NYCTAGINACEAE. 125 



lateral slits. Ovary superior, enclosed by the tube of 

 the persistent calyx, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; style short or 

 elongated; stigma capitate. Fruit consisting of the 

 hardened base of the calyx, often costate or winged, 

 enclosing the free achene. 



Calyx funnelform or campanulate; fruit slightly 



ribbed. 1. Mirabilis. 



Calyx salver-shaped; fruit winged. 2. Abronia. 



1. MIRABILIS L. Four-o'clock. 



Perennial herbs, somewhat woody toward the base, 

 with opposite leaves and axillary solitary or paniculate 

 peduncles. Involucre calyx-like, 5-cleft or 5-parted, 

 herbaceous unchanged in fruit, bearing 1-12 flowers. 

 Calyx tubular or narrowly campanulate, with somewhat 

 spreading lobes. Stamens 5, equaling the calyx; fila- 

 ments united at the base. Fruit globose to ovate-oblong, 

 smooth or slightly ribbed or angled. 



1. M. froebellii Greene. Wats. Stems stout, spreading, 

 0.5-1 m. long; herbage roughish pubescent throughout; leaves 

 rather thin, 3-7 cm. long, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute 

 or acuminate, sometimes slightly cordate, decurrent on the slender 

 2-4 cm. long petioles; involucre about 20-25 mm. long, 5-cleft to 

 about the middle, the lobes acute; flowers usually 6, broadly funnel- 

 form, 3-5 cm. long, rose color to purple, the tube greenish, acutely 

 5-lobed; stamens 5, equaling the calyx, shorter than the filiform style; 

 fruit ovate-oblong, 6-8 mm. long, with 10 shallow furrows near the 

 base and with as many intermediate dark lines. (M. muUifiora 

 pubescens Wats.) 



Southern Sierra Nevada to San Diego County, chiefly on the desert 

 slopes, Manzana, Davidson, San Jacinto and Cuyamaca Mountains. 



2. M. calif omica Gray. Stems ascending or spreading from a 

 somewhat woody base, 3-6 dm. long; herbage viscid-pubescent; 

 leaves rather thick, 1-3 cm. long, broadly ovate to cordate, obtuse 

 or acute; petioles slender, 1-2 cm. long; involucre about 6 mm. long, 

 acutely 5-cleft to near the middle; calyx narrowly campanulate, 

 10 mm. long, the lobes spreading, emarginate; stamens equaling the 

 calyx and nearly equaling the style; fruit ovate, smooth, 3 mm. long. 



Common in the foothills throughout our range. March-June. 



2. ABRONIA Juss. Sand-verbena. 



Ours perennial herbs, often prostrate and more or less 

 viscid-pubescent, with thick opposite unequal leaves. 

 Involucres of 5-15 somewhat scarious leaflets, enclosing 



