CATALOGUE. 137 



RUBIACE^E. 



Bouvaedia* hirtella, H. B. K., var. quaternifolia. (B. quaterni- 

 folia, DC, Prod. vol. iv, p. 365). — Low shrub, often much, branched; older 

 shoots clay-colored, younger dark green and puberulent ; leaves short-peti- 

 oled, thiekish, lanceolate to broadly oval, acute, commonly three in a whorl, 

 sometimes more, or again reduced to two, opposite, slightly hispid on upper 

 surface, nearly glabrous on lower (except on the principal veins), and ciliate 

 on the margin, 1-2' long, 5-10" wide; corymbs trichotomous. Corolla 

 12-18" long, glandular puberulent, smooth or nearly so in the throat, lobes 

 1-2" long ; stamens sessile, oblong and slightly emarginate at base ; calyx 

 covered with a short, stiff, white pubescence, tube half as long as the acute, 

 narrowly lanceolate lobes. — Camp Bowie, Ariz., at 5,500 feet altitude 

 (478). I can find no description that exactly answers for this plant, yet 

 it comes nearest to Bouvardia quaternifolia, DC, which, with B. Jaquinii, 

 I am persuaded (from the description) are merely forms of hirtella. The 

 species varies within wide limits. 



MiTRACARPiUMt breviflorum, Gray (PI. "Wright. 2, p. 68) — Annual, 

 4-8' high, unbranched, slightly four-angled, nearly smooth; leaves 10-14" 

 long, 2-4" wide, having between their bases a dense capitulum of small, white 

 flowers; bracts bristle-like, very delicate ; calyx-teeth unequal, the two longer 

 twice as long as the calyx-tube, subulate, the two shorter very small; terminal 

 head' of flowers, according to Dr. Gray, is subtended by four leaves. — 

 Sanoita Valley, Arizona (605). 



' Boovardia, Salisb. — Flowers in clusters at the end of the branches. Calyx with 4 slender lobes. 

 Corolla with a long and slender or somewhat tiunipet-shaped tube and 4 short spreading lobes, valvato 

 in (he bud. Authers 4, almost sessile in (ho throat. Style 1 ; stigma of 2 flat lips. Pod small, globular, 

 2-celled; seeds wing-margined.— Gray, in Field, Forest, and Garden Botany. 



tMlTRACAr.PiUM, Zuccar.— Flowers hermaphrodite, capitate. Calyx-tube turbinate-obovoid, or 

 sub-globose; teeth 4-5. Two often longer than the others, sometimes with smaller ones between, per- 

 sistent. Corolla salver- or fuunel-sbaped, tube often encircled inside by a hairy ring; lobes of the limb 

 4, valvate, spreading. Stamens 4, inserted on the throat of the corolla ; authers fixed by the back. Disk 

 fleshy. Ovary 2-, rarely 3-celled. Style with two shortish, linear branches; amphitropous ovules soli- 

 tary in the cells. Fruit didymous, membranaceous, opening transversely at or below the middle, the 

 upper part going with the calyx and exposing the seeds, the septa remaining iu the other portion. Seeds 

 oblong, globose, with the ventral face flat or 4-lobed ; testa membranaceous, albumen dense, fleshy ; 

 cotyledons foliaceons. — Erect or prostrate herbs, root frequently perennial, branches 4-angled. Leaves 

 opposite, linear-lanceolate or ovate, the upper ones often the longer, the setose, sheathing stipules connato 

 with the petiole. Flowers iu dense heads, minute, white, often intermixed with bristles. — Bcntiiam & 

 Hooker. 



