ILLECEBRACEiE. 303 



« « Wings membranous, orbicular, u-hdly encircling the fruit, strong! >/ tut-cein^d. 



2. A. micrantha, Torr. Prostrate : peduncles shorter than the firtioleM : 

 flowers smitll and inconsj)icuoHs, redilisli ;,'rccn, the liinh sc-arcclv 2 linen bruad : 

 fruit orbicular with 3 thiu wings, emarginute <tbove and Li low, th>- bo<l,/ rather 

 broad and with a light spongg exterior. — On tlje plains from the Sxskairhewan 

 to the Arkansas and S. W. Colorado. ( )ftcn cunfuuiKhid with the m-xt, which 

 is of more southern range. 



3. A. Cycloptera, ( iray. Stouter : flowers large and show/, uimt elongatfd 

 peduncles: fruit with firmer and more prominently veined wing, rimtnjiwite at 

 neither end, the firm smooth narrow bod// usually Suerved betweeu the wiuga.— 

 S. Colorado to New Mexico and W. Texas. 



Order 63. ILL.ECEBR4CE.I:. 



An order related to both Cari/ophyllacers nwd Amarantncerc, but placed 

 by Benthara and Hooker with the latter. Distiuguished from the scari- 

 ous-stipulate Caryophyllacece by the solitary or soinetimos geiniuatc 

 ovules, undivided or 2-cleft style, and one-seeded utricular or akcno-like 

 fruit: the petals wholly wanting or reduced to mere filauieuts; these 

 and the stamens usually more perigynous. 



1. PARONYCHIA, Tourn. Whit row- wort. 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong concave, awued at the apex. Stamens 5. — 

 Tufted herbs, with dry and silvery stipules. 



* Flowers terminal, solitary and sessile. 



1. P. pulvinata, Gray. Matted-cespitose from a woody root, forming 

 dense cushion-like tufts : sf/yjw/es broadly ovate, e7i^/re, pointless : leaves tljick, 

 oblong, obtuse, egualling the stipules, and with them densely covering the short 

 stems : flowers immersed among the leaves : sepals oval, awneil a little l>clow 

 the apex. — Proc. Phil. Acad. 1863, .58. Alpine. Uinta Mountains, llix-ky 

 Mountains of Colorado, and southward. 



2 P. sessiliflora, Nutt. Very densely cespitose from a woody mot. much 

 branched and crowded, branches very dense : stipules 2-clefl : leaves iml»ricatod, 

 linear-subulate, the lowest erect, obtuse, the upper longer, recurveil. spreading, 

 acute or mucronate, longer than the stipules: sep(ds obhmg-linear, with divergent 

 awns rather shorter. — Colorado and northward to the headwaters of the 

 Missouri and the Saskatchewan. 



* * Floirers m croivded dichotomous ci/mrs. 



3. P. Jaraesii, Torr. & Gray. Very minutely scabrous-puhe.^cent. cospi- 

 «ose, much branched from the base: stipules ovate-lanceolate, aouminafo or 

 «etose : leaves longer, linear-subulate, obtuse, about the length of the inter 

 uodes: cymes few-flowered, with a central sul).sessile flower in each division: 

 sepals linear-oblong, with very short cusps. — Fl. i. 170. Coloratlo. 



