Flora of the Palousc Region 139 



to the stigma; all the pollen of each anther-cell in one waxy mass: 

 pistils of 2 carpels with two distinct ovaries, but a common stigma: 

 fruit a pair of follicles; seed with a coma of silky down; endo- 

 sperm scant. 



231. ASCLEPIAS. 



Perennial herbs, with copious milky juice: leaves opposite: 

 flowers numerous, in umbels, subtended by a whorl of small 

 bracts, the involucre: calyx and corolla deeply 5-parted: stamens 

 on the very base of the corolla, monadelphous, short, crowned be- 

 hind each anther with a hood-like appendage from the cavity of 

 which rises a horn; anthers adherent to the solid stigma: ovaries 

 with short st)'les: follicles ovate or lanceolate; seeds numerous 

 each with a long tuft of down, the coma. 



Leaves ovate or oblong, pubescent. A. speciosa. 



Leaves lanceolate, glabrous. A. mexicaxa. 



A. speciosa Torr. Stems stout, erect, simple, 80-90 cm. high, thinly 

 white-tomentose throughout: leaves opposite, oblong-ovate, cuspidatelv 

 acute, rounded at base, 10-15 cm. long, short-petioled: peduncles stout, 

 longer than the very woolly pedicels: corolla dark-purple, 1 cm. long, the 

 lobes oblong-obtuse: hoods yellowish, spreading, much longer than the 

 stamens and stigma, abruptly narrowed above the dilated base, 12-15 mm. 

 long; horn projecting from near the base: capsules narrowly ovoid, tapering 

 above, white-woolly and with numerous soft spines, 8 mm. long. Abundant 

 along Snake River; elsewhere local and infrequent. 



A. mexicana Cav. Glabrous below the inflorescence: stems simple, erect, 

 40-60 cm. high: leaves mostly in whorls of 3-6, the lowermost opposite, linear 

 or lanceolate, rarely oblong, acute or obtuse, 3-8 cm. long, short-petioled: 

 inflorescence puberulenf. peduncles longer than the pedicels: flowers small, 

 5-6 mm. broad, whitish or purplish: hoods ovate, entire, shorter than the 

 stamens, each exceeded by the incurved subulate horn. Snake River can von , 

 rare. 



Family 62. CONVOLVULACEAE. 



Mostly twining or trailing herbs, often with milky juice: leaves 

 alternate: flowers regular, perfect, mostly showy: calyx 5-lobed: 

 corolla gamopetalous, 5-plaited or lobed, convolute or twisted in 

 the bud: ovary 2-celled; ovules 2 in each cell, the cells sometimes 

 becoming 4 in the fruit by false partitions: fruit a globular, 2-6- 

 seeded capsule; endosperm mucilaginous. 



232. CONVOLVULUS. 



Herbs or somewhat woody plants, twining, erect or prostrate: 

 flowers 1 or 2 in the axils of the leaves: corolla funnelform to 

 campanulate: stamens included: style undivided, or 2-cleft only at 



