ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO VOL. I. 449 



3. C. palmata, Watson. Fruit smooth, 2| or 3 inches in diameter, fibrous- 

 fleshy with thin hard rind. 



Page 240. 2. MELOTHRIA. 



No species of this genus appears to be found west of New Mexico and Texas. The California!! 

 plant referred to belongs to the following genus. 



2 a . ELATERIUM, Linn. 



Flowers dioecious, the male racemose, the female solitary. Calyx and corolla sal- 

 verform with elongated tube, or in the male flowers sometimes more or less broadly 

 campanulate. Stamens 1 to 3, united into a slender column, the anthers connate 

 and the linear cells sigmoid-flexuous. Ovary ovoid, beaked, usually hispid or echi- 

 nate, and more or less oblique, variously locellate ; ovaries 1, 2, or more in each cell, 

 erect or ascending. Fruit fleshy, bursting irregularly. Seeds flattened. Herba- 

 ceous climbers, with cordate leaves entire or lobed, and slender 2 - 3-cleft tendrils. 



A genus of a dozen species or more, chiefly of tropical America. 



1. E. Bigelovii, Watson. Stems very slender, glabrous or nearly so : leaves 

 thin, roughish-papillose beneath, hastate-cordate, the middle segment lanceolate, 

 acute and cuspidate, 1 or 2 inches long, lateral divaricately spreading and 2-lobed, 

 all entire or obscurely sinuate : male panicle shorter than the leaves, very slender ; 

 flowers small, less than 2 lines broad : stamens 2 : fruiting pedicel from the same 

 axil, filiform, inch long or more : calyx-tube 2 or 3 lines long : ovary oblique, 

 glabrous, apparently 1-celled and 1-ovuled. Proc. Amer. Acad. xii. 252. 



On the Lower Colorado, Bigdow, Palmer. E. minimum, Watson, 1. c. (Marah minima, Kel- 

 logg, Proc. Calif. Acad. ii. 18), from Cerros Islands and Cape Saint Lucas, is a second somewhat 

 similar species, with larger flowers, and a strongly echinate fruit less than half an inch long. 



3. MEGARRHIZA. 



1. M. Californica, Torr. Leaves usually lobed to the middle, the lobes often 

 oblong and acuminate : sterile flowers 3 to 8 lines broad on pedicels a half-inch long 

 or less; the fertile slightly larger, with abortive stamens: ovary spuriously 4-6- 

 celled, the cells 1 - 4-ovuled : fruit bursting by 4 or 6 openings at the apex : seeds 

 oblong or oblong-obovoid, 9 to 13 lines long. 



This supplementary description is drawn from copious specimens received from Mrs. R. F. 

 Singham, Bingham's Canon, near Santa Barbara. Respecting other species little further informa- 

 tion has been obtained. The Spanish children are said to play with the ripe seeds of some species, 

 using them as marbles, and call them " Chili Cojotes." A notable peculiarity in the germination 

 of the seed is described by Dr. Gray in Amer. Journ. Sci. 3 ser. xiv. 21, the cotyledons remain- 

 ing at the surface of the ground, within the seedcoat, and by the development of their connate 

 petioles carrying the plumule and radicle to some distance under the soil. The nourishment 

 stored in the cotyledons is soon transferred to the rapidly enlarging root, and the growth of the 

 plumule follows from a cleft at the base of the petioles. 



Page 242. 1. DATISCA. 



1. D. glomerata, Benth. & Hook. The root of this species is collected for use 

 in medicine, as a bitter tonic, and known as " Durango Koot." 



Page 244. 1. MAMILLARIA. 



5. M. deserti, Engelm. Mss. " Subglobose or oval, simple, with subcylindric 

 deeply grooved tubercles : spines 25 to 30, straight, acicnlar, grayish white, the 

 larger with reddish tips, 5 to 8 lines long ; 3 or 4 of the inner spines stouter but 

 shorter, and above these 5 or 6 intermediate ones : flowers about an inch long and 

 wide ; sepals 20 to 25 in several rows, narrowly lanceolate, aristate, fimbriatc ; petals 



