1 62 DATISCA FAMILY 



does not grow in the higher mountains. As to beauty, it is 

 in no wise comparable to M. aurea Baill., a large species of 

 the foothills, with numerous showy flowers, the golden-yellow 

 petals an inch or more long and vermilion at base. 



DATISCACEAE. Datisca Family. 

 Calyx of united sepals. Corolla none. Flowers of two sorts 

 borne on different plants, the staminate with 8 to 12 stamens, 

 the pistillate with a 1-celled inferior ovary and 3 cleft styles. 



1. DATISCA. 

 1. D. glomerata B. & W. Durango Root. Stems clustered, 

 erect, 2 to 4 ft. high, the whole plant glabrous. Leaves 3 to 6 

 in. long, nearly as broad, much divided and toothed, fern-like. 

 Staminate flowers in loose clusters in the leaf-axils. Pistillate 

 flowers in small nearly sessile clusters or scattered along the 

 leafy branches; capsule angular, opening at the top, many- 

 seeded. — Stream beds along the foothills, extending up to 

 5000 ft. near Wawona (and Hetch Hetchy ?). 



LYTHRACEAE. Loosestrife Family. 

 Herbs with entire leaves and no stipules. Petals and sta- 

 mens borne on the throat of the calyx. Ovary and capsule 1 

 to 4-celled, free from the calyx. — Represented in the foothill 

 and coast districts by a common Loosestrife (Lythrum cali- 

 fornicum T. & G.) with cylindric calyx and purple petals, but 

 the only member of the family known to inhabit our region 

 is the following. 



1. ROTALA. 

 1. R. ramdsior Koehne. A glabrous annual, 2 to 8 in. 

 high, leafy to the top. Leaves tapering to the base, ^ m - or 

 less long. Flowers small, 1 to 3 in each leaf-axil. Calyx 

 globose in fruit, 8-ribbed. Petals 4, purplish. (Ammania 

 humilis Michx.) — Reported as having been collected in Yo- 

 semite Valley by Mr. J. G. Lemmon. 



ONAGRACEAE. Evening Primrose Family. 

 Herbs with simple leaves and complete regular flowers in 

 spikes or racemes or solitary. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, 

 the 4 petals and 8 stamens inserted at its summit (flower- 

 parts in 2's in Circaea). Ovary inferior, becoming a 2 or 4- 

 celled capsule (1-celled and indehiscent in Circaea); style 

 single. 



