LOASA FAMILY 



535 



mostly in terminal bracted cymes. Calyx-limb 5-lobed, persistent. Petals 5, 

 united at base and inserted on the throat of the calyx. Stamens numerous, the 

 filaments filiform, inserted on the base of the petals in a broad band and deciduous 

 with them in a ring. Placentae 5, prominently expanded, covered with ovules; 

 style 5-cleft, the lobes often twisted. Capsule obovate, opening by 5 valves at 

 the summit. Seeds minute, longitudinally striate. — Species 8, southwestern United 

 States and Mexico. (Greek eu, true, and cnide, sea-nettle.) 



1. E. urens Parry. Rock Nettle. Low bush 1 to 2 feet high, the stout stems 

 erect-spreading, or often all decumbent and 2 to 5 feet long; herbage finely pu- 

 berulent and covered with 2 kinds of bristles, simple and barbed; bristles on upper 

 surface of leaves with broad disks at base; leaf -blades broadly ovate, 1 to 2^ 



inches long; pedicels 3 to 6 lines long; calyx- 

 lobes lanceolate, 6 to 10 lines long; petals 

 narrowly obovate, abruptly acuminate, 1^2 

 inches long, united at the base into a tube 

 3 lines long; filaments equaling the calyx- 

 lobes; style stout, cleft to the middle, the cleft 

 portion twisted; capsule I/2 inch long. 



Shade of cliffs or in rocky places, 2000 to 

 3000 feet: Inyo Co. East to Utah, thence 

 south to Lower California. May. 



Locs. — Inyo Mts. (Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 

 4:109); Surprise Canon, Panamint Range, Parish 

 10,422; Funeral Mts., Jepson 6890; Grotto Canon, 

 Death Valley, Eoah 4" Thacher; Argus Mts., Purpus; 

 Slate Range, Chandler. 



Refs. — EuCNiDE URENS Parry, Am. Nat. 9:144 

 (1875); Jepson, Man. 652, fig. 645 (1925). Ment- 

 selia urens Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 10:71 (1874), 

 type loc. Colorado River near mouth of Williams 

 River, w. Ariz., Bigelow. 



3. SYMPETALEIA Gray 



Annual herbs, with both simple and 

 barbed bristles. Leaf-blades roundish-cor- 

 date or subcordate, shallowly lobed or 

 toothed, petioled. Flowers solitary on axil- 

 lary peduncles. Peduncles short, becoming 

 elongated and tortuous in fruit. Corolla 

 sympetalous, tubular, its lobes rather short, a little longer than the calyx-lobes. 

 Stamens numerous, in several series, inserted on the upper part of the corolla- 

 tube; anthers 1-celled. Staminodia none. Style long, the stigma conspicuous. 

 Placentae 5, alternating with the calyx-lobes. Fruit a capsule, opening at the 

 apex inside the calyx-lobes by 5 short valves. Seeds minute, numerous, in several 

 rows on the placentae. — Species 2, Lower California, Sonora and Southern Cali- 

 fornia. (Greek sjtu, together or united, and petalon, leaf, that is, leaf of a corolla 

 or petal.) 



1. S. rupestris Gray. (Fig. 249.) Low or diffusely branching plant 3 to 6 

 inches high; herbage harshly pubescent; leaf -blades 1 to 4 inches wide, on petioles 

 % to 2 inches long; flowers 9 lines long; calyx-lobes elliptic; corolla-tube narrow, 

 6 lines long, yellowish, the lobes II/2 lines long, broadly ovate, dark green; stamens 

 40 to 52, inserted in several series on the upper third of the corolla-tube, the lower 

 filaments yellow, spreading, 14 line long, the upper green, erect, 1 line long; style 

 slenderly obclavate ; capsule oblong-obovoid and truncate, 4 lines long, on recurv- 

 ing or contorted peduncles 6 to 8 lines long. 



Fig. 249. Sympetaleia rupestris 

 Gray, a, flowering branch, X % ; 6, 

 basal leaf, X % ; c, corolla spread open, 

 X 2 ; d, cross sect, of ovary, X 4. 



