72 



ILLECEBRACE^:. Loejlingia. 



style very short or none. Capsule 3-valved, several-seedetl — Low rigid dichoto- 

 mous annuals ; leaves subulate, with aihiate and couuate setaceous stiimle.s ; flowers 

 small, sessile in the axils. 



A genus of perhaps five species, of the Mudilerraneaii region ami Central Asia, with llio follow- 

 ing fioia Noilh Anarica. 



1. L, squarrosa, N utt. (ilandular-pubescent, much branched, the stems 2 to 

 6 inches long : leaves and sepals subulate- setaceous, rigid and squarrose, the leaves 

 2 or 3 lines long, exceeding the llowers : capsule triangular, at length exserted, 

 many-seeded. — Torr. & Gray, V\. i. 174 ; Ciray, Gen. 111. ii. 24, t. lOG. L. Texcuia, 

 Hook. Ic. PI. t. 285. 



San Diego (NuUall), and eabtward to Texas. 



Okdeu XV. ILLECEBRACE^. 



Distinguished from the scarious-stipulate Caryophyllacece oidy by the solitary or 

 sometimes geminate ovules, undivided or 2-clet't style, and one-seeded utricular or 

 akene-liko fruit ; the petals wholly wanting or reiluced to mere filaments ; these 

 and the stamens usually more perigynous. Closely related on the otiier hand to 

 Ainaranlacem and other apotalous orders. Here rejjresonted by only two plants, but 

 several species of other genera are foun<l in the Atlantic States. 

 1 PentacEena. Calyx of 5 unequal awn-tii)ped sepals : stamens inserted on their base. 

 2. Achyronychia. Calyx 5-eleft, with a 10-nerved tube and blunt silvery-scarious lobes : sta- 

 mens inserted on the throat. 



1. PENTAC^NA, Bartling. 



Sepals 5, nearly distinct, hooded, unequal, terminating in a short diveigent spine, 

 the inner more shortly awned. Petals minute, scale-like. Stamens 3 to 5, inserted 

 at the base of the .sepals; staminodia none. Style very short, bifid. Utricle 

 included in the rigid connivent calyx. — Low densely tufted perennials ; leaves subu- 

 late, densely croAvded on the branches; stipules dry and silvery; flowers .sessile, 

 clustered in the axils. 



A genus of 2 or 3 species, of S. America and Mexico, only one reaching our western coast. 



1 P ramosissima, Hook. & Am. Prostrate and matted, the stem 2 to 18 

 inches lou'S somewhat woolly: leaves 3 to 5 lines long, pungenlly awned, at length 

 recurved ; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the leaves, 1 -nerved : calyx- 

 tube nearly a line long, the divergent outer lobes twice longer : stamens usually 5 : 

 stigmas subsessile : utricle apiculate. — Hook. Pot. Misc. ni. 338. Paronychia 

 ramosissima, DC. Paronych. 12, t. 4; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 172. Acanthonyckia 

 ramosissima, Pvohrb. in ^'lart. Fl. Bras, xiv." 249, t. 56. 



On the sea-coast from Oregon to Southern California and Mexico, forming largo patches on the 

 drifting sands about San Francisco. Also on the South American coast from Chili to 1 atagonia, 

 and in S. Brazil. 



2. ACHYRONYCHIA, Torr. & Gray. 

 Calyx 5-cleft, persistent, the turbinate 10-nerved tube at length cylindrical and 

 coriaceous ; lobes oval, obtuse, thickened at base, silvery-scarious above and nerve- 

 less. Petals none. Filaments or staminodia 15, in one row at the summit of the 

 tube, filiform, only 1 or 2 antheriferous. Style short, bifid. Ovules 2, on very 

 short funicles, one abortive. Utricle thin, included. Seed oblong-pyriform. — A 



