38 STERCULIACE.fi. Hibiscus. 



On an island in San Joaquin River at Webb's Landing. This is probably also the H. Moscheutos, 

 var. occidentalis, of Torrey in Bot. Wilkes Exp. 256. 



2. H. denudatus, Benth. Erect, woody at base, very tomentose, two feet high, 

 the stems slender and flexuous : leaves broadly ovate or nearly orbicular, an inch 

 broad or less, rounded or obtuse and dentate above, on short petioles : peduncles 

 to 1 inch long : bractlets narrowly linear, very short or sometimes nearly obsolete : 

 calyx cleft nearly to the base, the lobes lanceolate : petals light purple, an inch 

 long : capsule acute, dehiscent to the base, shorter than the calyx : seeds reniform, 

 densely silky. Bot. Sulph. 7, t. 3. 



In the desert region of Southeastern California, thence to New Mexico and Northern Mexico. 

 This species belongs to the section Bombicella, which is distinguished by the small involucre and 

 silky seeds. 



ORDER XXI. STEE.CULIACE.ffiI. 



A polymorphous order chiefly of shrubs and trees, nearly all tropical or of the 

 southern hemisphere, related to Malvaceae and Tiliacece, distinguished from the 

 former by the 2-celled anthers (the petals not rarely wanting), and in our solitary 

 representative by the imbricated calyx. 



1. PREMONTIA, Torr. 



Bractlets 3 to 5, small. Calyx 5-cleft nearly to the base, the lobes imbricate in 

 the bud, large and petaloid, bright yellow, pitted at the base, persistent. Petals 

 none. Stamineal column 5-cleft to the middle, each of the divisions bearing above 

 a linear adnate curved anther : staminodia none. Ovary 5-celled, many-ovuled : 

 style elongated, the acute apex stigmatic. Capsule 4 - 5-valved, loculicidally dehis- 

 cent ; cells 2 - 3-seeded. Seeds ovate : embryo in thick fleshy albumen ; cotyledons 

 ovate, nearly flat, much longer than the radicle. A stellately pubescent shrub ; 

 with alternate lobed leaves, and showy axillary solitary shortly pedicelled flowers. 



1. F. Californica, Torr. Branching, 10 to 20 feet high, sometimes a foot 

 through at base : wood hard : bark dark-colored : leaves thick, usually rusty beneath, 

 broadly cordate or ovate, 3-lobed or rarely entire or 5 - 7-lobed, ^ to 2^ inches long, 

 the lobes obtuse, mucronulate ; petioles shorter than the blade : flowers numerous, 

 1 to 3 inches in diameter : sepals obovate, often mucronate, pubescent externally 

 and with a rounded hairy pit at base, the 3 inner a little larger : capsule ovate, an 

 inch long, densely hairy, persistent ; the cells villous within : seeds ovate, 2 lines 

 long or more, pubescent. PL Frem. in Smith. Coutrib. vi. 6, t. 2 ; Hook. f. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 5591. Cheiranthodendron Calif ornicum, Baill. Hist. PI. iv. 70. 



On diy hills from Pit River to San Diego, most abundant in the foot-hills of the Southern 

 Sierra Nevada. Very closely allied to Cheirostemon (or Cheiranthodendron) of Mexico and Guata- 

 mala, which differs in the more deeply pitted purple calyx, the oblique stamineal tube, and con- 

 nective produced beyond the anthers. The stipules in Fremontia are small and caducous. 



ORDER XXII. LINAGES. 



A small family, recently enlarged by the incorporation of three wholly tropical 

 tribes of shrubs and trees, all with simple and entire mostly alternate leaves ; as to 

 the proper Flax tribe well marked by the perfectly isomerous regular flowers ; the 

 sepals, petals, stamens and parts of the pistil being each 5, or in one instance 4, 

 or sometimes the parts of the pistil fewer ; the fugacious petals convolute and the 



