332 AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENUS ARGEMONE. 



A. albijiora, and a wild speciineu from Florida named by Chapman 

 himself in Herb. Dnraud A. mexicana, alba. In not a single 

 specimen of any of the other forms of Anfemone, whether white- 

 flowered or yellow-flowered, has the phenomenon been met with ; 

 all the flowering examples have three sepals and six petals. It is 

 noteworthy, too, that in his description of A. Georgiana, Mr. Croom 

 states that this form is often 8-petalled in Georgia. We have thus 

 a very odd corroboration of the identity of the garden A. alba with 

 the plant of the South-eastern States ; whether we have in the 

 character an additional plea for the treatment of A. alba as a good 

 species I must leave to others to decide, though I am myself 

 inclined to believe that we have. In any case it is necessary to 

 emphasise the fact that, so far as my research goes, this tendency 

 to tetramery is confined entirely to this form, and is met with in 

 wild as well as in cultivated examples. The statement that the 

 flower in Anjemone may be 4-merous is thus, if used as a generic 

 character, exceedingly misleading, and has therefore been de- 

 liberately omitted from the text of the generic description. 



There is some dubiety as to the locality of one of the specimens 

 quoted; this dubiety is explained by Sir W. Hooker [Juurn. Bot. i. 

 183). Mr. Drummond journeyed through Alabama to Louisiana, 

 collecting as he went ; there is a locality Covington in both States, 

 but it is not clear from Mr. Drummond's notes which of the two is 

 meant. When the plants were received, Sir William thought it was 

 Covington, Alabama ; when they were published, he was inclined 

 to think that the Louisiana Covington was intended. 



4. Argemone geandiflora Sweet. Glabra glaucescens, ramis 

 ascendentibus gracilibus uudique sparse foliosis cauleque inermibus, 

 foliis herbaceis sinuato-pinnatitidis margiue lactucoideo-acutilobis 

 vix spinosis, venis albidis ; floribus supra bracteas 1-2 foliaceas 

 versus apicem ramorum plus minus elongatorum dispositas in 

 cymis 3-6-floris subpaniculatim terminalibus ; sepalis 8 sub apicem 

 in cornu teretiforme omnino herbaceum Iteve productis, extus 

 glabris ; petalis 6 magnis albis basi Jate cuneatis apice truncatis ; 

 capsulis angustius tusiformibus 4-valvis, stylo distincto, valvis 

 crasse coriaceis inermibus vel aculeis perpaucis medianis tantuin 

 obsitis ; semiuibus globosis distincte reticulatis. Argemone grandi- 

 flura Sweet, Brit. Ft. Gard. iii. t. 226 (1827); Liudl. Bot. Reg. 

 t. 12G4 (1829); Loddig. Bot. Cab. xvi. t. 154G (18:^9); Hook. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 3073 (1831) ; Otto & Dietr. Allgem. Gartenzcit. i. 300 (1833); 

 Walp. Rep. i. 110 (1842); Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Ainer. But. i. 26 

 (1879). 



America: Mexico; Oaxaca, ad Mextitlan, Ghiesbrecht in Herb. 

 Paris ! Europe : in hortis botanicis privatisque stepissime culta 

 (v. sp. in Hort. Bard. ! Hort. Paris 1 Hort. Kew ! Hort. Genev. 1 

 Hort. Calcutta ! &c. culta). 



Herbacea robustior annua biennis vel, ut videtur, nonnunquam 

 perennis, 30-90 cm. alt., ramis floriferis 3-6-floris gracilibus 6-12 

 cm. longis ; foliis radicalibus nonnunquam 25 cm. longis, 8 cm. 

 latis, caulinis 8-15 cm. longis, 2-5 cm. latis ; sepalis 2 cm. longis, 

 cornubus 8 mm. longis, alabastris 1 cm. latis ; floribus 10-12 cm. 



