163 PARONTCHIEiE. (WHITLOW-WORT FAMILY.) 



Var. vclutina, Post. Leaves velvety, linear-oblong, acute, 

 crowded. Flowers in terminal heads — Duma, Lebanon. 



Var. §cariosi§siina, Post. Stipules acuminate, over-topping, 

 and almost hiding the leaves — Coast. 



1 1 Annuals. Heads .003 hroad, or less. 



§. P. Arabica, L. .1 to .d, puberulent ; branches filiform, 

 prostrate, sparingly leafy. Leaves oblong to lenticular .003 to .006 

 long, mucronate. Heads numerous, few flowered, along the lateral 

 and terminal branches ; bracts oblong-lanceolate^ acuminate, equalling or 

 over-topping the flowers ; scarious margin of caljx-lobes much broader 

 than the herbaceous -part ; awn as long as lobe — May — Sands ; Gaza and 

 southward. 



O. I*, desertoruiii, Boiss. RuTchaimah. Libbeit. .1 to .2, 

 velvcty-canescent, diffuse. Leaves and stipules densely imbricated below, 

 the leaves oblong-lanceolate, mucronate. Heads few-flowered, dispos- 

 ed in elonga.ted, narroio ptanicles ; bracts ovate^ acute, somewhat longer 

 than flowers ; scarious margin of calyx-lobes somewhat broader than the 

 herbaceous part ; mucro short — April and May —Sands ; Sinai and 

 westward. 



6. CrYMNOCARFUM, Foisk. Gymnocahpum. Karad. 



Calyx herbaceous, urn-shaped at base, the 5 lobes somewhat hood- 

 ed at apex, apiculate at back, at length indurated. Petals 5, setaceous. 

 Stamens 5, inserted at throat of calyx, opposite its lobes. Style elon- 

 gated, stigmas 3, short, filiform. Ovary sessile, ovule pendulous from 

 apex of basilar funicle, free, compressed. Utricle membranous, in- 

 dehiscent, at length ruptured at base. Embryo horse-shoe-shaped, 

 radicle superior — A Salsola-like, branching shrub, with opposite 

 leaves, flowers in capitate, short-peduncled, axillary or terminal cymes. 



C?. fruticosuin, Pers. 5 Sirr. Jerad Karad. .1 to .3 ; bark grey- 

 ish white ; branches zigzag, with short nodes. Leaves oblong-linear, 

 terete, mucronulate ; stipules triangular, short. Bracts lanceolate, 

 much shorter than calyx ; calyx-tube pruinose ; lobes linear, reddish, 

 with scarious margins — Spring — Hot valleys and rocks about' the 

 Dead Sea, and borders of et-Tih, and southward to Sinai and Egypt, 

 eastward to Persia. 



7. SCLiEROCEPHAliUS, Boiss. Sclerocephalus. 



Calyx cup-shaped at base, united with floral leaves and bracts, the 

 5 lobes erect, somewhat hooded, spiny below their tip. Petals 0. 

 Stamens 5, inserted at the margin of the membranous disk of the calyx 

 which lines its tube, opposite its teeth ; filaments thread-like, very 

 short ; anthers ovate-globular. Ovary membranous, adnate below to 

 calyx-tube, free at apex. Style bifid, with somewhat recurved, stig- 

 matose branches. Ovule suspended from a flat, membranous-margined, 

 basilar funicle. Utricle irregularly torn at apex. Seed ovate, some- 

 what compressed ; embryo annular ; pedicle superior — Annual, pros- 

 trate herbs, with spherical, 4-7-flowered heads, in fruit concreted with 

 the spiny, indurated, echinate, floral leaves, and deciduous with their 

 short, jointed peduncle. 



