184 CACTACE.E. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



4. CUPHEA, Jacq. Cuphea. 



Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, somewhat inflated below, gibbous or spurred at the 

 base on the upper side, 6-toothed at the apex, and usually with as many little 

 processes in the sinuses. Petals 6, very unequal. Stamens mostly 12, approxi- 

 mate in 2 sets, included, unequal. Ovary with a curved gland at the base next 

 the spur of the calyx, 1 - 2-celled : style slender : stigma 2-lobed. Pod oblong, 

 few-seeded, early ruptured through one side. — Flowers solitary or racemose, 

 stalked. (Name from Kvcjios, gibbous, from the shape of the calyx, &c.) 



1. C. viscosissima, Jacq. (Clammy Cuphea.) Annual, very viscid- 

 k" hairy, branching : leaves ovate-lanceolate ; petals ovate, short-clawed, purple. 

 'vA/v 1 Ttyto — Dry fields, from Connecticut to Illinois, and southward. Aug. — Seeds flat, 

 borne on one side of the placenta, which is early forced out the ruptured pod. 



Order 42. EOASACEiE. (Loasa Family.) 



Herbs, with a rough or stinging pubescence, no stipules, the calyx-tube ad- 

 herent to a 1-celled ovary with 2 or 3 parietal placental ; — represented here 

 only by the genus 



1. MENTZELIA, Plumier. (Bart6nia, Nutt.) 



Calyx-tube cylindrical or club-shaped ; the limb 5-parted, persistent. Petals 

 5 or 10, regular, spreading, flat, convolute in the bud, deciduous. Stamens in- 

 definite, rarely few, inserted with the petals on the throat of the calyx. Styles 

 3, more or less united into one: stigmas terminal, minute. Pod at length dry 

 and opening irregularly, few - many-seeded. Seeds flat, anatropous, with little 

 albumen. — Stems erect. Leaves alternate. Flowers terminal, solitary or cy- 

 mose-clustered. (Dedicated to C. Mentzel, an early German botanist.) 



1. M. oligosperma, Nutt. Rough and adhesive (l°-3° high), much 

 branched, the brittle branches spreading ; leaves ovate and oblong, cut-toothed 

 or angled; flowers yellow (7"- 10" broad), opening in sunshine; petals wedge- 

 oblong, pointed ; stamens 20 or more: filaments filiform: pod small, about 9- 

 6eeded. — Prairies and plains, Illinois, and on the western plains; — where M. 

 ornata and M. nuda, with large white flowers, arc showy representatives of 

 the genus. 



Order 43. CACTACE^E. (Cactus Family.) 



Fleshy and thickened mostly leafless plants, of peculiar aspect, globular, 

 or columnar and many-angled, or flattened and jointed, usually withpricHt s. 

 Flowers solitary, sessile ; the sepals and petals numerous, imbricated in sev- 

 eral rows, adherent to the 1-celled ovary. — Stamens numerous, with long 

 and slender filaments, inserted on the inside of the tube or cup formed by 

 the union of the sepals and petals. Style 1 : stigmas numerous. Fruit a 

 1-celled berry, with numerous campylotropous seeds on several parietal 

 placenta?. — Represented east of the Mississippi only by the genus 



