A PARASITIC PLANT — THACKEKY AND OILMAN 413 



111 18i)0, Dr. Edwiiiil Palmer collected Aiuiuobroina near Lerdo, 

 Soiiora, Mexico, not far from the Arizona boiiiulary, and reported 

 it parasitic on Fninseria duniosa (Compositae) Gray and Dalea (or 

 Farosela) einoryl (Leguminoseae) Gray. The account of the col- 

 lecting of the plant by Doctor Palmer is found in the Contributions 

 from tlie United States National Herbarium, No. 1, June oO, IbUO., 

 p. 27: 



Ammohroma aonorae, Torr. This wus lirst discovered in 1S54 by Col. A. B. 

 Gray, iu charge of a railroad exploring party, at the head of the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia. At this time a short notice of the discovery was published by Col. 

 .\. li. Gray in Memoirs of the American Academy of Science, but it was not 

 until 1SG7 that a description of the genus was published by Dr. John Torrey 

 in the Aimnls of Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. Vol. YIII, p. 51, together with a good 

 tigure. So far as we cau learn the plant was not collected again until Schu- 

 chard got it in Arizona. And now Doctor Palmer collected it in lai-ge quan- 

 tities at Lerdo, Mexico. Until the present season its host plant has been 

 unknown but Doctor Palmer has carefully examined into this, anil collected 

 two common plants of this arid region upon which it grows. These are Fran- 

 seria dumosa and Dalea emoryi. Doctor Palmer wrote that the plant grows 

 in deep sand, the deeper the sand the larger and juicier the plants. The Cocopa 

 Indians gather them for food, which they relish under all circumstances. They 

 eat it raw, boiled, or roasted. The plant is full of moisture, and whites and 

 Indians alike resort to it in traveling, as a valuable substitute for water. It 

 has a plea<;ant taste, much resembling the sweet potato. The stems are 2% 

 feet long and 1 to 4 inches in diameter, but almost buried, only the peculiar 

 white tops appearing above the sand. The Cocopa Indians call it " Oyutch." 

 Colonel Gray gave nmch the same report of this plant. He says the Papago 

 Indians dry the stems and grind them with the mesquite beans, forming what 

 they call " pinole." 



In this same publication, under the heading " Head of the Gulf of 

 California," also on page 27, appears the following: 



Three days were spent at Lerdo, Mexico. This is 60 miles south-southwest 

 from Yuma, latitude 31° 40' 10", and longitude 114° 43' 30". 



The most interesting plant found here was Ammobroma, wliicli for the first 

 time has been collected in good quantity. 



Since Doctor Palmer's time, no further information has been 

 forthcoming as to the hosts of this parasitic plant, which in the 

 meantime had been reported from Ogilby, Calif., near Hedges Mine, 

 by "W. L. Jepson in his book ''A Manual of the Flowering Plants of 

 California," page 735, published April 14, 1925. 



In the sand dunes ea.st of Holtville in Imperial County, Calif., we 

 found Ammobroma parasitic on Cohlenhi plicata^'^ (Torr.) Cov. and 

 Coldenia palmeri Torr. (Boraginaceae) and more rarely on Enogo- 

 num deserticolum Wats. (Polygonaceae). We did not see any 



'An unfortuuntc confusion linn oc-ciirrcd iu the ni»iii< s of these two i-ominDn species df 

 Culdenia. What Is commonly called Coldenia palmcrl Wats. Is, accurdloK to Ivan M. 

 Johnston (I'roc. California .Vcud. Scl., vol. 4. no. 1-', lll.i .\. 30, .May .'{l, 11)24) not tliut 

 species but Coldenia plicata, (Torr.) Cov., while the true C'oldvnla puhticri Torr. is the 

 Biiccies commonly called Coldenia Irciicalyjt Wats. Tim names are used here iu their 

 orielual sense as determined by Johnston and not In their current application. 



