252 



RUBIACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



3. Houstonia patens Ell. Small Bluets. Fig. 3914. 



Houstonia Linnaei var. minor Michx. Fl. Bor. 

 Am. i : 35. 1803. 



H. patens Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. i : 191. 1821. 



Houstonia minor Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5 : 

 302. 1894. 



Annual, glabrous or nearly so, branched 

 from the base, i'-6' high. Lower and basal 

 leaves oval or ovate, S "-6" long, narrowed 

 into petioles often of their own length, the 

 upper narrower and sessile; peduncles ax- 

 illary and terminal, erect-divergent, 3"-i8" 

 long, i-flowered ; corolla violet-blue or pur- 

 ple, 3"-4" broad, its tube about equalling 

 the lobes or somewhat longer ; capsule com- 

 pressed, didymous, 2i"-3" broad, its upper 

 part free from the calyx and about equal- 

 ling or exceeding the subulate lobes. 



In dry soil, Virginia to Florida, Illinois, 

 Arkansas and Texas. March-April. Star- 

 violet (Texas). 



4. Houstonia minima Beck. Least Bluets. 

 Fig- 3915. 



Houstonia minima Beck, Am. Journ. Sci. 10: 262. 1826. 

 Hedyotis minima T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2 : 38. 1841. 

 Oldenlandia minima A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 173. 1856. 



Annual, spreading or diffuse, i'-2i' high, roughish. Lower 

 and basal leaves oval or ovate, with petioles shorter than or 

 equalling the blade, the upper oblong, sessile; peduncles axil- 

 lary and terminal, rather stout, 3"-i2" long; flowers 4"-$" 

 broad ; corolla violet or purple, the tube about as long as the 

 lobes ; capsule didymous, compressed, about 3" broad, its upper 

 part free from the calyx and considerably exceeded by the 

 lanceolate foliaceous lobes. 



In dry soil, Illinois to Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. 

 March-April. 



5. Houstonia lanceolata (Poir.) Britton. Calycose 

 Houstonia. Fig. 3916. 



Hedyotis lanceolata Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 3: 14. 1813. 

 Houstonia purpurea calycosa A. Gray, Syn. Fl. i 2 : 26. 1878. 

 Houstonia lanceolata Britton, Man. 86 1. 1901. 

 Houstonia calycosa Mohr, Contr. Nat. Herb. 6: 739. 1901. 



Perennial, glabrous or pubescent, rather stout, 6'-i6' high. 

 Leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, firm in texture, not cil- 

 iate, sessile, or the lowest spatulate and narrowed into petioles ; 

 corolla-tube little exceeding the calyx; calyx-lobes lanceolate 

 or lanceolate-subulate, 5" long or less, much exceeding the 

 capsule; capsule ovoid-globose, about 2" thick. 



In dry soil, Illinois to North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and 

 Oklahoma. Recorded from Maine. May-June. 



