594 



PRIMULACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



i. Dodecatheon Meadia L. Shooting Star. 

 American Cowslip. Pride-of-Ohio. (Fig. 2826.) 

 Dodecatheon Meadia L,. Sp. PI. 144. 1753. 



Perennial by a stout rootstock; roots fibrous; scape 

 erect, 8 / -2 high. Leaves oblong or oblanceolate, ob- 

 tuse or obtusish at the apex, narrowed into margined 

 petioles, entire or toothed, 3'-i2' long, ]&'-&,' wide; 

 flowers few, seveial or numerous in the umbels, 9"- 

 15" long; bracts of the involucre lanceolate or linear, 

 acute; pedicels recurved in flower, erect in fruit, un- 

 equal, the outer ones sometimes 4' long; calyx-lobes 

 triangular-lanceolate, acute; corolla purple, pink or 

 white; anthers 3"-4" long; capsule narrowly ovoid, 

 erect, s-valved above, 6 // -8 // high. 



On moist cliffs and prairies, Pennsylvania to Manitoba, 

 south to Georgia and Texas. April-May. 



Dodecatheon Meadia Frenchii Vasey; Wats. & Coult. in 



A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 735 b. 1891. 



Leaves ovate or elliptic, base abruptly contracted or 

 cordate. Illinois to Arkansas; southern Pennsylvania? 



Family 8. PLUMBAGINACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 269. 1836. 



PLUMBAGO FAMILY. 



Perennial mostly acaulescent erect herbs, with basal tufted leaves (stem 

 climbing and leafy in I'lumbago), and small perfect and regular clustered flow- 

 ers. Calyx inferior, gamosepalous, tubular or funnelform, 5-toothed, plaited at 

 the sinuses, the tube 5~i5-ribbed. Corolla of 5 hypogynous clawed segments, 

 connate at the base or united into a tube, convolute or imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens 5, opposite the corolla-segments, hypogynous; filaments separate, or 

 united at the base; anthers 2 -celled, attached by their backs to the filaments, 

 the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk none. Ovary superior, i -celled; ovule 

 solitary, anatropous, pendulous, the funiculus arising from the base of the cav- 

 ity; styles 5, separate or united. Fruit a utricle or achene, enclosed by the 

 calyx, rarely a dehiscent capsule. Seed solitary; testa membranous; endosperm 

 mealy, or none; embryo straight; cotyledons entire. 



About 10 genera and 350 species, of wide geographic distribution, mostly in saline situations. 

 Inflorescence cymoae-pamculate ; flowers in one-sided spikes. i. Litnoninm. 



Flowers in a dense terminal head. 



2. Statice. 



1763. 



i. LIMONIUM Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 283. 

 [STATICE Willd. Sp. PI. i: 1552. 1798.] 



Herbs, mostly with flat basal leaves, and numerous very small flowers cymosc-paniculatc 

 on the branches of bracted scapes, in i-3-flowcred bracteolate clusters, forming one-sided 

 spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, the limb scarious, 5-toothed, the tube usually 10- 

 ribbed. Petals 5, clawed. Stamens adnate to the bases of the petals. Styles 5, separate in 

 our species, stigmatic along the inner side. Fruit a utricle. [Ancient name of the wild beet.] 

 About 120 species. Besides the following, i occurs on the South Atlantic and i on the Pacific Coast. 



i. Limonium Carolinianum (Walt.) Britton. Sea Lavender. Marsh 



Rosemary. Canker-root. (Fig. 2827.) 



Statice Caroliniana Walt. Fl. Car. 118. 1788. 



Statice Limonium var. Carolinianum A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 



270. 1856. 

 L. Carolinianum Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 255. 1894. 



Glabrous, fleshy, rootstock thick, fusiform or branched, 

 scape terete, striate, slender, paniculately branched above, 

 i-2 high. Leaves oblanceolate, obtuse or acutish and 

 mucronulate at the apex, narrowed into margined peti- 

 oles, entire, or slightly undulate, 3 / -io / long, y^'-i 1 /*' 

 wide, shorter than the scapes, the midvein prominent, 

 the lateral veins very obscure; flowers erect, usually soli- 

 tary in the sessile secund bracteolate clusters, about 2" 

 high; calyx 5-toothed, sometimes with as many minute 

 intermediate teeth in the sinuses; corolla pale purple; 

 petals spatulate; ovary oblong or ovoid; styles filiform. 



On salt meadows, Labrador to Florida and Texas. Called 

 also Lavender-thrift, and Ink-root. July-Oct. 



