CLASS X. ORDER I. 187 



as it decays. Stem erect, fleshy, glabrous. Leaves scattered, 

 sessile, lanceolate, seinitransparent. Flower large, solitary, ter- 

 ttiinal, drooping, afterwards erect. Petals five, wedge shaped, 

 concave, gibbous at base with a corresponding nectariferous 

 cavity within, glabrous externally, a little downy on the inside. 

 Stamens ten, those which are alternate with the petals longest. 

 Filaments bearded. Anthers consisting of two horizontal folds, 

 cloven outwardly. Between the filaments are ten short, reversed 

 horns extending from the base of the germ downward by pairs 

 into the five nectaries. Germ large, ovate-globular, with ten 

 ridges between the filaments which unite in pairs at the top. 

 Style, if any, short, inversely conical. Stigma funnel shaped, 

 somewhat five angled, glutinous at the edge. Capsule erect, 

 five valved. — Woods. — July. 



On mature examination I am induced to consider the species 

 with drooping flowers, and that with erect flowers, called M. 

 morisoniana by Michaux, to be the same plant. It is not un- 

 common to find erect and drooping flowers in the same bunch. 

 § Subgenus Htpopithys. Bractes calyciform, styles cylindric. 

 MoNOTROPA LAUNGiNosA. Mx. Pine sap. 



Flowers spiked ; bractes and flowers woolly. 

 Syn. Htpopithys launginosa. Nutt. 



A white plant like the last, extremely similar in its habit and 

 fructification, though by some made a distinct genus. The root 

 in this plant and the last consists of a mass of agglomerated 

 brownish fibres, said to be parasitic on the roots of trees. The 

 lower part of the stem, which is under ground, is turgid and 

 covered with closely imbricated rhomboidal scales. The part 

 above ground is furnished with more remote, scattered, oblong, 

 concave scales, the uppermost of which become bractes to the 

 flowers, and are by some considered as a calyx, giving rise to a 

 generic distinction. The stem and scales are pubescent below 

 and somewhat woolly at top. Flowers in a terminal raceme, 

 which is drooping in the young plant, but afterwards becomes 

 erect. It is generally simple, though I have found specimens in 

 which it was compound with several branches. Outer petals of 

 the flower spatulate, rounded at the end, gibbous at base with a 



