282 ELATINACE^. Elatine. 



§ 2. Elatinella, Seubert, 1. c. 46. Flowers 4-merous and 8-androus, very 



rarely 3-merous and 6-androus : capsule firmer, septifragal. 



B. Californica, Gray. Leaves obovate or spatulate with tapering base, lower ones dis- 

 tinctly petioled : flowers short-peduncled, expanding : petals white : seeds curved into a 

 liook or partial ring (as in E. Ilydropiper), a third line long, sculptured with 10 or 12 longi- 

 tudinal and numerous transverse lines. — Proc. Am. Acad. xiii. 361, 364; Wats. 1. c. — 

 Sierra Valley, E. California,^ Lemmon; Spokane Co., Washington, Suksdorf. 



2. BERGIA, L. (Peter Jonas Bergius, Swedish botanist of the 18th cen- 

 tury.) — Mant. ii. 152. — Tropical and subtropical genus. Dehiscence generally 

 septicidal. But in the N. American species, 



§ Bergella, with dehiscence septifragal, the firm portions remaining attached 

 to the placentiferous axis. Habit of B. ammanioides, &c. — Elatine, subg. 

 Bergella, Gray, Gen. 111. i. 219, t. 96. Bergella, Schnizl. Ic. t. 219. 



B. Texana, Seubert. Annual herb, a span to a foot high, branched from the base, puberu- 

 leut : stems glandular-pubescent, very leafy : leaves obovate-oblong or spatulate with taper- 

 ing base, an inch or half inch long, veiny, serrulate : flowers fascicled in the axils, 

 short-pedicelled : sepals almost 2 lines long, acuminate, equalling the white or whitish 

 petals: stamens either 5 or 10: seeds oblong, a little curved, obscurely clathrate- reticulate 

 under a lens. — Seubert in Walp. Rep. i. 285 ; Brew. & Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 80. By error 

 " B. Americana, Seubert," Wats. Bot. King Exp. 45; Gray in Hall, PI. Tex. 5. Merimea 

 •^Texana, Hook. Ic. t. 278. Elatine Texana, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 678 ; Gray, PI. Lindh. pt. 

 2, 187, & Gen. 111. (subg. Bergella) 1. c. Bergella Texana, Schnizl. 1. c. — Sandy banks of 

 streams, W. Texas (first coll. by Wright) and Arkansas ;2 also W. Nevada, various parts of 

 California, and on the Columbia River ; apparently a recently dispersed weed. 



Order XXIII. HYPERICACE^. 



By J. M. Coulter. 



Herbs or shrubs with opposite entire leaves dotted with pellucid spots or dark 



glands, and no stipules. Flowers perfect, regular, hypogynous, solitary or 



cymose. Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated in bud, herbaceous and persistent. Petals 



4 or 5, mostly convolute in bud, deciduous, and yellow or flesh-color. Stamens 



usually numerous and 3- or 5-adelphous, occasionally with alternating glands ; 



anthers 2 celled, longitudinally dehiscent, mostly versatile. Carpels 2 to 5, 



united to form a 1-celled or more or less perfectly 3-5-celled ovary, which 



contains numerous anatropous ovules ; styles as many as the carpels, slender, 



distinct or more or less united. Fruit (in ours) a septicidal capsule ; seeds exal- 



buminous ; embryo usually straight. — A small order, but represented in all 



temperate and warmer regions. Its close relationship to Guttiferm has suggested 



its inclusion in that order, from which it differs in its often herbaceous habit, 



comparatively thin leaves, perfect flowers, and filiform styles. 



1. ASCYRUM. Sepals 4, very unequal, the outer pair very broad, the inner much smaller. 

 Petals 4, ver}' deciduous. Stamens numerous, distinct or slightly united at base, with no 



1 Also at Sta. Monica, Calif., Dr. Basse, and near Great Falls, Montana, ace. to R. S. Williams, 

 Bull. Torr. Chib, xix. 194. 



2 Also in Missouri and Indian Territorj', Bush, and Kansas, ^(/e Hitchcock. 



