L A S E M . 141 



long, with a broad auricled base: fl. 15 in each axil, mostly sessile: 

 calyx 1J lines long, in fruit becoming 2 lines broad: petals small, bright 

 purple: capsule bursting irregularly. Common along the lower Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin. 



2 A. humilis, Michx. Smaller; leaves linear-oblanceolate, not auri- 

 cled at base but tapering, sometimes short-petiolate : fl. 1 3 in each 

 axil : calyx globular, the accessory teeth as long as the lobes or shorter : 

 petals small, purplish: capsule globular, dehiscent septicidally. Habitat 

 of the preceding, but less frequent. 



ORDER XLV. L A S E > . 



Rigid herbs clothed with stinging or jointed and barbed hairs. Bark 

 of stems often white and deciduous. Leaves without stipules. Calyx-tube 

 adnate to the 1-celled ovary. Stamens often very numerous, and some 

 of the outer petaloid. We have but the following genus. 



1. MENTZELIA, Plumier. Annuals and biennials. Leaves alternate, 

 mostly coarsely toothed or pinnatifid. Flowers solitary or cymose, large 

 or very small, yellow. Calyx-tube cylindrical, ovoid or turbinate; the 

 5-lobed limb persistent. Petals 5 or 10. Stamens GO , inserted on the 

 throat of the calyx; filaments free, or in clusters opposite the petals, 

 filiform, or the outer more or less dilated and without anthers. Ovary 

 truncate at summit, 1-celled; ovules horizontal or pendulous, in 1 or 2 

 rows on the 3 parietal placentae. Capsule mostly cylindrical, opening 

 irregularly at the summit. Seeds angled or compressed. 



* Annuals, small- flowered; petals 5 only; stamens rather few. 



1. M. allinis, Greene. Stoutish, often 2 ft. high, simple and leafy 

 below, widely branching above; leaves lanceolate, deeply sinuate-pinnat- 

 ifid: fl. scattered, % in. broad; calyx-lobes attenuate-subulate, 2 3 lines 

 long: capsule 1 in. long, almost linear, hispid with short stiff hairs which 

 have a pustulate base: seeds prismatic, with grooved angles. Plains of 

 the San Joaquin, and far southward. 



2. M. micrantha (H. & A.), Torr & Gray. More slender, the inflor- 

 escence in age compactly dichotomous: leaves ovate, from entire to 

 serrate-toothed: fl. very small; 5 of the filaments petaloid and einargin- 

 ate: capsules 3 6 lines long, few-seeded: seed prismatic, twice as long 

 as broad, the base often oblique, angles with very shallow groove, sides 

 faintly tuberculate. Santa Clara Co., in the mountains. May July. 



3. M. Lindleyi, Torr. & Gray. Slender, simple or bushy-branched, 

 1 3 ft. high; leaves ovate to narrowly lanceolate, 23 in. long, from 

 pectinate-pinnatifid to coarsely toothed: fl. axillary and terminal: calyx- 

 lobes rather broadly lanceolate, % % in. long: fl. vespertine: petals 

 obovate, abruptly acuminate or cuspidate, 1 in. long or more, golden 



