V. 



plant.t; ^vrightian.e. 



S5 



seminis ; cotylecloiiibiis oblon 



radicula brevissima infera. — Fruti 



um 



ces ramosissimi, conferte foliosi, sempervircntes ; foliis pleris^iue alternis par\ 

 coriaceis enervibus vix pctiolatis integerrimis, marginibus Crassis pl. m. rcvoli 

 stipulis glandulaefonnibus minimis caducis ; floribus albis ad apicem ramo 

 thyrsoidco-paniculatis, bractcis saepius oppositis persistcntibus. 



^ 92. MoRTONiA SEMPERViRENS (sp. uov.) : fruticulosa ; foliis oblongis obtusis par- 

 vis(2-3 lin. longis); calyce fructu oblongo dimidio brcviore, lobis obtusiusculis 

 muticis ; stylo longiusculo. (Tab. IV.) — Calcarcous bills along the San Fclipe 

 River; July : also gathered in the collcction of 1851. — Shrub a foot or two high, 

 much branched from the root, very leafy throughout quite to the inflorescence, gla- 

 brous, except that the young branchlets are minutcly hirsute-puberulent. The 

 very coriaceous small leaves are obtuse at both ends, and with a distinct, but mi- 

 nute petiole. The flowers arc about 3 lines in diameter, and the ripe fruit, includ- 

 ing the persistent style, of barely the same length. The disk is expanded, lining 

 the tube of the calyx, much like that of the staminate flowers of Celastrus scan- 



dens, only more deeply lobcd, the five lobes oppositc the pctals, and so strongly 

 emarginate that the disk should perhaps rather be called 10-lobcd. The ovary is 

 free, or with its very base only connate with the base of the calyx-tube, which 

 closely invests it, as it does the base of the fruit, to which at first sight it appears 

 to be adherent. The cells of the ovary arc opposite the pctals. Thc disscpiments 

 in the young ovary do not quite meet in thc axis, cxcept at the base ; and they are 

 obliterated during the growth of the fruit. Thc dry, indehiscent fruit is slightly 5- 

 grooved : the single seed that matures fills the cell. There is no trace of an aril- 

 lus. The membranaceous testa is marked with a slendcr rhaphe ; and thc albumen 

 is very sparing. — I know of no genus with which this remarkable one may be par- 



pared. Deprived, by the preoccupation of the name, of 



ising discoverer of the present species, I had, in the 

 Hookerian herbarium, applicd to it the name of mv estimable friend, Elias Durand. 



of ded 



Esq 



botanist and promoter of the science: but I 



find, just when consigning my manuscript to the printer, that Planchon has already 



established a Durandea (in Linacese). I wish, therefore, to dedicate it to the mcm- 



ory of that most eminent American naturalist, the late Dr. Samuel George Morton, 



author of the Crania Amerkana, &c., and President of the Academy of Natural 



Sciences, Philadelphia, — There is a second species in the late Dr. Gregg's coUec- 

 tion.* 



(635.) ScH^FFERiA cuNEiFOLiA (sp. uov.): foliis fasciculatis parvulis obovato- 

 cuneatis sessilibus ssepe retusis ; floribus (focmineis) scssilibus ; stylo subnullo. — 

 High prairies of the San Felipe, and on the Rio Frio; in flower and fruit. AIso 

 in the collection of 1851, in fine fruit. Dr. Greir^ crathered it at Cerralvo, North- 



REGGII 



(sp. nov.): foliis spathulatis mucronato-cuspidatis (^-1 poll. longis) ; ovario 

 semiinfero ; calyce fructu ovoidco vix breviore, lobis acutissimis ; stylo brevi. — Near Rinconada, Mon- 

 terey, and Encarnacion, Northem Mcxico, Dr, Gregg. — " A large slmib,in low grounds." Tube of the 

 calyx moreadnate to the ovary than in M. sempervirens ; its lobes triangular, with athick and rigid midrib, 

 tapering to a sharp, rigid point- 



