BOTANY. 225 
acute, scarcely narrowed at the base; the sheaths wide and short. Floral leaves connate and 
spreading horizontally, ovate, acuminate, cordate at the base. Umbel 20-40-flowered ; the 
pedicel densely clothed with long white hairs. Sepals oblong, rather obtuse, smooth. Petals 
roundish-obovate, a little narrowed at the base, deep rose-color. Filaments all smooth, two- 
thirds the length of the petals; anther-cells separated by a wide connective. Style filiform ; 
stigma capitate-peltate. Cells of the capsule 2-seeded. 
Var. BREVIFOLIA: caule prostrato ; foliis ovatis approximatis crassiusculis glaucis, vaginis ore 
ciliatis.—Mountains near the mouth of the Pecos; Bigelow. The general appearance of this 
plant is certainly very unlike that of T. leiandra, but the pedicels and flowers are so similar 
that I hesitate to separate it as a distinct species. 
TRADESCANTIA ANOMALA (n. sp.): caulibus pluribus erectis ; E inferioribus angusto-lanceolatis 
basi attenuatis ciliatisque, superioribus ovato-lanceolatis sul icaulibus, supremo (spatha ?) 
cordato; racemo terminali paucifloro brevipedunculato ; үгийн brevibus glabris; sepalis 
ovato-oblongis acutiusculis carinatis; petalis valde inequalibus, lateralibus.orbiculari-obovatis, 
impari rhomboideo parvula; staminibus 6 ; antheris difformibus ; filamentis 3 superne, 2 basi 
barbatis, una imberbe. Shady woods on the Blanco, Comale, and other rivers, Texas; Wright, 
(Хо. 699.) San Antonio, Texas; Thurber. I have long had Texan specimens from Mr. Wright, 
from near Austin, &c. The species is intermediate between Tradescantia and Commelyna ; 
resembling the latter in the unequal petals and difformed stamens as well as in the terminal 
leaf or bract (which is like a spatha laid open); and the former in the 6 fertile stamens with 
bearded filaments. The plant seems to be an annual, and is a foot or 15 inches high. Lower leaves 
4-6 inches long, and half an inch wide in the middle, the tapering base fringed with a few 
long hairs, otherwise smooth ; upper leaves much shorter and rounded at the base. Peduncle 
4-6 lines long. Raceme about 5-flowered; pedicels short, with ovate bracteoles at the base. 
Sepals glabrous, green. The 2 lateral petals bright blue, nearly twice as long as the sepals, odd 
one rhombie, white, less than one fourth as large as the others. The 3 stamens that are 
opposite the petals shorter than the others and furnished with oblong anthers; filament of the 
one opposite the small odd petal beardless, of the 2 lateral ones bearded with purpie hairs near 
the base. The other three stamens have smaller roundish similar anthers ; the filament of the 
middle one winged on each side, from the summit to nearly the base, with a membrane which 
is fringed with yellow hairs; the other two filaments are bearded only near the summit, Ovary 
ovate, 2-celled, (one of the cells abortive,) with 2 superimposed ovules in each cell; style long, 
slender, and somewhat curved above; stigma capitate. Capsule oblong, cells 2-seeded, Seeds 
as in the rest of the genus. 
TRADESCANTIA RHODANTHA (n. sp.): caule erecto simplici glabro; foliis linearibus complicato- 
faleatis utrinque glabris margine scabriusculis, vaginis ore imberbibus ; umbellis terminalibus 
longe-pedunculatis solitariis compositis 3—4-radiatis; umbellulis 3-4-floris; pedicellis sepala 
exterioreque (antica?) vix hispidulis; filamentis omnibus barbatis; antheris conformibus. 
Corallitas, Chihuahua, August; Thurber. Root fasciculate. Stem 12—15 inches high, slender, 
Leaves about 3, the sides folded together. Peduncle 4-6 inches long. In the axil of the upper 
leaf there is second small umbel. Primary rays of the umbel 1-11 inch long; pedicels of the 
buds short and nodding ; of the flowers 6-10 lines long. Sepals ovate-oblong, rather obtuse. 
Petals bright rose-color, orbicular-ovate, about 4 lines long. Stamens half the length of the 
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