Memjanthes. POLEMONIACEiE. 485 



5. MENYANTHES, Touin. Buckbean. 

 Calyx 5-parted. Corolla nearly canipanulate, the lobes valvate in the bud with 

 the margins turned inward, the upper surface densely white-bearded, deciduous. 

 Style slender, persistent : stigma 2-lobed. Capsule globular, rather fleshy, inclined 

 to burst irregularly. Seeds not 'very numerous, but large in proportion : the seed- 

 coat hard, smooth and shining. — A single genuine species, flowering in spring. 



1. M. trifoliata, Linn. Low and smooth perennial, with long and stout creep- 

 ing rootstock, lit'iiring alternate leaves, Avith long petioles sheathing at base, and ."i 

 oblong leaflets : scape naked, elongated, terminated by a short raceme of white or 

 pinkish flowers : anthers dark brown, sagittate : in some flowers the style, in others 

 the filaments are long-exserted. 



In shallow water or wet ground, near San Francisco (Bigelow), and Sierra Valley (M's. Pidsifcr 

 Ames) ; extending round the world in the northern portion of the temperate zone. 



Order LOGANIACE.ffI. There is a Buddlcia in Coulter's CalitV)iiiiMii Collection, No. 62.5, 

 which we do imt possess. As none has been detected since, it is nioic pinliahle that Coulter's 

 specimen was gathered un the route to California, as far south and cast at least as Ai'izona. 



Order LXIIL POLEMONIACE.^. 



Chiefly herbs, with bland and colorless juice, simple or divided leaves, and no 

 stipules ; readily distinguished from related orders by having all the parts of the 

 regular flower five, except the pistil, which has a 3-celled ovary and a 3-lobed style; 

 the fruit a loculicidal 3 - many-seeded capsule, with placenta in the axis. Calyx 

 imbricated in the bud, persistent. Corolla convolute in the bud, not plaited, rarely 

 a little irregular. Stamens on the corolla alternate with its lobes, distinct : anthers 

 introrse, opening lengthwise. Stigmas occupying the inner side of the narrow or 

 filiform lobes of the style. Valves of the capsule usually separating from a thickish 

 triangular axis, which bears the seeds : these amphitropous or nearly anatropous, 

 small, with a thin or soft coat, commonly developing mucilage when wetted. Em- 

 bryo rather large, straight, in the axis of fleshy albumen. — A few have suffrutescent 

 or more woody stems. In Gilia, § 6, the cells of the ovary and the stigmas are 

 occasionally reduced to two. — Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 247. 



Mainly an American and especially a North American and Mexican order, of few genera, but 

 many species, increasing in number westward, most abundantly represented in California ; of no 

 marked sensible qualities or economical uses, excepting ornamental cultivation. 



CoB^A scANDENS, Cav., of Mfixico, a well-known cultivated climber, is an outlying member of 

 this order, its pinnate leaves tendril-bearing, and a large fleshy disk encircling the base of the 

 ovary. 



* Corolla quite regular : seeds wingless. 



1. Phlox. Stamens unequally inserted and included within the narrow tube of the salver- 



shaped corolla. Seed-coat unchanged in water. Leaves opposite, entire. 



2. Collomia. Stamens unr,|u;illy inserted in or below the throat of the funnelform or salver- 



shaiied corolla: filainciits slmdcr, often exserted. Seeds copiously mucilaginous when 

 _ wet. Leaves all or rimstly alternate, sometimes divided. 



3. Gilia. Stamens equally inserted on the throat or tube of the corolla : filaments not declined. 



Seeds almost always mucilaginous when wet. Leaves various. 



4. Polemonium. Filaments more or less declined. Otherwise nearly as Gilia. Leaves all 



pinnate and alternate, and corolla short. 



* * Corolla with limb somewhat irregularly cleft : seeds wing-margined. 



5. Lceselia. Stamens more or less exserted. Upper sinuses of the corolla more deeply cleft 



than the others. 



