ILLECEBRE.E. 131 



axils. Sepals 5, imbricate, somewhat cucullate under the apex and 

 aristate or mucronate at the very tip. Stamens 5 or fewer, inserted on 

 the base of the sepals, these often slightly united. Petals represented 

 by 5 small setiform organs alternating with the stamens. Ovary 1-celled, 

 1-ovuled ; ovule attached by a slender basal funiculus, ascending or 

 subpeudulous. Utricle enclosed in the persistent calyx, at length bursting 

 longitudinally. Seed smooth. Embryo annular. 



1. P. ("hileiisis, DC. Prodr. iii. 370 (1S28); Gay, Fl. Chil. ii. 521. 

 Greene, in W. Am. Sc. iii. 156. Perennial, difTuse, cespitose, the tough 

 and pliable short-jointed stems suffrutescent : leaves obkmg-linear, 

 1^^- -3 lines long, membranaceoiis, pungent at tip, minutely appressed 

 pubescent ; stipules thin-hyaline, ovate-lanceolate, 1 — 2 lines long : tl. 

 few in the axils, very shortly pedicelled : calyx scarcely % line long, 

 purplish ; sepals spinulose-tipped and only slightly cucullate : seed 

 reddish-brown. — Frequent on grassy hillsides and summits at the Pre- 

 sidio ; evidently indigenous ; otherwise known only as South American. 



2. P. pusilla, Greene, Pittonia, i. 302 (1889). Annual, slender, parted 

 from the base into a few ascending branches, these with many short 

 distichous branchlets ; herbage canescent with setulose straight or 

 unciuate-tipped hairs : leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, sessile, 1 — 2 lines 

 long ; stipules hyaline, minute, broadly ovate : fl. crowded, sessile 

 minute, the sepals }4 line long, scarcely cucullate, the terminal bristle 

 little longer than those scattered up and down the back : seed black, 

 smooth and lustrous. — On an isolated outcropping of rock, in the mouth 

 of a canon opening to the plains, at the eastern base of Mt. Diablo, near 

 Bethany ; collected only by the author, 30 Apr., 1889. 



3. PEXTAC^XA, Barllinri. Perennials of cespitose habit, with 

 alternate subulate rigid and pungent leaves, silvery hyaline stipules, and 

 sessile flowers clustered in the axils. Sepals 5, united at base, very 

 unequal, cucullate, the 3 outer large and with a stout divergent terminal 

 spine, the 2 inner much smaller and with but a short awn. Petals 

 minute, scale-like. Stamens 3—5 : staminodia 0. Style very short, bifid. 

 Utricle enclosed in the rigid persistent calyx. Embryo curved. 



1. P. ramosissiiua, H. & A. in Bot. Misc. iii. 338 (1833) : P. poly- 

 ene inokles, Bartl. in Presl, Eel. Hsenk. ii. 5. t. 49 (1835). Lveflingia rarno- 

 siHsirna, Weinm. (1820) ; DO. (1829), under Paronychia. Stems prostrate, 

 forming mats 6 in. to 2 ft. broad, woolly-pubescent : leaves 3—5 lines 

 long, squarrose when old ; stipules lanceolate, shorter than the leaves, 

 ] -nerved : calyx-tube nearly a line long, the divergent oiiter lobes 2 

 lines : utiicle apiculate. —On sandy plains and dry gravelly hilltops 

 toward the sea throughout the State ; also South American. 



