Pterospora. ERICACEAE. 



461 



scape with tlie mostly short raceme 4 to 8 inches high : bracts small : lobes of the 

 calyx ovate, short, not half the length of the roundish greenish-white petals : cells 

 ot the anther contracted into a neck or short tubular prolongation beloAv the orifice. 

 —P. dentata, Smith, a form with the narrower leaves more or less serrate Thelaia 

 spatulata, Alefeld, 1. c. 



Open woods, from the Mariposa Grove along the Sierra, and from Mendocino Co. to Britisli 

 Columbia. Leaves an inch or two long, in the narrower forms tapering into the petiole, which'is 

 from a quartcT to a fullinch in length. Kootstocks erect, branching, rigid. Peculiar to the 

 Pacihc side of the continent. 



4._ P. chlorantha, Swartz. Leaves coriaceous, not shining, orbicular or approach- 

 ing it, often retuse, small, commonly much shorter than the petiole : scape and few- 

 flowered raceme 4 to 8 inches high : bracts inconspicuous : lobes of the caly.x 

 broadly ovate or roundish, very short, appressed to the base of the oval-obovate 

 white and little-spreading petals : cells of the anther distinctly contracted below the 

 orifice into a short tube. 



Hills near Downieville, Yuba Eiver, Bigclow, according to Tnrrrii. Apparentlv rare on the 

 Pacific side of the continent ; common northward on the Atlantic side, and al.,j in northern 

 Eurojie. Leaves half an inch to an inch, sometimes even an inch and a half long. 



5. P. aphylla, Smith. Scapes leafles.s, 7 to 12 inches high from a long and 

 deep scaly-bracted and doubtless parasitic rootstock : raceme loosely many-flow'ered : 

 lobes of the calyx ovate, acute, very much shorter than the obovate white petals : 

 cells of the anther contracted into a short tube below the orifice — Hook Fl ii 

 48, t. 137. • • • 



Fir woods, along the Sierra Nevada from San Diego Co. to Shasta Co. and to P.iitish Colum- 

 bia. Scape reddish. Flowers about as large as those of P. rotundifolia : sutures of the cai)sule 

 not cobwebby in dehiscence. A peculiarly interesting plant, on account of its Hving the parasitic 

 hfe of the Monotropece. ° ^ 



15. ALLOTROPA, Ton. & Gray. 



Calyx of 5 roundish sepals, persistent. Corolla none. Stamens 10, glabrous : 

 anthers short, 2-lobed, extrorse in the bud, soon becoming introrsely pendulous on 

 the slender filament ; the cells opening by a chink reaching to near the middle. 

 Ovary globose, 5-celled : style at first very short, at lengh longer : stigma large, 

 peltate-capitate. Seeds very numerous on the thick placenttB in the axis, linear 

 with a small central nucleus. — (Bot. Wilkes Exp. 385, 1874.) Gray in Pacif. 11. 

 Eep. vi. 81, & Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 368. — Single species. 



1. A. virgata, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. A reddish or whitish herb, a span to a foot 

 high, glabrous, rather fleshy, with a thicker base, beset with ovate-oblong or lanceo- 

 late scales, continued into a virgate many-flowered spike : flowers crowded, very 

 short-pedicelled, 2-bracteolate, a quarter of an inch long ; the upper ones about 

 equalled by the bracts : sepals shorter than the filiform filaments, whitish. 



Mendocino Co., near Bear Harbor {Bolandcr, Kcllogq), generallv under Qucrcus dcnsiflora ; 

 Sierra Co., Lemmon. Thence in the Cascade Mountains to AVashington Territory. 



16. PTEROSPORA, Nutt. Pinedrops. 

 Calyx deeply 5 -parted, short, persistent. Corolla withering-persistent, globular- 

 ovate, with contracted mouth ; the 5 very short lobes recurved, almost convolute in 

 the bud. Stamens 10, included: filaments subulate: anthers short, erect in the 

 bud (or just before anthesis horizontal) ; each cell bearing a deflexed awn on the 

 back near the base, opening lengthwise. Style short : stigma 5-lobed. Capsule 

 depressed-globular, 5-lobed ; the thin valves persistent by the cohesion of the parti- 



