FROM MISSOURI TO SANTA FE AND NORTHERN MEXICO. 47 
In the same region a strange plant was obtained for the first time, but then without flowers or 
fruit, and which, to the casual observer, appeared as curious as it is puzzling to the scientific botanist ; 
single spiny sticks or stems having a soft and brittle wood, and a great deal of pith in the centre, 
one or more from the same root, but always without branches, 8 to 10 feet high, not more than half 
an inch thick, frequently overtopping the brush among which they were found, only towards the top 
with a few bunches of already yellow leaves. In the following spring the splendid crimson flowers 
of this plant were found by Dr. W. between Chihuahua and Parras, and to Dr. Gregg I am indebted 
for mature fruit, collected near Saltillo and Monterey. The plant proved to be a Fouguiera, 
two species of which had been found in Mexico by Humboldt; one of them, the F. formosa, 
a branching shrub, was only known in the flowering state; the other, F. spinosa, a spinous tree, 
only in fruit. The structure of the ovary of the first appeared to differ so much from that of the 
capsule of the second, that it was afterwards deemed necessary to distinguish both generically, 
and the second constituted then the genus Bronnia. Having both flowers and fruit of a 
third Fouquiera, I am enabled to solve the difficulty to some extent, and prove the neces- [98 (14)] 
sity of reuniting Bronnia with Fouguiera® The flower of Fougquiera splendens, as I have 
named the northern plant, is that of a true Fouquiera, while the fruit is nearly that of Bronnia ! 
tenuioribus, albidis; centralibus sub-3 robustioribus, longioribus, fuscis; floribus maximis, roseis; sepalis ovatis, acutis, 
fimbriatis ; petalis mucronatis, fimbriatis; stylo supra stamina brevia longe exserto, stigmatibus 8. 
Sandy soil near Dojiana, in flower in August, All my specimens single; trunk oval, J to 2 inches high ; tuber- 
cles in 8 rows, 12 to 15 lines long, incurved; groove at first tomentose down to the tomentose supra-axillary areola; 
radial spines 1 to 14, central 14 to 2 inches long; flowers 2} to 3 inches in length and diameter, probably larger 
than in any other species of this genus ; petals rose-colored, darker red in the middle. 
16 Fouquiera, Humb. B. Kunth, charact. emendat. Calyx 5-sepalus, imbricatus, persistens. Corolla hypogyna, 
gamopetala, longe-tubulosa, limbo brevi 5-partito, patente, wstivatione incomplete contorta. Stamina 10-15, hypo- 
gyna, exserta ; filamenta inferne arcuata villosa, basi inter se coherentia; anthere biloculares, longitudinaliter dehis- 
centes, mucronate, basi cordate, imo dorso affix, introrse. Ovarium liberum sessile; placente 3 parietales ad 
centrum productz neque connate, ovarium inde incomplete triloculare; ovula sub-18 ascendentia, in quaque placenta 
6 biseriata; stylus filiformis trifidus. Capsula coriacea trivalvis; valve medio placentifere ; placente demam mar- 
gine centrali connate et a valvis solute placentam singulam centralem triangularem formantes. Semina 3-6 compla- 
nata, alata s. comosa ; albumen tenuissimum membranaceum ; embryo magnus rectus, cotyledonibus planis, radicula 
breviori infera. 
Mexican shrubs or trees, with soft fragile wood, and tuberculated, angular branches, the tubercles bearing spines, 
and in their axils single or fasciculate obovate entire leaves; splendid crimson sganeccige: terminal or subterminal 
se or panicles. At present only the following species of this genus are known 
. F. rormosa, HBK.: fruticosa, spinis ee foliis solitariis aleighs subcarnosis ; floribus sessilibus 
arcte ee staminibus 12; stylo apice tripartito. 
2. F. SPLENDENS, n. sp.: fruticosa, simplex, spints longioribus, foliis fasciculatis, obovato-spathulatis, membranaceis ; 
floribus breviter pedicellatis in paniculam thyrsoideam congestis, staminibus 15 ; stylo ultra medium tripartito, semi- 
nibus 3-6 comosis, 
3. F. sprnosa, HBK.: arborea, ramosa, spinis longioribus, foliis aaa fascicnlatis, obovato-oblongis, mem- 
branaceis; floribus pedicellatis corymboso-paniculatis ; staminibus 10; seminibus 3 membranaceo-alatis. 
ouquiera is a common plant from the Jornada del ‘aia in New Mexico, to Chihuahua, Saltillo, 
and Monterey; flowers in April, fruit by the end of May. 
A general description has already been given in the text. In New Mexico it was seen only 8 or 10 feet high, 
but farther south it was found from 10 to 20 feet high, and in favorable localities it is said to grow even 30 feet high, 
and rarely thicker than about one inch in diameter. Bark smooth and ashy gray; spines horizontal, slightly curved, 
6 to 10 lines long, disappearing on old stems; leaves deciduous fascicled,in the axils of the spines towards the top of 
the stem, short-petioled, spathulate, obtuse, membranaceous, glabrous, somewhat glaucous, 9 to 12 lines long, and 3 
to 4 lines wide; panicles from the upper fascicles of leaves, near the top, one or several, erect, crowded, 4 to 6 inches 
long; pedicels bracted, longer than the yellowish chartaceous calyx; sepals orbicular 2 lines long; corolla scarlet 9 to 
10 Lines long; filaments at base slightly cohering with one another, and with the base of the corolla, villous below and 
with a small horizontal process, which forms an arch over the ovary. Placente in the ovary lateral, 3, bearing each 
6 ascending acute ovula, at the inner margin, where they appear to touch one another without being actually united 
