurs on the two shrubs first mentioned, 

 and also on the herb Abronia urabellata. The follo\Ting stations validate the indicated range. 

 Coast line: Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co., E. N. Wilcox; Santa Monica, J. J. Rivers: Man- 

 hattan Beach, Los Angeles, T. TV. Minthorn; San Diego. Mohave Desert: Freeman, Indian WeUs 

 Valley, Eall ^ Chandler 7368; Lancaster, Fringle ; Mohave sta. ; Kramer, Elizabeth DeWolf; 

 Barstow, Mary Beal; Old Woman Sprs., Jepson 5947. Colorado Desert : Pleasant Valley, Lookout 

 Mt., n. of Indio, Jepson; Borrego Sprs.; Myers Creek bridge, foot of Mountain Springs grade, 

 Jepson 11,791. 



Eefs. — Pholisma arenarium Nutt.; Hook., Icon. PI. t. 62G (1844), "Monterey and San 

 Diego," Nuttall (but not found at Monterey since Nuttall's day, therefore probably an error) ; 

 Jepson, Man. 734 (1925). P. depress^im Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 1:198 (1885), type loc. Cape 

 San Quentin, L. Cal., Greene. 



2. AMMOBROMA Torr. 



Stem simple, ending above in a saucer-shaped head densely clothed with flowers. 

 Sepals 6 to 10, filiform, plumosely hairy, as long as the corolla or somewhat longer. 

 Corolla purple, tubular, G-lobed, the lobes very short, emarginate. — Species 1. 

 (Greek ammos, sand, and broma, food.) 



1. A. sonorae Torr. Sand Food. (See Frontispiece.) Plant buried in the 

 ^ sand up to the very woolly head; head like a mushroom in shape, 314 inches in 

 diameter. 



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