EPILOBIACE^. 137 



6. BOISDUVALIA, Spach. Annuals, rigid and leafy, rather low 

 (except the first species); the leaves alternate, sessile. Flowers small, 

 purple, in leafy-bracted spikes. Calyx-tube funnelform above the ovary, 

 deciduous; lobes not reflexed in flower. Petals 4, obovate-cuneiform, 

 sessile, 2-lobed. Stamens 8, all perfect, unequal; filaments slender, 

 naked at base; anthers oblong, fixed near the base. Ovary 4-celled, 

 several-ovuled; stigma-lobes short, somewhat cuneate. Capsule mem- 

 branaceous, ovate-oblong to linear, nearly terete, acute, dehiscent to the 

 base. Seeds in 1 row in the cell. 



1. B. densiflora (Lindl.), Wats. Stoutish, sparingly branching, 15 

 ft. high, soft-pubescent throughout: lower leaves lanceolate, acuminate, 

 serrate-toothed; the floral broader, entire: flowers in rather dense ter- 

 minal spikes: calyx 1% 3 lines long, half as long as the purple petals: 

 capsules ovate-oblong, glabrous or villous, 24 lines long; cells 36- 

 seeded, the partition separating from the valves and adhering to the 

 placenta: seeds nearly a line long. Var. imhricata, Greene. Less can- 

 escent than the type, the whole plant larger and coarser; spikes thick 

 and dense, the capsules concealed under the very broad acute closely 

 imbricated bracts. Abundant in low grounds. July Oct. 



2. B. stricta (Gray), Greene. Canescent with a short stiff spreading 

 pubescence; plant slender, seldom 1 ft. high: leaves lanceolate or linear, 

 narrow at base, entire or denticulate, the floral not differing from the 

 others except as being smaller: flowers in a loose simple spike, minute: 

 capsules linear-acuminate, 4 6 lines long; cells 6 8-seeded: seeds } 

 line long or less, ovate. Frequent from Santa Clara Co. northward. 



3. B. cleistogama, Curran. Pale and glaucescent, glabrous or hispid- 

 ulous; 4 10 in. high, rather slender: leaves ovate-lanceolate, % 1% in. 

 long, remotely serrate: fl. small, rose-red, the earliest ones cleistogamous : 

 capsule rather coriaceous: seeds numerous. Common on the lower 

 Sacramento plains; also in Sonoma Co. 



7. ISKAKDIA, Linn. Herbs (ours creeping and aquatic or riparian) 

 with entire opposite leaves, and axillary commonly apetalous 4-merous 

 flowers. Calyx-tube prismatic, not produced beyond the ovary; lobes 

 4, persistent. Stamens as many or twice as many. Ovary broad at apex 

 and usually flattened, or crowned with a conical style-base; stigma capi- 

 tate, 4-grooved. Capsule 4-celled, dehiscent by lateral slits or terminal 

 pores. Seeds very many, minute. 



1. I. pal list ris, L. Glabrous; stems 4 10 in. long: leaves all opposite, 

 oval or ovate, acute, % 1 in. long, tapering to a short petiole: fl. sessile, 



1 in each axil: petals rarely present, minute, reddish: capsule oblong, 



2 lines long or less, somewhat 4-angled. On muddy shores in the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin valleys. 



