VI. PLANT.5S WRIGHTIAN,?:. . 29 



consists of very short bristly hairs from a papillose base. The lowers, &c. are 

 nearly as in M. sempervirens ; except that the petals are not erose-denticulate, but 

 are minutely ciliolate under a lens, with a pubescence much like that of the leaves, 

 though tiner and apparently glandular, and which also covers their surface ; the 

 disk is not lobed nor manifestly repand ; the fruit is rather shorter, and so is the 

 style. The oblong cotyledons are, perhaps, less fleshy. 



ScH.EFiERiA cuNEiFOLiA, Gmij, PL Wrir/lit p. 3.5. Stouy prairies, from the San 

 Felipe to the San Pedro, Western Texas ; ^lay, in fruit. (9'iS.) 



Pachystima Myrsinites, Raf. ; Gray, PL IhidL p. 29. ^Mountain-sides, at the 

 copper mines, New Mexico ; Oct., in flower. (929.) 



GLOSSOPETALON, Nov. Gen. 



Flores hermaphroditi. Calyx profunde .5-fidus, persistens; lobis ovatis obtusis 

 sestivatione irabricatis. Petala .5, lineari-ligulata, calyce multo longiora, sub mar- 

 gine undulato-10-crenulato glanduloso disci tenuis perigyni inserta, marcescentia. 

 Stamina 10, sinubus disci inserta, calyce breviora : filamenta subulata : anthene 

 didyma^, rauticie, filamento sequilongse, loculis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ova- 

 rium liberum, ovoidcum, oblic^uum, apice acutum, stigmate sessili orbiculato depres- 

 80 simplicissimo coronatum, uniloculare. Ovula 2, e basi fere loculi erecta, sub- 

 collateralia, anatropa. Fructus oblique ovoideus vel oblongus, apiculatus, coriaceus, 

 multistriatus, 1 - 2-spermus, tandem bivalvis ■? Semen obovoideum, compressiuscu- 

 ium, hilo exciso arillo parvo carunculajformi bilobo munitum ; testa Ian i crustaceo. 

 (Embryo baud visus.) — Frutex 2 - 4-pedalis, ramosissimus, glaber ; ramis viridibus 

 striatis spinesceutibus ; foliis alternis oblongo-linearibus spathulatisve integerrimis 

 parvis, vel ramulorum florif ad squamulas subulatas niinimas reductis; stipulis 

 nuUis ; floribus albis secus ramulos sparsis axillaribus breviter pedunculatis. 



Glossopetalox spinescexs. (TAB. XII. B.) — In a mountain ravine near Fron- 

 tera, New Mexico ; April. (1347.) — The general aspect of this singular shrub is 

 so nearly that of Adolphia infesta, that it was mistaken for it by ]Mr. "Wright, and 

 therefore was only sparingly gathered, in flower, with a few immature fruits. It is 

 to be hoped that the botanists of the Boundary Commission will yet obtain it in 

 greater abundance and perfection. The detailed character given above will show 

 that it belongs to an entirely new genus, and probably to the order CelastracesE. 

 To this order I venture to refer it, notwithstanding two decidedly exceptional 

 characters, namely, the stamens of twice the number of the petals, and the strictly 

 simple pistil. The fruit, which is probably dehiscent at maturity, is a good deal 

 like one of the separate carpels of Euscaphis staphylreoides, althougli many times 

 smaller (only two lines in length) ; and the seed resembles that of Staphyhta, except 

 that it is appendaged at the hilum with a small, rather fleshy arillus. In these 

 respects, therefore, (but in no other,) our plant appears to be intermediate between 

 Celastracese and Staphyleacca;. Ordinarily only one seed matures ; but in a speci- 

 men gathered by Dr. Bigelow, two full-grown (superposed) seeds are occasionally 

 found. In none have I found a perfect embryo. In the few seeds examined, there 

 is a bulge of the crustaceous testa on each side, which corresponds to a defined 



PL. WR. — 5. 



