ASCLEPIAS ASCLEPIADACE^E 441 



GOMPHOCARPUS 



ed on a column which is shorter than the anthers. Anthers tip- 

 ped with an inflexed or sometimes erect membrane; the pollinifer- 

 ous cells lower than the stigma. Pollen masses suspended, 

 attached in pairs to the glands of the stigmatic ring. 



A. speclosa Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii, 218. Finely canescent-tomen- 

 tose, rarely glabrous with age : stem stout, 2-6 feet high : leaves from sub- 

 cordate-oval to oblong, thickish transversely veined, 3-8 inches long, short 

 petioled : peduncles snorter than the leaves : calyx-lobes densely tomentose, 

 lanceolate, 2 lines long, closely reflexed : lobes of the corolla oblonjr, more 

 than twice as long as the calyx, reflexed: hoods 4-6 lines long, spreading, 

 the dilated body and its short inflexed horn not surpassing the anthers, 

 but the centre of its truncate summit abruptly produced into a lanceolate- 

 ligulate thrice longer termination : staminal column hardly any : wings of 

 the anthers notched and obscurely corniculate at base : follicles echinate 

 with soft spinose processes, densely tomentose, 2-4 inches long. Along 

 treams, California to Washington, Nebraska and Arkansas. 



A. cryptoceras Watson Bot. King 283 t. 28. Glabrous : stem decum- 

 bent, 6-10 inches long, simple : leaves 3-4 pairs, rounded-ovate, 1-2 inches 

 long, on very short petioles : umbel solitary and terminal, sessile, few- 

 flowered : corolla-lobes ovate-lanceolate, spreading, greenish-yellow, 5 lines 

 long : hoods of the crown 3 lines long, equalling the disk, purple, ovate, 

 abruptly pointed with 2 short recurved beaks ; horns short, incurved, not 

 at all exserted : follicles 1-2 inches long. Eastern Oregon to Utah and Nev. 



A. Mexican a Cav. Ic. i, 42, t. 58. Glabrous: stems erect, 3-5 feet 

 high : leaves in whorls of 2-6, sometimes also in axillary fascicles, petioled, 

 linear or narrowly lanceolate, 3-6 inches long by 2-6 lines broad: umbels 

 densely flowered: pedicels and flowers softly puberulent: calyx-lobes 

 ovate-lanceolate, reflexed : corolla-lobes oblong, 2 lines long : hoods broadly 

 ovate, entire, shorter than the anthers, exceeded by the stout subulate 

 horn: follicles smooth, narrow, 2-3 inches long. Along streams, Wash- 

 ington to California, Arizona and Nevada. 



2 GOMPHOCARPUS R. Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i, 37. 



Our species herbs with erect stems, opposite leaves and num- 

 erous flowers in terminal and axillary umbels. Differing from 

 Asdepias only in not having horns nor crests to the hoods. 

 Calyx o-parted, the divisions soon reflexed. Corolla rotate, 5- 

 parted, dextrorsely valvate-convolute in the bud, soon reflexed. 

 Crown consisting of 5 distinct cucullate appendages, destitute of 

 crest or horn and more or less elevated on a column. Body of the 

 stigma 5-angled. 



6. cordifolius Gray Bot. Cal. i, 477. Glabrous : stems rather stout, 

 2-3 feet high : leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, with cordate clasping base, 

 acute, 2-5 inches long : umbels loosely many-flowered: slender pedicels 

 long and filiform, equalling or shorter than the peduncle: calyx villous- 

 pubescent : corolla dark red-purple, the lobes oval or oblong, 3-4 lines long : 

 hoods e^ect on the summit of the short column, purplish, thin, ventricose, 

 with dorsally truncate summit, produced at the margins into subulate 

 slender ascending cusps, equalling the anthers, a narrow fissure down the 

 ventral side : follicles ovate-lanceolate, smooth and glabrous, erect on the 

 deflexed pedicel- On dry hillsides, southern Oregon and California* 



