92 GERANIACEJ3. Fagonia, 



2. FAGONIA, Linn. 



Sepals 5, deciduous. Petals 5, unguieulate. Stamens 10, on an obscure disk; 

 the filaments naked. Ovary 5-celled ; cells 2-ovuled near the base. Fruit deeply 

 5-angled, 5-seeded ; the smooth carpels at length separating from the axis and dehis- 

 cing on the inner edge. Seeds with a horny albumen. — Branching diffuse or pros- 

 trate herbs; with opposite 1 - 3-foliolate leaves, mucronate leaflets, spinescent stip- 

 ules, and apparently axillary solitary rose-colored flowers. 



A genus of hot and desert regions in both hemispheres, but chiefly of the Old World. The 26 

 published species are considered by Bentham and Hooker as reducible to perhaps 2 or 3, in some 

 respects very variable. 



1. F. Calif ornica, Benth. Perennial, herbaceous, glabrous : the stems a span 

 long or more, diffusely branched, angled : leaflets lanceolate, 1 to 3 lines long ; 

 stipules linear, recurved-spreading, short : peduncles nearly equalling the leaves : 

 petals 2 or 3 lines long, twice longer than the lanceolate sepals : fruit ovate in out- 

 line, attenuate above into the slender style, 2 lines long. — Bot. Sulph. 10; Torr. 

 in Pacif. E. Eep. v. 359, t. 1 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 418. 



Desert of S. E. California (Thomas, ScJwtt, Newberry), to Arizona and Lower California. The 

 species much resembles F. Chilensis. 



3. LAREEA, Cav. Creosote-bush. 



Sepals 5, deciduous. Petals 5, unguieulate. Stamens 10, on a small 10-lobed 

 disk ; the filaments winged below with a bifid scale on the inner side. Ovary 5- 

 celled ; the cells about 6-ovuled. Fruit globose, shortly stipitate, densely hairy, the 

 5 indehiscent 1-seeded carpels at length separating from the axis. Seeds with horny 

 albumen. — Evergreen heavy-scented shrubs ; with nodose branches, opposite 2 -folio- 

 late leaves, small stipules, and solitary yellow flowers. 



A genus of 3 or 4 species, of Mexico and extra-tropical South America, the following species 

 the only one in the L'nited States. 



1. L. Mexicana, Moricand. Diffusely branched, 4 to 10 feet high, densely 

 leafy, of a yellowish hue : leaves nearly sessile ; the thick resinous leaflets inequi- 

 lateral, oblong, 3 to 6 lines long, with a broad attachment to the rhachis, some- 

 what curved, acute : sepals ovate, obtuse, silky : petals bright yellow, 3 to 4" lines 

 long : scales a little shorter than the filaments, somewhat lacerate : fruit 2£ lines 

 in diameter, beaked by the slender style; carpels obtuse. — PI. Kouv. Am. 71, 

 t. 48 ; Torrey in Emory Eep. 137, t. 3 ; Gray, Gen. Ed. 2. 120, t. 147. 



Abundant in the dry valleys of Kem Co. and eastward, from Walker's Pass and Tahichipi to 

 W. Texas, and southward into Mexico, blooming in early summer. It is called by the Mexi- 

 cans Gobernadora and Hidemido. The leaves are sticky with a strongly scented gum or resin, and 

 burn with a black smoke and rank odor. No animal of the country will eat it. It has various 

 reputed medicinal properties, and miners say that a strong decoction "will clean amalgam." It 

 is reported that the Indians make a glue from it, with which they fasten the heads of arrows to 

 the shaft. 



Order XXIV. GERANIACE^. 



An order difficult to define by any certain marks, becoming composed of several 

 suborders or tribes, diverse in habit and details of structure, which have to be 

 separately characterized. — Eeaves often with stipules, either toothed, lobed, or 

 compound. Flowers perfect, on axillary peduncles, either regular or irregular, 

 but commonly symmetrical, and the parts in fives, rarely in threes. Stamens 

 mostly in two sets, those alternate with the petals sometimes sterile : filaments often 



