532 . CONVOLVULACE^E. Harpagonella. 



anatropous, the orifice inferior. Nutlets mostly 2, collateral, oblong, coriaceous, 

 perfectly smooth, obliquely fixed by the base ; one of them naked, ascending, and 

 usually if not always infertile ; the other larger and completely invested by the two 

 united lobes of the now very oblique calyx, in the form of a bur (somewhat 

 resembling that of a small Franseria), being sparsely beset with 7 to 9 long and 

 diverging soft spines, which are armed with short hook-tipped bristles. Eadicle 

 inferior or centripetal. — A little herb with the aspect of Pectocarya. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. xi. 88. 



1. H. Palmeri, Gray, 1. c. Diffuse and slender annual, a span high, minutely 

 strigose-hirsute : leaves linear-lanceolate : flowers very small, lateral at all the nodes, 

 on short at length deflexed peduncles : corolla white, minute : spines of the fruiting 

 calyx as long as the bur-like body ; the 3 free calyx-lobes small and rather remote. 



Guadalupe Island, Lower California, Dr. E. Palmer. Although from a station two hundred 

 miles below the line of the State, this curious little plant is not unlikely to occur along the 

 borders, in company with Pectocarya, with which it is associated on Guadalupe Island. 



Order LXVI. CONVOLVULACE^. 



Herbs, or some shrubs in warm climates, more commonly twining or trailing, 

 many with milky juice ; all with alternate leaves (or scales) and regular perfect 

 flowers ; the stamens as many as the lobes or angles of the corolla and alternate 

 with them (5, rarely 4) ; the free persistent calyx of mostly distinct much-imbri- 

 cated sepals ; ovary 2 - 3-celled, with a pair of erect or ascending ovules in each 

 cell, the cells occasionally divided, so as to form 4 one-ovulecl half-cells ; capsule 

 generally globular ; seeds 1 to 4, proportionally large, with a large embryo and 

 a little mucilaginous albumen. Inflorescence axillary : peduncles 1 -flowered or 

 cymosely several-flowered. Flowers oftener large and showy, and opening only 

 once. 



An order of nearly 30 genera and numerous species, widely spread over the world, but most 

 abundant in warm countries, moderately well represented in the Atlantic United States, at least 

 in the Southern, but there are wonderfully few on the Pacific side. Lower California has several, 

 all of the tropical types and quite beyond our reach. The order yields purgative medicines, such 

 as Jalap and Scammony, and one important article of food, Sweet- Potato, the root of Ipomcea Ba- 

 tatas ; also some ornamental flowers. , 



Evolvulus, Linn., a genus of low and slender plants, not twining, small-flowered, and remark- 

 able for having two styles each 2-cleft, is represented by two or three species reaching as near 

 as Lower California and Arizona. 



Dichondea, Forster, a genus of two small creeping herbs, — one of them most widely diffused 

 throughout the warm-temperate and tropical regions of the world, the other Mexican extending 

 into Arizona, &e., — appears to be wholly absent from California. The genus is known by the 

 anomaly of two distinct ovaries as well as styles. 



Tribe I. CONVOLULEiE. Plants with ordinary green herbage. Embryo with broad and 

 thin foliaceous cotyledons, folded and crumpled in the seed. 



1 . Convolvulus. Corolla plaited and usually convolute in the bud ; the limb mostly entire or 



5-angled. Style single : stigmas 2, linear, or oblong. (Ipomcea will be known by its 

 capitate or 2 - 3-capitate stigma.) 



2. Cressa. Corolla not plaited, 5-cleft. Styles 2, distinct, each with a capitate stigma. 



Tkibe II. CUSCUTHSTEiE. Twining parasites, whitish or yellowish, wholly destitute of green 

 foliage. Embryo filiform and spiral, destitute of cotyledons. 



3. Cuscuta. The only genus. Corolla not plaited, 4- 5-lobed. Styles iu ours 2, and stigmas 



capitate. 



