232 LOASE^. 



stem 4-angled : leaves linear-lanceolate, 1 — 3 in. long, with a broad 

 auricled base : fl. 1 — 5 in each axil, mostly sassile : calyx 1% lines long, 

 in fruit becoming 2 lines broad : petals sroall, bright purple : capsule 

 bursting irregularly. — Common along the rivers and smaller streams of 

 the interior ; on the Sacramento, Jepsun; at Stockton, Sanford. 



2. A. hnmilis, Michx. Fl. i. 99 (1803). Rolala ramosior, Koehne. 

 Smaller than the preceding : leaves linear-oblanceoltite, not auricled at 

 base but tapering, sometimes short-petiolate : fl. 1 — 3 in each axil : calyx 

 globular, the accessory teeth as long aa the lobes or shorter : petals 

 small, purplish : capsule globular, dehiscent septicidally. — Habitat of 

 the preceding, but less frequent. In deference to a technicality of the 

 fruit structure, the species has lately been transferred to Rolala, but 

 unadvisedly, as we think. 



Order XXXIV. L A S E yC. 



Jussieu, Annales du Museum, v. 18 (1804). 



Plants analogous in some respects, though scarcely allied, to Epilobi- 

 acese. Herbage clothed with stinging or jointed and barl^ed hairs. 

 Bark of the brittle stems often white and deciduous. Leaves without 

 stipules. Oalyx-tube adnate to the 1-celled ovary. Stamens often very 

 numerous, and some of the outer petaloid. We have but the following 

 rather polymorphous genus. 



MENTZELIA, Plumier. Erect rigid and rough often fragile annuals 

 and biennials. Leaves alternate, mostly coarsely toothed or pinnatifid. 

 Flowers solitary or cymose, large or very small, yellow or white. Calyx- 

 tube cylindrical, ovoid or turbinate ; the 5-lobed limb persistent. Petals 

 5 or 10. Stamens oo , inserted on the throat of the calyx ; filaments free, 

 or in clusters opposite the petals, filiform, or the outer more or less 

 dilated and without anthers. Ovary truncate at summit, 1-celled ; 

 ovules horizontal or pendulous, in 1 or 2 rows on the 3 linear parietal 

 placentfe. Capsule mostly cylindrical, and opening irregularly at the 

 summit. Seeds angled or compressed. 



* Annuals, small-flowered; petals 5 only; stamens rather feiv; capsule 



linear; seeds few, not flattened, irregularly angled, opaque, usually 



minutely tuberculate. — Genus Trachtphytum, Nutt. 



■i- Seeds prismatical, with grooved angles. 



1. M. dispersa, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 137 (1876). Slender, 1 ft. 

 high : leaves narrowly lanceolate, sinuate-toothed or entire, the upper- 

 most often ovate : fl. clustered near the ends of the many branchlets : 

 calyx-lobes 1 line long, shorter than the petals : filaments not dilated : 



