210 BORAGINACEAE. 



Cryptanthe muriculata (A. DC.) Greene. Erect, branched from the base, 

 1O-20 cm. high, hispid throughout; leaves oblong or linear, 1-3 cm. long; 

 spikes often in pairs of 3-5 in a cluster, bractless; fruiting calyx 5 mm. long, 

 short-bristly, with linear lobes which are a little longer than the fruit; corolla 

 5-6 mm. broad, with prominent appendages in the throat; nutlets 2 mm. long, 

 usually all four present, ovate-triangular, obtuse, roughened with minute 

 papillae and some larger ones on the back and usually on the ventral face; 

 ventral groove extending from the apex to near the base where it widens out 

 into a triangular depression. Infrequent, in loose soil. 



Cryptanthe flaccida (Lehm.) Greene. Erect, 20-40 cm. high, branched, 

 minutely strigose and canescent throughout; leaves linear, narrow, 1-3 cm. 

 long; flowers in slender bractless spikes, loose and elongated in fruit; fruiting 

 calyx 4-5 mm. long, appressed to the stem, the sepals linear, very bristly, 

 especially at the base; corolla white, 2-3 mm. long; nutlets solitary, smooth 

 and shining, pear-shaped, attenuate-acuminate, shorter than the sepals, with 

 a groove on the ventral side, extending the whole length and somewhat widened 

 at the base. 



Cryptanthe affinis (Gray) Greene. Slender, branched from the base, erect 

 or ascending, 10-30 cm. high, rather soft-hairy; leaves oblong-linear, obtuse, 

 1-2 cm. long; spikes loose, nearly bractless, 2-6 cm. long; fruiting calyx 3 mm. 

 long, hispid; nutlets all four maturing, dark, smooth, ovate-oblong, acute, 1.5 

 mm. long, ventral groove simple, continuing the whole length of the nutlet. 

 Open pine-woods, in the mountains. 



Cryptanthe calycosa (Gray) Rydb. Erect or ascending, commonly 

 branched from the base, 15-30 cm. high, long-hairy and hispid throughout; 

 leaves oblong-linear, obtuse, 2-5 cm. long; spikes bractless, solitary or in 

 pairs, 1-8 cm. long; fruiting calyx 5 mm. long, very bristly, the lobes linear; 

 corolla white; nutlets 4, narrowly pear-shaped, acute, smooth and shiny, 

 2 mm. long; ventral groove forked near the base, but no depression between 

 the forks. Common and abundant. 



308. ALLOCARYA. 



Annuals or perennials; flowers small, white; calyx 5-parted, 

 erect or little spreading in fruit; corolla white, usually with 

 appendages at the throat; nutlets not armed with barbed prickles, 

 attached only at the inside of the base to a slightly elevated 

 gynobase. 



AUocarya hispidula Greene. Annual, much branched from the base, 

 spreading or ascending, 10-30 cm. high, sparingly hairy; leaves few, linear, 

 obtuse, 1-3 cm. long; spikes slender, elongate, leafy-bracteate near the base; 

 corolla white, small ; fruiting calyx 2mm. long, hispid ; nutlets ovate-oblong, with 

 obliquely rough-ridges on the three faces, keeled the whole length on the ventral 

 face; scar nearly basal. In dried up ponds and similar places, common. 



309. PLAGIOBOTHRYS. 



Very similar to AUocarya and Cryptanthe but the radical 

 leaves in a rosette and the nutlets attached by the middle of the 

 somewhat concave inner face to a hemispherical or globular 

 gynobase. 



