Oryctes. SOLAN ACE^.. 541 



tlio wanner regions, the greater iiunilier Antorican, but tlinro aro remarkably few in 

 Oregon and California, and tlioso only on tiio borders. The fruit of several species 

 is edible when cooked, but of little importance. 



§ 1. Corolla violet or purple, open-rotate : seeds thickish and obs,curely tuberculate- 

 rvgose : calyx, pedicels, and all the young j^^^i^ scurfy-granuli/erous 

 or mealy, otherivise wholly glabrous. — Cham/Kphysalis, Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. X. 62. 



1. P. lobata, Torr. Low, di(rus(>ly branched or at length spreading and do- 

 cnmbont from a thickish perennial root : loaves oblong-spatulatn or obovato, vary- 

 ing from nearly entire to angulato-toothed and pinnatilid, tajteriTig into a margined 

 petiole : pedicels usually in pairs, longer tlian the llower : corolla from half to two 

 thirds of an inch wide : fruiting calyx globular-inilated, about half an inch long. — 

 Torr. in Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 22G. Solanum liiteolijlurum, Dunal in DC. 1. c. Saracha 

 acntifolia, Miors] 



Dry plains, from Texas to Arizona ; probably reaching the southeastern border of California. 



§ 2. Corolla white, greenish, or yellow, mostly rotate-campanulate : seeds smooth and 

 even, minvtely punctate : no scurf or mealiness, and leaves never tridy pin- 

 natifid. — True Physams. . 



* Root perennial : anthers yellotv : corolla not spotted or dark in the centre : leaves 



th ickish. 



2. P, crassifolia, Benth. Palo or minutely hoary with an extremely short and 

 fine ahuost imperceptible pubescence: leaves at length nearly glabrous (half to an 

 inch nnd a iialf long), ovate or round-cordate, repandly few-toothed or almost entire: 

 pedicels long and slender : corolla apparently cream-color, half an inch in diameter : 

 fruiting calyx an inch long, O-angled. — Bot. Sulph. 40. /'. cardiophylla, Torr. 

 Bot. Mox. Bouml. 153, a form with mostly round-cordate leaves. 



Along the Rio Colorado (7yii/e/o!<;, &c.), east of San Boniardino (/'ar?-?/), and in Lower California. 



P. OLAniiA, Benth. 1. c, is a diffuse and small-leaved species, as yet known only in Lower 

 California, well marked by bein^ perfectly glabrou.s, even to the calyx, the leaves ovate-lanceo- 

 late and approaching hastate ; oUierwise nearly like P. crassifolia. 



* * Boot annual : anthers tinged with blue or violet : corolla greenish-yelloxv ivith a 



dark centre : leaves thin or soft. 



3. P. sequata, Jacq. Green and almost glabrous, a foot or two high, widely 

 spreading : leaves ovate or oblong, sinuate-toothed or repand : pedicels very short : 

 corolla less than half an inch broad : fruiting calyx ovate-globose and little angled 

 at maturity. — Jacq. f. Eclog. 2, t. 137 ; Gray, 1. c. 



This is in Coulter's Californian collection, probably from the most southern part of the State, 

 as it is a Mexican species. 



4. P. pubescens, liinn. A foot or two high, widely spreading, villous or 

 I)uboscent with viscid spreading soft hairs, strong-scented : leaves ovate or cordate, 

 varying from entire to angulate-toothed, rather tender, about 2 iTiches long : pedi- 

 cels .shorter than the ovate strongly 5-angled fruiting calyx : corolla barely half an 

 inch in diameter. 



Fort Yuma, on the Rio Colorado (Thomas, kc), thonco eastward to the Atlantic States, where 

 it is common. 



6. ORYCTES, AVntsoii. 

 Calyx deeply 5 cleft, with narrow lobes, somewhat enlarging in fruit and loose, 

 nearly the length of the globose rather few-seeded dry berry. Corolla short-tubular, 

 a little exceeding the calyx, 5-toothed, plaited in the bud ; the lobes nearly erect. 



