OAKESIA CONRADII. 



ply. The points in which the generic characters by Klotzsch differ 

 from the detailed description by Torrey are few and slight, and I 

 may add, not invariably correct. The rank of the scarious envel- 

 opes of the flower, called by Torrey, with purposed ambiguity, the 

 "scales of the perianth," and by Klotzsch distinguished into a "ca- 

 lyx triphyllus," and a "corolla diphylla," is of course a matter of 

 opmion. But they cannot, except in an arbitrary manner, be 

 divided into an outer and inner series ; they are imbricated one 

 over another, in the manner of the scales of a winter bud, which 

 purpose they. subserve; they vary in number from five to six or 

 more, and the only difference is, that the inner are successively 

 thinner and more hyaline, as in an ordinary bud. These have not 

 the petaloid appearance or texture of the " petals '' of Empetrum 

 which form apparently a true perigonium. It were perhaps best 

 to consider the whole of them as equivalent to the "six imbricated 

 scaly bracts " of Empetrum. However that may be, they are ab- 

 solutely the same as the " calyx 3-phyllus ; petala 3 " of Corema 

 Don, that is, when actually six in number, which is not uncom- 

 monly the case. Klotzsch's character, "corolla (fcem.) diphylla" 

 should therefore be corolla 2-3-phylla, when it would agree with 

 Dr. Torrey's description, though in other terms. In describino- the 

 corolla of the sterile flowers, Klotzsch has unfortunately mistaken an 

 occasional and plainly accidental deviation for the regular struc- 

 ture.* Although these inner scales do sometimes grow together 

 more or less, in the manner exhibited at Fig. 4, yet this union is 

 quite casual and variable, and obviously of no moment, except as it 

 tends to show that these organs are not really petals. The sta- 

 mens, though generally three, are often four, as Dr. Torrey had 



* (( I 



' Corolla (fl. masc.) tenuissime membranacea, cyathiformis, apice truncata et 

 minutissime denticulata, longitudinaiiter fissa, deinde diphylla." Klotzsch, I c. 



