188 LOASA FAMILY. 



1. MENTZELIA. (Named for C. Mentzel, an early German botanist.) 

 Flowers summer or autumn, (p (2) Includes the BART6NIA of Nuttall. 



1. Pod 3-9-seeded; flowers small, yellow, opening in sunshine. (2) 



M. oligosp^rma, Nutt. Open dry ground from 111., S. W. ; a rough 

 and adhesive homely plant, with spreading brittle branches, ovate and 

 oblong angled or cut-toothed leaves, and yellow flowers less than 1' broad, 

 with 5 wedge-oblong pointed petals, and about 20 (or sometimes more) 

 slender filaments. 



2. BART6NIA of authors, not of Muhlenberg. Pod mostly long, contain- 

 ing many or at least 20 cubical or flat seeds; flowers large and showy ; 

 petals l'-2' long ; herbage rough. 



M. Undleyi, Torr. & Gray. Cult, from Cal., usually under the name 

 of BART6NIA AtiREA. Plant l-2 high, with leaves lance-ovate in out- 

 line and deeply pinnatifid, their lobes linear ; flowers with 5 obovate and 

 pointed, bright yellow petals, opening in sunshine, and the very numerous 

 filaments all slender. (D 



M. ornata, Torr. & Gray. The BART6NIA ORNATA of Nuttall, a very 

 large-flowered species of the plains of Nebraska and S. ; 2-4 high, with 

 oblong-lanceolate sinuate-pinnatifid leaves, and yellowish-white, fragrant 

 flowers opening at sunset or on a cloudy afternoon, leafy-bracted under 

 the ovary, and with 10 lance-ovate or spatulate, acute petals, about 2' 

 long, the 5 inner narrower, and the 200-300 filaments all slender ; seeds 

 very many and flat. Sometimes cult. (2) 



M. nuda, Torr. & Gray. The BART6NIA NtiDA of Nuttall, of the same 

 district, and also in cultivation ; resembles the last, but has flowers of 

 half the size and without leafy bracts under the ovary ; outer filaments 

 mostly broadened ; seeds wing- margined. (2) 



2. EUCNIDE. (Greek: well, nettle; probably in reference to the 

 sharp hairs.) The genus is often referred to Mentzelia. Known in 

 gardens by one species. 



. bartonioldes, Zucc. (or MENTZELIA BARTONIOIDES or M. 

 Cult, from Mex. and Tex. ; a tender succulent plant, branching and usu- 

 ally spreading on the ground, bristly, with ovate cut-toothed or slightly 

 lobed leaves on slender petioles, and flowers mostly on still longer simple 

 peduncles (3'-6' long), the 5 ovate petals and very many slender fila- 

 ments fully 1' long, (i) 



3. BLUMENBACHIA. (Named for the distinguished German physi- 

 ologist, Blumenbach.) Includes CAIOPHORA, and species often referred 

 to LOASA. Flowers all summer. 



B. insignis, Schrad. Cult, from Chile ; rather curious than orna- 

 mental, with palmately about 5-parted leaves ; small flowers with white 

 petals and yellow, red-tipped, inner appendages ; the pod obovate, slightly 

 twisted, with 5 strongly projecting placentae, (t) 



B. lateritia, Gray. From South America, under the name of LOASA or 

 CAIOPHORA LATER^TIA ; climbing freely ; with pinnatifid or pinnate leaves 

 of 5 or more lance-ovate divisions or leaflets, which are cut-toothed or 

 some of them again pinnatifid ; flowers almost 2' across, with brick-red 

 petals ; the long pod at length much twisted, (j) 



B. grandiflbra, G. Don (or B. CONTORTA). Is a greenhouse climber 

 with orange-red flowers, bearing cup-like scales within, and oblong or 

 ovate pinnatifid leaves, the lobes incised. Peru. 



