BOTANY. 



43 



r 



2-ovulatis. Styli tot quol carpella, coaliti, dcmuni Inferno (liHtincti. Ptigma cajiifalum, 4 — 5- 



lel)atnia.< Capsuhu abortu 8Gi)ius 2, Lasi subcoalitaCj scssilcs, semibivaWia. Sciulna plcruin(iUo 

 solitaria subglobosa. Fnitex liumilis, graveokns, raiiiosi88inui8 ; foliis oppojsitiH potiobitis, 



palmatim 5 — 10-foliolatis ; floribus albis in axillis snmmis solitariis vol subumbcllatis. 



A sbiub 3 to 6 feet bigh, with numerous pubescent, crowded, opposite branobes. Loaves 



b-opposite) 



10 line^ long ; leaflets m 



marked ( 



conspicuous glands. In all the specimens from the Rio Grande there arc G to 10 leaflets, wliicli 

 are narrowly linear (scarcely a line wide), and sub-coriaceous ; in those from Sonora there are 5, 

 which arc twice as broad, and thinner. These glands, on the leaflet:^, arc somewhat distant and 



marginal. Flowers j^erfect. Pedicels 8 — 10 lines long, mostly near the extremity of the 

 branches, either solitary or 2 to 4, and somewhat umbellate. Sepals 4 5, short and seraiovale, 

 ciliatc on the margin. Petals inserted at the base of the shorter stamens, 3 — 4 times as long as 

 tlic calyx, obovate, narrowed at the base. Stamens mostly 8 ; filaments naked, the altcrnato 



ones longer, compressed ; anthers ovate, fixed by the base, opening longitudinally. Disk 



produced into 8 — 10, nearly equal glandular lobe 



Ovary hairy, 



4 — o-lobcd, 4 — 5-celled ; the cells produced above into a short obtuse beak, exterior to the 

 style ; each cell containing 2 collateral bemitropous ovules. Styles short, at first combined, 

 but afterwards (and especially in the unfructified ovaries) distinct below ; stigma of 4 — 5 

 capitate lobes. Fruit capsular; only two of the carpels usually ripening ; these are broadly 

 ovate, compressed, dotted with brown impressed glands, mucronate with the base of the style ; 

 the beak, which in the ovary was at the summit of the carpel, becoming, in the mature fruit, a 

 dorsal tooth. At maturity the cari)els open nearly the whole length of the dorsal suture, and 

 down the back as far as the tooth. The endocarp also separates almost entirely from the epicarp. 

 Seeds mostly solitary in each cell, globose-ovate, black and shining. Embryo nearly straight in 

 the axis of fleshy albumen ; cotyledons roundish-ovate, flat, with a very short radicle. A very 

 distinct genus. 



W PiTAviA (Gastrosttla) dumosa, Niitt. in Torr. d Gray, Fl. 1, p. 215. San Diego and San 



Paequal, California, Febr, ; Parry, Thurher. A shrub 2 — 3 feet high. Leaves pungent when 



chewed. Cymes 3-flowered, terminal, and on short lateral spurs. Calyx 4-parted ; the segments 

 ovate, acute, coriaceous. Petals white, equal, oblong, sparsely dotted. Stamens 8 ; filaments 

 subulate; anthers somewhat reniform, innate, retrorse. Ovary solitary, seated on a fleshy 

 sub-globose slightly lobed disk. Stigma capitate. Fruit 1 — 2-seeded, testa thick and coriaceous. 

 •Embryo curved, in rather tliin fleshy albumen. This plant (as was remarked in the Flora of 

 N. America) is hardly a congener of Pitavia. It may form a sub-genus, distinguished by its 

 hermaphrodite flowers, solitary ovary, lateral style, and curved embryo. 



Zanth^'XYlum Carolixianum, Lam.; Torr. d Gray, FL 1, p. 24. Var. foliis brevioribus 



ovatis, &c. ; Gray, PL Wright. 1, p. 30. Head 



March (in flower) — September (in fruit); Bigelo 



H. B. Kth. Nov. Gen. d: Sp 



Eocky 



Santa Rosa, Cobahuila. February; Bigdo 



ScJiott. 



t) 



ELEA TRIFOLIATA, Liun.; Torr. d Gray, Fl. 1, p. 225, and B. p. 680, Rocky pi 



