566 NYCTAGINACE.E ALLCONIA 



ABRONIA 



2 ALLIONIA Loefl. Inter. Hisp. 181 (1758.) 



Annual or perennial herbs with opposite equal leaves and 

 rather small flowers, involucrate in loose terminal panicles. In- 

 volucre 5-lobed, 3-5- flowered, becoming enlarged and reticulate- 

 veined after flowering. Calyx campanulate, its tube constricted 

 above the ovary, stamens 35, usualy 3, unequal, hypogynous. 

 Fruit obovoid or clavate, strongly ribbed, pubescent in our species. 



A. linearis Pursh Fl. 728. Oxybaphus angustifolia Sweet. Stems 

 slender terete or somewhat 4-angled below glabrous and glaucous, 1-4 feet 

 high, erect, the branches and peduncles sometimes puberulent: leaves thick, 

 linear, 1-nerved, 1-3 inches long, 2-4 lines wide, obtuse or acute 

 sessile, or the lower ones sometimes short-petioled: involucre about 3-flower- 

 ed, green before flowering: calyx purple longer than the involucre: stamens 

 and style exserted: fruit commonly roughened between the 5 prominent ribs. 

 In dry soil Idaho to Nevada, Texas and Minnesota. 



3 ABRONIA Juss. Gen. 448. (1774.) 



Annual or perennial herbs with thick opposite unequal leaves 

 and rather small usually fragrant flowers on axillary and termi- 

 nal peduncles. Involucre of 5-15 distinct somewhat scarious 

 bracts enclosing the numerous sessile flowers. Calyx salverform, 

 the limb of 4 or 5 obcordate or emargiante lobes. Stamens usu- 

 ally 5, unequal, included in the tube and adnate to it. Style 

 included: stigma linear-clavate. Fruit coriaceous or indurated, 

 3-5-wingedj mostly reticulate- veined enclosing a smooth cylindr- 

 ical achene: embryo with only 1 cotyledon, the other rudimentary 

 or wanting. 



* Wings of the fruit coriaceous, not completely encircling the body, 

 consisting of a single lamina: the body more or less woody. 



A. nmbellata Lam. 111. i, 469. A viscidly puberulent slender prostrate 

 perennial, the stems often elongated, 1-3 feet long: leaves nearly "glabrous, 

 ovate to narrowly oblong, 1-1)4 inches long obtuse, the margin often some- 

 what sinuate, attenuate into a slender petiole: peduncle 2-6 inches long: in- 

 volucral bracts small narrowly lanceolate 2-3 lines long, 10-15-flowered: 

 calyx rose-colored: 6-8-lines long with emarginate lobes: fruit 4-5 lines long, 

 nearly glabrous, the body oblong attenuate at each end, the thin wings near- 

 ly as long, rounded, broadest above and often truncate, narrowing downward 

 to the base of the fruit. On sands along the coast, Washington to California. 



A. mellifera Dougl. Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 2879. Minutely viscid- 

 glandular: stems stout, prostrate, 1-2 feet long from a stout perennial root: 

 leaves mostly oblong, obtuse, the blade 1-2 inches long, abruptly and more 

 or less obliquely contracted at base to a slender petiole often longer than the 

 blade: peduncles stout, 4-8 inches long: involucral bracts usually 5, scarious, 

 broadly lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 6 lines long or more, flowers pure 

 white, about an inch long, the limb 4-5 lines in diameter; wings of the fruit 

 narrow, often laterally elongated. On sandy banks along the Columbia 

 river, eastern Oregon and Washington. 



* * Fruit wholly coriaceous and the central cavity extend ing through 

 the wings. 



A. latifolia Eschschaltz Mem. Acad. Petersb. x, 281. Stems stout 



