56 ILLINOIS BIOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS [146 



C. compacta cremdata Choisy in DC, Prodromus, 9:459, 1845. 

 C. inflexa Engelmann, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 1:502, 1859. 



C. congesta Beyrich; C. parviflora Nuttall; C. umbrosa Beyrich, herb, names without descrip- 

 tions in Engelmann, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 1:502, 1859; in synon. 

 Epithymum coryli (Engelmann) Nieuwland & Lunell, Amer. Mid. Nat., 4:511, 1916. 



Stems medium to slender. Flowers fleshy, papillate, about 2 mm. 

 long, mostly tetramerous (less frequently penta- or trimerous), on pedicels 

 shorter or longer than the flowers, in panicled cymes; calyx lobes triangular, 

 acute, equalling the corolla tube; corolla cylindric-campanulate; lobes 

 triangular-ovate, crenulate, upright, with acute inflexed tips; scales 

 rudimentary, bifid, toothed, ordinarily reduced to toothed wings on either 

 side of the filament attachment, bridged somewhat below the middle; 

 stamens about as long as the lobes; anthers oval to slightly oblong, on 

 somewhat subulate filaments; ovary globose-ovoid, thickened at the apex; 

 styles shorter than or equal to the ovary, becoming widely divergent on 

 the capsule. Capsule at first globose, becoming depressed, thickening in 

 a collar about the intrastylar aperture, the withered corolla about the 

 upper part or soon falling away; seeds about 1.5 mm. long, usually four 

 in each capsule, dark brown, globular or somewhat compressed, rather 

 oblique, the surface scurfy; hilum short, oblong, oblique or transverse. 



This species resembles C. indecora but differs in its ordinarily tetramer- 

 ous flowers, rudimentary scales, more compressed capsule and more widely 

 divergent styles. 



Type locality: In dry prairies near St. Louis. Range: From 

 Rhode Island and Virginia westward to South Dakota, Nebraska and 

 Montana and southward to Texas and Arizona. 



Specimens examined: United States: Left Bank of Missouri (Ward in 1883). Bluffs 

 of the Cumberland (Ward in 1877). (Nuttall in Herb. Acad. Phil., the type of C. parviflora, 

 a fragment in the Engelmann Herb.). Rhode Island; Smithfield (Olney in 1872). Delaware; 

 Harrington (Canby in 1886). Virginia (Gray & SuUivant in 1843), Peak of Otter (Beyrich, 

 the type of C. congesta, a fragment in the Engelmann Herb.). Maryland; Piney Point 

 (Vasey in 1873), Glen Echo (Hillman in 1904 and in 1905). New York; Staten Island (Bum- 

 ham in 1901), Washington Co. (Burnham in 1895), Ithaca (Dudley in 1882), Peekskill 

 (Leggett in 1870), Niagara Co. (Clinton in 1864). Tennessee; (Beyrich 175-2, the type of 

 C. umbrosa, a fragment in the Engelmann Herb.), Nashville (Ward in 1877), Roan Mt. 

 (Rydberg 8179, 8183). Ohio; Sandusky (York in 1902). Indiana; Blackford Co. (Deam 

 190, 512), WUsons (Hill 100-1897), VermUion Co.. (Deam 9817), Lake Co. (Hill 124-1897, 

 95-1876), Kosciusko Co. (Deam 444), Lagrange Co. (Deam 14856), Dune Park (Chase 

 522). Michigan; Port Huron (Dodge 104, 372, 4 collections without number in 1896), 

 Detroit (Farwell 1291). Illinois; Without location (Chase), Evanston (Johnson in 1888), 

 St. Clair Co. (Eggert in 1897, Brendel in 1880), Chicago (Scammon 1, Hill 120-1897), Wabash 

 Co. (Schneckin 1880andin 1881), west of Chicago. (Chase in 1894), Cook Co. (Chase in 

 1896), Joliet (Skeels & Shaddick in 1900), Riverside (Greenman 2782), Glencoe (Sherff in 

 1911), Athens (Hall 4), Highland (Meyer in 1841), Beardstown (Geyer in 1842), Mascoutah 

 (Welch), Canton (Hovey); Peoria (Brendel), Carlinville (Andrews in 1890). Wisconsin 

 (Hale in 1860-61). Minnesota; Fergus Falls (Sheldon in 1892), Cannon Falls (Pol in 1888). 

 5. Dakota; Brookings (Williams in 1896), Lake Hendricks (Williams in 1894), Jones Island, 



