202 UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDAEY 



filaments of which are scarcely united at the base. Fertile flowers not seen. Fruit solitary 

 and resemhling that of S, salicifolium; except in being larger. The plant seems to be dioecious. 



The genera Sapium and Stillingia are^ we think^ very properly united by Klotsch. Long 

 ago Ad. Jussieu remarked (Euphorh, p. 50) that they were scarcely distinct and ought perhaps to 

 form one genus. The calyx of the staminate flowers is the same in both^ although it is described 

 as tubular in the latter. The number of staminate flowers under a single bract or involucre is 

 not a sufficient distinction. There are several in S. sylvaticum and S. salicifolium ; but in S. 

 annuum and S. ligustrinum they are solitary. 



Skimondsia Californica, Nutt. in Hook. Lond. Jour. Bot. 3, p. 400,^. 16 ; (Tab. XLIX.) Dry 

 hills along the Gila and westward to San Diego ; not uncommon in various parts of southern 

 California. JSTuttall did not see the fruit. This is about three-fourths of an inch long, ovate 

 and obtusely triangular^ abruptly pointed, and somewhat resembles the gland of an acorn. At 

 maturity it splits into 3 valves ; the dehiscence being loculicidal. It usually contains but a 

 single seed J "which is conformed to the cavity of the pericarp. The embryo is wholly destitute 

 of albumen. The cotyledons are very thick and fleshy, and they cohere together, so that they 

 only separate after considerable boiling. The radicle is minute and superior. The nuts have 

 somewhat the flavor of filberts, but the after-taste is rather nauseous, and they are apt to cause 

 purging. Mr. Nuttall thinks this genus is very clearly allied to Garrya, but it difiers in several 

 important characters. Lindley places it, without a remark, in Euphorbiace^e, and we are inclined 

 to follow him, notwithstanding the absence of albumen. 



Suborder BATIDE^. 



Bates maritima, Linn.; Torr. in Smithson. Conirih, 6, p. t. 11. On the beach, at Brazos 

 Santiago ; Schoit. 



Batis Californica, Torr. I. c. Salt marshes near San Diego, California ; Parry. We have 

 received no more specimens of this plant since it was first described, and are by no means certain 

 that it is specifically distinct from B. maritima. 



UETICACE^. 



Urtica urens, Linn. Spec. 2, p. 284 ; Miguel in Mart. Fl. Bras. fasc. 12, p. 195, t. 67. In the 

 streets of Monterey, California, where it has manifestly been introduced, May ; Parry. Wet 

 ravines near the Organ mountains, New Mexico ; Bigelow. 



Urtica purpurascens, Nuit. in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. (n. ser.) 5,^. 169 ; Gray ^ Man. ed. 2, 

 p. 398. San Antonio, Texas ; Thurber. Near Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande ; Bigelow. It is 



commonly sim 



Urtica gracilis, Ait. Hort. Kew 



Banks of the Limpio, July ; Bigeloio. 



California; Bev. A. Fitch. Stem 4-5 feet high. Leaves often ovate and sometimes slightly 

 cordate, coarsely toothed. 



BoEHMERiA CTLINDRICA, WiUd. Sp. 4, p. 340. Banks of streams and wet thickets, western 



Texas. 



Pakietaria debilis, Forst. S. Floridana, Weddell, Monogr, Vrtic. p. 316. P. Floridana, 



Nuit. Gen. 2, p. 208; Ell. SJc. l,p. 576. Rocky places along the upper Rio Grande and in 

 Sonora, March— May. (No. 1861, Wright.) The leaves vary from nearly orbicular to ovate- 



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