tkiandtiia. monogtxia. $7* 



tjre, narrow, sessile, and linear; peduncles all axillary, a 

 little pubescent; involucrum 3 -flowered. 



Obs. Perhaps only a variety of the preceding; still it 

 preserves the same habit under cultivation; the stems come 

 up several from tiie same perennial root, alwa} s inclining 

 to be decumbent, n(it above 6 inches high, the preced- 

 ing 2 feet; flowers axillary, peduncles short; leaves rather 

 thick, without veins, not more than 2 lines wide and 2 

 inches long, perfectly smooth and rather obtuse; flowers 

 very small, pale red, and so evanescent as rarely to be 

 seen open, -,^'ruit and involucrum as in the other species. 

 On high, bare, gravelly hills near Fort Mandan, on the 

 Missouri. Flowers in June and July. 



This genus, now contain. ng about 13 species, is 

 thus far confined to Peru, Nev/ Spain, and the Lnited. 

 States, being entirely an American genus. There ap- 

 pears to be but one species of Cnhjinenia m New Spain, 

 the C a^-gregat(iy having more than a single flo.-. er in 

 the involucrum, while in the United States, in atl the 

 specits it produces three or more floweis. The cali- 

 cine, peltate involucrum, the deep emargination of tlie 

 5 divisions of the corolla, and the absence of the minute 

 marginal calix, are apparently all tlie essential generic 

 distinctions subsisting between the Calymenia and Boer- 

 haavia. 



Iff Flowers inferior, ■ 

 \. COMMELINA. L. 



Calix 3-Ieaved. Corolla Spetalled, mostly 

 unequal. Stamina 6, sometimes all fertile, but 

 for the most part 3 or 4 are sterile. Stigma 

 simple. Cajjsule sub-globose, S-celled, 3-valv- 

 ed, 2 of the cells 2-seeded, the third with its 

 proper valve, often abortive. 



Stem herbaceous, and often branching; leaves almost 

 gramineous, alternating at the nodes of the stem, the 

 sheath of the leaves long and entire, nearly cleft; branches 

 sheathed at the base; peduncles axillary or terminal, one 

 or many flowered; spatha cordate, persistent, closing and 

 enveloping the flowers; rarely wanting. 



Sp£cie3. 1. cojiimunis. 2. erecta. 3. hirtella. 4. Virgi' 

 men. 



Obs. The genus Co?jmeIina, with the exception of the^ 

 species in the United States, and 2 others in J.^pan, is pe- 

 culiar to the tropical regions of India and America: there 



