Plate 250G. 



ERYNGIUM BEECHEYANUM, Hook, et Am. 



Umbellifer.e. 



E. beecheyanum, Hook, et Am. BoL Beech. Voy. p. 295 ; ex affini 

 ate E. Car Linn sed ramosius, capitulia numerosis minoribus, palei 



tate 



flores vix excedentibus. 



Caulis erectus, l|-2 ped. altus, a medio corymboso-ramosus, apice 

 dichotomo-ramosus, undique glaber, ramulis pedunculisque gracillimis. 

 Folia radicalia et caulina inferiors desunt ; caulina superiora s< silia, 

 parva, 1-2 poll. longa, anguste bipinnatisecta vel supreina palmatisecta, 

 spinoso-dentata. Capitula numero.sa, distincte pedunculata, ovoidea, 

 3-5 lin. longa, apice ob paleas paucas auctas breviter comosa. Involucri 

 bractem circiter 10-12, rigidae, lineari-lanceolatae, 4-8 lin. longae, spinoso- 

 acuminatee, integrae vel medio bidentatae. Palece flores paulo superan- 

 tes, vix rigid®, Imeari-subulatae. Calycis denies ovati, apiculati, circiter 

 i lin. longi. Petal a non visa. CarpeUa oblonga, absque calycis den- 

 tibus circiter ^ lin. longa et ^ lin. lata, eleganter denseque papillosa, 

 papillis minutis globosis crystallinis ; vittie sajpe 7, minutie ; styli 

 calycis dentes superantes, divaricati. 



Mexico: Jalisco, Beechey; Tepic, Barclay; Santa Maria, near 



Cuernavaca, Hahn, 400 ; Oaxaca, Uhiesbrcght ; Michoacan, Altami- 

 raniO) 24. 



At first sight tins might be taken for a slender form of E. Cariinm, 

 Delar. ; but apart from its slenderness and the more numerous heads, 

 the involucral bracts are entire or only bid en tate, the palese are rela- 

 tively and absolutely shorter, and the scales or papilla' on the fruit are 

 very different. E. beecheyanvm was founded on very imperfect ma- 

 terial, and it was only by very critical comparison that its identity 

 with good specimens was established. The matter was further com- 

 plicated by several other distinct species having been confused 

 with it. — W. Bottixg Hemsley. 



Fig. 1, a bract; 2, a pale ; 3, a flower in an advanced stngo ; 4. ;i mericarp ; 

 5, a petal ; 6, a cross sectioa of a niericarp. — All enlarged. 



