ASCLEPIADACEAE 939 



crown consisting of 5 turgid fleshy or hard scales, or flattish appendages, attached in a 

 circle at the base of the sessile or slightly stalked gynostegium (column), forming a hollow 

 entire or undulate spreading surface near the level of the conical stigmas. Follicles naked, 

 slender. The plants flower mainly during the summer. [Philibertia B. & H. , not H. B. K. ] 



Gynostegium distinctly raised on a stalk or column : follicles fusiform, attenuate at each end. 



1. P. crispa. 

 Gynostegium sessile. 



Leaf-blades ovate-oblong or lanceolate-oblong : peduncles much longer than the 



leaves. 2. P. clausa. 



Leaf-blades cordate at the base, sagittate to almost hastate : peduncles as long as 



the leaves or a little longer. 3. P. cynanchoides. 



1. Philibertella crispa (Benth. ) Vail. Stems cinereous-puberulent, becoming gla- 

 brous, pale gray-green, 1-10 dm. long or longer : leaves 4-8 cm. long ; blades varying 

 from linear-lanceolate and long-acuminate to linear or lanceolate, with a hastate or 

 auricular-cordate base, the margins undulate-crisped or entire, usually puberulous, and the 

 midvein conspicuously white above : peduncles longer than the petioles, 5-10-flowered : 

 calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate, puberulous : corolla 15 mm. long, broad, dull greenish 

 purple ; lobes oblong, obtuse, ciliolate, obscurely undulate, glabrous above, puberulous 

 beneath : outer crown deep saucer-shaped : scales of the stamineal or inner crown truncate 

 at the apex with a slightly protruding angled ridge midway between it and the base : fol- 

 licles 6-13 cm. long, slender, somewhat puberulous : seeds about 7 mm. long, minutely 

 tuberculate or granulose, margins slightly revolute when old : coma 3-3.5 cm. long. 



In dry soil, Texas to Arizona and Mexico. 



2. Philibertella clausa (Jacq.) Vail. Stems glabrous, or minutely pubescent at the 

 nodes : leaves 3-8 crn. long ; blades ovate-oblong or lanceolate-oblong, acute or acuminate 

 at the apex, rounded or subcordate at the base, glabrous or glabrate, usually leathery, 

 commonly with a cluster of small bristle-shaped glands at the base of the midvein, which 

 is sometimes pubescent beneath : peduncles twice as long as the leaves or more : flowers 

 many : pedicels 1.5-2 cm. long, hirsute or minutely tomentose : calyx-lobes oblong-lanceo- 

 late, acute, pubescent : corolla white, 1-1.8 cm. broad ; lobes oblong, fimbriate-ciliate, 

 pubescent beneath : outer crown shallow and appearing as if contiguous with the oblong- 

 oval scales of the stamineal crown : follicles somewhat oblique, many-seeded, 47 cm. long, 

 ovate-lanceolate, attenuate above, obtuse at the base, puberulous, becoming glabrate : seeds 

 3 mm. long, ragged or erose along the apex, granulose on the outside, granulose and 

 slightly pitted and with a prominent ridge or vein down the center on the inside : coma 

 about 2.5 cm. long. 



In sandy soil, Indian River region and the Keys, Florida. Also in the West Indies. 



3. Philibertella cynanchoides (Decne. ) Vail. Stems glabrous or nearly so : leaves 

 1.5-6 cm. long ; blades deeply cordate, sagittate or almost hastate, cuspidate or short- 

 acuminate, with a few obscure elevated glands near the base of the midvein above, and 

 rarely a few appressed hairs : peduncle about 3 cm. long : flowers 15-25 in an umbel : pedi- 

 cels very slender, puberulent, 1.5-2 cm. long : calyx-lobes ovate, acute, puberulent : corolla 

 white or cream-colored, with a few faint traces of purple near the apex of each acute lobe 

 ciliolate, minutely puberulent beneath : outer crown very shallow : scales of the stamineal 

 crown broadly oval, obtuse or acutish, slightly flattened : follicles 3-7 cm. long, long- 

 attenuate at the apex : seeds about 6 mm. long, the margin undulate at the apex by reason 

 of the excrescent pitted tubercles, the outer surface somewhat tuberculate and pitted, the 

 inner surface more prominently tuberculate and granulose : coma 3-3.5 cm. long. 



Along rivers, southern Utah to Texas, Arizona and Guatemala. 



3. PODOSTfGMA Ell. 



Perennial herbs, with erect stems. Leaves opposite. Peduncles terminal and axil- 

 lary, umbellately several-flowered. Calyx-lobes longer than the tube, acute. Corolla 

 with a 5-angulate base, and 5 erect oblong obtuse or acutish lobes. Crown consisting of 5 

 incurved pitcher-shaped bodies with involute ventral margins, remote from the anthers at 

 the base of the long column ; the latter very slender, nearly as high as the corolla-lobes. 

 Anther-wings widened toward the truncate salient base, accompanied by 5 small gland-like 

 processes alternating with them. Stigma concave. Follicles linear-fusiform, naked. 



1. Podostigma pedicellata ( Walt. ) Vail. Foliage pubescent. Stems rarely branched 

 above, 2-4 dm. high : leaf-blades linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, nearly sessile, 2-6 cm. 

 long, often revolute, scabro-pubescent on both surfaces, often becoming glabrate in age : 

 peduncles 2-4 or rarely 5, 5-12 mm. long, several-flowered : corolla 5-10 mm. long, yel- 



