478 GENTIANACE.E. Sarcostemma. 



behind each anther a fleshy and flattish appendage. Anthers, fruit, &c., nearly as 

 Asdepias. — Twining herbs or partly shrubby plants (of the warm regions) ; with 

 opposite leaves and umbellate flowers. 



1. S. heterophyllum, Engelm. Puberulent or almost glabrous : twining stems 

 liliform : leaves linear or narrowly lineardanceolate, acute, some of them cordate or 

 hastate at base, a few tapering into the petiole : umbels several-flowered, long- 

 peduncled : corolla dull purple or whitish, almost 5-parted ; the lobes ovate, with 

 scarious-white more or less cihate margins, cinereous-pubescent outside, nearly 

 smooth within, thrice the length of the linear-lanceolate hairy calyx-lobes : appen- 

 dages of the stamens roundish, rather longer than the anthers : follicles lanceolate 

 and slender-pointed, puberulent. — Torr. in Pacif. E. Ptcp. v. 363, & Bot. Mex. 

 Bound. 161. 



Var. hirtellum. Erect, but inclined to twine, two feet high, slender, minutely 

 ]jut densely pubescent all over with short spreading hairs : leaves all linear and 

 tapering at base : flowers one half smaller, " whitish-yellow, fragrant." 



CUmbiug over bushes in the southern part of the State, Parry, Coojxr, Cleveland. Extends 

 into Mexico and Texas. Corolla about half an inch in diameter, except in the variety. The lat- 

 ter near Tort Mohave, Dr. Cooper. 



Order LXII. GENTIANACE^. 



Glabrous herbs, with colorless and bitter juice, entire opposite and sessile leaves 

 (except in Menyanthes and sometimes in Swertia), no stipules, perfect and regular 

 ■flowers, stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and alternate with them, 

 inserted on the tube, the anthers free from the stigma ; ovary one-celled with two 

 parietal placenta?, becoming a septicidal capsule ; style one or none ; the stigmas 

 commonly two ; seeds numerous and sometimes innumerable, rarely few ; and the 

 embryo small or minute in copious albumen. Calyx persistent. Corolla mostly 

 convolute in the bud, rarely valvate with the edges turned inward, usually wither- 

 ing-persistent. Seeds anatropous or amphitropous. — An order of about 40 genera. 



Suborder I. GEXTIANKE. 



Lobes of the (withering-persistent) corolla convolute in the bud. Seeds some- 

 times covering the whole walls of the capsule, the coat usually thin. Leaves oppo- 

 site or whorled (or alternate in Swertia), entire ; the cauline sessile. 



The following genera, not yet known to occur within or very near the borders of California, may 

 be expecteil in the northernmost parts of the State : 



Pleurogyne (rotata, Grisebach), like an annual Gentian, but with rotate corolla. 



Halenia (deflexa, Grisebach), known by the spurs, one under each lobe of the corolla. 



Swertia (perennis, Linn.), most like one of the smaller species of Frascra; the leaves alter- 

 nate ! or only the upper ones opposite. 



Eustoma, a genus with showy sky-blue flowers, and a filiform style, belongs to the region east 

 of the southern borders of the State. — See Ajjpendix. 



1. Erythraea. Corolla salverform, red. Anthers spirally twisted after shedding the pollen. 



Stvli' slender, at length deciduous. Calyx 5-parted. 



2. Microcala. Corolla sliort-salverform, yellow. Anthers short, not twisting. Style in ours 



]iersistent : calyx merely 4-toothed. 



3. Gentiana. Corolla from campanulate or funnelform to salverform. Style none or hardly 



any : stigmas 2, thin and flat, persistent. Seeds very numerous and small. 



4. Frasera. Corolla rotate, 4-parted, each lobe bearing one or two fringed glands in the form 



of shallow pits. Style distinct, persistent : stigma small, entire or 2-Iobed. Seeds few 

 or several, large. 



