LYTHRACEAE. 245 



Lepargyrea canadensis (L.) Greene. Shrub 1-2 m. high; young branches 

 and leaves scurfy with rusty brown stellate scales; leaves ovate or oval, entire, 

 obtuse, 2-4 cm. long, petioled, nearly glabrous above, scurfy beneath; flowers 

 small, clustered in the axils; fruit ovoid, orange-red; nutlet smooth. 



Vancouver Island, British Columbia; common in Whatcom and Island 

 Counties, Washington. 



Family 68. LYTHRACEAE. Loosestrife Family. 



Herbs; leaves mostly opposite and entire, with no stipules; 

 flowers axillary or whorled, perfect; calyx enclosing but free from 

 the ovary; petals 4-7, as many as the calyx- teeth, perigynous, or 

 none; stamens 4-14, on the calyx; style 1; ovary 2-4-celled; 

 ovules numerous, rarely few; fruit a membranous capsule; endo- 

 sperm none. 



Calyx tubular, cylindrical; petals usually 6. 324. Lythrum, 245. 



Calyx short, campanulate or globular; petals usually 4 

 or none. 

 Flowers mostly more than one in the axils; capsule 



bursting irregularly. 325. Ammannia, 245. 



Flowers mostly solitary in the axils; capsule septi- 



cidally dehiscent. 326. Rotala, 246. 



324. LYTHRUM. 



Slender herbs with 4-angled stems; calyx cylindrical, 8-12- 

 ribbed, 5-7-toothed, with as many secondary teeth in their 

 sinuses; petals 5-7; stamens as many or twice as many as the 

 petals, inserted near the base of the calyx; capsule subcylindric, 

 2-celled. 



Lythrum hyssopifolia L. Annual, stems procumbent or ascending, 10-20 

 cm. long; leaves numerous, oblong, obtuse, pale green, glabrous; flowers 

 solitary in the upper axils, nearly sessile; calyx-lobes subulate, the intermediate 

 processes broader; petals pale pink. 



In dried-up ponds; common and apparently native. 



325. AMMANNIA. 



Low and inconspicuous smooth herbs; leaves opposite, narrow; 

 flowers small, 1-several in the axils; calyx bell-shaped, usually 

 4-angled, 4-toothed and with 4 intermediate short tooth-like 

 appendages in the sinuses; petals 4, small, early deciduous, 

 or wanting; stamens 4-8; capsule globular, enclosed in the calyx, 

 mostly 4-celled, bursting irregularly. 



Ammannia coccinea Rottb. Erect or ascending, glabrous, 5-30 cm. high, 

 branched below; leaves oblong-linear, acute or obtuse, auriculate-ciasping at 

 the sessile base, entire, 2-4 cm. long; flowers 1-5 in the axils, sessile or 

 nearly so; petals broadly spatulate, truncate; style slender, about one-half as 

 long as the capsule. 



Moist river banks; not certainly known from within our limits but to be 

 expected on the lower Columbia as it occurs near the mcuth cf Heed River, 

 Oregon. 



