Erythrcca. 



GENTIANACE.E. 479 



Suborder II. MENYANTHIDE.E. 



Lobes of the corolla induplicate in the hu.l. Seeds rather few and with a thick 

 hard and close coat. Aquatic or bog plants, witli alternate leaves, sometimes of 3 

 leaflets ; the petioles sheathing at base. — liepresented only by 



5. Menyanthes. Corolla deciduous, 5-cleft ; the lobes within white-bearded : flowers racemose. 

 1. ERYTHEMA, Pers. Canchalagua. 



Calyx 5-parted, or occasionally 4-parted ; the divisions slender. Corolla salver- 

 form, withering-persistent on the capsule ; the lobes convolute in the bud. Stamens 

 inserted on the throat of the corolla : filaments slender : anthers oblong or hnear, 

 twisting spirally (in 2 to 4 turns) after shedding the pollen. Style filiform, at 

 length deciduous : stigmas, in ours wedge-shaped or fan-shaped, before expansion 

 commonly appearing as if united and compressed-capitate. Capsule from oblong- 

 ovate to lanceolate-cylindraceous ; the sutures little or considerably mtroflexed. 

 Seeds very numerous, globular or oblong, with a close reticulate-pitted coat. — 

 Low herbs (both of the Old and New World, in warm-temperate regions), mainly 

 annuals; with bitter roots, cymose inflorescence, and usually pink or rose-red flowers . 

 (whence the generic name). 



Like the Gentians, these plants are bitter tonics ; and, in California as well as in Chili, arc in 

 Hied^^fnarrepute, u^der th? name of Canchalagua. Dr. Engelmann points o^* a chamct.r in 

 the sti-inas, i. e. that in the European species, excepting the peculiar ^. marttvia, they a.e 

 broadly ^vate or with rounded summit, while in the American they are either cuneate or iiabelli- 

 form, the summit truncate, or in E. Chilensis emargmate. 



E fGYKANDKA^ cHiRONioiDES (not of ToiT.) and E. SPECiosA (^yra7if?m, Giiseliach and 

 Benlh Bot Sultl t. 45) - large-flowered species, which hardly difler except in l^e shorter 

 mamentrof the latter -are Mexican only, and are sectionally distinguished by havmg the 

 awSly pale and broad corolla-lobes rather longer than the tube at the time of openmg, and 

 the capsule oval. In aU the foUowing the capsule is from elongated-oblong to fusiform. 

 :ft Corolla large; its limh at first almost as long as the tube: seeds globular: in- 

 florescence corywhoseUj cymose : peduncles as long as the calyx. 



1 E. venusta, Gray. A span to a foot high, simple and cymosely several- 

 flowered at summit, or corymbosely branched : leaves from ovate to oblong-lanceo- 

 late rather obtuse (half to near an inch long) : calyx-lobes very narrow down to the 

 base- corolla deep and bright pink with a yellow centre; the lobes oval and obtuse, 

 becoming oblong, 4 to 6 lines in length : fllaments rather longer than the oblong- 

 linear anthers. — K chironioides, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 156, t. 42, excl. syn. 

 E. tricantha, Durand in Pacif. E. Eep. v. t. 9, not Griseb. 



Common through all the southern part of the State, and extending (mostly in a smaller form) 

 along the Sierra Nevada to Sierra Co., up to about 4,000 feet. The name given in Coulter s collec- 

 tion, &c., 25 years ago, is now resumed for this, the handsomest and one ot the largest-llowered 

 species of the genus. 

 * * Corolla with lobes shorter than the tube: seeds oblong: inflorescence cymose- 



clustered; the croivded floivers sessile or nearly so in the forks, and the lateral ones 



with a pair of bracts under the calyx : stigmas small. 



2 E. trichantha, Grisebach. A span or less high, fastigiately branched : leaves 

 from broadly ul)haig and obtuse to lanceolate and acute (G to 12 lines long) : lobes 

 of the rose-red corolla lanceolate, fully half the length of the tube at the time of 

 expansion (3 or 4 lines long), becoming narrow^ and by involution aoumuiatc with 

 age : calyx-lobes filiform-triquetrous : anthers linear. — Gent. 14G, & DC. Prodr. ix. 

 GO, excl. var. angustifolia. 



Common near the coast from Lake Co. and the Valley of the Lower Sacramento to ilouterey. 



