PARONYCHIA ARGYROCOMA. 



SILVERHEAD ; NyMLWORT. 



NATURAL ORDER, CARYOrHYLLACE.K. (rAKONVCHIACK.V, OF IJNDLKV.) 



Paronyciiiv ARGYROCOMA, Nuttall. — Casspitosc, procumbent, and pubescent; leaves linear, 

 pungcntly acute, villous, and nerveless ; stipules entire ; bracts equal with the flowers ; 

 cpiie dichotomous, crowded; interior apex of the calyx bearded, exterior sctaceously 

 acuminate. (Nuttall's Genera of North American Plants. Sec also Gray's ^^anltal cf the 

 Botany of the Northern United States, Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States, and 

 Wood's Class-Book of Botany.) 



HE lover of pretty wild flowers who has never seen the 

 Paronychia argyrocoma growing, will hardly think that 

 he has anything very remarkable before him, as he looks at our 

 plate. The difficulty is that it is well-nigh impossible for the 

 artist to do justice to a silver-white plant on a snow-white 

 ground. But in nature the silvery heads of this species arc 

 really very beautiful, and when it is considered that there are 

 hundreds of these heads on a single plant, and that, when in 

 perfection, the upper part of the little bush is a foot across, 

 forming a small cushion, sparkling in the sun like real silver, it 

 will be admitted that the aspect must be, not merely pretty, but 

 truly beautiful. 



The silvery heads of our species are, indeed, a very striking 

 characteristic, and suggested the specific name argyrocoma, 

 which was given to the plant by Nuttall, and which is Greek 

 for a silvery head of hair. As this })art,icular sjiecies of Paro- 

 nychia has never had a common name that we know of, it has 

 seemed to us that a translation of Nuttall's specific appellation 

 would be quite appropriate, and we have therefore called our 

 plant " Silverhead." We have, howexer, gi\en also a second 



