RTJBIACEiB. (MADDER FAMILY.) 393 



9. CRUCIAXELL-A, L. Crosswort. 



Flowers perfect, solitary or twin, with 3, scarious, green-vittate 

 bracts at base, forming imbricated, 2-3-rowed spikes. Calyx-limb ob- 

 solete. Corolla funnel-shaped, with 4-5 lobes, ending in a caudiform, 

 introflexcd appenlage. Style bifid ; stigmas globular. Mericarps dry, 

 oblong or oblong-linear — Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes shrub- 

 by at base, flowers opening at night. 



* Annuals. 



t Outer hracts of opposite spikelets connate for half their length. 



1. C latifolia, L. .5 to .8. Lower leaves obovate, upper 

 lanceolate to linear, margins re volute. Spikes .1 to .3 long ; bracts 

 lanceolate, ciliate, scabrous-margined ; corolla-tube longer th?in bracts 

 — Spring — Dry hills ; common along coast and coast ranges of 

 mountains. 



t t Older hracts of opposite spiTce'ets not connate. 



X Corolla-tube not less than once and a half as long as hracts. 



2. C niacro§tacliya, Boiss. .3 to .6. Lower leaves ob- 

 long, upper lanceolate to linear, margins revolute. Spikes .1 to .3 

 long ; bracts oblong-linear, scabrous-margined ; corolla twice as long 

 as bracts — Spring — Dry hills ; common along coast, and in mountains 

 to 1200 m. 



Var. lii§pi<lula, Boiss. Spikes less than .1 long. Margins and 

 sometimes back of bracts hispidulous — Subalpine Lebanon. 



Var. bracliystacliya, Boiss. Spikes .015 in length. Leaves 

 narrower — • Abeih ; rocks near Antioch ; Marash. 



Var. penicillata, Boiss. Low. Spikes .01 to ,1 long. Corolla- 

 tube scabrous, and limb hispid without — Zahleh, Aintab, and north- 

 ward. 



I I Corolla shorter than hracts, or a little longer. 



3. C imbricata, Boiss, .3. Lower leaves ovate-oblong, 

 the rest linear, revolute. Spikes .03 to .05 long, dejise, linear-cylindri- 

 cal ; outer bracts ovate-oblong, round-backed, scarcely keeled, lateral 

 keeled, linear, shorter; Q.ovo\\?i somewhat shorter thanhracts — Spring — 

 Syria, place not noted {Boiss.). 



4. C. membraiiacea, Boiss. .2 to .5, branched from 

 base, erect. Leaves linear, zchite, acute, very* scabrous. Spikes ovate-ob- 

 hng, short, at length elongated, .02 to .05 long, loose; bracts lanceolate, 

 very acute, keeled, very broadly membranous, the outer longer, recurved- 

 falcate ; corolla-tube somewhat longer than bracts — Spring — Et Tib. 

 and southward. 



* * Annuals. Mericarps transversely wrinkled-pitted, minutely tuhercled. 



5. C. eiliata, Lam. .1 to .15 ; stem slender, simple, or with 

 spreading branches,' Leaves linear, revolute-margined. Spikes ohlong- 

 linear, ,03 to .05 long, rather loose ; bracts linear-lanceolate, very 

 acute, somewhat tapering at base, white-nerved at baclc, narrowly mem 

 branous-margined, very scabrous ; corolla 7nuch shorter than bracts — 

 Spring — Sinai ; Damascus to Aleppo, and el-Jebel-el-Abiad (Syrian 

 Desert). 



53 



