160 NYCTAGINE.E. 



1. MIRABILIS, Parkinson (Four-o'cdocs). Perennials with erect 

 stems from large fusiform roots. Leaves mostly ample, not very succulent. 

 Inflorescence axillary and terminal. Involucres calyx-like, herbaceous, 

 5-cleft or -parted, enlarged in fruit but not otherwise altered. Perianth 

 tubular or narrowly funnelform, with abruptly spreading limb, vesper- 

 tine. Stamens usually 5, as long as the perianth ; filaments united at 

 base. Stigma capitate, granulate. Fruit a rather large oblong nutlet, 

 dark-colored and often obscurely ribbed. 



1. M. Froehelii, Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. i. 12i (1885) ; Behr, Proc. 

 Calif. Acad. i. 69 (1855), under Ori/baphus: M. muUiJiora, var. pultescens, 

 Wats. Bot. Calif, ii. 2 (1880). Stout, decumbent, 1—2 ft. high, viscid- 

 pubescent, in age somewhat scabrous : leaves broadly ovate, the lowest 

 somewhat cordate, 4 in. long and almost as broad : involucre cleft to the 

 middle ; lobes acutish ; fl. 5 or 6 : perianth narrowly funnelform, 1}^ 

 in. long, the limb 1 in. broad, purple, pubescent and viscid on the out- 

 side : nutlet ovate-oblong, light bi'own, smooth, 10-lineate. — Mountains 

 of Kern Co. and southward. July— Sept. 



2. M. Ifevis, Curran, Proc. Calif. Acad. 2d ser. i. 235 (1888) ; Benth. 

 Bot. Sulph. 44 (1844), under Oxyhaphiis: M. Californica, Gray, in Torr. 

 Bot. Mex. Bound., 173 (1859). Stems many, rather slender, ascending 

 from a somewhat woody base, 1 — 3 ft. high : herbage more or less viscid- 

 pubescent : leaves rather fleshy, round-ovate to ovate-oblong, 1^2 — ^H ™- 

 long, obtuse or acute, short-petioled : involucres short-peduncled or 

 almost sessile, 5-cleft, the lobes often unequal, acute ; fl. 1 — 3 : perianth 

 rose-purple, narrowly campanulate, 5 lines long, the lobes spreading, 

 emarginate : stamens as long as the perianth or longer : nutlet ovate, 

 smooth, 11^3 lines long. — Very common in the South, but possibly not 

 within our limits. 



2. ALLIONIA, Linnxus. Perennial, with opposite unequal leaves, 

 and axillary pedunculate flowers. Involucre herbaceous, 3-parted, 

 unchanged in fruit, 3-flowered. Perianth funnelform ; limb oblique, 

 4 — 5-lobed. Stamens 3—5, nearly distinct. Stigma capitate. Nutlet 

 ovate, compressed, smooth and convex on the inner side, the back with 

 a double line of stipitate tubercles enclosed by a rigid inflexed and 

 toothed margin. Embryo plicate, the cotyledons unequal. 



1. A. iiicariiata, Linn. Sp. PI. 2d ed. i. 147 (1762). Slender, prostrate; 

 herbage of a pale green, more or less woolly-pubescent and slightly 

 viscid : leaves ovate, }4—^% in- long» ^ery unequal, obtuse or acute, 

 exceeding the slender petiole : segments of the involucre concave, 

 broadly oblong or rounded : perianth deep purple or paler, 2 — 4 lines 

 long, the lobes emarginate, one much shorter than the rest : fr. 1^^ lines 

 long, usually somewhat carinate on the convex side ; teeth of the margin 



