NEW AMERICAN LYTHRA 269 



Bot. Jahrb. I., p. 321, (i88i) as a synonym of L.ovalifolium Engelni. 



Planta perennis erecta vel ascendens caulibus pertenuibus 

 a rhizomate repente tenui, lignoso, assurgens 1-3 dm. alta, foliis 

 crassis, rigidis, glaucis, ovatis ovalibus vel obovatis, distincte 

 sed hreviter petiolatis, cauli subtereti sine alls, simplici vel sub- 

 simplici (aliquando minus ramoso) ; foliis cum margine striguloso, 

 basi rotundatis vel subcordatis, omnibus fere aequali magnitudine, 

 divaricatis vel erectiusculis 5-13 mm. longis 3-6 mm. latis. Flores 

 calice subcylindrico vel cylindrico-campanulato, subsessili minute 

 ad basim bibracteato, pedunculo fructifero i mm. longo, dentibus 

 calicis apice rotundatis mucronatis; appendicibus erectis vel 

 divaricatis, lanceolatis, subulatis, dentes calicis duplo excedentibus : 

 Flores quoque pauci axillares tantum 2-10, binis oppositis, in 

 unoquoque cauli vel ramo elongate; petalis purpureis vel pallidis 

 oblongis; staminibus subaequalibus exserta usque 2 mm., et in 

 aliis plantis cum stylo aequemodo exserto et staminibus inclusis. 

 Petioli, calix, et nodi purpurei sunt. 



Plant, erect or ascending, perennial very slender 1-3 dm. 

 high from slender woody repent rootstocks or runners. Stem 

 subterete usually simple or but little branched purplish with 

 scarcely any trace of wings or angles and only a minutely raised 

 white line descending from both sides of the leaf insertions. 

 Leaves thick rigid, roughish margined, ovate, oval, or sometimes 

 obovate distinctly though short-petioled, rounded or subcordate 

 at the base and obtuse at the apex, all on the same shoot nearly 

 equal in size, spreading or slightly erect. 5-13 mm. long and 3-6 

 mm. wide. Calyx subcylindric gradually widened upward nearly 

 sessile with two linear membranous bracts at the base, pedicel 

 about I mm. long in fruit, bibracteolate at the middle. Calyx 

 segments rounded mucronate appendages, lanceolate subulate 

 twice as long. Petals pale purplish, oblong two-thirds as long as 



to the plant of Engelmann. The plant to which Shuttleworth applied 

 the name in MS. is, however, quite a different plant from L. ovalifolium. 

 Owing to this peculiar condition of things there may arise doubt as to the 

 use of the name L. flagellare for Suttleworth's plant, when its first use was 

 that of a synonym for L. ovafoUlium. We prefer to keep vShuttleworth's 

 inedited name at the same time establish the identity of the plants. 



Should nomenclatorial quibblefs consider L. flagellare inapplicable we 

 suggest as a second choice L. tenue for the plant here for the first time 

 described, as far as we know. 



