506 



STERCULIACEAE 



at all. dohiscont dorsally and apioally or at \eu<xih 2-valved. — Species 90, all 

 continents, mostly tropical. (Name perhaps Arabic.) 



1. A. parvnlum (iray. Dksert Mallow. Stems slender, diffuse, 7 to 18 

 inches lonj;; hcrbajrc pubenilcnt. wlicn younpr more or less ashy; leaf-blades 

 rounded- or ovate-cordate, .serrate. 4 to 7 (or 18) lines long; petioles 2 to 5 lines 

 long; tlowers solitary on axillary liliform peduncles 6 to 9 lines long; sepals 11/2 

 lines long, rellexed' beneath the capsule; petals pink, 21/2 l"^es long; capsules 

 quadrat ish. 31/2 lin^s long, composed of 4 to 

 6 carpels, each 2 or 3-seeded. 



Arid .slopes, 3000 to 4000 feet: Provi- 

 dence Mts., eastern Mohave Desert. Ari- 

 zona to Texas and Colorado. Apr. 



Loc. — Bon.nnz.i King Mine, Mum 4206 (only 

 known st.ition in Cal.). 



Refs. — Abutilon parvulum Gray, PI. Wright. 

 1:21 (1852), San Felipe and San Pedro rivers, Tex., 

 Wripht; Jepson, Man. 1170 (1925). 



STERCULIACEAE. Sterculia Family 

 shrubs or trees -with alternate leaves and 



perfect regular or nearly regular 5-merous 



flowers. Stamens united below into a tube. 



Ovary superior, 5 (or 4) -celled. Style in 



ours one, stigmatic at apex. Fruit a cap- 

 sule. — Genera 48, species about 660, mostly 



tropical, all continents. 



Bibliog. — Bentham, Geo., Notes on * * * Ster- 



culiacea© (Jour. Linn. Soc. 6:110-123, — 1862). 



Gray, A., Ordo Cheiranthodendreae (Proc. Am. 



Acad. 22:303-305,-1887). 



Flowers yellow, showy ; petals none ; calyx -lobes with 

 a conspicuous gland at base; ovary not 

 stiped 1. Fremontia. 



Flowers bro\vnish, minute ; petal-claws filiform, end- 

 ing in a hood ; calyx-glands none ; ovary 

 stipitate '. .'. 2. Ayenia. 



Fig. 242. HoRSPORDiA ALATA Gray, a, 

 flowering branch, X ^/^ ; 6, long. sect, of 

 fl., X 1^; c, mature carpel, X 3. 



1. FREMONTIA Torr. 



Evergreen shrub or small tree witli small often lobed leaves and stellate pu- 

 bescence. Flowers showy, short-pediceled, solitary and axillary on the branchlets. 

 Stipules caducous. Bractlets 3 to 5, small. Calyx yellow and corolla-like, deeply 

 5-cleft into round-ovate lobes or sepals; these imbricated in the bud, the 3 inner 

 a little larger, all with a rounded and sharply defined glandular area at base. 

 Corolla none. Stamens 5; filaments united to the middle. Capsule 4 or 5-celled, 

 loculicidally dehiscent. — Species 1. (General John C. Fremont, Pathfinder of 

 the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, and first United States Senator from 

 California, who discovered it.) 



1. F. calif omica Torr. Flannel Bush. Loosely branching shrub 6 to 10 

 feet high, sometimes a .small tree up to 18 feet high; branches tough and flexible, 

 with many short leaf- and flower-bearing branchlets or spurs; leaf -blades orbicular 

 to ovate, elliptic or oblong, irregularly lobed to entire, green above, covered be- 

 neath with a dense gray or whitish felt, i/4 to 1^/4 inches long, or on sterile shoots 

 somewhat larger; petioles short; calyx somewhat flannel-like, 1^^ to 2 inches 

 broad, persistent, the lobes commonly mucronate; glands hairy; capsule ovate, 



