184 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 13 



dry on the surface for much of the year, carry a charge of water in their 

 sandy beds. The trees spread with ponderous limbs into a great mound 

 of relatively open foliage. The leaves are uniformly ellyptic, acute at 

 both ends, with strong scalleriform lateral veins, the blade commonly 

 14 to 18 cm long. The fruit is 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, quite round, 

 dryish, and little suited to human taste and consumption. 



Amarantaceae 



Philoxerus vermicularis (L.) R. Br., Prodr. 416. 1910. 



Gomphrena vermicularis L., Sp. PL 224. 1753. 



Chacagua Bay, Oaxaca, March 21, Elmore D26. 



Florida through the West Indies and Central America to northern 

 South America. 



Nyctaginaceae 



PiSONIA ACULEATA L., Sp. PI. 1026. 1753. 



Chacagua Bay, Oaxaca, March 21, Elmore D18, shaded in dry 

 sandy soil, a vine with yellow flowers. 



Widely distributed along beaches in tropical and subtropical Ameri- 

 ca. Also in southern Asia. 



A large, spiny, intricately branched shrub with sweet-scented flowers. 

 It occasionally takes a scandent form and runs over large trees. 



Salipianthus arenarius H. & B., PL Aequin. 1:139. 1807. 



Chacagua Bay, Oaxaca, March 21, Elmore D4, dry shaded sandy 

 soil. 



Jalisco to Oaxaca ; type from near Acapuico, Guerrero. 



An herbaceous shrub common to sandy and alluvial soils. Elmore re- 

 ports it as having "a very strong pleasant odor." A closely related species, 

 S. macrodontus, is known to have a large tuberous edible root (Gentry, 

 Carn. Inst. Publ. 527:111. 1942), and it would be of interest to know 

 if the present species has a similar organ. 



Papaveraceae 



Argemone mexicana L., Sp. PL 508. 1753. 



Tenacatita Bay, Jalisco, May 8, Elmore lAll, dry alluvial soil of 

 a stream bank. 



Common in wastelands and fallow fields of low and middle eleva- 

 tions throughout Mexico and into Central America. 



Capparidaceae 



Capparis baduca L., Sp. PL 504. 1753. 



Tenacatita Bay, Jalisco, May 8, Elmore 1A21. 



