Oryctes. SOLANACEJ3. 541 



the wanner regions, the greater number American, but there are remarkably few in 

 Oregon and California, and those only on the borders. The fruit of several species 

 is edible when cooked, but of little importance. 



1. Corolla violet or purple, open-rotate : seeds thickish and obscurely tuberculate- 

 rugose : calyx, pedicels, and all the young parts scurf y-granuliferous 

 or mealy, otherwise wholly glabrous. CHAMJSPHYSALIS, Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. x. 62. 



1. P. lob at a, Torr. Low, diffusely branched or at length spreading and de- 

 cumbent from a thickish perennial root : leaves oblong-spatulate or obovate, vary- 

 ing from nearly entire to angulate-toothed and pinnatilid, tapering into a margined 

 petiole : pedicels usually in pairs, longer than the flower : corolla from half to two 

 thirds of an inch wide : fruiting calyx globular-inflated, about half an inch long. 

 Torr. in Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 226. Solamim luteoliftorum, Dunal in DC. 1. c. Saracha 

 acutifolia, Miers 1 ? 



Dry plains, from Texas to Arizona ; probably reaching the southeastern border of California. 



2. Corolla white, greenish, or yellow, mostly rotate-campanulate : seeds smooth and 

 even, minutely punctate : no scurf or mealiness, and leaves never truly pin- 

 natifid. True PHYSALIS. 



* Root perennial : anthers yellow : corolla not spotted or dark in the centre : leaves 



thickish. 



2. P. crassifolia, Benth. Pale or minutely hoary with an extremely short and 

 fine almost imperceptible pubescence : leaves at length nearly glabrous (half to an 

 inch and a half long), ovate or round-cordate, repandly few-toothed or almost entire : 

 pedicels long and slender : corolla apparently cream-color, half an inch in diameter : 

 fruiting calyx an inch long, 5-angled. Bot. Sulph. 40. P. cardiophylla, Torr. 

 Bot. Mex. Bound. 153, a form with mostly round-cordate leaves. 



Along the Rio Colorado (Bigelow, &c.), east of San Bernardino (Parry), and in Lower California. 



P. GLABRA, Benth. 1. c., is a diffuse and small-leaved species, as yet known only in Lower 

 California, well marked by being perfectly glabrous, even to the calyx, the leaves ovate-lanceo- 

 late and approaching hastate ; otherwise nearly like P. crassifolia. 



* * Root annual : anthers tinged with blue or violet : corolla greenish-yellow with a 



dark centre : leaves thin or soft. 



3. P. aequata, Jacq. Green and almost glabrous, a foot or two high, widely 

 spreading : leaves ovate or oblong, sinuate-toothed or repand : pedicels very short : 

 corolla less than half an inch broad : fruiting calyx ovate-globose and little angled 

 at maturity. Jacq. f. Eclog. 2, t. 137 ; Gray, 1. c. 



This is in Coulter's Californian collection, probably from the most southern part of the State, 

 as it is a Mexican species. 



4. P. pubescens, Linn. A foot or two high, widely spreading, villous or 

 pubescent with viscid spreading soft hairs, strong-scented : leaves ovate or cordate, 

 varying from entire to angulate-toothed, rather tender, about 2 inches long : pedi- 

 cels shorter than the ovate strongly 5-angled fruiting calyx : corolla barely half an 

 inch in diameter. 



Fort Yuma, on the Rio Colorado (Thomas, &c.), thence eastward to the Atlantic States, where 

 it is common. 



6. ORYCTES, Watson. 



Calyx deeply 5 -cleft, with narrow lobes, somewhat enlarging in fruit and loose, 

 nearly the length of the globose rather few-seeded dry berry. Corolla short-tubular, 

 a little exceeding the calyx, 5-toothed, plaited in the bud ; the lobes nearly erect. 



