PLANTAGO PLANTAGINACE^ 563 



triangular, in villous forms top-shaped, cylindrical, 2-5 inches long: bracts 

 aristate to foliaceous, often 10 times as long as the flowers, linear-subulate 

 to linear, acute : flowers perfect : cal\ x-lobes villous to glabrate herbaceous, 

 spatulate-oblong : corolla-lobes spreading, round-ovate :stamens 4, barely 

 exserted from the tube : capsule oblong, obtuse, circumscissile at about the 

 middle: seeds 2, brown, oblong, finely pitted. Jn fields and plains, Ore- 

 gon to the Eastern and Southern States. 



P. tetrantha E. L. Morris Bull. Torr. Bot. Club xxvii 119. Alow 

 green and purplish acaulescent glabrous to pubescent or villous annual : 

 leaves linear, entire, 2-3 inches long, about a line wide, truncately callous- 

 tipped, sessile and with a somewhat clasping base scapes 4-6 inches high : 

 spikes oblong, 6-12 lines long, rather few-flowered: bracts scarious, with 

 rigid callous- tipped apex, % as long as the calyx: flowers perfect: calyx 

 pubescent, the ovate or oolong obtuse lobes with or without scarious mar- 

 gins, 1-2 lines long: corolla-lobes rounded-ovate, obtu&e, about 2 lines long, 

 white with dark brown base, spreading or somewhat reflexed : stamens 4, 

 long-exserted : capsule ovoid, 2 lines long, 2-seeded, circumscissile much 

 below the middle : seeds dark brown, deeply channelled on the face. On 

 dry hillsides near Grant's Pass, Oregon to California. 



P. Bigelovii Gray Pacif. R. Rep. iv, 217. Mostly glabrous and green, 

 annual: leaves linear, 1)^-4 inches long, rather fleshy obtuse, entire: 

 scapes 4-6 inches high : spikes oblong or linear, densely few to many- 

 flowered, about an inch long : bracts carinate, about an inch long : flowers 

 perfect, calyx- lobes ovate, obtuse, about equalling the bracts: corolla-lobes 

 ovate, remaining open : stamens 2, slightly exserted: capsule ovoid-oblong, 

 one half longer than the calyx, 4-seeded: seeds oblong, not hollowed on 

 the face. In brackish marshes along the coast, San Francisco Bay Cali- 

 fornia to Vancouver Island. 



P. elongata Pursh Fl. 729. P. pusilla Nutt. Somewhat cinereous- 

 puberulent annual : leaves linear-spatulate, 1-2 inches long, entire : scapes 

 l-6inches high : spikes 3-18 lines long, loosely flowered : flowers imperfectly 

 dioecious or polygamous : bracts ovate, keeled, about a line long : sepals 

 oblong, obtuse, about equalling the bracts, with broad scarious margins: 

 corolla-lobes triangular ovate, acute, becoming erect and closed over the 

 capsule: stamens 2: capsule short-ovoid, a little longer than the calyx, 

 circumscissile below the middle, 4-seeded : seeds elongated-oblong, dark 

 brown. In wet places, Oregon to the Eastern States. 



DIVISION III. APETAL^E, 



Floral envelopes consisting of a calyx only which is often 

 petal-like or wholly wanting. Very rarely some petals present. 



SYNOPTICAL KEY TO THE APETALOUS ORDERS 



A. Flowers not in aments. 



* Ovary superior, 1-celled and mostly l-<*ruled, or carpels distinct 

 if more than one. 



74 Syctutnuaceu' Herbs with simple opposite leaves without stipules : 



