51 



/fi'/i('« I'onii <|uik' H cuiil'iising grouj) in wliich to diaw eonsiisLciit giMU!ri<? 

 lines, and as a conseciucncu have been varioiiHly Ueatotl. In our rentoia- 

 tion of Leplolaniia It is only necessary to point out the characters 

 which separate it from Feruln, to which it has been rcferretl, and from 

 PrucnhiiiiDii and I'oli/tniiid, with which it is most likely to l»e coii- 

 tounded^by American students, h'lrulfi lias mostly a membranous-winged 

 fiuit, no ridge on the commissural face, and a very prominent disk, all of 

 which characters, as well as its general habit, are strikingly contradicted 

 bv Lt'plot(r)iia. The thick corky wings of this latter genus and their con- 

 nection with the thln-walled pericarp (still more striking in oross-sectiom 

 serve to separate it well from any allied genus t'xcept C'olopferti. Peii- 

 crdaiivm also differs in its membranous lateral wings, which are strongly 

 jierved on the ventral face at the inner margin, in the absence of a longi- 

 tudinal ridge on the lomraissural face, and in the often solitary oil-tubes. 

 In the case of those species of P run- dun inn which have more than one oil- 

 duct in the intervals, the decidedly membranous wings are in sharp con- 

 trast with those of Leplolnnia, and simply indi<-ate species of Pcurethuunn 

 looking towards Ferula. In fact, we have failel to discover any good 

 reason why Ferula should not be incorporated with Peuredanum. In Poly- 

 l<rnia the corky lateral wings are found, but the same corky thickening is 

 continued over the whole back of the carpel, through which small oil-tubes 

 are scattered, in addition to the almost continuous row about th«' seed- 

 (•avity. 



* Oil-tiibes obsolete or very obscure ( hut often scattered 

 vesicles simulating oil-tubes), 



1. L. dissecta Xutt. Ton. A: Gray, Fl. i. ()8(). One to 

 tlirec feet iiigh, leafy at base: leaves liroad, a foot or so long-, tern- 

 ate and thrice pinnate; segments ovate or oblong, y^ to 1 inch long, 

 pinnatifidly laciniate-lobcd and toothed, puberulent on the veins 

 (beneath) and margins: umbel S to 20-raycd, with an involucre of 

 few linear bracts, and involucels of several linear bractlets; rays 2 

 to 5 inches long: flowers yellow or purplish: fruit sessile (but 

 sterile flowers pedicelled ) or nearlv so, 5 to 9 lines long, about 8 

 lines broad: strengthening cells in the distinct filiform dorsal and 

 intermediate ribs, as well as in the laterals: seed-face plane. 



'(Fig. 'M.)— Ferula dissecta (nay. Pn.c. Am. Acad. vii. 848. 

 F. dissoluta Watson, Hot. Calif, i. TA. 



From S. California to British Columbia yManmn). Fl. .\pril t<> .Tuly. 



2. L. multifida Xutt. I.e. Like the precciling, but with 

 more finely divided leaves, innbels mostly without involucre, 

 pedicels of the fruit 3 to 12 lines long, fruit 4 to ti lines long, no 

 strengtheniii'' cells in the almost obsolete dorsal and intermediate 



