Erlodictyon. HYDROPHYLLACE^. 175 



++ -H- Corolla short-fannelform, hardly exceeding the calyx: seeds' with a thickish opaque coat, 

 coai'sely pitted or sculptured. 



N. dichotomum, Ruiz & Pav. A Mexican and South American species, with oval or 

 oblong-lanceolate leaves. 



Var. angustif olilim, Gray. Erect, a span high, minutely pubescent, glandular : 

 stem repeatedly forked and with a nearly sessile flower in each fork : leaves narrow, linear 

 or nearly so (an inch or less long, a line or two wide) : sepals narrowly linear and slightly 

 broadened upwards: capsule oblong-oval (nearly glabrous): seeds oval-oblong, marked 

 with about 5 longitudinal rows of large pits, from 4 to 6 in each row. — Proc. Am. Acad, 

 viii. 284. — New Mexico, Fendler, Wright. Also Colorado, Haydcn, Rothrock, Brandegee. 

 Possibly a distinct species. Sometimes a weed of cultivated ground. 



§ 2. Suffruticose and cespitose-procumbent, silky-woolly : leaves entire : flowers 

 thyrsoid-glomerate : ovary and styles hirsute. 



N. Lobbii, Gray. Leaves linear or somewhat spatulate, tapering to the base, nearly 

 sessile (an inch or two long), more or less persistent; the older with revolute margins and 

 becoming glabrate ; the younger white with the soft villous wool : flowers clustered in the 

 upper axils and at the summit, nearly sessile : sepals subulate-linear, more than half the 

 length of the narrow funnelform (purple) corolla. — Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 37, viii. 285, & 

 Bot. Calif. 1. c. — Sierra Nevada, California, Lobb, Kellogg, Mrs. Pulsifer-Ames, Lemmon, &c. 

 Forming dense and broad tufts, the older stems rigid and woody. Corolla half an inch 

 long : the iilaments unequally adnate high up. Fruit not seen. 



§ 3. Perennial or woody-stemmed, erect, hirsute or hispid : leaves sessile, un- 

 dulate or sinuate-dentate : flowers glomerate or spicate. (Approaching Wigandia, 

 but with the narrowly funnelform corolla (also the capsule) of Nama.) 



N. Rothrockii, Gray. A span or two high from an apparently deep perennial root, her- 

 baceous, cinereous with a fine and somewhat viscid roughish pubescence, at least tlie inflores- 

 cence and calyx hispid with sharp spreading bristles : leaves lanceolate-oblong, almost 

 pinnatifid ; the pinnate veins running straight to near the sinuses between the strong teeth, 

 there forking : floM'ers numerous in a capitate terminal cluster : sepals hardly dilated 

 upward, half inch long, nearly equalling the corolla : ovary and capsule slightly hirsute : 

 seeds rather few (almost a line long), oval, minutely reticulate-pitted. — Bot. Calif, i. 621; 

 Rothrock in Wheeler Rep. t. 18. — Meadows on S. Kern River, California, Rothrock. 



N. Parryi, Gray, 1- c. Stem 6 feet high ! below woody, over half inch in diameter and 

 with a large brownish pith: leaves (as far as seen) linear, 2 or 3 inches long, 2 or 3 lines 

 broad, villous-hirsute, numerously pinnate-veined, somewhat bullate ; the margins revolute 

 and undulate or repand: flowers unilateral and the fruit densely spicate on the few 

 branches of the compact scorpioid cyme : sepals nearly filiform, little surpassing the oval 

 capsule, barely 2 lines long: seeds oval (half line long), minutely reticulated. — S. E. Cali- 

 fornia, on the Mohave slope of the San Bernardino Mountains (seen only in winter ves- 

 tiges), Parry. 



13. ERIODfCTYON, Benth. (Formed of f()<or, wool, and di'/.rvor, net- 

 work, on account of the netted veins and wooUiuess of the under surface of the 

 leaves.) — Low shrubs (California to New Mexico) ; with alternate pinnately 

 veined and finely reticulated leaves, of firm or coriaceous texture, their margins 

 mostly beset with rigid teeth, at base tapering into more or less of a petiole ; the 

 flowers scorpioid-cymose, forming a terminal usually naked thyrsus. Sepals nar- 

 row, not enlarging upwards. Corolla violet or purple, or sometimes white. 

 Filaments adnate variably and sometimes very extensively to the tube of the 

 corolla, usually sparsely hirsute. Ovary nearly or completely 2-celled by the 

 meeting of the dilated placentae in the axis. Capsule small (a line or two long), 

 globose-ovate, pointed. — Benth. Bot. Sulph. 35; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 313, 

 331, & Bot. Calif. 1. c. 



