262 CONTKIBUTIOISrS FKOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Pisonia hirteUa H. B. K. Nov. Geu. & Sp. 2: 217. 1S18. 



Pisonia mexicana Willd. ; Link, Emmi. PI. 1:354. 1821. 



Boerhaavia octwndra S. Wats. Proc. Aiiier. Acad. 26:145. 1891. 



Pisonia arhorescens Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 3*: 265. 1898. 



Jalisco to Veracruz and Oaxaca ; type from Salvatierra, Guanajuato. 



Shrub, 2 meters high or less ; leaves broadly ovate or ovate-orbicular, 2.5 to 

 7 cm. long, obtuse or acute ; flowers perfect, greenish white, 5 to 7 mm. long ; fruit 

 dry, about 1 cm. long. " Jazmincillo " ( Valley of Mexico, etc. ) 



5. COMMICABPUS Standi. Coutr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12:373. 1909. 

 Plants fruticose or suffrutescent, more or less scandent ; flowers perfect, 



umbellate or verticillate, small ; fruit dry, cylindric, with very viscid glands. 



Perianth 3 mm. long and broad, glabrous or obscurely puberulent ; glands of the 

 fruit irregularly scattered 1. C. scandens. 



Perianth 7 to 8 mm. long, 10 mm. broad, short-villous or hirtellous; glands of the 

 fruit grouped in transverse bands 2. C. brandegei. 



1. Commicarpus scandens (L.) Standi. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 373. 1909. ' 

 Boerhaavia scandens L. Sp. PI. 3. 1753. 



Nearly throughout Mexico, in fencerows and waste ground. Western Texas 

 and southern Arizona ; West Indies ; South America ; type from Jamaica. 



Leaves cordate-ovate or ovate-deltoid, 1.5 to 6.5 cm. long, acute ; flowers 

 greenish yellow; fruit about 1 cm. long. " Bejuco de purgacion " (Porto Rico) ; 

 " sonorita " ( Sinaloa ) . 



A decoction of the roots is said to be used in Porto Rico for venereal diseases. 



2. Commicarpus brandegei Standi. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12:374. 1909. 

 Boerhaavia elongata T. S. Brandeg. Proc. Calif. Acad. II. 2:199. 18S9. Not 



B. elongata Salisb. 1796. 

 Southern Baja California ; type from San Pablo. 

 Plants 2 meters long or more, with whitish stems; flowers white. 



6. SELINOCARPUS A. Gray, Amer. Journ. Sci. II. 15: 262. 1853. 

 Low shrubs, more or less pubescent ; flowers perfect, solitary in tlie leaf 



axils. 



Several herbaceous species also occur in Mexico. 



Perianth 1 cm. long. Leaves linearor linear-oblong 1. S. angustifolius. 



Perianth 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long. 



Leaves linear, 1 to 4 cm. long, obscurely glandular-puberulent or glal)rous. 



2. S. palmeri. 



Leaves narrowly spatulate-oblong, 0.4 to 1.1 cm. long, densely glandular- 



hirtellous 3. S. purpusianus. 



1. Selinocarpus angustifolius Torr. U. S. & Mex. Bound. Bot. 170. 1859. 

 Coahuila. Western Texas, the type from Presidio del Norte. 



Plants fruticose below, 10 to 40 cm. high ; flowers often cleistogamous ; 

 fruit 5.5 to 7.5 mm. long, with 5 thin wings. 



2. Selinocarpus palmeri Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 6. 1882. 

 Known only from tlie type locality, San Lorenzo de Laguna, Coahuila. 

 Flowers 3.5 cm. long, the stamens long-exserted. 



3. Selinocarpus purpusianus Heimerl, Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 63: 35;>. 1913. 

 Known only from the type locality. Sierra del Rey, Coahuila. 



Shrub, 10 to 20 cm. high; flowers 2.5 to 3 cm. long. 



