52 DIAPENSIACE.E. Pyxidanthera. 



Filaments commonly dilated. Style one : stigma 3-lobed, not indusiate. Ovules 

 indefinite, on projecting axile placentas, anatropous or nearly amphitropous. Cap- 

 sule coriaceous, loculicidally 3-valved, with or without a persistent columella. 

 Embryo small and terete in fleshy albumen ; the cotyledons very short. — Gray, 

 Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 246; Maxim. Mel. Biol. ix. 18; Benth. & Hook. Gen. 

 ii. 618. Diapenslacece, Lindl., as to our Tribe I., with Galacinecc, Don, as to 

 Galax. 



Tribe I. DIAPENSIEiE. Suffruticulose depressed evergreens, crowded with small 

 entire and nerveless coriaceous leaves. Sterile filaments or staminodia none : fertile 

 filaments adnate to the campanulate corolla up to the sinuses: anthers 2-celled. 

 Capsule with persistent columella bearing the placentae. Calyx consi^icuously brac- 

 teolate, strongly imbricated. Flowers solitary. 



1. PYXIDANTHERA. Flowers sessile on short leafy branchlets. Sepals thin-char- 

 taceous. Anther-cells Iransversely 2-valved, the lower valve cuspidate-pointed. Seeds 

 globular, amphitropous, with a close pitted coat. 



2. DIAPENSIA. Flower (or at least fruit) on a scape-like peduncle. Sepals broad and 

 coriaceous. Anther-cells muticous, divergent, obliquely 2-valved. Seeds oval or by 

 pressure cubical, anatropous, with a nearly close and reticulated coat. 



Tribe II. GALACIXE^E. Acaulescent, with creeping rootstocks sending up long- 

 petioled round-cordate or oblong evergreen leaves, and a scape bearing racemose or 

 clustered or rarely solitary flowers. Staminodia opposite the lobes of the corolla. 

 (Besides the following genera are Scluzocodon of Japan, near to Shortia, and Ber- 

 nfuxla of Thibet, between the latter and Diapenski.) 



3. SHORTIA. Calyx strongly imbricated and scaly-bracteolate ; the sepals many-striate. 

 Corolla open campanulate, 5-lobed ; the lobes undulate-crenate. Stamens distinct : anthers 

 2-celled ; the cells obliquely dehiscent : staminodia small and scale-like, adnate to base of 

 corolla, incurved over the ovary. Style filiform : stigma obscurely 3-lobed. Capsule 

 globular : partitions borne on the valves and separating from the persistent columella, 

 which bears the placentfe. Seeds globular or ovoid with a close granulate coat. 



4. GALAX. Calyx rather strongly imbricated, minutely 2-bracteolate, 5-parted ; the oblong 

 divisions nerveless. Corolla of 5 entire oblong petals, distinct, except that their bases 

 are adnate to the base of the monadelphous stamen-tube, which is ovate-cylindraceous, 

 10-lobed above ; the lobes alternate with the petals very short and anthcriferous ; those 

 opposite the petals (i. e. the staminodia) longer, linear-spatulate, petaloid : anthers sub- 

 sessile, thickened, rounded and granulate on the back ; the polliniferous part introrse and 

 small, somewhat beak-like, one-celled, transversely 2-valved. Style very short : stigma 

 obscurely 3-lobed. Capsule ovate ; the placentiferous columella at length more or less 

 3-parted. Seeds angular, with a loose coat tapering upward. 



1. PYXIDANTHERA, Michx. Flowering Moss. (TTv^iV, a small box. 

 and drdtiQa, anther, the latter opening as by a lid.) — Fl. i. 152, t. 17 ; Gray, Bot. 

 Text Book, ed. 2, 436, fig. 785-790 ; Lindl. Veg. Kingd. 606, fig. 410; Hook. 

 Bot. Mag. t. 4592. — Single species. 



P. barbulata, Michx. A small prostrate and creeping evergreen, leafy throughout, 

 loosely branching : leaves lanceolate or somewhat narrowed below, subulate-acuminate, 

 when young pubescent at base, much crowded, a quarter inch long: flowers abundant (in 

 early spring), closely sessile : corolla white or tinged with rose, open-campaimlate ; its 

 lobes (2 fines long) cuneate-obovate, retuse and obscurely erose : filaments ligulate. — 

 Diapensia cuneifoUa, Salisb. Parad. Lond. 105 ; Pursli, FI. i. 148. D. barbulata, Ell. Sk. 

 i. 229. — Pine barrens, mostly in sand, New Jersey and N. Carolina. 



2. DIAPENSIA, L. (Said to be an ancient Greek name of Sanicle, some- 

 what altered, applied in a wholly meaningless way to the present genus.) — Arctic- 

 alpine, containing a Himalayan species (Hook. f. Kew. Jour. Bot. ix. t. 12), and 

 the following. 



