Abronia cycloptera. 



3 NATURAL JTISTORY OF PLANTS. 



petiolate leaves. Some twenty-five species 1 of them are enumerated, 

 abounding principally in America, but this genus is found in all the 

 warm regions of the globe. 



Abronia* has the inflorescence of Nyctaginia, with an involucre 

 generally of five leaves, and some differences in the perianth and the 

 fruit. The first is hypocrateriform, with a tube swollen at the base, 

 and a limb spreading more or less obliquely, and separated into 

 lobes, equal or slightly unequal. 3 The androceum is formed of five 

 unequal stamens, included, and adhering to the perianth by their 



filaments. The style is claviform or taper- 

 ing towards its stigmatiferous apex. The fruit 

 (fig. 13) is narrow and elongated. The 

 basilar portion of the perianth, which persists 

 round it, dilates as in Selinocarjjus, into yet 

 more fully developed membranous and veined 

 wings. The embryo has generally only one 

 cotyledon, the interior aborting. The Abronias 

 are creeping herbs, natives of the tempe- 

 rate parts of North America. Half a dozen 

 have been described, which are probably only 

 varieties of one and the same species. 4 Their leaves are opposite, 

 long-petiolate and unequal ; the pedunculate inflorescence is ter- 

 minal, although seemingly lateral or axillary. 



Piso?iia 5 (figs. 14-17) has regular polygamous flowers. In certain 

 species of them, which are hermaphrodite, is found a perianth forming 



Fig. 13. 

 Fruit. 



1 L., Spec. 4.— W„ Spec, 1, 19; Phyt., i. n. 

 3. — Vahl, Enum., i. 287. — Lour., Fl. Cocldnch., 

 20. — H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Spec, ii. 216. — 

 Fohst., Prodr., n. 5. — Lag. et Rode , in Ann. 

 Cleric. Mair. (1801), 256.— Rich., in Act. Soc 

 Hist. Sat. Par., i. 105.— R. Be., Prodr., 422. 

 — C. Gay, Fl. Ckil., v. 209.— A. Geay, Brief 

 Char..., 7 — Walp., Ann., i. 559; iii. 298; v. 

 72i'. 



'- J., Gen., 448. — Gjeetn., Fruet., iii. 181, t. 

 211.- Lamk., Bid., viii. 85; III., t, 105. — 

 Endl., Gen., n. 2002.— Chois., Prodr., 435, n. 

 6. — Tricralus Lh£r., Diss., c. ic. — Cyclop: 

 Nutt., niss. — Apaloptera Nutt., mss. (ex A. 

 Gray). 



3 In tliis case the exterior ones are the most 

 developed. 



4 Hook., in Pot. May., 2879; Fxot. Fl., t. 

 193, 194; Fl. Bor.-Amer., ii. 125.— Escii., in 



Mem. Petersb., x. ; Deser. PI. Nov.- Calif., 281.— 

 Bentii., Toy. Sulph., Pot., 43. — Toeh., in Frem. 



first Rep., 96; in Fmor. Sep., 119; in Slansb. 

 Expl. Rep., 395. — A. Gray, Brief Char..., 5. 



5 Plum., Icon, (ed Buem.), t. 227 ; Amer., 

 7, t. 11 (nee Rottjj.).— L., Gen., n. 897.— 



. Ada>"s., Fain, des PL, ii. 265. — J., Gen., 91 ; in 

 Ann. Mm., ii. 275. — G.ketn., Fruct., i. t. 76 — 

 Poir., Diet., v. 346; Suppl., iv. 119. — Lamk., 

 //(;, t. 861.— Endl., Gen., n. 2012.— Chois., 

 Prodr., 440. — Torrubia Yelloz., Fl. Flum., iii. 

 t. 150. — Pessera Velloz., op. cit., iv. t. 2. — 

 Pallavia Velloz., op. cit., iv. 1. 12. — Columella 

 Yi.Li.oz., op. cit., iv. t. 17. — Trayidaria Kcex. 

 (ex Bom;., Ft. Lid., ii. 345). — Calpidia Dup.- 

 Tii., Hist. PI. It. Afr. Austr., 23, t. 8 (inch: 

 Cephalotomandra Karst. et TBI., Neea R. et 

 Pay., Tieillardia Ad. Be. et Ge.). 



r 



