428 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



the spring or early summer. It grows rapidly from cuttings and withstands con- 

 tinued drought very well, nor is it easily hiirt by alkali in the soil, characteristics 

 which make it especially valuable for cultivation in an arid climate. 



92. FOUQUIERIACEAE. Ocotillo Family. 



1. FOUQUIEaiA H. B. K. Ocotillo. 



Spiny shrubs with several erect or ascending virgate stems 3 meters long or less, 

 bearing leaves for but a short time in the summer, the spines formed by the indiu-ated 

 mid -ribs of the leaves of previous seasons; leaves oblanceolate-spatulate, entire; 

 flowers perfect, in thyrsoid terminal panicles, bright scarlet, appearing ustially before 

 the leaves; sepals 5; corolla 5-merous, gamopetalous, broadly tubular, with a spread- 

 ing limb; stamens 10, epipetalous; fruit an ovoid capsule with many seeds. 



1. Pouqiiieria splendens Engelm. in Wisliz. Mem. North. Mex. 98. 1848. 



Type locality: Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico. Type collected by Wislizenus 

 in 1846. 



Range: Western Texas to Arizona, south into Mexico. 



New Mexico: Black Range; Upper Corner Monument; Big Hatchet Mountains; 

 Hachita; mesa west of Organ Mountains. Mesas, in the Lower Sonoran Zone. 



A form with white flowers was collected by Metcalfe near Kingston in 1904. 



93. FRANKENIACEAE. Frankenia Family. 



1. FRANKENIA L. 



Branching shrubs 1 meter high or less, with small crowded leaves on numerous 

 fascicled short branches and small white flowers, these solitary, axillary, sessile; 

 sepals 5, united into a persistent tube; petals 5, white, clawed; stamens 6; fruit a 

 few-seeded capsule included in the calyx. 



1. Frankenia jamesii Torr. in A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 8: 622. 1873. 



Type locality: Colorado. 



Range: Southern Colorado to New Mexico and western Texas. 



New Mexico: White Sands; Alamogordo; Los Mitos; Organ Mountains. In alka- 

 line soil, in the Lower Sonoran Zone. 



94. HYPERICACEAE. St. Johnswort Family. 



1. HYPERICUM L. St. Johnswort. 



Herbs 30 to 60 cm. high, \vith yellow, loosely cymose flowers and opposite sessile 

 leaves, these usually black-dotted along the margins; sepals 5; petals 5, bright yellow, 

 with a few black glands; stamens numerous, united at the base into 3 or 5 clusters; 

 styles 3, distinct; fruit a 3-lobed capsule with numerous seeds. 



1. Hypericum formosum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 5: 190. pi. 460. 1821. 



Type locality: "Crescit prope Pazcuaro Mexicanorum, alt. 1130 hex." 



Range: Colorado and Utah to California and Mexico. 



New Mexico: Higher mountains throughout the State. Damp meadows, in the 

 Transition Zone. 



95. VIOIACEAE. Violet Family, 



Low herbs, often acaulescent, with simple alternate stipulate leaves and complete 

 irregular flowers; sepals 5; petals 5, irregular, one of them often spurred; stamens 5, 

 the anthers erect or connivent; pistil of 3 carpels, with a single style, becoming a 

 1 -celled capsule with several seeds. 



