STENOSIPHON VIRGATUS. 

 THE STENOSIPHON. 



NATURAL ORDER, ONAGRACE/E. 



STENOSIPHON VIRGATUS, Spach. — Tube of the calyx filiform or almost capillary, much pro- 

 longed beyond the ovary, recurved or declined after flowering, at length deciduous ; the 

 limb four-parted, much shorter than the tube. Petals four, unguiculate, unequal. Sta- 

 mens eight, erect, the alternate ones a little shorter: filaments capillary: anthers oblong, 

 fixed by the middle. Ovary oval, one-celled, with four suspended ovules: style erect, fili- 

 form, dilated at the apex : stigma four-lobed. Fruit (very small) coriaceous and indehis- 

 cent, ovate, convex externally, flattish within, about eight-ribbed, one-seeded. (Torrey & 

 Gray's Flora of North America. See also Porter's Flora of Colorado.') 



HIS innocent-looking flower with a long Greek name was 

 first discovered by Long's exploring expedition on 

 the Arkansas river, in 1819. It was regarded by Nuttall as a 

 Gaura, and named by him G. /inifoiia, under which name it is 

 described in most of the works immediately succeeding that time. 

 A more recent author, Spach, in a revision of the order Onag7'a- 

 cetE, separated this genus from Gatira, describing it as Sienosi- 

 phon, the name being derived from two Greek words signifying 

 "slender tube," which is a very characteristic name in view of the 

 remarkably long and slender tubes of the flowers. Up to this 

 time there has been no species discovered but this one, and the 

 whole generic character from Torrey and Gray is given instead 

 of the mere specific description to which we usually confine our- 

 selves. The species is found nowhere but in the United States, 

 and not far beyond the location of its original discovery, the 

 Arkansas, as given by Nuttall. Dr. Parry collected it in Colo- 

 rado in 1 861, and it is among the collections of Canby from the 

 same region ten years later, as noted in Porter's Fiora of Colo- 

 rado. In the collections of Lindheimer from Texas it is described 



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