Norton — Plants of the Southwestern United States. 39 



placed with this Texan species of Decaisne. P. purpurascens 

 Nutt. and P. occidentalism Dec. may be much more easily re- 

 ferred to P. Virginica L. It is more likely that the plants 

 referred to P. Virginica longifoUa by Dr. Gray belong with 

 P. rhodosperma than do the plants referred to it by him as 

 synonyms. The following brief description is drawn from 

 the plants mentioned below. The type is in DeCandolle's 

 herbarium (see Prodromus 1. c). 



Leaves entire to dentate with large blunt salient teeth; 

 spikes several, 5 to 7 mm. thick, 12 to 20 cm. long; peduncles 

 5 to 7 cm. long, much shorter than the leaves ; bracts as long 

 as the calyx, rather rigid and projecting ; flowers crowded, 

 erect, the petals rather rigid, closed together, forming a point 

 over the ripened fruit, not much longer than the tube ; seeds 

 flattish, with an indistinct border, red, 2 mm. long. — Plate VII. 



The species may be readily distinguished by the large dense 

 spike, pointed corolla and large red seeds, they being twice 

 the length of the yellowish-brown seeds of P. Virginica. 



Specimens have been examined as follows: Bush, Colum- 

 bia, Texas, no. 107, 1900 : Mearns, Ft. Clark, Texas, no. 

 1448, 1895; Ball, Alexandria, La., no. 552; Waugh, 

 Oklahoma, no. 172; Palmer, Indian Territory, no. 213, 1868 ; 

 Pringle, Tucson, Arizona, no. 15957 ; Bush, Columbia, Texas, 

 no. 123. 



Verbena polystachya HBK. 



This species, reported in Gray's Synoptical Flora from 

 California and Arizona as rare, is not at all uncommon from 

 California to Florida. It has been confused with V. urticae- 

 foliaL. In the latter the sepals are but little longer than the 

 ripened nutlets, giving the fruit a blunt appearance, while in 

 V. polystachya they are enough longer than the fruit to make 

 it appear pointed. This in addition to the thicker, smaller, 

 less pointed, rougher leaves, and more dense spikes, easily 

 distinguishes this tropical species. The following are repre- 

 sentative specimens of V. polystachya: — Pollard, Scranton, 

 Miss., no. 1191, 1896; Nash, Eustis, Fla., no. 1248, 1894; 

 Curtiss, Jacksonville, Fla., no. 5111, 1894; Palmer, Biscayne 

 Bay, Fla., no. 397, 1894; Hitchcock, Meyers, Fla., no. 



