Ptcica Aptcra. 201 



antly hispid cliaractcr of its stems and folinpfc, will not render it a 

 favorite with florists. 



When seen i^rowin^; luxuriantly on its native, dry and otherwise 

 almost barren hillsides in California, or in equally dry valleys, its 

 beauty is not likely to be easily overlooked. It extends eastward 

 through Colorado and Xew Mexieo, and has i^ained a |>ermanent 

 plaee in the eatalogues of Ameriean seedsmen. 



PTELEA AFTER A. 



(Ki-om (iin-ilri, (11,(1 Forest, iii. :»2.) 



This plant, a native of Lower California, is interesting from the 

 strueturc of the fruit, which dift'ers from that of the other species of 

 this small North American genus. In other Pteleas the indehiscent 

 fruit is surrounded bv a broad reticulate-veined wing, while in 

 Ptelea aptera it is turgid, nut-like and glandular, and quite wing- 

 less, or witli a narrow rudimentary wing only. 



I'telea aptera is a densely branched, pungently aromatic shrub, 

 with slender stems growing to a height of five to hfteen feet and 

 forming dense clusters. It is quite similar in habit and in general 

 apjicarance to the common Ptelea angustifolia of the southern and 

 soiithwesteni States, and, excei)t for the fruit, might be almost mis- 

 taken for that species. 



The fruit is broadly ovate, lenticular, and slightly keeled ; it is 

 wingless or nearh- so, a qtiarter to half an inch long, and a quarter 

 of an inch broad ; slightly emarginate at the base, tipped with the 

 remnants of the persistent stigmas, and consjjicuously glandular. 

 It is two or rarely three-celled [more rarely four-celled]. The seeds 

 are oblong and corrugated, with a shining black testa. 



Ptelea aptera was discovered in Januar\-, 1883, on dr\- gravelly 

 slopes near the shore at Punta Banda, at the southern end of Todos 

 Santos Bay, by a party of botanists under the leadership of the late 

 Dr. C. C. Parry. Flowers and remnants of the fruit of the pre- 

 ceding year were found at this time. Dr. Parry read an excellent 

 account of the plant with diagnostic characters before the Daven- 

 port Academy of Sciences in Decemljer, 1883. This was afterward 

 published in the proceedings of the society (iv., 39), the ripe fruit, in 

 the meantime, having been collected by Mr. C. R. Orcutt, of San 

 Diego. Charles S. Sargent. 



