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BOTANY 



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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 

 roiindish-obovate, a little narrowed at the baine, 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. buevifoua: 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 ; foliis inferioribusangusto-lanceolatis 



basi attenuatis ciliatisque, superioribus ovato-lanceolatis subamplexicaulibus, supremo (spatha ?) 

 cordato ; racemo terminali paucifloro brevipcdunculato ; pedicellis brevibus glabris ; sepalis 

 ovato-oblongis acutiusculis carinatis ; petalis valde inec[ualibu8, lateralibus orbiculari-obovatis, 

 impari rhomboideo parvula ; staminibus 6 ; antheris difFormibus ; fllamentis 3 superne, 2 basi 

 barbatis, una imberbe. Shady woods on the Blanco, Comale, and other rivers, Texas ; Wngld^ 

 (No. 699.) San Antonio, Texas ; Tlmrber. 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 



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bearded filaments. The plant seems to be an annual, and is a foot or 15 inches high. Lower leaves 



4-6 inches lonff, and half an inch wide in the middle, the tanerinff haKft frinaprl wJfTi a foxrr 



much 



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 rhombic, 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 purple 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 rhodais^tha (n. sp.) : caule erecto simplici glabro ; foliis linearibus complicate- 

 falcatis utrinq^ue glabris margine scabriusculis, vaginis ore imberbibus ; umbellis terminalibus 

 longe-pedunculatis solitariis compositis 3-4:-radiatis ; umbellulis 3-4-flori8 ; 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 1-1^ 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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