£98 ICOSANDHIA MONOGYNIA. 



serted also upon the calix; filaments scarcely attenuated, 

 filiform; anthers small, oblong-, distinct, inserted upon 

 the subulate summit of the filament, about a line in leng-th, 

 2-celled. Germ appearinpr inferior, being- inseparably in- 

 vestt-d by the lower part of the calix. Style filiform, a lit- 

 tle lon,^er than the stamina, ubular, arising- from the cen- 

 tre of the valves, longitudinally and spirally striate, nec- 

 tariferous at the base, striae 5 to 7 corresponding in num- 

 ber with the valves of the capsule; distinct stigmu none. 

 Capsule cylindric-oblong, 1-celled, terminated by the per- 

 sistent calix; summit flat and orbicular, valvular, valves 5 

 to 7, opening from the centre; receptacle parietal, placen- 

 tulae 5 to 7, succulent, 2 rows of seeds in each. Seeds 

 numeroLis, flat, subovate, nearly immarginaie; embryon 



ledoiies 2, flat, white; rad'^'l* ""^^^^ilical, inferior, exsei-t- 

 cd, plumule inc(;iispicuous. Hae. On tlie banks of the 

 Missouri in broken argillaceous soils. Flowering from 

 the latter end of August through September, and into 

 Octobc, but never in July.f 



I In reply to the Insinuations of Mr. Pursh, under this article, 

 Imust here remark, that he could not possibly have had any 

 authority to assert, or even suppose me capable of disputing 

 with the late indefatigable and unfortunate M. Lewis, the dis- 

 covery of this plant: this charge is merely a subterfuge. Mr. 

 Pursh, before he had perused the notes which I had made from 

 the living plant on tiie Missouri, with an intention of rendering 

 them public, had not then, by his own acknowledgment, any thing 

 like materials for publishing this genus, my friend A. B. Lam- 

 Ijert, Esq. Vice President of the Linr.oan Society, can also aver 

 the trutli of this statement. Mv. V. possessed merely an im- 

 perfect capsule of the plant, which M. Lewis had collected 

 while descending the Missouri, he not having seen it then at 

 the time of flowering; the collections made by that gentleman 

 while ascending the Missouri were unfortunately lost, and it is 

 only in that collection, according to thetimie of the year, which 

 he could possibly have had flowering specimens, of this late au- 

 tumnal plant. This unfortunate want of fidelity, prevented me 

 from communicating to Mr. P. Pursh, many of the plants which 

 now appear in this work. Appeals to the public are to me ex- 

 tremely irksome, but silence on such an occasion would have 

 been indeed the most degiading condemnation, and a tacit sub- 

 mission to reiterated injustice. It was not surely honourable 

 in Frederick Pursh, whom I still esteem as an able botanist, 

 to snatch from me the little imaginary credit due to enthjisias* 



